Cerebral Cortex

Question 1

The following is true about the cerebral cortex, EXCEPT:

a. makes up half the brain’s weight
b. has roles in abstract thinking, language, and adapting to our environment
c. is made up of the neocortex, paleocortex, and archicortex
d. has a laminar and columnar organization
e. has a variety of neuron types, the most prevalent being non-pyramidal cells

Answer 1

e. has a variety of neuron types, the most prevalent being non-pyramidal cells
- pyramidal cells are the most prevalent

Question 2

In determining the difference between pyramidal and non-pyramidal cells in the cortex, the following can be used:

a. pyramidal cells typically have long axons, and non-pyramidal cells typically have short axons that remain in the cortex
b. pyramidal cells make inhibitory (glutamate) synapses, and non-pyramidal cells are mainly excitatory (GABA) synapses
c. pyramidal cells make excitatory (glutamate) synapses, and non-pyramidal cells are mainly inhibitory (GABA) synapses
d. Both a and b
e. Both a and c

Answer 2

e. Both a and c

Question 3

Dendritic spines are the preferential site of excitatory synapses and are associated with non-pyramidal cells

a. the first statement is false, the second statement is true
b. the first statement is true, the second statement is false
c. both statements are true
d. both statements are false

Answer 3

b. the first statement is true, the second statement is false
- pyramidal cells

Question 4

Match the following distinctions to either a) apical dendrite or b) basal dendrites

1. One/cell
2. several/cell
3. extend horizontally in cortex layer
4. extend to top layer of the cortex

Answer 4

1. a
2. b
3. b
4. a

Question 5

1) Spiny stellate cells generally have excitatory, glutaminergic synapses with pyramidal cells and receive most of the afferent input from the thalamus, while 2) smooth stellate cells receive recurrent collateral branches from pyramidal cells (inhibitory, GABAergic synapses with pyramidal cells)

a. The first statement is true, the second is false
b. The first statement is false, the second is true
c. Both statements are FALSE
d. Both statements are TRUE

Answer 5

d. Both statements are TRUE

Question 6

Neocortex can be described as all of the following EXCEPT:

a. the majority of the cortex
b. cortical region for muscle tone
c. 6 layers
d. isocortex
e. homogenetic cortex

Answer 6

b. cortical region for muscle tone
- the neocortex is for coordination of movements, while the paleocortex is associated with olfaction and muscle tone
(archicortex: most of hippocampus, posture and equilibrium)

Question 7

Bipolar cells are:

a. a type of non-pyramidal cells
b. located mainly in the outer layers
c. contain peptides co-released with GABA
d. all of the above

Answer 7

d. all of the above

Question 8

Which of the following is not a source of afferents to the cortex?

a. cholinergic & aminergic fibers from basal forebrain, brainstem, and hypothalamus
b. non-specific thalamocortical fibers from intralaminar nuclei
c. commissural fibers from medium sized pyramidal cells via corpus callosum or anterior commissure
d. thalamocortical fibers from relay or association nuclei
e. long association fibers, but not short association fibers

Answer 8

e. long association fibers, but not short association fibers

association fibers long and short from small & medium sized pyramidal cells in other parts of ipsilateral cortex

Question 9

The corpus callosum is the predominant interconnection between ________ and _____, and is the largest bundle of fibers in the brain.

a. right hemisphere and left hemisphere
b. temporal lobes, inferiorly
c. temporal lobe and anterior olfactory nuclei
d. none of the above

Answer 9

a. right hemisphere and left hemisphere

anterior commissure interconnects temporal lobes (inferior) and anterior olfactory nuclei*

Question 10

All parts of the brain receive commissural fibers EXCEPT:

a. hand area of somatosensory cortex & motor cortex
b. parts of the primary visual cortex
c. both a and b
d. none of the above

Answer 10

c. both a and b

Question 11

A 45 yo male patient presents with right homonymous hemianopia, and when asked to read his name aloud after writing it on paper, he is unable to communicate what he has written.

a. This patient most likely suffers from alexia with agraphia, possibly from gray matter damage
b. This patient presents with alexia without agraphia, caused potentially by white matter damage
c. Stroke could have caused this damage
d. a and c
e. b and c

Answer 11

e. b and c

Question 12

In the patient that could write his name but not read it aloud:

a. visual cortex is damaged, as well as language areas
b. visual cortex is not damaged, but language areas are damaged, so speech is affected
c. visual cortex is damaged, but language areas are intact, so speech is unaffected
d. neither the visual or language areas are damaged

Answer 12

c. visual cortex is damaged, but language areas are intact, so speech is unaffected

