Disorders of Exec Funcs, Behaviour and Personality Flashcards
Who is considered the ‘Father of lobotomies’?
Walter Freeman II
What did Walter Freeman II do?
Cored holes in frontal lobes.
Who developed the lobotomy?
Antonio Egas Moriz
Who was Antonio Egas Moriz?
The man who developed the lobotomy. Student of Walter Freeman II.
What were 2 problems with frontal lobotomies?
There were no clinical trials and very little scientific research into the effects of them.
What did Rylander state about frontal lobotomies?
Some improvements in lobotomized people, changes in personality and behaviour and reduction of cognitive abilities in some.
What year did Rylander make statements about frontal lobotomies?
1948.
Disorders of exec funcs, behaviour and personality are traditionally referred to as ___________.
Frontal Lobe Syndrome.
Is there a single Frontal Lobe Syndrome?
No.
The frontal lobes make up __________ of the cerebral cortex.
1/3.
The frontal lobes are __________ with the rest of the brain.
Highly connected.
What did Kolb and Whishaw say about the frontal lobes?
All neural roads eventually lead to the frontal lobes.
In what year did Kolb and Whishaw make their statement about neural roads and the frontal lobes?
2009.
What year did Wilder Penfield perform a frontal lobotomy and on who?
- His sister.
What positives did Wilder Penfield find about his sister post frontal lobotomy in 1935?
She had excellent general health, capable of intelligent conversation and her sense of humour, memory and insight into other’s thoughts and feelings were unimpaired.
What did Wilder Penfield’s sister plan to do 15 months post operation? How long did she have to do this?
Make dinner for Penfield and 4 other family members. All day.
What happened when Penfield’s sister attempted to make dinner for Penfield and 4 other family members?
Majority of things were not ready, she was distressed and confused and it was evident she could not get everything done by herself.
What did the failure to make dinner show about Penfield’s sister?
A lack of capacity for planned administration and a loss of power of initiative.
In what year did Lezak have the patient ‘Bill’ case?
1983.
Who was ‘Bill’ from Lezak’s 1983 case?
A 30 year old lawyer who was in the 10% of his law school class. He had an aneurysm in his frontal lobes and had surgical intervention to stop the bleeding.
What was found about Bill post operation in the Lezak 1983 case?
He had deficits in prospective memory, in problem solving and emotional capacity but had intact verbal and academic skills and knowledge.
What are the 4 types of impairment in executive functions?
- Task setting and problem solving.
- Inhibiting potent or habitual responses.
- Task switching.
- Multi-tasking.
What are 2 tests designed to test the impairment of task setting and problem solving in exec funcs? Explain them.
- The Verbal Fluency Test (FAS) - ‘Generate as many words as you can beginning with F/A/S in one minute.’
- Cognitive Estimates - ‘How many camels in Holland?’
What is one test designed to test the impairment of inhibiting potent or habitual responses in exec funcs? Explain.
The Stroop Test - coloured words sometimes corresponding and sometimes not corresponding with ink colour they’re written in. Say the ink colour and not the word.
What is one test designed to test the impairment of task switching in exec funcs? Explain.
The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test - The participant is told to match the cards, but not how to match; however, he or she is told whether a particular match is right or wrong. Changes to rules continuous.
What is one test designed to test the impairment of multitasking in exec funcs? Explain.
The Multiple Errands Test - evaluates the effect of executive function deficits on everyday functioning through a number of real-world tasks (e.g. purchasing specific items, collecting and writing down specific information, arriving at a stated location). Kind of like the Zoo test.
What are some problems with standard exec func tests when evaluating multitasking deficits?
Standard exec func tests are too rigid and structured unlike real life and they are not sufficiently sensitive to some real-life deficits.
Damage to the frontal lobes can result in what?
A release of the early reflex inhibitions such as the pout reflex and the grasp reflex.
What is utilization behaviour?
A type of neurobehavioral disorder that involves patients grabbing objects in view and starting the ‘appropriate’ behavior associated with it at an ‘inappropriate’ time.
Who created Case ‘LE’ and in what year?
