Chapter 16 - Frontal Lobe Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
1
Q

What major brain areas make up the prefrontal cortex?

A
  • Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)
  • Orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)
  • Ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC)
  • Dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What system is the cingulate involved in?

A
  • Involved in the limbic system
  • Anterior cingulate cortex is involved in the PFC
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

What’s the role of the PFC in initiating a motor sequence?

A
  • It does not specify a precise movement, rather it makes a decision about which goal to select
  • It is M1 that produces the skilled movement, while the premotor cortex sequences the actions
  • 1) prefrontal plans 2) premotor organizes movement 3) M1 executes movements
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What can damage to the premotor cortex impact?

A
  • Individual would be unable to execute a series of skilled movements as these movements cannot be planned
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What can damage to M1 impact?

A
  • Individual would be unable to perform skilled movements such as a pincer grip
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

As movements progress from simple to more complex, what does fMRI reveal?

A
  • As movements become more complex, more areas of the brain are recruited to plan, organize, and execute these movements
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What brain regions are implicated in the frontal eye fields?

A
  • The superioir colliculus in the tectum
  • The posterioir parietal region
  • Involved in unconscious eye movements (darting around)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What is the supplementary motor area involved in?

A
  • Active when mentally rehearsing an action/sequence of movements
  • Located in the premotor cortex
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What connections are recieved and sent in the DLPFC?

A
  • Recieves: Posterior parietal and temporal regions
  • Sends: STS (and other temporal regions) and the posterioir parietal
    *most reciprocal
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What connections are received and sent from the OFC?

A
  • Receives: All sensory modalities, temporal lobe/STS, and amygdala
  • Sends: Amygdala and hypothalamus
    *most reciprocal
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Which networks does the triple network model encapsulate?

A
  • Default mode network
  • Executive control network
  • Salience network
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

What is the default mode network involved in?

A
  • Functionally connected regions that are active when a person is at rest, rather than engaged in specific cognitive tasks
  • Ex. Self-reflection, memory, imagining the future
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What is consistently high activity in the DMN cirrelated to?

A
  • Depression
  • Involved in self-rumination
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

What is the executive control (or frontoparietal) network involved in?

A
  • Involved in executive function, goal-directed behaviour, and decision making
  • i.e., externally-driven processes
  • Maintains working memory
  • Opposite of DMN
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What is consistently low levels of activity in the ECN correlated to?

A
  • Depression
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

What is the salience network involved in?

A
  • Operates to modulate other brain network’s activities, and is most active when a behaviour change is needed in response to environmental stimuli
  • Will filter salient stimuli and recruit relevant network
  • Will shift attention to external stimuli
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

What does increased activity in the salience network mean for the DMN?

A
  • Lowers activity in the DMN as attention is being shifted externally
  • Increased activity in the ECN
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

What would happen if the salience network wasn’t working?

A
  • There would be excessive activity in the DMN, causing lapses in attention
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

T/F: The DMN and ECN are often active together.

A
  • FALSE
  • They completely contradict each other
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

In general, what types of broad functions does the frontal lobe do?

A
  • Decision-making
  • Planning
  • Motivation
  • Working memory
  • Problem-solving
  • Abstract/flexible thinking
  • Self-awareness
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

Premotor cortex vs. prefrontal cortex?

A
  • Premotor - selects coordinated action sequences (i.e., making movement)
  • PFC - controls cognitive processes that select the appropriate movements at the correct time and place (i.e., plans movement)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

How does the PFC select goals and plan movements?

A
  • Internal cues
  • External cues (environmental stimuli)
  • Context cues (social cues)
  • Autonoetic awareness (self-knowledge, helps access autobiographical info)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

What’s the main function of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)? What other functions is it involved in?

A
  • Main: Internally-motivated behaviour
  • Other: Abstract reasoning, cognitive flexibility, working memory, attention
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

What may damage to the DLPFC result in?

A
  • May become overly reliant on external cues; easily distracted
  • This can result in pseudodepression.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Q

How does pseudodepression differ from regular depression?

A
  • Pseudodepression does not include the mental affect that major depressive disorder involves, individual just appears low energy
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
26
Q

What’s the main function of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)?

A
  • Assists in context-appropriate behaviour and impulse inhibition
  • Conscious awareness of emotional states produced by rest of limbic system (i.e., the amygdala)
27
Q

What may damage to the OFC result in?

A
  • Social gaffes (socially inappropriate)
  • Loss of affect
  • Impulsive behaviour
  • Disinhibited behaviour
28
Q

What are the main functions of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC)?

A
  • Decision-making and also involved in episodic memory
  • Role in subjective value assessment
  • Integrative hub (emotional, social, memory, etc.)
29
Q

What may damage to the VMPFC result in?

A
  • Can lead to reduced empathy
  • Reduced capacity to make rational decisions
30
Q

Which frontal lobe area may have less connectivity in individuals who have psychopathy?

A
  • The VMPFC
31
Q

Who popularized the lobotomy in humans?

A
  • Egas Moniz in the 1950s
32
Q

Which part of the frontal lobe did lobotomies target?

A
  • The OFC
33
Q

What are the major symptoms of frontal lobe lesions?