Question 13

Pyramidal cells are

a. The most prevalent type of neuron
b. cells with long axons to other cortical areas and subcortical sites
c. excitatory synapses
d. the principle projection neurons of the cortex
e. All of the above

Answer 13

e. All of the above

Question 14

The following statements apply to nonpyramidal cells EXCEPT one:

a. nonpyramidal cells are all cortical neurons that are not pyramidal cells
b. tend to have short axons that remain in the cortex
c. are diverse, most making inhibitory synapses
d. are the principle neurons of the cortex

Answer 14

d. are the principle neurons of the cortex

* principle INTERneurons

Question 15

All of the following are true regarding nonpyramidal cell types EXCEPT:

a. spiny stellate cells are generally excitatory, synapses with pyramidal cells
b. spiny stellate cells receive most of the afferent input from thalamus (and other cortical areas)
c. smooth stellate cells are mostly inhibitory GABAergic synapses with pyramidal cells
d. smooth stellate cells receive recurrent collateral branches from nonpyramidal cells
e. smooth stellate cells silence weakly active cell columns in the cortex, much like the focusing action of Golgi cells in the cerebellar cortex

Answer 15

d. smooth stellate cells receive recurrent collateral branches from nonpyramidal cells

branches from PYRAMIDAL cells

Question 16

True or False: All efferents are pyramidal cell axons and all are excitatory

Answer 16

TRUE

Question 17

Regarding efferents from the cortex, which statement is/are true?

a. can be short associations, like from sensory cortex to motor cortex
b. may be long associations, like from the prefrontal cortex to motor cortex
c. fibers form primary sensory and motor cortex make up largest input to basal ganglia
d. commissural fibers are those from the contralateral cerebrum via corpus callosum and anterior commissure
e. all of the above are true regarding efferents from the cortex

Answer 17

e. all of the above are true regarding efferents from the cortex

Question 18

Association bundles _________, short bundles known as ____, long fibers traveling to ______

a. interconnect areas of one hemisphere, U-fibers, different lobes
b. interconnect areas between hemispheres, U-fibers, the same lobe
c. interconnect areas of one hemisphere, U-fibers, the same lobe
d. interconnect areas between hemispheres, U-fibers, different lobes

Answer 18

a. interconnect areas of one hemisphere, U-fibers, different lobes

Question 19

The neocortex shows regional specialization, for example with the precentral gyrus, or _________, and postcentral gyrus, or _________

a. granular primary motor cortex, agranular primary somatosensory cortex
b. granular primary somatosensory cortex, agranular primary motor cortex
c. agranular primary somatosensory cortex, granular primary motor cortex
d. agranular primary motor cortex, granular primary somatosensory cortex

Answer 19

d. agranular primary motor cortex, granular primary somatosensory cortex

Question 20

Areas of the neocortex that send off long axons have _____ pyramidal cells. Primary sensory areas project to ____ and have _____ pyramidal cells.

a. more, nearby cortex, fewer (no need for long axons)
b. less, far away cortex, more (need long axons)
c. more, far away cortex, fewer (no need for long axons)
d. less, nearby cortex, more (need long axons)

Answer 20

a. more, nearby cortex, fewer (no need for long axons)

Question 21

True or False: granular and agranular cortex is regularly distributed

Answer 21

FALSE: irregularly distributed

Question 22

Which of the following statements is incorrect regarding types of cortical regions?

a. Primary motor areas- areas that give rise to much of the spinothalamic tract
b. Primary sensory areas- receive information from thalamic sensory relay nuclei
c. Limbic and association areas are also types of cortical regions
d. none of the above are incorrect

Answer 22

a. Primary motor areas- areas that give rise to much of the spinothalamic tract

primary motor areas give rise to much of the CORTICOSPINAL tract!

Question 23

Which statements are true regarding the parietal lobe?

a. contains primary somatosensory cortex (postcentral gyrus)
b. site of initial processing of tactile and proprioceptive information
c. the inferior parietal lobule of one hemisphere is involved with language comprehension, typically the right
d. the rest of the parietal cortex is involved in complex aspects of spatial orientation and directing attention
e. a, b, and d

Answer 23

e. a, b, and d

c is incorrect because language is gernelaly associated with the LEFT inferior parietal lobule

Question 24

The occipital lobe:

a. contains the primary visual cortex (striate cortex), in the banks of the calcarine sulcus
b. is known as the visual association cortex
c. is involved in higher order visual processing
d. experiencing a bilateral injury to the inferior occipital lobe causes color blindness
e. all of the above

Answer 24

e. all of the above

Regarding d: Bilateral injury to inferior occipital lobe causes color blindness, bilateral injury to occipital-temporal junction causes motion blindness

