Domains of Function Flashcards
Intelligence
No unitary definition or measurement
Includes problem solving, abstract thinking, comprehension, learning, ability to adapt to circumstances
Also non-cognitive (e.g., emotional I)
Models:
g (general) factor (Spearman)
Cattell-Horn-Carroll includes Gf-Gc (fluid and crystallized intelligence) and three-statum theory (Carroll; 8 broad and 70 specific abilities)
Intelligence-associated Disorders
ID (formerly MR):
IQ ca 2 SDs below the mean, deficits in adaptive skills, onset before age 18
Dementia
Syndrome describing a decline in cognition/multiple areas of cognitive impairment resulting in impairment in functioning
Decline in IQ may not be evident until later stages
Savantism
ID/ASD + remarkable narrow talents
May be congenital or acquired following CNS disease/injury
M: F ratio 6:1
Superior memory most common
Can involve superior calculations, language, or artistic abilities
Attention and Processing Speed
Attention - process by which we receive and processing incoming information
Closely associated with EF and WM (ability to rehearse/manipulate information for up to several minutes, what is not rehearsed, is lost)
Interconnecting attention networks (Posner):
Posterior - orienting and shifting attention
Anterior - detecting stimuli from sensory events or memory
Both influenced by alerting network (Ascending Reticular Activating System)
Processing speed - speed of performing mental activities, affects attention
Other influencing factors: arousal, motivation/effort
Attention Types & Measures
Span - passive attention - Digit Span, Corsi blocks
Focused - directing attention - Digit Symbol, Coding, SDMT
Selective - choosing information from distractors - Cancellation
Sustained (vigilance) - maintaining attention - CPT
Alternating (shifting ) - TMT B
Divided (multitasking) - PASAT
Disorders of Attention
Deliruim - waxing/waning of attention, increased distractibility, confusion
Attention aspects affected: span and arousal
ADHD - developmental disorder, inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity Executive aspects (self-regulation)
Neglect (hemispatial inattention)
Impaired awareness contralateral to brain lesion (typically left due to RH lesion), not result of primary sensory deficits
Aspects: selective and spatial focused attention
+ anosognosia (denial of illness)
+ asomatognosia (denial of body part)
lesions in temporal-parietal region
Sensory neglect - inattention to space
Motor - failure to response to stimuli in CL space
TBI - often reduced arousal, increased distractibility, decreased executive attention, and processing speed
Depression, anxiety, fatigue, sleep deprivation, medications
Language and Aphasia
Language -phonology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics
Speech - oral expression of lg
Models:
Localization (Broca, Wernicke)
Association/connectionist (Geschwind)
Cognitive - other cognitive factors are important for lg (abstract reasoning)
Aphasia - acquired lg disorders
Dysarthria/dysphonia =/ aphasia
Etiology - stroke (40%), neoplasm, intracranial tumor, infection, TBI, neurodegenerative
Aphasia Assessment
Aphasia Assessment:
Spontaneous speech (form and content)
Form (fluent/nonfluent) - rate, length of phrases, initiation
Content - semantic + grammatical structure
Comprehension - commands, complex ideational material
Spoken and written lg, semantic/lexical (posterior areas) and syntactic (anterior)
Repetition - start with single words, increase complexity
Naming (anomia) - spontaneous, confrontation
Observed in all aphasia syndromes but vary
Nonfluent - problems with intiation
Fluent - selection
Reading (alexia) - matching words to pictures if expressive aphasia
Can occur in all aphasias and in isolation
Writing (agraphia) - to dictation, based on visual input, spontaneous
Typically occurs with aphasia/alexia
Aphasia Syndromes 1
Nonfluent - Broca’s - anterior lg centers
Sparse verbal output, poor repetition, impaired naming, preserved comprehension
Posterior portion of inferior frontal gyrus
Perisylvian
Fluent - Wernicke - posterior lg
Fluent but nonsensical output (paraphasic errors, circumlocution), impaired comprehension, poor repetition
Posterior superior portion of left temporal lobe
Conduction (associative) - impaired repetition, fluent speech with phonemic paraphasias, impaired reading, preserved comprehension
Arcuate fasciculus, disconnection syndrome
Aphasia Syndromes 2
Extrasylvian
Nonfluent
Transcortical motor aphasia (TMA) - similar to Broca, preserved repetition
Anterior to Broca’s area, supplemental motor area
Mixed transcortical aphasia (MTA) - resembles global aphasia with preserved repetition, typically due to hypoxic brain injury
Vascular borderzone both in frontal and parietal
Fluent
Trancortical sensory aphasia (TSA) - resembles Wernicke’s, preserved repetition
Junction of parietal, temporal, and occipital regions, angulat gyrus
Aphasia Syndromes 3
Nonlocalizing
Anomic aphasia - primary problem with WFD, problems with reading and writing, preserved comprehension and repetition
Dominant angular gyrus
Global aphasia - impairment in all lg functions
Entire perisylvian region, due to MCA occlusion
Subcortical motor aphasia syndrome (aphemia) - mutism followed by motor speech abnormalities, fluent or nonfluent, near normal repetition
Comprehension, naming, reading, and writing may or may not be impaired
Alexia
WIthout agraphia (pure word blindness) - selective loss of reading ability, can write but not read own writing
Disconnection syndrome, left occipital area, inferior portion of corpus callosum splenium
With agraphia - loss of ability to read and produce written language, speech and comprehension preserved
Angular gyrus
Pure word deafness -loss of auditory speech comprehension
Able to speak, read, and write but not repeat
Bilateral temporal lobes, Heschl’s gyrus on left and WM connecting to auditory association area on the right
Nonlanguage Auditory Syndromes
Agnosia for sounds - inability to recognize meaning of nonverbal sounds, often with pure word deafness
Agnosia for music (amusia) - inabiltiy to recognize meaning of musical sounds, including rhythm
Aprosodia
Expressive, contralateral to Broca’s area
Repective - CL to Wernicke’s
Nondominant hemisphere
Visuospatial
Ventral (“what”) stream
Processing objects, faces, colors, letters
Occipital-temporal association cortex
Dorsal (“where”) stream
Processing spatial relationships
Parietal-occipital association cortex
Agnosias 1
Visual object agnosia - inability to visually recognize meaning of an object
Apperceptive - disrupted perception, diffuse
Associative - inability to access stored info re meaning, disconnection of visual and language areas
Prosopagnosia - inability to recognize faces
Bilateral, inferior occipital-temporal junction pr right involving splenium
Color agnosia
L or BL occipital-temporal areas
Agnosias 2
Constructional apraxia - inability to construct shapes and designs
R or BL parietal lesions
Dressing apraxia - isolated impairment in dressing, may be part of neglect
R P-O junction
Achromatopsia - inablity to see colors
BL calcarine cortex, L > R
Spatial acalculia - difficulty with spatial aspects of calculation
R parietal lobe
Memory
Encoding (depends on attention), retention, retrieval (recall and recognitoin)
Models
Information processing: encoding, storage, consolidation, and retrieval
3-Stage: sensory (iconic/visual and echoic/auditory 1-2 sec), short-term (7 +/- 2), long-term, remote
Memory types: declarative (explicit, conscious retrieval) vs non-declarative (implicit or procedural, without awareness), semantic (facts) vs episodic (autobiographical)
Interference: proactive (previously learned interferes with new) and retroactive (recent interfering with old)
