Biological Bases of Behavior Flashcards
Transcortical sensory aphasia
Similar to Wernike’s aphasia (fluent aphasia with comprehension difficulty), but person can repeat sentences. Lesion is between the parietal and temporal lobes.
Broca’s aphasia
AKA motor or expressive aphasia. Damage is to the left frontal lobe. Speech is effortful and repetition is impaired.
Transcortical motor aphasia
Similar to Broca’s aphasia, but person can repeat others’ speech. Damage is typically in the left frontal areas surrounding Broka’s area.
Conduction aphasia
Person can speak normally and comprehend speech. Sole deficit in repetition of others’ speech. Results from disconnection of expressive and receptive speech areas.
Anomic aphasia
Deficit in naming objects
Pseudodementia
Dementia like presentation brought on by psychiatric illness (mostly depression)
Mild cognitive impairment
At least a single cognitive domain is impaired to a greater extent than normal aging. No significant changes in everyday functional abilities.
Postconcussion syndrome
Symptoms longer than a few days, but typically resolve within 3 months. Include fatigue, headaches, dizziness, nausea, anxiety, depressed affect, irritability, attention/concentration difficulty, diminished STM, etc.
Delirium
Acute confusional state, not associated with dementia. Onset is abrupt, often with difficulty sustaining attention. May have difficulties with memory, language, perception, etc.
Alzheimer’s disease
Highest cause of dementia, accounts for 65% of cases
Pick’s disease
Frontotemporal dementia
Akathisia
Motor restlessness characterized by muscular quivering and the inability to sit still, often a result of chronic ingestion of neuroleptic drugs.
Apraxia
Inability to perform motor acts despite intact comprehension and motor function.
Agnosia
Inability to recognize familiar objects
Athetosis
A constant succession of slow, writhing, involuntary movements of flexion, extension, pronation, and supination of fingers and hands, and sometimes of toes and feet
Anomia
Aphasia that is characterized by the impaired ability to recall the names of persons and things (also called nominal aphasia)
Ataxia
Loss of the ability to coordinate muscular movement
Alogia
The inability to speak because of mental deficiency, mental confusion, or aphasia (i.e., poverty of thought and speech)
Agraphia
A form of aphasia characterized by loss of the ability to write
Alexia
Loss of the ability to comprehend the meaning of written or printed words and sentences
Alzheimer’s Stage 1 (1-3yrs)
- anterograde amnesia, esp for declarative mem
- visuospatial deficits (wandering)
- indifference, irritability, sadness
Alzheimer’s Stage 2 (2 to 10yrs)
- Retrograde amnesia
- flat or labile mood
- restlessness/agitation
- delusions
- ideomotor apraxia (difficulty translating an idea into movement)
Alzheimer’s Stage 3 (8-12 years)
- Severely impaired IQ fx
- apathy
- limb rigidity
- incontinence
Alzheimer’s: duration from onset to death is?
8-10 years
Alzheimer’s more common in…
- Women
- Lower education level
- late onset (after 65) is more common
Etiology of Alzheimer’s
- early onset assoc with abnormalities on chrom 21
- late onset assoc with abnormalities on chrom 19
- aluminum deposits in brain
- beta amyloid plaques
- poor immune system
- low ACH
Vascular dementia
- cog impairment AND neurological signs
- stepwise fluct course
- if due to stroke, most improvements in 1st six months and physical sx improve quicker than cog
dementia due to Parkinsons
- bradykinesia (slowness of movement)
- rigidity
- resting tremor
- mask-like facial expression -pill rolling
- loss of coordination & balance
- akathesia (restlessness)
Parkinson’s
- 50% develop depression
- 20-60% dev dementia
- assoc with loss of dopamine producing cells
- Lewy bodies in Substantia Nigra
- L-Dopa helps by increasing dopamine
Huntington’s
- sx appear b/n 30 and 40
- cog, affective, motor sx
- affective sx first
- early motor signs: fidgeting and clumsiness - later, athetosis (slow, writhing movements) and chorea (invol jerky movements)
Paresis (1)
Partial paralysis
Paresis (2)
A syndrome of Inflammation of cerebral tissue causing mental and physical deterioration and caused by syphilis.
