Behavior, Emotions, Decision Making, and Personality Flashcards
what are the association areas of the brain?
temporal pole (ant end of the temporal lobe)
pre-frontal cortex (lat, med, ventral, and cortico-basal ganglia-thalamus circuit)
what are the fxns of the association areas?
goal-directed behavior, emotions, decision making, social behavior, and personality
where is the dorsal cingulate cortex located?
part of the med prefrontal cortex
where is the rostral cingulate cortex located?
part of the ventral prefrontal cortex
t/f: the association areas are not directly involved in motor and sensory fxns, but pass info bw motor and sensory structures
true
what are the fxns of the lat prefrontal cortex?
executive fxn and divergent thinking in goal directed behavior
what is executive fxning?
deciding on a goal
planning on how to accomplish goals
exciting the plane
monitoring the execution of the plan
what is divergent thinking?
ability to think about alternatives
what structures are involved in the goal-directed behavior loop
GP, VA, head of caudate, and lat prefrontal cortex
t/f: goal-directed behavior requires working memory, judgement, planning, abstract reasoning, dividing attention, and sequencing activity
true
what is the role of the med prefrontal cortex and temporal pole?
to identify emotional stimuli, generate, and perceive emotions (of your own and of others)
emotional regulation
what structures are involved in automatic emotional regulation?
rostral cingulate cortex, med and ventral prefrontal cortex
what structures are involved in voluntary emotional regulation?
rostral cingulate cortex and ventral prefrontal cortex
what are the 5 strucutures involved in recognizing emotional stim, perceiving, and generating emotion?
1) amygdala
2) area 25
3) medial thalamic nucleus
4) ant insula
5) ventral striatum
what NT is involved in reward seeking behavior?
dopamine
what is involved in the reward seeking pathway?
ventral tegmental area (VTA in midbrain) to ventral striatum
dopamine to the central striatum
what is involved in the aversion pathway?
VTA –>mPFC
what structures are involved in motivation and emotion?
mPFC
ventral striatum
med thalamic nuclei
what is involved in the social behavior pathway?
reward and emotion in of used to guide behavior and inhibit undesirable behavior
activated when making social decisions
self control
what is involved in decision making?
lat PFC, emotional/limbic system, and social behavior loops of the basal ganglia
what is the stimulus coding system?
value of the stim
ventromedial PFC
what is the action selection system?
what do you do next?
ant cingulate, lat prefrontal, parietal corticies
what is the expected reward system?
ventral striatum, amygdala, ant insula
what is the psychological and somatic interaction with stress?
there is chemical signaling bw the NS and immune system in response to stress
NT and hormones modulate immune cells
cytokines regulate the neuroendocrine system
what is the stress response?
rxn to experiences disrupting hormones
when there is sympathetic activation, what is released?
cytokines
what is the loop of the stress inducede interaction of the psychological and somatic systems?
sensation–>amygdala and prefrontal cortex interpret the stimuli as a threat–> hypothalamus–>pituitary, autonomic NS–>immune system–>immune cells, cytokines–> hypothalamus and so forth
what happens in the somatic NS with stress?
increased muscle tension (ie tight UT)
what happens in the autonomic NS with stress?
increased sympathetic activity
increased blood flow to the muscles
decreased blood flow to the skin, kidneys, and digestive tract
what happens in the neuroendocrine system with stress?
sympathetic nerve stimulation of the adrenal medulla releases epinephrine
increases HR, cardiac contractility, metabolic rate
relaxes intestinal smooth muscle
what do sympathetic nerve endings in the thymus, lymph nodes, spleen, and bone marrow release?
NE and peptide
what do the sympathetic nerve endings in the adrenal medulla release?
epinephrine
what do the sympathetic nerve endings in the sympathetic NS release?
NE
what does the pituitary activation of the adrenal cortex release?
cortisol
what do blood platelets release?
secrete more ATP
what happens if there is a prefrontal cortex lesion?
loss of prefrontal cortex emotional regulation
lat prefrontal syndrome
med prefrontal syndrome
what does a loss of prefrontal cortex emotional regulation lead to?
emotional lability
occurs in about 50% of ppl with ALS, MS, or TBI
what is lat prefrontal syndrome?
loss of goal directed behavior and divergent thinking
unable to set a goal, plan, execute a plan, and monitor the execution of a plan (all actions of goal directing behavior lost even with normal intelligence)
what is med prefrontal syndrome?
apathy, lack of emotion, and insight
bilateral damage=profound deficits and can’t initiate any activities or self care
impaired understanding of others’ emotions
what is the result of ventral striatum disorders?
apathy
OCD
addiction
what is the most common behavior abnormality secondary to ventral striatum damage?
apathy
what is apathy?
lack of initiative, spontaneous thought, and emotional responses
what is OCD?
hyperactivity of the amygdala and circuit connecting the ventral striatum, ant cingulate gyrus, and ventral prefrontal cortex
what is addiction?
loss of behavioral control in response to a stim combined w/continued use of a substance, regardless of the neg consequences
substances increase what NT in the brain?
dopamine
what is the affect of dopamine in addiction?
creates a feeling of wanting (not pleasure)
in addiction, there is diminished ____ ____ ____ activity, enhanced ____ ____ ____ activity
lat prefrontal cortex, ventral prefrontal cortex
what is ventral prefrontal syndrome?
inappropriate social behavior (poor judgement, defective social intelligence)
intact goal directed activity and cognition (lat PFC and parietal cortex fxn
dissociation of voluntary and automatic regulation of social behaviors (able to ID undesirable behaviors, but still does them)
can’t learn from past experiences
what are the characteristics of ventral prefrontal syndrome?
severe problems w/social fxn (employment, relationships, etc)
inability to feel empathy, embarrassment, guilt, or regret
risky and inappropriate behaviors
disinhibition, impulsiveness
lack of concern about consequences
diffuse axonal injury primarily affects what structures?
basal ganglia, sup cerebellar peduncle, corpus callosum, midbrain
when someone is in a MVA, where does the damage tend to be?
in the prefrontal region and ant and inf temporal cortex
what are the types of TBIs?
diffuse axonal injury
concussion
CTE
what are the affects of concussion?
brief loss of consciousness, temporary amnesia, brief confusion
usually no long term cognitive impairment
what results in CTE?
repeated head injuries
what does CTE result in?
long-term white matter pathology and neuronal loss
what are the most frequently found s/s of post-concussion syndrome?
poor cognitive fxn, difficulty concentrating, irritability
what s/s may result from TBIs?
poor judgement, Dec goal-directed behavior, memory deficits, slowing info processing, poor divergent thinking
impaired balance, agility, and coordination
