Nervous system: The Human Brain

Question 1

Label the diagram, what view of the brain is seen, what is this classification of separation called and what is it dominant for?

Answer 1

The left hemisphere

Division by lobes

Dominant for languages

Question 2

What feature of the brain defines the parietal and temporal lobe?

Answer 2

Lateral fissure

Question 3

What feature of the brain defines the frontal lobe?

Answer 3

Central sulcus

Question 4

What feature of the brain defines the occipital lobe?

Answer 4

Parieto occipital sulcus

Question 5

What are the features of the brain which indicates the parieto occipital sulcus?

Answer 5

It is the region of the brain where the grooves are shallower and lined up with the pre-occipital notch

Question 6

Label the diagram (only the coloured bits but have a read of the labels to get a feel for where stuff should go). What is the classification of the brain called?

Answer 6

By historical development

Question 7

How does the human brain regions compare with a rats brain regions size? Why is this?

Answer 7

The human brain has proportionally a much larger forebrain and smaller hindbrain than a rat

Forebrain is associated with humans emotional and logical intelligence development

Question 8

How does the brain regions of mammals compare during embryo development?

Answer 8

In embryo development they are the same relative sizes (i.e. fore, mid, hind are same) but as it develops they brain regions grow disproportionally

Question 9

Label the lateral view diagram of the human brain

Answer 9

Question 10

What is the function of the primary auditory cortex?

Answer 10

Breaks down the whole sound received into its constitutive sounds (i.e. Tonotopic representation)

Question 11

What is the function of Wernicke’s area?

Answer 11

It interprets the constitutive sounds received by the primary auditory cortex and gives them meaning (i.e. it can filter out unnecessary sounds and convert sound into language…) (i.e. secondary auditory cortex)

Question 12

What is the name and description of the condition when a patient gives inappropriate responses?

Answer 12

Fluent/Wernicke’s aphasia

When a patient has difficultly interpreting responses but can still communicate properly

Question 13

What is the function of Broca’s area? What classification of auditory cortex is it?

Answer 13

It controls speech by talking to the primary motor cortex to control the physical structures involved in speech (i.e. mouth, tongue etc.)

Secondary auditory cortex

Question 14

What are the parts of the brain that control reading and writing? How are these roles split?

Answer 14

Supramarginal gyrus and Angular gyrus

They both participate in reading and writing actions but the supramarginal does more for reading and the angular does more for writing

Question 15

What is the function of Exner’s area?

Answer 15

Involved in hand movement

Question 16

What is the function of the frontal eye fields?

Answer 16

Controls eye movement

Question 17

What is the process of spoken language being generated from other spoken language?

Answer 17

1 - The sound is received by primary auditory cortex

2 - Wernicke’s area processes the sound and decides on a response

3 - The information from Wernicke’s area is transferred to Broca’s area by the Arcuate Fasciculus

4 - Broca’s area transmits required info to the primary motor cortex for speech generation

5 - primary motor cortex initiates cell-bodies to co-ordinate speech

Question 18

What is the name and description of the condition when a patient is unable to respond to speech properly?

Answer 18

Non-fluent/Broca’s Aphasia

A person can interpret language but are unable to communicate properly

Question 19

What is the process of written language being generated from spoken language?

Answer 19

1 - The sound is received by primary auditory cortex

2 - Wernicke’s area processes the sound and decides on a response

3 - The information from Wernicke’s area is transferred to the Supramarginal/Angular gyrus by a fasciculus

4 - The processed information then is transferred by another fasciculus into the frontal eye field and Exeners area so that movements of the hand can be controlled by sight

Question 20

What is the name and description of the condition when a patient has intact language production and comprehension but poor speech repetition

Answer 20

Connectional aphasia

This is where the patient is unable to complete an idea in conversation because the arcuate fasciculus is damaged resulting in faulty messages between the Wernicke’s and Broca’s area

Question 21

What are the functions of the frontal association cortex?

Answer 21

Intelligence, personality, behaviour, mode, cognitive functions

Question 22

What are the functions of the parietal association cortex?

Answer 22

Spatial skills, 3D recognition of shapes, faces, concepts and abstract perception

Question 23

What are the functions of the temporary association cortex?

Answer 23

Memory, mood, aggression, intelligence

Question 24

What are the functions of the non-dominant hemisphere? What side is this normally on?

Answer 24

Non-verbal language (i.e. body language), emotion expression (tone of language), spatial skills, conceptual understanding, artistic/musical skills

Normally the right hemisphere (for all right handed people and 80% of left handed people FYI)

Question 25

What are the effects of injury on the non-dominant hemisphere?

Answer 25

Loss of non-verbal langage, speech lacks emotion, spatial disorientation, inability to recognise familiar objects, loss of musical appreciation

Question 26

Label the diagram

Answer 26

Question 27

What is the function of the primary visual cortex?

Answer 27

Receives visual info and converts it into brain signal

Question 28

What is the function of the supplementary visual cortices?

Answer 28

Processes visual info

Question 29

What is the function of the motor planning area?

Answer 29

It is where the movement that is going to happen is planned (i.e. what nerves need to be activated)

Question 30

What is the other name and function of the primary motor cortex?

Answer 30

Pre central gyrus, contains the cell bodies which connect to the spinal cord and control the motor movement

Question 31

What is the other name and function of the primary sensory cortex?

Answer 31

Postcentral gyrus, the main sensory receptive area for touch

Question 32

Both the pre and post central gyrus have a ______ representation? What does this mean?

Answer 32

They are both homunculus

The organisation of the motor neurons that detect/activate parts of the body are organised together

Question 33

For motor function, how much of the representation of the primary motor cortex is associated with the face? What does this indicate about the number of neurons in the brain?

Answer 33

A bit less than half of the motor cortex is associated with the face

This indicates that a bit less than half of all the motor neurons are associated with facial movement

Question 34

For motor function, relatively how much of the representation of the primary motor cortex is associated with the trunk? What does this indicate about the type and activation of the muscles?

Answer 34

There is relatively a small amount of the motor cortex associated with the back Considering that the trunk takes up a large amount of total mass/size, this indicates that the muscles here are large and are activated by only a few nerves

Question 35

What does fasciculus mean?

Answer 35

A bundle of white matter

Question 36

What are the three regions in the motor planning area?

Answer 36

Broca’s area, frontal eye fields and Exners area

Question 37

If you suspect someone has connectional aphasia, what test can you do? Why does this work?

Answer 37

Get the patient to write down their response

This bypasses the arcuate fasciculus which so if there is an issue with it, the patient should be able to write down a correct response indicating damage to the connection to Broca’s area

Question 38

What percentage of people are left side dominant for languages in people that are right and left handed?

Answer 38

All right handed people are left hemisphere dominant for language and 80% of left handers are as well

Question 39

What does the primary visual cortex do?

Answer 39

It interprets the light signals from the eyes

Question 40

What does the secondary visual cortex do?

Answer 40

Interprets the visual information received and processed by the primary visual cortex

Question 41

Label the diagram

Answer 41

Question 42

What is the function of the calcimine sulcus?

Answer 42

It divides the two halves of the visual cortex