Shallice et al in 1999.
What tests were used ding the LE case by Shallice et al in 1999? Explain.
- Lhermittes Procedure - present a patient with objects and sometimes show them what to do.
- Novel ‘Incidental’ Procedure - a pen and paper presented to see what patient would do.
- Novel ‘Incidental’ In-congruent Procedure - patient presented with a watergun and a candle to see if they would make connection.
What were the results of Case LE by Shallice et al in 1999?
Utilization Behaviour observed in Novel ‘Incidental’ Procedure and for the In-congruent stimuli.
What created Case ‘CU’ and in what year?
Boccardi et al in 2002.
In Case CU, it was found utilization behaviour could be induced by _______ and also ________.
Induced by stimuli and also incidentally.
Explain 2 events where CU displayed utilization behaviour.
1 - CU saw an apple and a knife on the table and started peeling it and ate it. When asked why he did that, he said “it was there”. He was not particularly hungry.
2 - The experimenter put his wallet on the table while he was adjusting a camera. CU started emptying the wallet of cards and reading out personal documents and the experimenters National Insurance number. When asked “who’s is that?”, CU replied “it’s yours” and continued.
In what year did Phineas Gage get injured? What was the injury?
- Gage was a railroad construction foreman overseeing men blasting rocks to make way for a railroad. One explosion went off and a large iron rod was forcibly sent flying. It entered Gage’s head under his left cheekbone, went through his head behind his left eye and exited his head via his frontal lobes.
What was Gage like prior to the injury?
“The most efficient and capable foreman”. He was a smart and efficient businessman and persistent in executing all plans.
What was Gage like post-injury? How did this effect his work?
Gage could not be re-hired into his foreman position due to the changes. He was fitful, disrespectful, used ‘the grossest profanity’ and abandoned plans as soon as he made them. Friends and acquaintances said he was “no longer Gage”.
Phineas Gage displayed a change in _________ but his _____________ were okay.
Change in personality but his exec funcs were okay.
Who was the ‘Modern Phineas Gage’ and in what year?
‘EVR’. 1985.
Who created the ‘Modern Phineas Gage’ case in 1985?
Eslinger.
Who was EVR?
A successful 35 year old accountant who underwent a operation to remove a tumour from his frontal lobes.
What positives were found about EVR post-operation?
‘Above average’ range on an intelligence and on a memory test. ‘Flawless’ on Wisconsin Card test, cognitive estimates and working memory tasks.
What negative changes were found in EVR post-operation? How did this affect his life 3 months post-operation?
Changes in personality and severe impairment in real-life decision making.
Entered business with a fired former-co-worker who had a questionable reputation. The business failed and EVR went bankrupt. Fired from all jobs post-bankruptcy due to ‘tardiness and disorganisation’. His marriage broke down. Hoarded outdated and useless objects such as dead houseplants and broken fans. He could spend an entire day could be spent on a small task such as shaving or washing his hair.
What is a lobotomy?
Lobotomy is a neurosurgical procedure. It consists of cutting or scraping away most of the connections to and from the frontal lobes and the rest of the brain.
What is a lobectomy?
The surgical removal of a lobe of an organ such as the thyroid gland, lung, liver, or brain.
What are executive functions and what do they do?
The executive functions are a set of processes that all have to do with managing oneself and one’s resources in order to achieve a goal. They enable people to plan, organize, remember things, prioritize, pay attention and get started on tasks
What does ‘BADS’ stand for?
Behavioural Assessment of Dysexecutive Syndrome.
Who created the BADS and in what year?
Wilson et al in 1996.
What is Dysexecutive Syndrome?
‘Dysexecutive Syndrome’ (DES) includes disorders of planning, organisation, problem solving and attention.
What are some of the 6 tests used in the BADS?
Temporal judgement test, the Zoo test, a questionnaire and a key search test.
People with _______ show behaviours similar to those with ___________ damage.
Autism. Frontal lobe damage.
Who deduced that people with Autism show behaviours similar to those with frontal lobe damage and in what year?
Damasio et al in 1978.
