Cognitive Functions and the Organisation of the Cerebral Cortex

Question 1

Associational cortices

Answer 1

integrate information between brain regions, allowing us to make sense of the input we receive from the world

lobes that form the association cortices are parietal, frontal and temporal

Question 2

Brodmann

Answer 2

efined 50 distinct cytoarchitectonic areas based on the features of the different laminae

Question 3

Unique features of the association cortices

Answer 3

1. Receive input from thalamic nuclei that receive input from the cortex (instead of peripheral sensory)
2. majority of input comes form corticocortical connections - both ipsilateral and interhemispheric
3. subcortical inputs from brainstem

Question 4

how do we know what different brain areas do?

Answer 4

• patient studies (brain damage)
• non-human animal recordings
• neuroimaging in humans

Question 5

Parietal lobe

Answer 5

primarily responsible for mediating attention (selecting whats relevant) and also for a sense of where things are

Question 6

Contralateral neglect

Answer 6

when the right side of the parietal lobe is damaged, it means that the person cannot attend to the left side of visual field

this phenomena often occurs after a right middle cereberal artery stroke

left sided neglect (damage to right parietal lobe) is more common

Question 7

the assymetry of neglect tells us that

Answer 7

the right parietal lobe is more important for attention than the left

Question 8

right parietal lobe

Answer 8

attends to both sides of space, whereas the left parietal lobe is only responsible for right side of space

Question 9

temporal lobe

Answer 9

involved in recognition and identification of stimuli

Question 10

damage to the temporal lobe

Answer 10

difficulty recognising identifying and naming objects: agnosias (example = prosopagnosia)

Question 11

frontal lobe

Answer 11

largest brain lobe
associated with planning, decision making, inhibiting and monitoring impulsivity
last lobe to mature

Question 12

phineas gage

Answer 12

dramatic personality change, lost ability to plan for the future and creativity

wisconsin card sorting test (preservation is a particular probleM)