Child Neuropsychology

Question 1

What is Rasmussen’s encephalitis and what is the most useful treatment?

Answer 1

It’s where one half of the brain is chronically inflamed. Hemispherectomy is the best option

Question 2

What happens when the right hemisphere is removed/disconnected

Answer 2

Usually only weakness on the left side of the body

Question 3

When does the brain start to develop? When do the sulci and gyri?

Answer 3

Around 21 days

around 28-30 weeks

Question 4

What is the neural tube?

Answer 4

A cylinder of cells that develops into the nervous system

Question 5

What is apoptosis?

Answer 5

Planned cell death (following overproduction of cells and connections)

Question 6

What is neuronal migration?

Answer 6

Neurons are formed at the walls of ventricles and migrate to their destination

Question 7

Explain how neurogenesis works

Answer 7

The neural tube is lined with stem cells, they produce two daughter cells > another stem cell and a progenitor cell

Progenitor cells produce two cells once more > The neuroblasts and gliablasts, which turn into neurons and glia, respectively

Question 8

Do stem cells only exist in the developmental stages or do they exist throughout life?

Answer 8

Throughout life, they generate new neurons in the hippocampus and olfactory bulb

Question 9

What does the presence of stem cells suggest? is this suggestion true?

Answer 9

Neural injuries could be repaired, but this does not routinely happen within the adult brain. This is because neurogenesis decreases with age

Question 10

Explain the development of cortical maps

Answer 10

The subventricular zone contains a map of the cortex > cells migrate from a part of this zone to their respective part of the cortex along the radial glia

Question 11

How is the cortex build?

Answer 11

From the inside out

Question 12

What is neuronal maturation?

Answer 12

Neurons start to form dendrites to increase their surface area to form synapses (make more connections), dendrites start to form prenatally but continues much longer, only about a micrometer a day. Axons grow around 1mm a day, this means axons reach their targets before dendrites have developed (idk what this does tbh)

Question 13

Brain injury can have different effects when happening at different developmental stages, what typically happens when it occurs during neurogenesis (embryonic day 18)?

Answer 13

Recovery tends to be complete, even with extensive damage

Question 14

Brain injury can have different effects when happening at different developmental stages, what typically happens when it occurs during neuronal migration and differentiation (postnatal 1-5 days)?

Answer 14

Permanent damage, regardless

Question 15

Brain injury can have different effects when happening at different developmental stages, what typically happens when it occurs after migration (postnatal 7-12 days)?

Answer 15

Nearly complete recovery of cognitive, and partial for motor

Question 16

What does exposure to a complex environment lead to?

Answer 16

Increases brain size, particularly the cortex

Question 17

There is a relationship between socioeconomic status and brain development, name some examples.

Answer 17

• At age 3, children from high-SES families are exposed to 11 million words per year,
  while children from low-SES families are exposed to only 3.2 million words per year
• Lower family income is associated with decreased cortical volume

Question 18

There are four “criteria” proposed by Willcutt to make sure it is the actual “cause” of the disorder. Which are these?

Answer 18

Consistency, explanation (should account for substantial variance), universality (must be present in most) and aetiology (deficit and symptoms must have common influence)

Question 19

EF deficits are one of the theories regarding ADHD, does it tick all of the four criteria?

Answer 19

Yes: Consistency (inhibitory, vigilance, working memory and planning, NOT Perseverative errors) and aetiology (overlap genes and brain mechanisms)

No: Explanation (small effect sizes) and universality

Question 20

Delay Aversions are one of the theories regarding ADHD, does it tick all of the four criteria? Also what does delay aversion mean

Answer 20

: faster decline in the effectiveness of reward (reinforcement) as the delay
between behaviour and reward
increases

Yes: consistency and aetiology
No: explanation and universality

Question 21

There are multiple, multiple deficit models of ADHD, what is the dual pathway model?

Answer 21

Independent contributions of executive
function deficits and delay aversion, one or both pathways contribute

Question 22

There are multiple, multiple deficit models of ADHD, what is the three factor model?

Answer 22

Independent contributions from executive function, delay discounting (aversion), and temporal processing (tapping a rhythm, estimating duration, anticipating a stimulus)

Question 23

Some cortical differences were found in ADHD (albeit with small effect sizes), which were they?

Answer 23

Reductions in subcortical volumes, lower total cortical thickness and lower thickness of the fusiform gyrus and temporal pole (kidsies). No differences seem to be found in task FMRI activation and no indication of significant hyper- or hypoconnectivity of
any specific region

Question 24

What is a specific learning disability?

Answer 24

Specific learning disorders impact the ability to learn and apply reading, writing, or math skills, they usually have typical intelligence

Question 25

Phonological and graphemic reading are two types of it, what do they mean?

Answer 25

Phonological: decoding of letters of words into pronounceable sounds

Graphemic: Whole word and pronunciation comes from memory

fluent reading involves both

Question 26

What causes dyslexia?

Answer 26

phonological and sensory deficiency (phoneme use = left hemisphere)

Question 27

Individuals with dyslexia show a difference in brain composition, which? (also specifically adult males maybe?)

Answer 27

Developmental dyslexia > weaker connections between the left medial geniculate and the left temporal cortex

Question 28

What other causes of reading disorders are theorized?

Answer 28

Attentional deficiency (shifting, parietal lobe), motor deficiency (cerebellum timing, coordination and attention) and multicausal

Question 29

What is discalculia?

Answer 29

difficulty representing and processing numbers

Question 30

What part of he Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children suggests a specific learning difficulty?

Answer 30

The ACID profile (arithmetic, coding,
information, digit span)

Question 31

What are some difficulties ppl with ASD can experience regarding social facets?

Answer 31

Difficulties with social reciprocity
Difficulties with non-verbal communication
Difficulties with understanding, maintaining, and developing social relationships

Question 32

What are some difficulties ppl with ASD can experience regarding behavioural facets?

Answer 32

Stereotyped or repetitive motor movements, use of objects, or speech
Insistence on sameness, inflexible adherence to routines
Highly restricted, fixated interests
Hyper- or hypo-reactivity to sensory input

Question 33

Name some examples of differences in the brain in ASD

Answer 33

differences subcortical (amygdala & striatum), hypoconnectivity of sensory and attentional areas and hyperconnectivity of the default mode network and subcortical

Question 34

Explain four cognitive theories regarding ASD

Answer 34

Theory of Mind (ToM) deficit
* Impairment in the ability the thoughts, beliefs, and desires of others
* Explains social difficulties in some autistic people

Weak Central Coherence
* Bias towards local instead of global processing
* Explains some perceptual differences

Systematising versus Empathising
* Bias towards systems and objects
* Explains higher prevalence of autistic traits among scientists and
engineers

Weak Perceptual Priors
* Reduced reliance on prior knowledge and experience
* Explains perceptual differences and sensory sensitivity