Question 25

Regarding vision and visual fields, which statement is false?

a. Fibers from nasal half of retina enter ipsilateral optic tract, and fibers from temporal half of retina cross to contralateral optic tract
b. Fibers from temporal half of retina enter ipsilateral optic tract, and fibers from nasal half of retina cross to contralateral optic tract
c. each optic tract “sees” the contralateral visual field
d. for depth perception, one must examine comparable areas of both retinas, which is accomplished by chiasm

Answer 25

a. Fibers from nasal half of retina enter ipsilateral optic tract, and fibers from temporal half of retina cross to contralateral optic tract

Question 26

Any given point in the visual field is represented as a column in all 6 layers because of this:

a. LGN in a 6 layered retinotopic arrangement with the same pattern in each layer
b. LGN in a 6 layered retinotopic arrangement with different patterns in each layer
c. LCN in a 6 layered retinotopic arrangement with different patterns in each layer
d. LCN in a 6 layered retinotopic arrangement with the same pattern in each layer

Answer 26

a. LGN in a 6 layered retinotopic arrangement with the same pattern in each layer

Question 27

LGN projects to _______, with fibers representing ____ visual fields in the most superior radiations, and fibers representing _____ visual fields in the most inferior radiations

a. primary visual cortex, superior, inferior
b. primary somatosensory cortex, inferior, superior
c. primary visual cortex, inferior, superior
d. primary somatosensory cortex, superior, inferior

Answer 27

c. primary visual cortex, inferior, superior

Question 28

Which of the following statements about optic radiations is FALSE:

a. inferior visual fields end above calcarine sulcus, superior visual fields below the calcarine sulcus
b. macula is represented most posteriorly
c. peripheral fields end anteriorly
d. none of the above

Answer 28

d. none of the above

Question 29

Primary visual cortex:

a. breaks visual info down into component parts of orientation, color, depth, motion, and brightness
b. distributes visual info to specialized parts of the extrastriate cortex
c. is an example of simultaneous, parallel processing
d. all of the above

Answer 29

d. all of the above

Question 30

Cortex has a columnar organization because

a. Neurons are functionally arranged in columns that extend radially thru all 6 horizontal layers
b. all of the neurons in each column are modality-specific
c. One column may respond to movement of a particular joint, another a patch of skin, the orientation of an object in the visual field
d. Striate (primary visual) cortex has an array of repeated, modular collections of neurons arranged in columns
e. All of the above are true

Answer 30

e. All of the above are true

Question 31

Columns in one _____ analyze all aspects of visual information arriving from discrete areas of visual field.

Modules in _____ part analyze small areas of visual field, so ___ has many more modules and therefore better ______

Answer 31

cortical module, foveal, fovea, resolution

Question 32

Match the following to the correct visual information stream (process starts in LGN):

a. ventral stream
b. dorsal stream

1. parvocellular layers (color, form)
2. magnocellular layers (location, movement)
3. dorsal striate cortex
4. ventral striate cortex

Answer 32

1. a
2. b
3. b
4. a

Question 33

Selective damage to extrastriate cortex can lead to:

a. strange visual deficits: selective deficit in distinguishing colors, motion, faces
b. common visual deficits: blindness in temporal fields
c. strange visual deficits: selective deficits in distinguishing motion and faces, but not color
d. common visual deficits: blindness in both eyes

Answer 33

a. strange visual deficits: selective deficit in distinguishing colors, motion, faces

Question 34

The following apply to the temporal lobe and its functions correctly:

a. Primary auditory cortex: transverse temporal gyri superior surface of superior temporal gyrus
b. Auditory association cortex
c. Language comprehension, Wernicke’s area- posterior aspect of one hemisphere (usually left)
d. Higher order visual processing
e. All of the above

Answer 34

e. All of the above

Question 35

Broca’s area is part of the ____ lobe, and is responsible for _______

Answer 35

FRONTAL lobe (also executive functioning, personality, foresight, insight)
Broca = production of spoken and written language 

(Brrrr it’s frrrreezing) vs (W-EAR-nicke = auditory = temporal)

Question 36

_________ mediate higher mental functions , including music, art and language

Answer 36

association areas

Question 37

_______ association cortex is adjacent to the primary area, fitting because it is devoted to elaborating on business of primary area.

Answer 37

UNIMODAL

Question 38

_______ association cortex is associated with high level intellectual functions, and involves the inferior parietal lobule, as well as much of the frontal and temporal lobes

Answer 38

multimodal

Question 39

the dominant hemisphere is described in terms of its ability to _________, most frequently the left hemisphere, including in left handed people.