Paraprosopia
Visual hallucination of terrifying faces
Prosopagnosia
Inability to recognize familiar faces. Due to damage in bilateral occipitotemporal area
Gerstmann’s syndrome
Damage to parietal lobe. Agraphia/ dysgraphia, acalculia/ dyscalculia, finger agnosia, left right disorientation, aphasia
Kluver-Bucy syndrome
Extensive bilateral damage to temporal lobes, amygdala, characterized by psychic blindness, prosopagnosia (check this), hypermetamorphosis (increased exploring of environment), hypersexuality, orality, decreased fear, affective blunting,
Anosognosia
Inability or unwillingness to recognize one’s functional impairments. Associated w damage to R parietal lobe.
Lateral Geniculate Nucleus
Area in the thalamus related to relaying visual information. Interruption of that pathway will result in visual impairment at the level of primary processing.
Side effects of tricyclic antidepressants
Cardiac/autonomic, severe anticholinergic, and neurobehavioral side effects
Heteromodal cortex
Multiple sensory modalities are integrated in cortical regions that are sometimes considered “silent” since lesions here can exist despite intact primary and secondary processing.
Area of the brain implicated in Huntington’s Disease
Basal ganglia, specifically caudate nucleus
Side effects of Benzodiazepines
drowsiness, confusion or feelings of detachment, dizziness, imbalance, and high potential for dependence.
Buspirone (BuSpar)
Nonbenzodiazepine anxiolytic. Doesn’t cause tolerance, causes less fatigue, lacks muscle relaxant, anticonvulsant, and hypnotic properties.
Gabapentin (Neurontin)
Anticonvulsant, frequently prescribed for neuropathic pain and off-label for anxiety. Low abuse/dependent risk.
Pregabalin (Lyrica)
Anticonvulsant sometimes prescribed for anxiety
Hydroxyzine (Vistaril, Atarax)
Antihistamine that reduces anxiety. Very sedating, and low potential for abuse and dependence.
Barbiturates
Formerly used for sedation and sleep. Replaced by benzodiazepines. Extreme side effects, including tolerance, physical dependency, and very severe withdrawal symptoms. Enhance function of GABA in CNS.
Monoamine hypothesis
States back to 1960s. Says that depression is caused by abnormal functioning of monoamines (NE, serotonin, and DA)
TCA
Includes amitriptyline (Elavil), nortriptyline (Pamelor and Aventyl), imipramine (Tofranil), and desipramine (Norpramin). Blocks reuptake of serotonin and NE. However, mechanism of action is unknown. Side effects: cardiac/autonomic, anticholinergic, and neurobehavioral.
MAOIs
Rarely used because of serious interactions. Block reuptake reuptake of monoamines by blocking monoamine transporters. Includes phenelzine (Nardil) and tranylcypromine (Parnate). Side effects include hypertensive crisis which can heppen when takin gwith tyramine.
SSRIs
Include fluoxetine (Prozac), paroxetine (Paxil), fluvoxamine (Luvox), sertraline, citalopram (Celexa), and escitalopram (Lexapro). Side effects include GI symptoms, headache, sexual dysfunction, insomnia, psychomotor agitation, and occasional extra pyramidal reactions.
Serotonin syndrome
Dangerous side effect of SSRI when two serotonergic drugs taken together or excessively high amounts of one. Includes change in mental status, shivering, confusion, restlessness, flushing, sweating, diarrhea, lethargy, myoclonus (muscle twitching), and tremors. Can be lethal
NDRI
Atypical antidepressant that works by blocking reuptake of NE and DA. Includes bupropion (Wellbutrin or Zyban)
SNRI
atypical antidepressant, includes venlafaxine (Effexor), desvenlafaxine (Pristiq), and Levomilnacipran (Fetzima)
Mirtazapine/Remeron
Atypical antidepressant that’s a serotonin-NE antagonist, that increases NE and serotonin by blocking the autoreceptors.
