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Biological psychology Flashcards

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1
Q

what do sensory receptors do?

A

Sensory receptors project to specific nuclei within the thalamus (usually, but not smell) and these projects to cortex

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2
Q

what happens at each stage in sensory receptors?

A

Processing occurs at each stage.

E.g. “top-down” signals from cortex to thalamus to suppress sensory info

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3
Q

do all neurons work the same way?

A

yes

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4
Q

how to decode sensory inputs?

A

The pathway indicates the sense. So activity in LGN / calcarine sulcus means visual information.

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5
Q

what are phantom limbs?

A

After amputation, patients can sometimes still “feel” their missing limb: inputs to the cortex remain

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6
Q

what is synaesthsia?

A

Perception of sensations in an additional modality, e.g. colours for names: extra connections between brain regions

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7
Q

what are the primary sensory areas of the cortex?

A
  • visual cortex - calcarine
  • auditory cortex (hearing) - superior temporal lobe
  • somatosensory cortex (touch, proprioception) - postcentral gyrus
  • gustatory cortex (taste) - insula
  • olfactory cortex (smell) - pyriform cortex
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8
Q

what are the primary sensory areas of the cortex?

A
  • visual cortex - calcarine
  • auditory cortex (hearing) - superior temporal lobe
  • somatosensory cortex (touch, proprioception) - postcentral gyrus
  • gustatory cortex (taste) - insula
  • olfactory cortex (smell) - pyriform cortex
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9
Q

who is Gordon Holmes (1876 - 1966)?

A
  • Neurologist in WWI.
  • Mapped the visual field - the region in which visual targets can be detected.
  • Orderly mapping in contralateral occipital lobe
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10
Q

who is Wilder Penfield?

A
  • Canadian neurosurgeon
  • Surgical removal of parts of the cortex for treating intractable epilepsy
  • Electrical stimulation of the cortex in awake patients

Penfield stimulated numbered regions of the cortex and noted the reaction of the patient

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11
Q

what is a homunculus?

A

“little man” - a representation of the body surface in a region of the brain

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12
Q

what do biggers areas of the cortex signify?

A

Bigger areas of cortex (= more neurones) devoted to more sensitive regions of the body

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13
Q

what is a receptive field?

A

the area (body) from which stimuli can influence the firing rate of a neurone

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14
Q

what does neuronal damage affect?

A

Neuronal damage will affect sensation in its receptive field

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15
Q

where is the receptive field for vision and touch located?

A

For vision and touch, the receptive field is always contralateral to the neuron (i.e. on the other side of space:left-right, right-left).

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16
Q

how does a single neurone in the cortex respond to touch?

A

A single neuron in cortex may respond to touch over a small area of skin (fingers) or a large area (forearm)

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17
Q

what does a large receptive field correspond to?

A

A large receptive field corresponds to low ability to localise stimuli

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18
Q

what size of neurone are larger cortical areas linked to?

A

Larger cortical area for neurones with small receptive fields (see homunculus)

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19
Q

what are the size of the receptive fields on your fingers and why are they important?

A
  • Neurons in the sensory cortex for the finger have small receptive fields* I.e., They receive input from a small area of skin.
  • So neighbouring patches of skin from the finger will probably project to different cells in the cortex
    .* But from the forearm… they may project to the same cell, so impossible to differentiate
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20
Q

what are “centre surround” receptive fields in the eyes used for?

A

“Centre-surround” receptive fields in retinal (eye) cells are useful for edge detection

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21
Q

what does the secondary motor cortex consist of?

A

supplementary motor area
premotor cortex

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22
Q

what does the supplementary motor area do?

A

folds onto medial surface

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23
Q

what does the frontal lobe consist of?

A
  • primary motor cortex
  • prefrontal cortex
  • secondary motor cortex (supplementary motor cortex and premotor cortex)
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24
Q

what does the frontal lobe consist of?

