Chapter 15 - Temporal Lobe

Question 1

What are the subdivisions of the temporal lobe

Answer 1

3 gyri = superior, middle, and inferior temporal gyrus
includes auditory and visual areas (inferotemporal cortex)
fusiform gyrus that contains FFA
parahippocampal gyrus and hippocampus

Question 2

What is the function of the superior temporal gyrus

Answer 2

auditory processing and language comprehension
includes wernickes area

Question 3

What is the function of the middle temporal gyrus

Answer 3

semantic processing, language comprehension, and visual processing

Question 4

What is the function of inferior temporal gyrus

Answer 4

visual object recognition
visual memory

Question 5

What is the function of parahippocampal gyrus

Answer 5

memory encoding and retrieval, scene recognition, spatial memory

Question 6

What is the function of the auditory cortex

Answer 6

processes auditory information
pitch and volume

Question 7

What is the function of the fusiform gyrus

Answer 7

includes FFA
recognition of faces
object recognition
integration of visual information

Question 8

What are the major connections of the temporal lobe

Answer 8

1. hierarchical sensory pathway - from V1 to V2 then to temporal pole, two parallel ventral streams of visual and auditory processing
2. dorsal auditory pathway projects auditory areas o posterior parietal cortex to detect motion
3. both visual and auditory pathways converge in polymodal regions of STS
4. medial temporal projection is crucial to long-term memory
5. parallel projections from frontal lobe involved in movement, control, short term memory
6. olfactory projections for odor and memory

Question 9

What (in theory) does the temporal lobe do

Answer 9

Home of memory and meaning
identify (auditory and visual)
categorizes
stores info (coding, placing, finding)
affect
spatial navigation

Question 10

What is the STS

Answer 10

superior temporal sulcus
involved in processing complex social, sensory, and perceptual information

Question 11

What is biological motion

Answer 11

species specific movements
ex. eye, mouth, hand, body movements that can have social meanings
involved in social cognition, which is a theory of mind that allows us to develop hypotheses about other people’s intentions

Question 12

What is STS’s role in biological motion

Answer 12

The STS analyzes biological motion
projects to amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex *because also involved in social behaviour
STS neurons respond to approaching bodies

Question 13

What do the tanaka temporal lobe neurons show

Answer 13

he found that activating most cells in TE requires complex combination of characteristics
found that cells with similar selectivity’s cluster in columns

Question 14

What are formants

Answer 14

have specific frequency bands that get amplified when we talk to help identify vowels

Question 15

What is fundamental frequency

Answer 15

lowest frequency of a periodic sound wave, perceived as pitch of the voice

Question 16

What are harmonics

Answer 16

overtones that are multiples of the fundamental frequency

Question 17

What is the PPA in the temporal lobe

Answer 17

parahippocampal place area
specialized for identifying and remembering spatial environments, spatial memory

Question 18

What does the Hasson study on natural vision show

Answer 18

had participants watch 30 min movie
to determine how similar brain activity was for diff people watching the same film
extensive activity in all of temporal lobe both in auditory and visual
FFA was active during faces and PPA was active for scenes
people could have been thinking about anything during the film, therefore cannot imply coherence

Question 19

Are faces special

Answer 19

YES
specific neurons in inferotemporal cortex tuned to different aspects of facial recognition
FFA and STS specialize in facial recognition
faces are processed in a way unlike other visual stimuli

Question 20

What is the role of the right temporal lobe in face in face perception (for right handers)

Answer 20

right temporal lobe has greater function of facial processing
function of nonverbal memory

Question 21

What is the proposed model for face perception

Answer 21

inferior occipital gyri to both FFA and STS (biological motion)

FFA then to anterior temporal cortex (but name to the face)

STS to amygdala (emotion), intraparietal sulcus (Attention), and auditory cortex (speech)

feedback all around

Question 22

What are the two neural pathways for facial processing

Answer 22

1. ventral face system gets invariant facial aspects while the dorsal pathway gets changeable aspects
2. ventral system analyses general facial form while dorsal analyzes motion

Question 23

How do musical sounds vary

Answer 23

3 aspects
1. loudness
2. quality
3. pitch (position of sound on musical scale)

Question 24

How are rhythm and beat processed differently in the left and right temporal lobes

Answer 24

left temporal lobe groups sequences, related to speed
right temporal lobe responds to beat and pitch

Question 25

What is a fusiform gyrus and it's function

Answer 25

the fusiform gyrus contains the fusiform face area which is key to facial recognition

Question 26

How is brain morphology related to music

Answer 26

1. greater musical aptitude = more grey matter in both hemispheres and more in Broca's area in left hemisphere 2. for musicians, asymmetry depends on how music is coded: fundamental pitch L>R or harmonics R>L

Question 27

How are language and music processed in the temporal lobe

Answer 27

language = focused on left temporal lobe for structure, rule-based processing music = right temporal lobe for pitch, melody, musical emotion, while rhythm processes in both

Question 28

Why do most us love music

Answer 28

activates brain's reward system system includes the nucleus accumbens, releases dopamine when listening, our brain makes predictions about next note or pattern when surprises in a positive way, releases dopamine

Question 29

How is brain morphology related to music

Answer 29

increased grey matter in primary motor cortex, auditory cortex, cerebellum corpus callosum enlargement increased white matter and connectivity auditory cortex, heschl's gyrus, planum temporale show increased activity and/or size

Question 30

What are the major symptoms of temporal lobe injury

Answer 30

1. disturbance of auditory sensation and perception 2. disorders of music perception 3. disorders of visual perception 4. disturbance in visual and auditory selection 5. impaired organization and categorization of sensory input 6. impaired perception and memory of odors 7. inability to use contextual information 8. impaired long-term memory 9. altered personality and affective behaviour 10. altered sexual behaviour

Question 31

How is auditory processing capacity tested

Answer 31

by dichotic words and melodies tests how well the two hemisphere process different types of auditory info auditory stimuli diff to each ear

Question 32

How is visual processing capacity tested

Answer 32

Visual object and space perception battery object perception test to recognize and identify objects ability to understand spatial relationships

Question 33

How is verbal memory tested

Answer 33

revised wechsler memory scale

Question 34

How is nonverbal memory tested

Answer 34

rey complex figure test of the right temporal lobe complex geometric pattern and they have to draw and copy the pattern then asked to reproduce as much as they can remember

Question 35

How is language comprehension tested in the temporal lobe

Answer 35

token test series of tests to manipulate coloured tokens based on verbal instructions

Question 36

What is the Wechsler Memory Scale

Answer 36

for general verbal-memory ability several subtests auditory, visual, immediate, and delayed memory scores are derived from individual subtests to create an overall memory index

Question 37

What did Wilder Penfield discover when he electrically stimulate in temporal lobe

Answer 37

stimulation of anterior and medial temporal cortex produced feelings of fear, also obtained from stimulating amygdala (temporal lobe epilepsy associated with personality characteristics)

Question 38

What is achilles lobe

Answer 38

area of the brain thought to be connected to religiosity and behaviours that belong to it

Question 39

What is deja vu and what causes it

Answer 39

sensation that a current experience feels familiar temporal lobe is crucial for memory formation, may result from mismatch of sensory input and brains memory system and processes the present experience as if it were a memory connection to temporal seizures

Question 40

What is jamais vu and what causes it

Answer 40

person experiences unfamiliarity with a situation that should be familiar impairments of recognizing familiar stimuli due to altered memory retrieval connection to temporal seizures