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Psychology 479 > Chapter 12 - Individual Differences in Cerebral Organization > Flashcards

Chapter 12 - Individual Differences in Cerebral Organization Flashcards

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1
Q

In what ways can brain organization vary?

A
  • Size (tied to body size)
  • Gyral patterns
  • Gray and white matter distribution
  • Cytoarchitecture (structure of cells)
  • Vascular patterns
  • Neurochemistry
  • Functional asymmetries
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2
Q

What biological factors influence cerebral organization?

A
  • Handedness (was the brain initially right-handed, or did it become right-handed)
  • Sex
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3
Q

What environmental factors influence cerebral organization?

A
  • Culture and language
  • Experiences (conception onward)
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4
Q

Which percentage of the population is left-handed?

A
  • Around 10-30%
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5
Q

By week 10 gestational age, which percentage of fetuses show preference for right-hand movements?

A
  • 75%
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6
Q

By week 15 GA, which percentage of fetuses prefer right thumb sucking?

A
  • 90%
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7
Q

T/F: Left-handers tend to be less lateralized in their hand dominance.

A
  • TRUE
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8
Q

What’s the type of association found between handedness and the size of corpus callosum?

A
  • It’s a negative association
  • As the handedness lateralization increases, the size of the corpus callosum decreases, specifically in the middle and anterior portions
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9
Q

What did Branch et al. (1964) discover regarding left-handedness cerebral organization?

A
  • Used a sodium amobarbital procedure
  • Left hemisphere dominance for language in 70% of left-handers
  • Right hemisphere in 15%
  • Bilaterally in 15%
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10
Q

What did Hecauen and Sauget (1971) discover in familial vs. non-familial left-handers?

A
  • Non-familial with unilateral lesions resemble right-handers on neuropsychological tests
  • Familial left-handers tend to perform differently than right-handers
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11
Q

What are some general sex differences in cerebral organization?

A
  • Women tend to be more fluent in language
  • Men tend to perform better in spatial analysis
  • These are not absolute.
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12
Q

T/F: Individual differences within each sex are larger than overall sex differences.

A
  • TRUE
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13
Q

Which sex performs better at fine motor skills?

A
  • Females
  • Males tend to do better at target throwing and catching
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14
Q

T/F: Men are generally better at perception.

A
  • FALSE
  • Females are
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15
Q

Which sex tends to do better in verbal abilities?

A
  • Females
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16
Q

T/F: Males are better at remembering misplaced objects.

A
  • FALSE
  • Females are
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17
Q

T/F: Men are better at mentally finding a geometric form in a complex picture

A
  • TRUE
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18
Q

What results can be derived from a tabletop map for route learning?

A
  • Males learn routes in fewer trials
  • Females recall more landmarks along the way
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19
Q

In the Draw-a-Bicycle test, who performs better?

A
  • Boys do
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20
Q

In the Rey complex figure test, who performs better?

A
  • There is no difference, they perform the same
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21
Q

In the Chicago Word Fluency test, who performs better?

A
  • Girls outperform the boys
22
Q

Does experience matter when it comes to sex-related differences in behaviour?

A
  • Training effects do occur, but are of similar magnitude in both sexes.
  • Ex. Women consistently underperform in Piaget’s water-level task even with training.
23
Q

What are brain differences favouring female brains?

A
  • Larger language areas
  • Larger medial paralimbic areas (ex. cingulate)
  • Larger lateral frontal areas
  • Greater relative amount of gray matter
  • More densely packed neurons in temporal lobe
  • More gyri
  • Thicker cortex
24
Q

What are brain differences favouring male brains?

A
  • Marger medial frontal areas
  • Larger amygdala and hypothalamus
  • Larger overall white matter volume
  • Larger cerebral ventricles
  • Larger right planum parietale
  • More neurons overall
  • Larger brain due to larger body size
25
Q

What are some differences in relative surface area between male and female brains?

