Lecture 17 - Frontal lobes + additional examinable content

Question 1

Frontal lobe subregions

Answer 1

Motor cortex
Premotor cortex
Damage to these two above will cause motor impairments

Prefrontal cortex
Orbitofrontal cortex

Question 2

Effects of damage to the frontal lobe …

Answer 2

Sensory processing in other areas and frontal lobe allows you to act on it, executive centre of the brain which organises information and then acts on it

Question 3

Effects of damage to the frontal lobe - Impairments in IQ

Answer 3

Convergent vs divergent tests of IQ
Prefrontal cortex is important for IQ depending on test
Convergent is a question that converges onto one correct answer, others are incorrect e.g. what is the capital of new zealand?
Damage to the frontal lobe does not affect this type of IQ
Divergent e.g. think of all the things you can use this for and tell me what they are, many answers
Damage to the frontal lobe will affect this kind of IQ

Question 4

Effects of damage to the frontal lobe - Impairments in motor function

Answer 4

Loss of fine movements, speed and strength

Broca’s aphasia - premotor cortex, problem with the motor aspect of speech

Question 5

Divergent IQ

Answer 5

Divergent e.g. think of all the things you can use this for and tell me what they are, many answers
Damage to the frontal lobe will affect this kind of IQ

Question 6

Convergent IQ

Answer 6

Convergent is a question that converges onto one correct answer, others are incorrect e.g. what is the capital of new zealand?
Damage to the frontal lobe does not affect this type of IQ

Question 7

Effects of damage to the frontal lobe - Loss of divergence thinking

Answer 7

Word fluency test
Five minutes to list as many words with a certain letter - sustained damage to frontal lobe especially the prefrontal cortex means there is a lower output
1st test any s words
2nd test is 4 letter c words - damage causes them to break the rule even though they are aware of the rule
Damage to divergent thinking

Design fluency test
Come up with as many designs/unique shapes as you can
Frontal lobe damage still shows a large output however there is a loss of divergent thinking so all of the designs drawn are very similar to one another

Question 8

Word fluency test

Answer 8

Loss of divergent thinking test

Word fluency test
Five minutes to list as many words with a certain letter - sustained damage to frontal lobe especially the prefrontal cortex means there is a lower output
1st test any s words
2nd test is 4 letter c words - damage causes them to break the rule even though they are aware of the rule
Damage to divergent thinking

Question 9

Design fluency test

Answer 9

Loss of divergent thinking test

Design fluency test
Come up with as many designs/unique shapes as you can
Frontal lobe damage still shows a large output however there is a loss of divergent thinking so all of the designs drawn are very similar to one another

Question 10

Effects of damage to the frontal lobe - Impairments in response inhibition

Answer 10

Wisconsin Card Sorting Test
Asked to figure out the rule and the researcher can only say if the rule is right or wrong
The two red circles have the possibility to be match on colour, number of circles or the shape itself. The one it definitely has no reason to match to is the yellow one
Recognise mistake when they say the other rules are said to be wrong - then after ten times in a row with correct at 11 they say that the rule is now wrong so then they switch the strategy - damaged lobe can figure out initial but do not deal well with switch, continue with previous strategy which is a problem with response inhibition

Stroop interference test
Normal, know when they screw up and can change, start again and then get back on track

Question 11

Wisconsin Card sorting test

Answer 11

Impairments in response inhibition

Wisconsin Card Sorting Test
Asked to figure out the rule and the researcher can only say if the rule is right or wrong
The two red circles have the possibility to be match on colour, number of circles or the shape itself. The one it definitely has no reason to match to is the yellow one
Recognise mistake when they say the other rules are said to be wrong - then after ten times in a row with correct at 11 they say that the rule is now wrong so then they switch the strategy - damaged lobe can figure out initial but do not deal well with switch, continue with previous strategy which is a problem with response inhibition

Question 12

Stroop interference test

Answer 12

Impairments in response inhibition

Stroop interference test
Normal, know when they screw up and can change, start again and then get back on track
word is a colour but the word is a different colour to the word written

