Neural Anatomy Flashcards
What is fatal insomnia disease?
A prion disease (protein pathogen) that degenerates the thalamus and results in the inability to sleep and subsequently, death.
What is a ganglion?
Bundle of neurons (in the PNS).
A bundle of neurons in the CNS is a nucleus
- The source of many misnomers..
What is the cingulate cortex responsible for and where is it?
Part of the medial cortex (core of brain, in fold)
Responsible for decision making and cognitive control
What is the limbic system for?
Emotional processing and autonomic function. Also intention.
What are the 5 components of the limbic system?
- Cingulate cortex
- Thalamus
- Hypothalamus
- Basal Ganglia
- Insular cortex
What is the temporal cortex responsible for?
Speech and language, and some visual processing. Specifically for identifying objects and categorizing them (ventral stream)
What is the lowest level of visual processing?
V1 in the occipital cortex
What is the parietal cortex responsible for?
Using vision to plan motor actions (dorsal stream).
Includes sensory cortex
Tells where you are in 3D space
Sensing motion of objects (dorsal stream)
What is the dorsal stream of visual processing?
The “where” pathway (eg. orientation in space)
What is the ventral stream of visual processing?
The “what” pathway (eg. recognizing objects)
Which visual stream is fooled by optical illusions?
The ventral stream
What is a lack of coordination clinically called?
ataxia
What is an inability to judge distances (overshooting and undershooting) called?
Dysmetria
A form of ataxia
Dysmetria, a form of ataxia can result from damage to what area of the brain?
the cerebellum
Is the somatotopic map of the S1 contralateral or ipsilateral?
Contralateral