A
  • Prefrontal cortex (larger in females)
  • Orbitofrontal cortex (larger in males)
  • Medial prefrontal cortex (larger in males)
  • Angular gyrus (larger in males
  • Cingulate (larger in females)
26
Q

T/F: Asymmetry in Wernicke’s area is more common in women than in men.

A
  • FALSE
  • More common in men
27
Q

T/F: Horizontal component of left Sylvian fissure is more asymmetrical in men than women.

A
  • TRUE
28
Q

Which sex has more interhemispheric connections?

A
  • Females
29
Q

Which sexes show greater connectivity in which hemisphere?

A
  • Males show greater connectivity in the right hemisphere
  • Females show greater connectivity in the left hemisphere.
30
Q

T/F: A”female” or “male” brain cannot be identified by looking at any specific brain region

A
  • TRUE
31
Q

Which sex has greater intrahemispheric connectivity?

A
  • Males
32
Q

How can hormones contribute to sex differences?

A
  • Gonads synthesize sex hormones (i.e., androgens and estrogens)
  • Sexual differentiation of genitalia occurs in first 2 months of gestation (i.e., body sex)
  • Sexual differentiation of brain begins at about 4.5 months GA
33
Q

What’s the difference between inductive/organizing effects of hormones versus activational effects of hormones during brain development?

A
  • Inductive/organizing effects - lead to physical sexual differentiation during early (perinatal) development
  • Activational effects - trigger particular physiological and behavioural responses
34
Q

Which enzyme is responsible for converting androgens into estrogen (estrodial) during brain development?

A
  • Aromatase
35
Q

What happens when a surge of testosterone is administered to a rodent during the sensitive period of perinatal development?

A
  • The testosterone binds to androgen receptors AND estradiol receptors, which leads to masculinization
36
Q

T/F: It is the absence of a testosterone surge that leads to feminization.

A
  • TRUE
37
Q

How do luteinizing hormone pulses differ from males and females?

A
  • They are non-existent in males
  • They occur during ovulation
38
Q

Which comes first, sexual genitalia differentiation or sex brain differentiation?

A
  • Sexual differentiation of the genitalia occurs before sexual differentiation of the brain.
39
Q

T/F: Inductive/organization effects are irreversible.

A

-TRUE

40
Q

When is the sensitive period for brain sex differentiation?

A
  • E18 – PN10
41
Q

T/F: Brain sex is female by default unless there is exogenous or endogenous exposure to androgens

A
  • TRUE
42
Q

Why is aromatase important for masculinizing the rodent brain?

A
  • It converts testosterone to estradiol to masculinize the rodent brain.
43
Q

How does estrogen fluctuate throughout the menstrual cycle?

A
  • Low point first day of menses
  • Highest just prior to ovulation
44
Q

What can high levels of estrogen contribute to?

A
  • Diminished spatial ability
  • Enhanced articulatory and motor capabilities.
45
Q

What did Woolley et al. (1990) discover regarding estrogen and neuronal structure in the rodent brain?

A
  • When estrogen levels are high, rat hippocampal neurons develop more spines compared to when estrogen levels are low.
46
Q

How do testosterone levels fluctuate in men?

A
  • Levels are higher in fall vs Spring
  • Higher in morning vs evening
  • Declines with age
  • Men with average testosterone levels perform best on spatial and mathematical reasoning tasks
47
Q

T/F: The sex hormones that an individual is exposed to during the perinatal sensitive period can limit how adult brains respond when exposed to hormones later in life.

A
  • TRUE
48
Q

T/F: Late maturing adolescents perform better on verbal tasks.

A
  • FALSE
  • Early maturing adolescents do
49
Q

What do late maturing adolescents perform better at?

A
  • Spatial tasks
50
Q

Do hormones or experience play a bigger role in developing sex-related cognitive differences?

A
  • Hormones play a bigger role than experience
51
Q

T/F: The female rat hippocampus is more plastic in novel environments than the male rat hippocampus due to the plasticity triggered by estrogen.

A
  • TRUE

Psychology 479 (13 decks)

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