Frontal lobes (1-2)

Question 1

What is the function of frontal lobes?

Answer 1

They control our behavior in response to social and environmental situations.

Question 2

What are the 3 areas of the prefrontal cortex?

Answer 2

Dorsolateral, medial and orbital

Question 3

What happens when the DL-PFC is damaged?

Answer 3

• Deception and lying

- dysexecutive syndrome - problems with affect, judgement, flexibility, abstract thinking etc.

Question 4

What happens when the O-PFC is damaged?

Answer 4

• hyperkinesis
• emotional lability
• disinhibition

Question 5

Function of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC)?

Answer 5

`-not entirely known

- error detection, imagining, self reflection and self perception

Question 6

What are some of the common causes of frontal lobe disorders?

Answer 6

• traumatic brain injury
• vascular disease
• tumours
• MS
• degenerative diseases eg huntingtons
• psychiatric diseases eg depression, schizophrenia, OCD, PTSD, ADHD.

Question 7

The 4 main areas of frontal lobe syndromes?

Answer 7

Emotional makeup and personality
Abstraction and judgement
Attention and memory
Language

Question 8

Ways to test for language syndromes?

Answer 8

wisconsin card sorting
trial making test
stroop colour and word
tower of london

Question 9

What area of the brain does not fully develop until adulthood?

Answer 9

The prefrontal cortex

Question 10

What are the 2 basic stages of brain development?

Answer 10

The overproduction of neurons

Pruning

Question 11

How does the prefrontal cortex change in adolescence?

Answer 11

• There are progressively more efficient neuron circuits

- Faster connections - an increase in myelination (grey matter).

Question 12

How does the brain change in adolescence?

Answer 12

The prefrontal cortex develops

The corpus callosum develops - better communication between hemispheres

Question 13

What are the gender differences in brain development in adolescence?

Answer 13

• Increases in PFC grey matter (myelination) occurs earlier in girls
• myelination reaches adult levels earlier in girls

Question 14

How is intelligence improved throughout adolescence?

Answer 14

• Myelination increases which improves the processing speed in PFC - which improves intelligence
• The dev of the corpus callosum

Question 15

Which 3 factors effect academic ability?

Answer 15

• Developmental enviromnent (genetics)
• Maturation of reward processes
• Differences in PFC structure/function

Question 16

How much do the cerebral hemispheres decline each year?

Answer 16

0.55%

Question 17

90 year olds have x% less neurons than 20 year olds.

Answer 17

Up to 10%

Question 18

What is effected more - recall or recognition of memories?

Answer 18

Recall

Question 19

What differences occur between implicit and explicit memory in older adults?

Answer 19

• Implicit memory is better preserved (learning without knowing)
• Explicit memory is effected more - older adults find it hard to retain and use information
• Flashbuld memories are not effected

Question 20

How is attention affected with age?

Answer 20

divided attention declines in the elderly
tasks which require more complex and unusual stimuli are harder and require more attention - therefore ability to complete declines with age