Answer 39

produces and comprehends language

Question 40

Which of the following are considered Perisylvian language areas?

a. Broca’s area in inferior frontal gyrus (opercular and triangular parts)
b. Wernicke’s area in posterior part of superior temporal gyrus, continuing into planum temporale and inferior parietal lobule
c. a and b
d. neither are correct

Answer 40

c. a and b

Question 41

Aphasia is ________

Answer 41

Inability to use language, lose the use of or access to symbols humans use as concepts, i.e. words

Question 42

Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas provide framework for __#___ broad types of aphasia classified depending on _______

Answer 42

2 broad types, depends on how easily words are produced:

1) Nonfluent
2) Fluent

Question 43

Nonfluent aphasia is not associated with which of the following?

a. patient presenting with difficulty speaking due to challenge in forming sentences and producing words
b. patient’s ability to comprehend language
c. damage to Wernicke’s area
d. ability to get by using phrases

Answer 43

c. damage to Wernicke’s area

BROCA’S (nonfluent = Broken language, aka fragments)

aka Broca’s aphasia

Question 44

A 58 year old male presents with the ability to both write and speak, but often uses one letter or word for another. He tends to make up words and lacks the ability to comprehend what others are saying to him at the level he should. Where is his lesion most likely?

a. Broca’s area
b. Wernicke’s area
c. caudal midbrain
d. none of the above

Answer 44

b. Wernicke’s area

aka Wernicke’s aphasia

Question 45

_______ interconnects Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area. Damage to Wernicke’s leaves Broca _____

Answer 45

Arcuate fasciculus, unchecked

Question 46

Match the following to a) damage to Broca’s area or b) damage to Wernicke’s area or c) both

1. comprehension of language unaffected
2. perisylvian language area
3. words generated but no meaning
4. Broca’s area is unchecked
5. motor areas are deprived of ability to generate language, but other muscle function unimpaired for other activities

Answer 46

1. a
2. c
3. b
4. b
5. a

Question 47

____, or the musical aspects of speech, is produced in the ____ hemisphere, by the _____ gyrus. Difficulty comprehending emotional content of speech from others is known as _____.

Answer 47

prosody, right hemisphere, (right) inferior frontal gyrus

sensory aprosody

Question 48

Damage to these areas can cause sensory specific agnosias

Answer 48

unimodal areas:

-visual association cortex, auditory association cortex, somatosensory

Question 49

Inability to recognize faces and perceive movement is known as ______, and is associated with ______ areas in the ____ cortex

a. visual agnosias, unimodal, occipital
b. a visual field deficit, multimodal, frontal
c. cortical blindness, unimodal, parietal
d. visual agnosias, unimodal, parietal
e. cortical blindness, multimodal, frontal

Answer 49

d. visual agnosias, unimodal, parietal

Question 50

Multimodal areas are (1) centered on the intraparietal sulcus in the parietal cortex and (2) monitor relationships of the body with the outside world

a. the first statement is true, but the second statement is false
b. the first statement is false, but the second statement is true
c. both statements are true
d. both statements are false

Answer 50

c. both statements are true

Question 51

A patient presents with contralateral neglect and denies anything is wrong with left limb, convinced it belongs to someone else. Where in the cortex would you suspect damage?

a. in the left parietal lobe
b. in the right parietal lobe
c. in the left frontal lobe
d. in the right frontal lobe
e. there is not enough information to answer the question

Answer 51

b. in the right parietal lobe

Question 52

A patient that has experienced damage to their left parietal cortex may experience which of the following (select all that apply)?

a. apraxias (many types)
b. inability to scratch an itch on their face, but no problem repeating examiner’s demonstration to touch finger to face
c. ability to scratch an itch on their face, but problem repeating examiner’s demonstration to touch finger to face
d. planning movements with accuracy from sensory information
e. inability to perform some actions

Answer 52

all are typical of left parietal lobe damage

Question 53

The prefrontal cortex is defined as _____, and controls the activities of _____ areas, underlying executive functions. Prefrontal cortex is interconnected with _______ nucleus of the ______

Answer 53

frontal lobe anterior to primary motor and and supplemental motor cortices, controls activities of OTHER cortical areas.

interconnected with dorsomedial nucleus of THALAMUS

Question 54

The two broad areas of the prefrontal cortex are known as 1) the ____ portion, or that over the lateral convexity, which has an important role in working memory, solving problems, and maintaining attention, and 2) the ______ portion, which extends to ____ and anterior cingulate areas. Damage to (2) makes people impulsive and unable to suppress inappropriate emotions and responses.

Answer 54

DORSOLATERAL

VENTROMEDIAL, extends to orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate areas