A
  • primary motor cortex
  • prefrontal cortex
  • secondary motor cortex (supplementary motor cortex and premotor cortex)
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25
Q

what is the function of the Primary motor cortex: Precentral gyrus

A

it is the motor homunculus

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26
Q

who is John Hugh Jackson?

A
  • British neurologist
  • First to map human motor cortex by observing a type of epileptic seizure.
  • The “Jacksonian March”: seizures spread along the primary motor cortex (“motor strip”) in both directions
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27
Q

what does the primary motor cortex contain?

A

Primary motor cortex contains giant “Betz cells”. projecting to spinal cord

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28
Q

what do spinal cord cells project to?

A

Spinal cord cells project to specific muscles

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29
Q

what does the stimulation of the primary motor cortex lead to?

A

Stimulation of primary motor cortex → movement of specific contralateral muscles/muscle groups.

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30
Q

what does the Ratio of spinal cord motoneurons determine?

A

Ratio of spinal cord motoneurons : muscle fibres determines precision of movement

Hence, bigger area of cortex maps to areas of body with more precise motor control(~homunculus)

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31
Q

what can damage of the primary motor cortex lead to?

A

Muscle weakness on the side of the body contralateral to the damage.E.g. left-sided weakness following right primary motor cortex damage.

Paralysis on the side of the body contralateral to the damage.E.g. right-sided paralysis following left primary motor cortex damage.

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32
Q

what is located anterior to the primary motor cortex?

A
  • premotor cortex
  • supplementary motor area
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33
Q

what does motor control include?

A
  • movement patterns, e.g. reach-to-grasp, sequences of movements
  • stimulation produces complex movement
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34
Q

what is the executive function of the prefrontal cortex?

A

Flexible, controlled cognition and behaviour, esp. for novel or unusual situations

  • Decision-making–
  • Working memory & planning
  • holding and manipulating information “on-line”
  • Inhibition & flexible cognition
  • inhibiting unwanted (automatic) actions
  • switching between rules
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35
Q

Who is phineas gage?

A
  • Poor control, including impulsivity & disinhibition (e.g.breaking social rules)
  • Social problems & inability to work well
  • N.B. preserved intellect, memory, sensation and perception
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36
Q

what are good and bad decks in the Iowa Gambling Task?

A

Bad decks - high immediate gains but overall loss

Good decks - low immediate gains but over overall gain

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37
Q

what happened to the healthy patients in tge IGT?

A

Healthy participants gradually learn to avoid the“bad” (high risk) card

Skin-conductance response (SCR) differed in anticipation of a choice from the “good” and “bad”decks, probably guiding decision-making: “somatic markee”

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38
Q

what happened to ventromedial PFC lesion patients and the IGT?

A
  • Patients with VM-PFC damage continue to make bad choices.
  • This is despite being able to say which cards are“good” and “bad”.
  • They lack the SCR response: not guided away fromthe bad choices.
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39
Q

what is working memort?

A
  • Holding information “on-line” which is not currently present in the environment;
  • E.g. a recent stimulus; a behavioural goal or plan.

The PFC is especially required for manipulation of this information

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40
Q

what is the multiple errands task?

A

Carry out a number of tasks (e.g. “buy bread”,“find out the coldest place in Britain yesterday”), within certain restrictions (e.g.“spend as little money as possible”, “be at a certain place in 15 minutes”)

.Frontal lobe damage patients made more errors,including being inefficient and breaking the rules.

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41
Q

what is the wisconsin card sorting test?

A
  • Rule changes require flexibility.
  • PFC damage leads to perseveration – continued use of aprevious rule
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42
Q

what is the motor system hierarchy?

A

Multimodal association cortex:prefrontal cortex –> Secondary motor cortex:premotor cortex, supplementary motor area –> Primary motor cortex: precentral gyrus —> Spinal cord –> Skeletal muscles

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43
Q

what is the perception of objects and space carried out by?

