Originally Posted by
hamworld05
I have one more question( I hope) Why does it depend solely on the area of the brain that was affected?
The symptoms of brain damage reflect the area of damage because various functions are controlled by different areas of the cerebral cortex. Thus, damage to the occiptal cortex that controls vision could result in damaged or total loss of vision or visula disturbances depending on the exact locus and extent of the damage.
Prefrontal lobe damage is likely to affect emotional stability or mood, because that is the area of the brain that apparently controls mood.
The most common cause of brain damage, however, is not anoxia or hypoxia, but physical trauma, a blow to the head, and brain heamorrhages - strokes - where blood escapes from one of the vessels that serve the cerebrum and invade surrounding tissues, the damage resulting from pressure on the brain itself from escaping blood, because the brain is encased in a bony box and there is no escape for the extravasated blood.
Again, the degree of damage depebnds on the severity of the bleed or the physical trauma to the brain. Shaken babies suiffer brain damage because the brain sloshes about during violent shaking causing damage as it does so. Put an egg in a box and shake it violently, and what happens to the egg happens to the brain inside the skull during physical trauma.
M:)
