Cerebral Cortex Anatomy and Function

Question 1

What separates the

1. Frontal and parietal lobes
2. Temporal and frontal/parietal lobes
3. Occipital and parietal lobes

Answer 1

1. Central sulcus
2. Lateral/Sylvian fissure
3. Parieto-occipital sulcus

Question 2

Insular cortex

Answer 2

Located between the temporal and parietal lobe
Buried within the lateral sulcus
Contains the primary gustatory cortex
Has important connections to language and visual-vestibular integration

Question 3

Primary vs association cortex

Answer 3

Primary: responsible for a specific, singular function
Association: received info from primary areas and is involved in higher-order processing, integrating and interpreting information

Question 4

Praxis

Answer 4

The ability to execute learned, purposeful movements

For both right and left limbs its usually programmed in the dominant hemisphere

Question 5

Visuospatial skills and attention

Answer 5

The right hemisphere attends to both the left and right sides of the body
The left hemisphere only attends to the right
This is why if you get a stroke in the R parietal lobe, you get left hemineglect

Question 6

Frontal eye fields

Answer 6

Located in the premotor/prefrontal junctional
Role in eye movements and selective attention
Generates saccades in the contralateral direction
Ex: stroke in R, can’t move L, will look towards the lesion

Question 7

3 major domains of the prefrontal cortex

Answer 7

Restraint (orbito-prefrontal cortex)
Initiative (medial prefrontal cortex)
Order (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex)

Question 8

Broca’s area

Answer 8

Dominant hemisphere (frontal lobe)
Area where the motor program that activates particular sequences of sounds to produce words and sentences is formulated
Production of language

Question 9

Apraxia

Answer 9

Loss of praxis
Not due to primary motor or sensory deficit
Comprehension, attention and motivation are intact
Its a motor sequence problem
Usually from left frontal (or parietal) lesion, often with language impairment

Question 10

Visual agnosia

Answer 10

Impairment in recognition of visually presented objects

But can identify them when tested in other sensory modalities

Question 11

Astereognosis

Answer 11

Inability to recognize objects by touch in the hand contralateral to the lesion

Question 12

Agraphesthesia

Answer 12

Inability to recognize letters or numbers traced on the skin (palm)

Question 13

Non-dominant lesions can cause…. CANADA

Answer 13

Constructional apraxia (inability to accurately copy drawings or 3D constructions)
Neglect
Anosognosia (unawareness of disability)
Dressing apraxia (difficulty orienting clothes and body parts appropriately to put on clothes)

Question 14

Agraphia

Answer 14

Impairment in writing ability

Question 15

Wernicke’s area

Answer 15

Temporal lobes
Where particular sequences of sounds are identified and comprehended as meaningful words
Comprehension of language

Question 16

What is the connection between Broca’s and Wernicke’s area called? What is it important for?

Answer 16

Arcuate fasciculus

Repetition

Question 17

Dysarthria

Answer 17

Impaired articulation of speech that is otherwise linguistically normal

Question 18

Paraphasias

Answer 18

Inappropriately substituted words or syllables

Can be semantic (similar in meaning) or phonemic (sounds similar)

Question 19

Prosody

Answer 19

The affected elements of speech
Tone of voice
Used to convey emotion

Question 20

6 important elements of speech to test (and which 3 are most important*)

Answer 20

Fluency*
Comprehension*
Repetition*
Naming
Writing
Reading

Question 21

Anomia

Answer 21

Inability to name objects

Question 22

Aphasia

Answer 22

An impairment of language caused by brain dysfunction
Usually of the dominant (left) cerebral hemisphere
Affects both spoken and written language

Question 23

Broca’s aphasia

fluency, comprehension, repetition

Answer 23

Impaired fluency, effortful speech
Comprehension relatively intact
Impaired repetition

Question 24

Wernicke’s aphasia

fluency, comprehension, repetition

Answer 24

Fluency is relatively intact but empty (meaningless and full of paraphrasic errors)
Impaired comprehension
Impaired repetition

Question 25

Global aphasia

fluency, comprehension, repetition

Answer 25

All components of language are affected
Nonfluent/absent speech production
Impaired comprehension
Impaired repetition
Usually due to a large lesion involving both Broca's and Wernicke's

Question 26

Conduction aphasia

fluency, comprehension, repetition

Answer 26

Damage to peri-Sylvian areas affecting arcuate fasiculus
Fluent speech
Comprehension mostly preserved
Repetition severely imparied

Question 27

Anomic aphasia

fluency, comprehension, repetition

Answer 27

Impaired naming and occasional paraphrasias
Fluent speech
Intact comprehension
Repetition is good

Question 28

What do we use as a screening test for aphasias?

Answer 28

Naming! It’s impaired in all of them