A
  • Carried out by association cortex in occipital,parietal and temporal lobes.
44
Q

what is the primary sensory cortex

A

Primary sensory cortex is the cortical region which first receives sensory input (via thalamus or brainstem nuclei)

45
Q

what is the association cortex?

A

Association cortex receives input from primary sensory cortex and processes it to a higher level of meaning.

46
Q

what are the two visual streams?

A

the ventral stream and the dorsal stream

  • Attention to visual objects in space
47
Q

what does the ventral stream do?

A

Ventral stream function: perceiving and recognising objects using vision.

48
Q

what is the dorsal stream?

A

Dorsal stream function: locating, and interacting with, objects in space using vision

49
Q

what is the ventral stream made of?

A

occipital cortex (association cortex) —> inferior temporal cortex (association cortex)

50
Q

how do humans know what they are seeing?

A
  • Recognition of objects is not trivial. (Thinkline-drawings, unusual views, lighting conditions etc.)
  • Involves retrieving name & meaning.
51
Q

where does cortical processing begin? (vision)

A
  • In vision, cortical processing begins in medial occipital cortex (calcarine sulcus) – sensation(e.g. brightness).
  • Knowledge of what we see involves first perception of form, then recognition of objects and individuals (e.g. faces).
  • The effects of ventral stream damage depend on how far along the stream the damage occurs.
52
Q

what increases along the ventral pathway?

A

Specificity of function increases along the ventral pathway

53
Q

what is the ventral pathway?

A

brightness/ accuracy –> from perception –>object recognition

54
Q

what are agnosias?

A
  • a + gnosia = “lack of knowing”* Agnosias can be visual, auditory,somatosensory…
  • But each is modality-specific. Therefore, for example, visual agnosia patients would be able to name an object through touch.
  • (Assume “visual” unless otherwise stated.)
55
Q

what are the qualities of apperceptive agnosia?

A
  • Intact low-level perception
    – acuity
    – brightness discrimination
    – color vision
  • Inability to extract global structure.
  • Evidenced by impairments incopying and visual recognition,even of common objects
56
Q

how does apperceptive agnosia affect the ventrak pathway?

A

brightness and accuracy –> xform perceptionx

57
Q

who was patient DF? (apperceptive agnosia)

A
  • DF: carbon monoxide poisoning.
  • Damage to ventrolateral occipital cortex.
  • Apperceptive agnosia – inability to perceive structure of visual objects.
  • Preserved reach/grasp ability (…compare this to patients with dorsal stream damage).
  • Dissociation of functions (impaired vs. preserved).
58
Q

what is associative agnosia?

A
  • No problem copying figures.
  • However, inability to draw from verbal instruction or to recognize objects using vision.
  • Action-based knowledge is retained (e.g. the example of farmer milking a cow).
59
Q

what is prosopagnosia?

A
  • Prosopagnosia = inability to recognise faces visually.
  • Patients can tell that a picture shows a face, and can describe the features of the face but they cannot tell who it belongs to, even family.
  • Can still identify individuals through voice, hairstyle,characteristic clothing etc. (This confirms that it’s not a “knowledge” problem.)
60
Q

what is an example of prosopagnosia?

A

“When Bodamer discovered the patient’s problem he was able to establish that S. could tell that certain objects were faces, but not to whom they belonged-indeed he was unable to read facial expressions or even distinguish women from men,except by using hair or hat cues. When confronted with his own face in a mirror, S. could not recognise it-nor even be sure of its gender.”

61
Q

where does prosopagnosia affect?

A
  • Prosopagnosia tends to involve damage to the fusiform gyrus in the inferior part of the temporal lobe.
  • ‘Fusiform face area’ (FFA)
  • “Greebles” activate the FF
  • usually follows right hemisphere damage
62
Q

what does the dorsal stream consist of?

A

occipital cortex (association cortex) –> posterior parietal cortex

63
Q

what is optic ataxia?

A
  • Problems using vision to reach & grasp objects.
  • Intact* ability to identify objects (note:dissociation).
  • Results from lesions of posterior parietal cortex; i.e., dorsal pathway.
64
Q

what is the posting task?

