Cerebral Cortex and Cognition

Question 1

Top of the brain

Answer 1

Dorsal

Question 2

Bottom of the brain

Answer 2

Ventral

Question 3

What is grey matter?

Answer 3

neuronal cell bodies

Question 4

What is white matter

Answer 4

neuronal axons

Question 5

What is the Corona radiate?

Answer 5

projection fibres from the cortex to the brainstem

Question 6

What is the cortex?

Answer 6

outer layer of the cerebrum (grey matter)
Info into the cortex = sensory
info out of the cortex = motor

Question 7

What do interneurons do?

Answer 7

connect different neurons together (pathways within the brain) – allow different areas of brain to work together

Question 8

What are the 4 main lobes of the brain

Answer 8

Frontal, Parietal, Temporal, Occipital

Question 9

Where is the limbic system located?

Answer 9

on the medial surface of the cerebral hemisphere

Question 10

Where is the insula located?

Answer 10

in the lateral fissure, deep to the frontal, parietal and temporal lobes

Question 11

How is the cerebral cortex organised?

Answer 11

In hierarchical regions connected with white matter tracts.

Question 12

What are the primary cortices?

Answer 12

The bottom of the cortex hierachy, primary cortices support basic functions - direct motor control and low level sensory perception. They are unimodel

Question 13

What comes after the primary cortices in the cortex hierarchy

Answer 13

Unimodal Association Cortex (next to Primary Motor and sensory areas) - concerned with more advanced stages of information processing (e.g. integration of sensory information)

Question 14

What does the unimodal sensory association do?

Answer 14

Receives input from the primary sensory cortex

Question 15

What does the unimodal motor association do?

Answer 15

sends input to the primary motor cortex.

Question 16

Types of White Matter Fibres? (3)

Answer 16

Projection fibres, association fibres, and commissural fibres

Question 17

What do projection fibres do?

Answer 17

Connect cerebral cortex to structures lower down

Question 18

What do association fibres do?

Answer 18

Connect areas of cortex within the same hemisphere

Question 19

What do commissural fibres do?

Answer 19

Connect areas of cortex in opposite hemispheres?

Question 20

What are cortio-cortical regions?

Answer 20

White matter tracts connection regions of cerebral cortex

Question 21

What does the heteromodal association cortex do?

Answer 21

it is involved in advanced mental processes that are not confined to a single sensory or motor modality. They are located strategically

Question 22

What are the paralimbic and limbic cortices?

Answer 22

They are a separate system that interactions with adjacent association cortex regions. These regions are located predominately in the limbic lobe and are involved in memory and emotion processing.

Question 23

What are the two stages of object recognition?

Answer 23

Apperceptive stage: forming perceptual representation of an object
Associative stage: meaning is attached

Question 24

what is bottom up perception?

Answer 24

Driven by sensory input

Question 25

What is top down perception?

Answer 25

Driven by cognitive control mechanisms | Top down processes can 'fill in the blanks' and create the perception of something that is not physically present

Question 26

What are the main functions of the occipital lobe?

Answer 26

Visual perception (including colour and motion perception) Visual Object Recognition (ventral visual pathway) Visuospatial processing (dorsal visual pathway) Reading

Question 27

What can a lesion of the occipital cortex result in?

Answer 27

Cortical blindness (inability to perceive visual stimuli) Visual agnoisa (inability to recognise objects by slight alone) Inability to perceive colour or movement Visual hallucinations Alexia (reading impairment)

Question 28

What are the main functions of the parietal lobe?

Answer 28

Somatosensory processing Spatial processing, awareness and attention Number knowledge Knowledge about the manipulation of objects Language (inferior parietal cortex)

Question 29

Can can a lesion in EITHER parietal cortex result in?

Answer 29

On CONTRALATERAL side: Asterognosis - inability to recognise objects by touch alone Agraphaesthesia - inability to identify by touch shapes drawn on the skin Exinction phenomena - inability to percieve touch simulatonsiouly on both sides of the body Hemisensory loss

Question 30

Lesions of dominant parietal cortex result in..

Answer 30

Aphasia Acalculia Apraxia Gerstmann syndrome - acalculia, agraphia, finger anomia, impaired left/right distinction

Question 31

Lesion of non-dominant parietal cortex results in..

Answer 31

spatial disorientation constructional apraxia dressing apraxia hemispatial neglect

Question 32

Main functions of temporal lobe?

Answer 32

Auditory perception visual perception and visual object recognition language comprehension long term memory storage and retrieval

Question 33

Lesions of dominant temporal cortex result in...

Answer 33

``` Language impairment - aphasia alexia auditory hallucinations auditory agnosia impaired verbal memory ```

Question 34

Lesions of non-dominant temporal cortex results in..

Answer 34

Impaired musical ability phonagnosia - inability to recognise voices prosopagnosia - inability to recognise faces

Question 35

Functions of frontal cortex (prefrontal cortex anterior to premotor cortex)

Answer 35

initiation of desired activity/behavior - motivation, creatively, flexibility inhibition of unwanted behaviours - judgement, delayed gratification, concentration, self control Imposition of order - abstract reasoning, theory of mind, planning cognitive control

Question 36

Lesion of frontal cortex result in...

Answer 36

``` impaired motor function (on opposite side) disinhibition impulsivity loss of motivation (abulia) altered personality poor attention span, distractability poor working memory poor executive control aphasia ```

Question 37

Functions of the limbic cortex (i.e. hippocampus, amygdala, etc)

Answer 37

Memory (encoding, long term storage and retrieval of episodic and autobiographical memories) Emotion regulation and processing

Question 38

Lesions of Limbic Cortex result in:

Answer 38

Amnesia (retrograde vs. anterograde) complex hallucinations semantic impairment emotional dysregulation