higher cortical Flashcards
6 exmples of higher cortical function
memory orientation concentration language recognition of stimuli ( performance of learned skilled movements
agnosia and apraxia
recognition of stimuli (examined by tests for agnosia)
performance of learned skilled movements (examined by tests for apraxia)
consiousness
Encompasses perception of sensation, voluntary initiation and control of movement, and capabilities associated with higher mental processing.
intelligence
Ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly.
Comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience.
3 A’s of intelligence
Ability- Achievement-Aptitude
4 sections of the cortex
Sensory
Motor
Unimodal association cortex
Multimodal association cortex
PET and how it works
Positron emission tomography (PET) scans can measure this activity. Chemicals tagged with a tracer “light up” activated regions shown in red and yellow.
commissurotomy.”
For patients with frequent and violent epileptic seizures, surgically splitting the corpus callosum was the only relief - known as a “commissurotomy.”
frontal lobe 4 main function
memory formation
emotions
decisions
personality
Damage to prefrontal cortex:
High degree of distractibility and an inability to
plan and carry out any complex idea
with increased level of stubbornness.
Three gross stages of learning and memory
Acquisition
Storage
Retrieval
preforntal cortex role in memory
memory involving the sequence of events but not the events itself
amygdala in memory
encodes emotional aspect of memory
medial temporal lobe and hippocampus
encodes the transfers new explicit memories to long term memory
cerebellum
memories involving movement
explicit : epsiodic vs semantic memory
remembering events vs knowing facts
implicit memory
skills and habits, emotional associations, and conditioned reflexes
skills and habits relate to this part of brain
striatum, motor areas of cortex and cerebellum
emotional associations relate to this part of brain
amygdala
anterograde and retrograde
Anterograde: can’t establish new memories
Retrograde: can’t recall past memories
major types of memory loss
Retrograde Amnesia
Anterograde Amnesia
Infantile Amnesia
Dementia
how is Alzheimer characterized pathologically
Beta amyloid plaques
Neurofibrillary tangles
Neurodegeneration
gliosis
parietal lobe plays a major role in
Spatial awareness and perception
3 cortex of parietal lobe
Primary Somatosensory Cortex (Postcentral Gyrus) –
somatosensory association cortex
primary gustatory
Primary Somatosensory Cortex (Postcentral Gyrus) –
Primary Somatosensory Cortex (Postcentral Gyrus) – Site involved with processing of tactile and proprioceptive information.
Somatosensory Association Cortex
Somatosensory Association Cortex - Assists with the integration and interpretation of sensations relative to body position and orientation in space. May assist with visuo-motor coordination.
agnosia
inability to recognize an object
alexia and agraphia
inability to read
and
inability to write
apraxia
inability to perform skilled motor movements
apraxia is caused by
Caused by damage to the corpus callosum, frontal lobe or parietal lobe
“without action”
subcortical tempoal lobe structures
Limbic cortex
- Amygdala
- Hippocampal Formation
Brodmann’s number 41,42, and 22
20,21,37, and 38
Auditory areas Brodmann’s areas 41,42, and 22
Ventral Stream of Visual Information -
Inferotemporal cortex or TE Brodmann’s areas 20, 21,37, and 38
Wernicke’s area communicates with Broca’s area via the
Wernicke’s area communicates with Broca’s area via the arcuate fasciculus
Epileptic seizures occur when
Epileptic seizures occur when a massive group of neurons in the cerebral cortex suddenly begin to discharge in a highly organized rhythmic pattern.
Grand mal
Grand Mal
Involves total body convulsions, aka “tonic-clonic”
petit mal
Petit Mal
Involves isolated body part convulsion, aka “focal”
absence
Absence
Patient becomes unresponsive, and has no memory of occurrence. Appears to be day-dreaming but cannot awake. Very rare (Partial Complex Epilepsy)
stages of a seizure
Aura - period of warning, usually
olfactory or visual
Ictus - actual seizure period
Post-ictal state - time where body “resets” itself
visual space
Visual info comes from specific location in space.
Objects have a location relative to an individual (egocentric), or to one another (allocentric)
visual recognition
Ventral stream info to the temporal lobe specialized
in recognition of faces “Grandmother cells”
visual attention
Process of features of the visual world (otherwise it
would be too much!).
object agnosia:
Apperceptive agnosia: Can’t recognize an object although basic visual functions (color, motion etc.) are preserved.
Can’t copy or match simple objects.
Can see one thing at a time:
type of object agnosua : Apperceptive agnosia:
Apperceptive agnosia: Can’t recognize an object although basic visual functions (color, motion etc.) are preserved.
- Associative agnosia:
- Associative agnosia: Can’t recognize objects in spite of being able
to perceive them.
Subjects can describe the object, know what it is for, copy it, but can’t identify it.
