While the MCAT isn’t a history test, it’s important to recognize these names. As is common in science, discoveries are often named after the people who made the discoveries. For example, Broca’s area is named after Paul Broca.
Franz Gall developed the concept of phrenology, which linked brain anatomy, specifically size, to a certain personality trait. Gall believed that these brain sizes were also reflected in the skull, and thus well-developed traits corresponded to larger skull areas. This lead to maps such as the one below:
Pierre Flourens performed some of the first extirpation (aka ablation) experiments, in which he observed the effects on behavior after removing certain brain sections. Modern-day equivalents are lesion and inhibition experiments. Flourens asserted that different parts of the brain had different functions.
William James is often labeled as the “father of American psychology” and was one of the founders of functional psychology, or functionalism, which is a general psychological theory that treats thoughts and behaviors as adaptations to the environment.
John Dewey also one of the founders of functionalism. He argued against the reflex arc, which broke a reaction into discrete parts, and instead argued for the study of the organism as a whole as it functioned to adapt to its environment.
Paul Broca studied behavioral deficits in people with localized brain damage, and was the first to link specific functional impairments (an inability to talk) with a specific brain lesion (now known as Broca’s area).
Carl Wernike also made important contributions to brain function localization. Wernicke’s area, linked to speech comprehension, is named after him.
Hermann von Helmholtz was the first person to measure the speed of a nerve impulse down a nerve fiber. He was also an accomplished physicist.
Sir Charles Sherrington first coined the term “synapse” and provided fundamental insights into the function of neurons. He received the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physiology of Medicine and has many eponyms named after him.