Child Neuropsychology Flashcards
What is Rasmussen’s encephalitis and what is the most useful treatment?
It’s where one half of the brain is chronically inflamed. Hemispherectomy is the best option
What happens when the right hemisphere is removed/disconnected
Usually only weakness on the left side of the body
When does the brain start to develop? When do the sulci and gyri?
Around 21 days
around 28-30 weeks
What is the neural tube?
A cylinder of cells that develops into the nervous system
What is apoptosis?
Planned cell death (following overproduction of cells and connections)
What is neuronal migration?
Neurons are formed at the walls of ventricles and migrate to their destination
Explain how neurogenesis works
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
Do stem cells only exist in the developmental stages or do they exist throughout life?
Throughout life, they generate new neurons in the hippocampus and olfactory bulb
What does the presence of stem cells suggest? is this suggestion true?
Neural injuries could be repaired, but this does not routinely happen within the adult brain. This is because neurogenesis decreases with age
Explain the development of cortical maps
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
How is the cortex build?
From the inside out
What is neuronal maturation?
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)
Brain injury can have different effects when happening at different developmental stages, what typically happens when it occurs during neurogenesis (embryonic day 18)?
Recovery tends to be complete, even with extensive damage
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)?
Permanent damage, regardless
Brain injury can have different effects when happening at different developmental stages, what typically happens when it occurs after migration (postnatal 7-12 days)?
Nearly complete recovery of cognitive, and partial for motor
What does exposure to a complex environment lead to?
Increases brain size, particularly the cortex
There is a relationship between socioeconomic status and brain development, name some examples.
- 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
There are four “criteria” proposed by Willcutt to make sure it is the actual “cause” of the disorder. Which are these?
Consistency, explanation (should account for substantial variance), universality (must be present in most) and aetiology (deficit and symptoms must have common influence)
EF deficits are one of the theories regarding ADHD, does it tick all of the four criteria?
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
Delay Aversions are one of the theories regarding ADHD, does it tick all of the four criteria? Also what does delay aversion mean
: faster decline in the effectiveness of reward (reinforcement) as the delay
between behaviour and reward
increases
Yes: consistency and aetiology
No: explanation and universality
There are multiple, multiple deficit models of ADHD, what is the dual pathway model?
Independent contributions of executive
function deficits and delay aversion, one or both pathways contribute
There are multiple, multiple deficit models of ADHD, what is the three factor model?
Independent contributions from executive function, delay discounting (aversion), and temporal processing (tapping a rhythm, estimating duration, anticipating a stimulus)
Some cortical differences were found in ADHD (albeit with small effect sizes), which were they?
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
What is a specific learning disability?
Specific learning disorders impact the ability to learn and apply reading, writing, or math skills, they usually have typical intelligence
Phonological and graphemic reading are two types of it, what do they mean?
Phonological: decoding of letters of words into pronounceable sounds
Graphemic: Whole word and pronunciation comes from memory
fluent reading involves both
What causes dyslexia?
phonological and sensory deficiency (phoneme use = left hemisphere)
Individuals with dyslexia show a difference in brain composition, which? (also specifically adult males maybe?)
Developmental dyslexia > weaker connections between the left medial geniculate and the left temporal cortex
What other causes of reading disorders are theorized?
Attentional deficiency (shifting, parietal lobe), motor deficiency (cerebellum timing, coordination and attention) and multicausal
What is discalculia?
difficulty representing and processing numbers
What part of he Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children suggests a specific learning difficulty?
The ACID profile (arithmetic, coding,
information, digit span)
What are some difficulties ppl with ASD can experience regarding social facets?
Difficulties with social reciprocity
Difficulties with non-verbal communication
Difficulties with understanding, maintaining, and developing social relationships
What are some difficulties ppl with ASD can experience regarding behavioural facets?
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
Name some examples of differences in the brain in ASD
differences subcortical (amygdala & striatum), hypoconnectivity of sensory and attentional areas and hyperconnectivity of the default mode network and subcortical
Explain four cognitive theories regarding ASD
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