A
  • Post item (or hand) through the slot (requires dorsal stream)
  • there is impaired posting ability in optic ataxia patients
  • Test visuomotor function:Post item (or hand) through the slot (requires dorsal stream
  • test perceptual function:Match orientation of item with slot (at a distance) –requires ventral stream
65
Q

what is hemispatial neglect?

A
  • A failure to attend to the contralateral side of the world.
  • Cannot be explained by hemianopia or other sensory deficits.
  • Not definitively part of either ventral or dorsal stream.
  • Can affect daily activities, e.g. dressing, eating.
  • N.B. Patients are often unaware of their deficit.
66
Q

how does neglect occur?

A

Neglect can occur after damage to a variety of regions, usually right-sided; especially the temporo-parietal junction

(usually a consequence of right hemisphere damage)

67
Q

what is the definition of communication?

A

behaviours used by one member of a species which convey information to another

68
Q

what is the definition of language?

A

a communication system which has symbols (e.g. words) and rules for ways to put the symbols together(e.g. grammar)

69
Q

what is aphasia?

A
  • Disturbed language function = aphasia.
  • In aphasia, deficits must not be due simply to sensory or motor dysfunction (deafness,paralysis etc.), but be language-based.
70
Q

how does aphasia occur?

A
  • Aphasia tends to be produced by left-sided damage - language is lateralised in the brain.
  • N.B. In a few people, language is right-lateralised (see also Lecture 10).* Damage to different areas produces different types of aphasia, because of specialised roles of distinct brain regions.
71
Q

what are the two language areas in the brain?

A

Broca’s area and Wernickle’s area

72
Q

what is Broca’s area responsible for?

A

Langauge production

First widely recognised example of cortical localisation

73
Q

what is wernickles area responisble for?

A

language recognition

74
Q

where is Broca’s area located?

A
  • Left inferior frontal lobe: Broca’s Area.
  • Anterior to primary motor cortex for face & lips.
75
Q

what is Broca’s aphasia?

A

non-fluent aphasia

  • Difficulty in speech production: speech is slow and non-fluent; difficulty finding words.
  • Comprehension & automatic speech (relatively) intact.
76
Q

where is wernickle’s aphasia located?

A

Left superior temporal gyrus: Wernicke’s area.

77
Q

what is wenickle’s aphasia?

A

fluent aphasia

  • Patients fail to recognise spoken language.
  • Speech is fluent but meaningless (cannot monitor what is being said).
78
Q

what does neologism mean?

A

“new word” - errors in pronunciation or complete creation of words which are not part of the recognized language

79
Q

what is memory?

A
  • Memory is not a single function.
  • Types of memory can be dissociated from each other: i.e., disrupted independently by lesions to different brain areas
80
Q

what are the types of memory?

A

episodic memory - events
semantic memory - facts
working memory - held in mind
procedural memory - “doing”

81
Q

what part of the brain does episodic memory affect?

A

Medial temporal lobe,esp. hippocampus

82
Q

what part of the brain does semantic memory effect?

A

lateral temporal cortex (probably other cortical areas too)

83
Q

what area of the brain does working memory affect?

A

the lateral prefrontal cortex

84
Q

where does procedural memory happen?

A

basal ganglia

85
Q

who was patient HM?

A

Surgical removal of bilateral medial temporal lobes (including hippocampus), in 1953 to control epilepsy.

86
Q

what happened to patient HM’s episodic memory?

A
  • Complete absence of new episodic memories
    – Could not remember events occurring since operation.
    – Memories acquired before operation relatively intact.
87
Q

how was patient HM’s working memory affected?

A
  • Normal digit span (e.g. repeat thesequence: 5 3 8 2 9 1 6)
  • Unless interrupted (constant rehearsal).
  • Can hold a conversation, even though later that day he will not remember having held it.
88
Q

how did the operation affect patient HM’s procedural memory?