Question 13

Environmental dependency syndrome

Answer 13

(Lhermitte, 1983, 1985)
Patient with frontal lobe damage has this
Imitation behaviour
Example = pair of glasses and patient wears them over the ones they already have as the doctor is wearing glasses so imitates (patient copies the doctor)

Question 14

Lhermitte 1983, 1985

Answer 14

Environmental dependency syndrome and utilisation behaviour

Question 15

Utilisation behaviour

Answer 15

Utilisaiton behaviour

e. g. given envelope and letter by someone else and patients with damage utilise it and seal the envelope as if it was there own without actually questioning it
e. g. nurse with damage was given her medical materials and starts performing a medical exam event though there is no context to and the fact that she does it despite being the patient herself

Question 16

Changes in personality e.g. phineas gage

Answer 16

Phinneas Gage 
1800s
Impaled with a rod 
Severed optic nerve in the left eye and through the frontal lobe 
Change in personalities

Question 17

What is the difference between frequency and hertz? Hearing …

Answer 17

Frequency is the number of sound waves, or cycles, per second

The hertz (Hz) is the technical measure of cycles per seconds e.g. 1 Hertz = 1 cycle per second

Question 18

In hearing what does frequency code for?

Answer 18

Frequency is related to pitch

The higher the frequency (Hz), the higher the percieved pitch

Question 19

In hearing what does amplitude code for?

Answer 19

Amplitude refers to the vertical size of sound waves - that is, the amount of compression and expansion of the molecules in the conducting medium

the sound wave’s amplitude is the primary determinant of the sound’s perceived loudness

differences in amplitude are expressed as decibels - a measure of the physical pressures that occur at the eardrum

Question 20

What are the structures of the inner ear?

Answer 20

The inner ear contains …

the cochlea = a coiled, snail shaped tube that is filled with fluid and contains the …

basilar membrane = a sheet of tissue that runs its length, resting on the basilar membrane is the …

organ of corti = which contains about 16000 tiny hair cells that are the actual sound receptors. The tips of the hair cells are attached to another membrane called…

tectorial membrane = overhands the basilar membrane along the entire length of the cochlea

the hair cells synapse with the neurons of the auditory nerve which in turn send impulses via an auditory relay station in the thalamus of the temporal lobe’s auditory cortex

Question 21

Where are the sensory receptors of the auditory system found?

Answer 21

The sensory cells of the auditory system, known as hair cells, are located along the basilar membrane within the organ of Corti.

Question 22

How are pressure waves translated into nerve impulses in the ear?

Answer 22

When sound waves strike the ear drum, pressure created at the oval window by the hammer (malleus), anvil (incus) and stirrup (stapes) of the middle ear sets the fluid inside the cochlea into motion. The fluid waves that result vibrate the basilar membrane and the tectorial membrane, causing bending of the hair cells in the organ of corti. This bending of the hair cells triggers the release of neurotransmitters into the synaptic space between the hair cells and the neurons of the auditory nerve, resulting in nerve impulses that are sent to the brain. Within the auditory cortex there are feature detector neurons that respond to specific kinds of auditory input, much as occurs in the visual system

Question 23

Why do you have two ears?

Answer 23

The nervous system uses information concerning the time and intensity differences of sounds arriving at the two ears to locate the source of sounds in space.

Sounds arrive first and loudest at the ear closed to the sound

purpose is for sound localisation and this system in humans is amazingly sensitive

Question 24

Sound waves are a form of

Answer 24

mechanical energy (pressure waves in the air)

Question 25

Transduction system of the ear

Answer 25

the transduction system of the ear is made up of tiny bones, membranes and liquid filled tubes designed to translate pressure waves into nerve impulses

Question 26

High amplitude sound waves cause…

Answer 26

it causes the hair cells to bend more and release more neurotransmitter substance at the point where they synapse with auditory nerve cells, resulting in a higher rate of firing within the auditory nerve.

Question 27

Loudness is encoded in terms of

Answer 27

both the rate of firing in the axons of the auditory nerve and the specific hair cells that are sending the messages