Cognitive functions Flashcards
Normal digit span
7+/-2
Most helpful orientation test
Time
Inaccuracy considered normal in date orientation
2 days or less
Disorder where disorientation to name is seen
Psychogenic amnesia
Usual error made in similarities test
Answering that they are different, being unable to consider similarities
Issue with proverb meanings test
Culturally and eduationally dependent
Area of brain lesion where neglect is usually seen
Right hemisphere inferior parietal or prefrontal
Hippocampal hemisphere used for declarative verbal memories
Left
Hippocampal hemisphere for non-verbal memories
Right
Process of strengthening the connection between two neurons on repeated communication which is felt may be the neuronal basis of memory
Long term potentiation
Chemical process which mediated long term potentiation
NMDA mediated Ca2+ entry in glutamate neurons
Brain structure which connects Broca’s area to Wernicke’s area
Arcuate fasciculus
Type of aphasia which is fluent but with loss of comprehension
Wernicke’s aphasia
Type of aphasia which is non-fluent but with comprehension intact
Broca’s aphasia
Site of lesion causing impairment only for comprehension of spoken words
Superior temporal pole - bilateral or left sided
Site of lesion causing pure word blindness/alexia without agraphia - patient can speak, understand spoken language, and write, but not understand written language
Splenium of corpus callosum and L visual cortex (usually due to L PCA infarct)
Area of brain lesion which causes isolated limb apraxia
Corticobasal degeneration
Type of apraxia which involves the inability to make elements into a meaningful whole e.g. draw diagrams
Constructional apraxia
Area of brain lesion which causes a constructional apraxia
Right parietal lobe
Type of apraxia which involves an inability to carry out sequences of actions
Ideational/conceptual apraxia
Areas of brain lesions which cause ideational apraxia
Left parieto-occipital and parieto-temporal lesions
Type of apraxia which the inability to carry out goal directed movements
Ideomotor apraxia
Area of brain lesions which cause ideomotor apraxia
Frontal and parietal
Type of apraxia which involves the inability to coordinate and carry out facial movements
Buccofacial apraxia
Area of brain lesion which causes buccofacial apraxia
Left inferior frontal lobe and insula
Type of apraxia which involves loss of hand and finger dexterity
Limb-kinetic apraxia
Area of brain lesion causing limb-kinetic apraxia
Dominant primary motor cortex
Failure of object recognition despite normal visual perception
Visual object agnosia
Area of brain lesion causing visual object agnosia
Bilateral occipitotemporal
Inability to recognise familiar faces
Prosopagnosia
Area of brain lesion causing acquired prosopagnosia
Fusiform gyrus
Colour deficit where there is the loss of ability to discriminate colours
Achromatopsia
Area of brain lesion causing achromatopsia
Left occipitotemporal damage (L PCA infarction)
Colour deficit where there is loss of ability to retrieve knowledge about colours e.g. colour of a banana
Colour agnosia
Area of brain lesion causing colour agnosia
Left occipitotemporal damage
Colour deficit where there is inability to name colours
Colour anomia
Brain lesion causing colour anomia
Disconnection of the language structures in the temporal lobe from the visual cortex
Inability to read, write, and comprehend numbers
Acalculia
Inability to perform mathematical calculations
Anarithmetrica
Three features of Balint syndrome
Simultanagnosia
Optic ataxia
Oculomotor apraxia
Area of brain lesion causing Balint syndrome
Bilateral superior parieto-occipital
Four features of Gerstmann syndrome
Dysgraphia
Dyscalculia
Finger agnosia
Right left disorientation
Area of brain lesion causing Gerstmann syndrome
Dominant angular and supramarginal gyri of the parietal lobe
Feature of Anton syndrome
Cortical blindness and denial of same
Area of brain lesion causing Anton syndrome
Bilateral occipital damage
Features of Marchiafava-Bignami disease
Sudden onset stupor and seizures
Occasionally chronic onset dementia and gait issues
Substance associated with Marchiafava-Bignami disease
Red wine excess
Area of brain lesion causing Marchiafava-Bignami disease
Symmetrical demyelination and necrosis of corpus callosum and adjacent anterior commissure
Automatic behaviours which are correct, but inappropriate to the situation e.g. using a toothbrush that is in sight in the middle of a doctor’s appointment, or taking a cigarette out of someone else’s mouth and using it
Utilization behaviour
Behaviour which imitates the examiner’s behaviour
Imitation behaviour
Behaviour where an object is repeatedly rubbed, held or manipulated
Manual groping behaviour
Behaviour where there are bizarre hand movements the patient feels no control over
Alien hand sign
Behaviour where there is an overreliance on environmental stimuli to guide behaviour
Environmental dependency syndrome