A
  • Could learn new skills
    – Normal improvement on mirror tracing task
    – There is also evidence that amnesic patients canlearn new piano pieces
89
Q

who was Patient KC

A
  • Road traffic accident; brain damage to bilat. MTL.
  • Severely amnesic; no new episodic memories.
  • Learned new semantic information
  • Learning was slow, required many repetitions, but very long-lasting.
90
Q

what evidence is there for double dissociation?

A

Testing two groups of patients with distinct damage gives evidence of separated functions: double dissociation.

91
Q

what does alzheimers disease affect?

A

Alzheimer’s disease damages medial temporal lobe, especially hippocampus: impaired on episodic memory

92
Q

what does semantic dementia impact?

A

Semantic dementia damages lateral temporal lobe: impaired on semantic memory.

93
Q

what is cerebral lateralisation?

A

the tendency for one of the two hemispheres to excel at a particular skill or function

94
Q

what are the methods used to determine lateralization of cognitive function?

A
  1. Neuropsychology & neuroimagingstudies
  2. Lateralised input in healthy participants
  3. Split brain patients
95
Q

what are examples of neuropsychology + neuroimaging studies?

A

Lesion studies
Wada test
TMS
fMRI

96
Q

what is the WADA test?

A
  • Used before brain surgery to determine patient’s language-lateralisation.
  • Sodium amytal (delivered via carotid artery)anaesthetises one hemisphere temporarily.
  • Most people (left- and right-handers) are left-lateralised for language; a small number (higher proportion of left-handers than of right-handers)are right-lateralised
97
Q

what is TMS?

A
  • Determined lateralisation via blood-flow during language task.
  • TMS slowed picture-word verification only for appropriate hemisphere.
98
Q

what are the two types of studies used for determining lateralised input in healthy patients?

A

Tachistoscopic / z-lens studies (vision)

Dichotic listening studies (audition)

99
Q

how does visual stimuli travel for lateralised visual input?

A
  • Visual stimuli reach the contralateral hemisphere before the ipsilateral hemisphere.
  • So performance is improved by presenting stimuli to the visual field contralateral to the specialised hemisphere.
  • Compare performance for left and right presentation to indicate specialised hemisphere(contralateral to input).
  • In healthy people, information passes between hemispheres so this is just a relative advantage
100
Q

what problem do tachistiscopic and z-lens studies eliminate?

A

The results are often weak because we can move our eyes, so input was not restricted to one hemisphere.

101
Q

what are tachistoscopic studies?

A
  • Stimuli are presented very briefly so that the subjects do not have the time to move their eyes towards the stimulus.
  • Depending on the stimuli/task, performance maybe better in the left or right visual field.
102
Q

what did hunter and brysbaert find?

A

Tachistoscopic word-reading predicts dominant hemisphere for language (validated against fMRI activation for word-generation)

103
Q

is auditory input lateralised?

A

yes

104
Q

what are dichotic listening studies?

A

present two different sounds to each ear simultaneously

  • Right-ear advantage for dichotic presentation.
  • Right ear advantages in dichotic tasks:
  • Numbers
  • Words
  • Nonsense syllables, e.g. “ba”, “ga
  • Left ear advantages in dichotic tasks:
  • Musical sounds (e.g. chords or melodies)
105
Q

what gap in research do split-brain patients fill?

A

they are helpful as info gets rapidly transferred between hemispheres – effects are subtle.

106
Q

what are split brain patients?

A

“Split-brain” patients have their corpus callosum cut surgically (to relieve intractable epilepsy).

  • Language, visuospatial skills & IQ are largely unaffected.
  • Impairments can be demonstrated with careful testing
107
Q

how do you test split brain patients?

A
  • Procedures are similar to tachistoscopic studies in healthy volunteers – e.g. still need to control for eye movements.
  • But results are much more striking – e.g.,complete lack of ability rather than subtle differences in performance.

Psychology - Concepts and Theories (4 decks)

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