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PY353 > Cognition 1 > Flashcards

Cognition 1 Flashcards

1
Q

What is cognition?

A

How we think & remember things, attend to & process information

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2
Q

Since there is no single theory of how the brain achieves this, how is knowledge about cognition gained?

A
  • experimental tests of cognitive hypotheses
  • studying patients with brain damage
  • cognitive effects of drugs
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3
Q

What are some cognitive functions? Name at least 5.

A
  • Attention
  • Impulse control
  • Language
  • Learning
  • Decision-making
  • Recognition
  • Memory
  • Discrimination
  • Impulse control
  • Categorisation
  • Thinking
  • Imagination
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4
Q

Define attention

A

The ability to focus on one thing to the exclusion of others.

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5
Q

Attending to events increases…

A

… the likelihood that they would be remembered.

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6
Q

There are three different types of attention. What are they?

A
  • sustained
  • selective
  • divided
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7
Q

What is sustained attention?

A

This involves concentration and vigilance. It is the ability to focus on one thing for an extended period of time.

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8
Q

What is selective attention?

A

This is also known as the cocktail party phenomenon. It is the ability to filter out environmental factors and focus on one thing. It’s the ability of a person to focus on one particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli, much the same way that a partygoer can focus on a single conversation in a noisy room.

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9
Q

What is divided attention?

A

This is the ability to focus on more than one thing at the same time. It allows you to perform more than one task at a time. E.g speaking to someone on the phone and writing their details down.

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10
Q

Learning & Memory:

Memory problems are a common problem of

A

Cognitive and psychiatric disorders e.g. Schizophrenia, ADHD

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11
Q

Learning and memory is not a unitary phenomena:

A
  • multiple ‘systems’ serve memory i.e STM/LTM
  • learning occurs in different ways
  • different types of forgetting
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12
Q

Explain the stages of memory processing.

A
  • Initially, information goes to immediate/ STM
  • This includes working memory e.g. shopping lists
  • The memory is held temporarily before transfer
  • After consolidation, memory is stored in LTM
  • Rehearsal increases the chance of consolidation
  • Retrieval allows for recall of the memory
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13
Q

What are the other aspects of learning and memory?

A

Implicit memory and Explicit memory

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14
Q

What is implicit memory?

A

Learning + memory
This is both unconscious and unintentional. You are unable to consciously bring it to awareness. It is any skill acquired by practice but not easily articulated e.g typing a sentence on a keyboard without looking at your hands. It is quite easy to type the sentence without having to consciously think about where each letter appears on the keyboard.

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15
Q

What is explicit memory?

A

This requires conscious recollection of experience. When you are trying to intentionally remember something e.g. a formula. You can consciously recall and explain the information.

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16
Q

Recognition memory. This is when

A

you fail to recall the answer to a question but can recognise it when the answer is provided.

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17
Q

What are the two ways we recognise things?

A
  • the remembered item evokes a specific memory e.g I met that girl in the lipstick aisle of Sephora
  • recognition in the absence of specific recollection e.g I think i’ve seen here somewhere before in some shop?
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18
Q

Cognition has many different domains. Which are extremely important for normal function?
What happens if there are problems in these domains?
Changes in different cognitive domains occur _______________

A 
Attention
Learning
Memory
Problems are associated with a number of psychiatric conditions.  
Throughout our lifespan
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19
Q

Normal ageing influences cognitions _______

A

differently.

20
Q

At what age does memory start to decline?

A

> 70 years

21
Q

Sometimes, cognitive decline accelerates 3-6 years before death. This probably reflects _______

A

pathology. It is not a normal pattern

22
Q

______ are associated with and regulate memory in all adults

A

emotion

23
Q

__________ memory - personal information - is regulated differently in older adults

A

autographical

24
Q

older people remember events in a _______ light. This is known as __-______ _________ _____.

