cognitive neuropsychology Flashcards
brain cerebral cortex
outer layer of the brain
made up of grey matter= info processing cells
the brain is described as being
convoluted - folded up
fmri
measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow
cerebral cortex divided into
2 hemispheres - joined by the corpus callosum
each hemisphere has 4 lobes
frontal lobe
parietal lobe
temporal lobe
occipital lobe
frontal lobe
planning and decision making
parietal lobe
somatosensory functioning and visual attention
temporal lobe
hearing and memory
occipital lobe
vision
cerebellum
balance and coordination
contralateral control
each hemisphere controls the opposite side - vision attention action
origins of neuropsychology - Aristotle
source of cognition/feelings = heart
cooling system= brain
the bigger the brain the higher the intellect of the individual
plato
tripartite soul rational part in the brain
hippocrates
the brain is the seat of thought, sensation, emotion and cognition
descartes
mind body problem
theorised about how a on physical entity as the mind arises as a physical entity
these interactions occur in the brain
early 1800’s
gall
the more the area used, the bigger it is
late 1800s
brocas area damage= difficulties in understanding and producing speech
modern cognitive neuropsychology
study of cognitive impairments following brain injury
methods
looking at individual case studies
associations
clusters of abilities or tasks that patients cannot do
dissociations
tasks that have not been affected
a patient who is impaired at one task but normal at another
but to test whether these processes involve different parts of the brain , a
double dissociation task - 2+ patients with opposing deficits
what does double association tasks tell us
that 2 functions involve separable
modularity
our cognitive processes are reduced down into separate modules
what do multiple modules do
interact to result in a particular function or behaviour
single case studies assumptions
caramazza 1986
fractionation assumption , transparency assumption and universality assumption
fractionation assumption
damaging part of the brain affects specific modules
transparency assumption
damaging part of the brain subtracts from a process
universality assumption
all brains are similar - same architecture, processes
phineas gage
metal rod pierced through orbitofrontal area = massive personality change
conclusions of phones gage
frontal lobes are involved in personality
HM
studied by Milner
brain surgery to control seizures
hippocampus removed
severe memory problems
retrograde amnesia
problem in remembering past events
anterograde amnesia
difficulties in learning new information
HM dissociation
able to remember things up to 16 years old
had a dissociation with STM
but intact procedural memory- improved performance on normal mirror drawing Task
Clive wearing
STM impaired
procedural memory intact
hippocampus is important for forming memories
memory consolidation
taking a new memory and transferring it into the LTM system so that its retained
HJA
Suffered from a stroke=occipital lobe damage= visual problems
unable to recognise objects = visual agnosia
but intact memory TO copy pictures
problems perceiving the whole object
what is spatial neglect
failure to notice things on one side of the space
spaital neglect is the result of damage to the
parietal and temporo- parietal junction - usually right hemisphere
assessment of spatial neglect
drawing and copying tasks
bisection and cancellation tasks
can the patients see on the neglected side
often have normal visual field- no visual field loss
not really aware of their problem - doesn’t stop them
Riddoch and Humphreys 1983
patients can pay attention if cued to the neglected side
call out number at the end of the line - able to dissect line correctly
is neglect person centred or object centred
asked patient to draw an image = space centred
object centred= able to perceive the whole thing but only drawn the right side of each object
what does neglect us tell us
right hemisphere plays an important role in attention
opponent processor model
kinsbourne
LH is pulling attention to the right
RH is pulling attention to the left
If damaged - undamaged hemisphere dominates attention
aphasia
inability to comprehend or produce speech
Broca aphasia
patient tan - able to understand speech but had trouble p producing speech
wernicke aphasia
can produce speech but had trouble understanding
