The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2) — John Shaqi
The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2)James, William
Philosophy
The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2)
James, William
Psychology
If, then, we grant that motor and sensory ideas variously associated
are the materials of the mind, all we need do to get a complete diagram
of the mind's and the brain's relations should be to ascertain which
sensory idea corresponds to which sensational surface of projection,
and which motor idea to which muscular surface of projection. The
associations would then correspond to the fibrous connections between
the various surfaces. This distinct _cerebral localization_ of the
various elementary sorts of idea has been treated as a 'postulate' by
many physiologists (e.g. Munk); and the most stirring controversy in
nerve-physiology which the present generation has seen has been the
_localization-question_.
THE LOCALIZATION OF FUNCTIONS IN THE HEMISPHERES.
Up to 1870, the opinion which prevailed was that which the experiments
of Flourens on pigeons' brains had made plausible, namely, that the
different functions of the hemispheres were not locally separated,
but carried on each by the aid of the whole organ. Hitzig in 1870
showed, however, that in a dog's brain highly specialized movements
could be produced by electric irritation of determinate regions of
the cortex; and Ferrier and Munk, half a dozen years later, seemed to
prove, either by irritations or excisions or both, that there were
equally determinate regions connected with the senses of sight, touch,
hearing, and smell. Munk's special sensorial localizations, however,
disagreed with Ferrier's; and Goltz, from his extirpation-experiments,
came to a conclusion adverse to strict localization of any kind. The
controversy is not yet over. I will not pretend to say anything more
of it historically, but give a brief account of the condition in which
matters at present stand.
The one thing which is _perfectly_ well established is this, that the
'central' convolutions, on either side of the fissure of Rolando, and
(at least in the monkey) the calloso-marginal convolution (which is
continuous with them on the mesial surface where one hemisphere is
applied against the other), form the region by which all the motor
incitations which leave the cortex pass out, on their way to those
executive centres in the region of the pons, medulla, and spinal cord
from which the muscular contractions are discharged in the last resort.
The existence of this so-called 'motor zone' is established by the
lines of evidence successively given below:
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