A

positive

age-related positivity effect

25
Q

For these cognitive domains, state the pattern of change, if any:

  • Speed of processing
  • Verbal ability
  • Automatic, implicit, well-practiced skills, recognition memory
  • STM, working memory, episodic memory (new events), semantic memory
  • Age- related positivity effect
A
  • Slows across adulthood
  • Increases until middle-age, then remains stable
  • Remains stable across adulthood
  • Relatively stable until late life decline (>70years)
  • Emotional regulation of memory changes.
26
Q

In older adults with higher memory performance, you get something call _-______ ________. This increases

A

bi-lateral compensation

the speed of retrieval and prefrontal cortex activation

27
Q

Cognitive problems are associated with a number of neurological and psychiatric disorders. Name a few

A
  • MILD COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT
  • DEMENTIA
  • schizophrenia
  • depression
  • parkinson’s disease
  • ADHD
28
Q

What is MCI characterised by?

Who is more likely to progress for MCI to dementia

A
  • patient complains about their memory
  • confirmed by informant
  • in formal memory tests they score poorly compared to their same matches
  • daily activities are intact
  • typical general cognition function
  • does not meet diagnostic criteria for dementia
  • increased risk of Alzheimers, >50% get dementia after MCI diagnosis
  • cannot currently predict who will transition from MCI to dementia
29
Q

Who is more likely to progress for MCI to dementia

A
  • cannot currently predict who will transition from MCI to dementia
  • those with APOE 4 genes are more likely to progress to dementia.
  • APOE genes alter cholesterol transport and synaptic plasticity.
  • imaging patterns of cortical thinning may differentiate who will progress
  • serial MRI scans measuring rate of change in brain atrophy may be predictive
  • poor performance on delayed recall tests may predict.
  • cognitive training may help
  • sensitive counselling required due to developing dementia.
30
Q

what improves word recall in MCI?

A

transdermal nicotine

31
Q

Alzheimers disease is a ___________ disorder, which accounts for ____ of dementias

A

neurodegenerative

50%

32
Q

Early onset Alzheimer’s occurs between

Late onset Alzheimer’s occurs between

A

30-65 years (familial)

> 65 years (most cases)

33
Q

What are some risk factors for Alzheimers?

A
  • age
  • stroke
  • high BP
  • high cholesterol
  • genetics
  • head injury
34
Q

Expand on the clinical picture of Alzheimer’s Disease

A
  • it is a progressive decline
  • initially forgetful, tasks left unfinished, problem finding words
  • need help with basic activities, poor hygiene
  • cannot recognise family members or themselves in mirror
35
Q

Expand on the mood and behavioural changes

A
  • irritable, emotional outbursts
  • agitated, disorientated, delusions of being persecuted
  • loss of impulse control, use coarse language, inappropriate sexual advances to strangers
36
Q

What is the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s?

A

definitive - macroscopic examination of brain tissue after death.

37
Q

Clinical problems with diagnosis of Alzheimer’s?

A
  • primarily based on memory dysfunction
  • problems differentiating from delirium or geriatric depression
  • problems with referral due to fear and denial
38
Q

In alzheimer’s there is a cognitive decline in:

A
  • explicit and implicit memory
  • STM
  • working memory
  • semantic memory
  • recognition memory
  • anterograde and later retrograde amnesia
  • changes in attention
  • episodic memory
39
Q

What is the pathology? What is seen in the brain in people with Alzheimer’s?

A
  • atrophy of brain; sulci enlarge

- loss of cholinergic receptors in the nucleus basalis of Meynert

40
Q

What does n. basalis innervate?

A
  • Amygdala; emotion

- hippocampus and cortex; cognition

41
Q

Loss of acetylcholinergic neurones leads to:

A
  • widespread reduction in choline acetyl transferase

- depletion of nicotinic and pre synaptic M2 muscarinic receptors (postsynaptic receptors are preserved)

42
Q

What are the 4 other neuropathological markers of Alzheimer’s?

A
  • plaques; areas of degenerating neurones. These are EXTRACELLULAR deposits of beta-amyloid protein
  • neurofibrillary tangles. Tangles are INTRACELLULAR filaments formed from aggregation of tau proteins.
43
Q

Greater Ca influx is associated with amyloid plaques through:

A
  • VG Ca++ channels
  • NMDA-receptor associated ion channels
  • increase in intracellular Ca++ concentrations triggers cascades which trigger neurones.
    Amyloid deposits can also trigger the production of free radicals
44
Q

Amyloid deposits can also trigger the production of

A

free radicals

45
Q

Normal function of tau proteins is to

A

to stabilise axonal microtubules

46
Q

tangles are formed by

A

abnormal tau proteins

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