A
  • Disturbances of motor function
  • Loss of divergent thinking
  • Environmental control of behaviour
  • Poor temporal memory
  • Other symptoms
34
Q

What does Tueber’s visual search task test for?

A
  • Can determine if individual suffers from an altered voluntary gaze, which would be tied to a frontal lobe lesion
  • Damage to frontal eye fields, specifically
  • Individual must be able to spot the same shape/figure among many shapes displayed
35
Q

Convergent thinking vs. divergent thinking?

A
  • Convergent - only one solution possible, what IQ tests are based on (ex. arithmetic, factual questions etc.)
  • Divergent - multiple solutions are sought, more abstract
36
Q

What behaviours may occur if frontal lobe lesions cause a loss of divergent thinking?

A
  • Experience loss of behavioural spontaneity, so they may appear lethargic or lazy, make fewer spontaneous facial movements and expressions
37
Q

In terms of divergent thinking, what may a left or right frontal lesion result in?

A
  • Left - patients rarely speak
  • Right - talk excessively (no goal)
38
Q

What’s perseveration?

A
  • Tendency to emit repeatedly the same verbal or motor response to varied stimuli
  • Ex. getting stuck on a topic/emotion
39
Q

What does the Chicago Word Fluency test for?

A
  • Tests for verbal spontaneity
  • Performance will be impacted by lesions anywhere in the PFC
40
Q

T/F: Frontal lobes are less asymmetrical compared to other brain regions.

A
  • TRUE
41
Q

What does Gottman and Milners’ design fluency test for?

A
  • Tests for non-verbal behavioural spontaneity
  • Patient must draw as many random, non-representational drawings as possible
42
Q

How may a person perform on the design fluency test if they have frontal lobe lesions?

A
  • There will be a dramatic decrease in the amount of drawings produced
  • OFC is most sensitive to these lesions
43
Q

What’s the most common symptom of damage to frontal lobes?

A
  • Impaired at using environmental cues (feedback) to regulate or change behaviour
  • Ex. poor response inhibition, maintain the same cognitive set
44
Q

What does the Wisconsin Card sorting task test for?

A
  • Assesses perseveration - the ability to utilize environmental feedback to shift cognitive set
  • 3 ways to sort the cards (colour, number of elements, shape)
45
Q

Which frontal lobe lesion produces the most deficits in the Wisconsin card sorting task?

A
  • The left DLPFC (unable to adapt to changing rules)
46
Q

What’s the Stroop test?

A
  • Patient must name the colour of the ink as quickly as possible
  • Can be used to measure response inhibition as patient must inhibit reading the colour name and focusing on the ink
47
Q

Which lesions affect performance in the Stroop test the most?

A
  • Left frontal lesions, specifically the DLPFC
48
Q

What’s the purpose of the Iowa Gambling task?

A
  • Measures decision-making, risk-taking, and impulsivity
49
Q

How do controls and patients differ in their performance on the Iowa gambling task?

A
  • Controls quickly learn which deck has the best payoff and play from the safe decks
  • OFC patients (and VMPFC) play predominantly from the bad decks and lose all their money
50
Q

Across species, which functions in the PFC involved in?

A
  • Involved in working memory and guides actions in time (temporal memory)
51
Q

What does a delayed-response or a delayed non-matching sample task assess?

A
  • Assesses working memory, specifically in the DLPFC
52
Q

What two major regions may be damaged that would result in poor temporal memory?

A
  • The DLPFC and the medial temporal regions
53
Q

Which brain regions make up the medial temporal lobe?

A
  • Perirhinal cortex
  • Parahippocampal cortex
  • Entorhinal cortex
  • Hippocampus
  • Amygdala
54
Q

What does the perirhinal cortex engage in?

A
  • Receives ventral stream input
  • Involved in visual object memory
55
Q

What does the parahippocampal cortex engage in?

A
  • Receives dorsal stream input
  • Involved in visual spatial memory
56
Q

What does the entorhinal cortex do?

A
  • Acts as an interface between the neocortex and the hippocampus
57
Q

What’s one of the first structures to be affected by Alzheimer disease?

A
  • The entorhinal cortex
58
Q

During the blue and white button monkey study, what did a lack of firing in the DLPFC signify?

A
  • Meant that the monkey already forgot what to choose/couldn’t make a selection
59
Q

What other symptoms may arise from frontal lobe lesions?

A
  • Changes in social behaviour and personality can be marked (i.e., Phineas Gage)
  • Atypical sexual behaviour
60
Q

What’s pseudopsychopathy?

A
  • Also called acquired sociopathy
  • Individual exhibits immature behaviour, lack of tact and restraint, poor decision-making/impulsive
  • Usually caused by damage to OFC and/or VMPFC in the right hemisphere
61
Q

How do adult cases of pseudopsychopathy differ from development cases?

A
  • Violent behaviour/aggression is rare in adult cases compared to developmental cases
  • Developmental cases are more severe
62
Q

How can OFC lesions affect sexual behaviour?

A
  • May lead to reduced inhibitions
    (ex. public masturbation)
63
Q

How can DLPFC affect sexual behaviour?

A
  • May reduce libido, but performance is unaffected
64
Q

How are the frontal lobes related to the dorsal and ventral streams?

A
  • The frontal lobes are considered the end point for dorsal and ventral streams