Trintellix/Vortioxetine
Atypical antidepressant. Also improves cognitive symptoms.
Trazodone
Atypical antidepressant often used to treat insomnia
over-the-counter anti-depressants
St. John’s wort, S-adenosyl methionine (SAMe), 5-HTP, omega-3, and folic acid.
Typical antipsychotics
haloperidol (Haldol), thioridazine (Mellaril), molinidine (Moban), thiothixene (Navane), fluphenazine (Prolixin), trifluoperazine (Stelazine), chlorpromazine (Thorazine), Loxipine (Loxitane), and Pimozide (Orap)
Cause extrapyramidal symptoms, including parkinsonism, acute dystonia, akathisia, and tardive dyskinesia.. Side effects can also include neuroleptic malignant syndormoe, orthostatic hypotension, sedation, sexual dysfunction, and anticholinergic effects
Atypical antipsychotics
Blocks DA and serotonin receptors. produce less EPSs than the typical antipsychotics; however, they may cause dangerous metabolic effects such as weight gain, diabetes, and dyslipidemia.
Olanzapine (Zyprexa), quetiapine (Seroquel), ziprasidone (Geodon), aripiprazole (Abilify), paliperidone (Invega), iloperidone (Fanapt), asenapine (Saphris), clozapine (Clozaril), risperidone (Risperdal), and cariprazine (Vraylar)
Lithium
Mood stabilizer used for mania. Slow onset of action and narrow therapeutic index.
Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, thirst, excessive urination, weight gain, hand tremor, and reversible increase in white blood cell count. Chronic use side effects include hypothyroidism, goiter, and rarely kidney damage. Toxicity may result in lethargy, ataxia, slurred speech, shock, delirium, coma, or even death
Anticonvulsants used as mood stabilizers
divalproex (Depakote), lamitrogine (Lamictal), Tegretol, Topamax). Works by enhanvcing GABA.
Side effect of Lamictal is Stevens–Johnson syndrome, a potentially fatal skin rash.
Opiates
withdrawal symptoms may include diarrhea, vomiting, chills, fever, tearing and runny nose, tremor, abdominal cramps, and pain.
Opioid replacement therapy (methadone), first line of treatment)
Psychostimulants
Increase prefrontal cortex levels of NE and DA. amphetamine (Adderall), methylphenidate (Concerta, Ritalin, and Metadate), lisdexamfetamine (Vyvanse), dexmethylphenidate (Focalin and Dexadrine), armodafanil (Nuvigil), and modafinil (Provigil), which are prescribed more for sleep disorders such as narcolepsy.
hould not be used with MAOIs as they may cause a hypertensive crisis
Atomoxetine (Strattera)
Nonstimulant medication for ADHD, generally less effective than stimulants.
Clonic phase (grand mal seizure)
violent, rhythmic contractions of extremities.
Absence seizures
(Petite mal). Originates in thalamus.
Peripheral vision
Anterior occipital lobe
Korsakoff’s Syndrome
Amnestic Disorder, and it is marked by memory loss that may be accompanied by confabulation and unsteady gait and other physical signs
Sleep Waves
Stage 1 of the sleep cycle is characterized by alpha waves which then give way to the slower theta waves. Stage 2 consists primarily of theta waves and intermittent sleep spindles and K-complexes. The 5th stage is REM sleep, which is also known as paradoxical sleep since the EEG pattern is characteristic of alertness (beta waves) but the sleeper’s responsiveness to the environment is low.
Damage to the right frontal lobe
Disinhibition/ impulsiveness, happy indifference, and jocularity
Damage to left frontal lobe
most often results in reduced speech, depression, and apathy.
