Neuro case studies

Question 1

what is the function of the frontal lobe?

Answer 1

executive function (e.g. attention, inhibition), personality, voluntary movement, speech / language
production

Question 2

what is the function of the temporal lobe?

Answer 2

auditory processing, lang comprehension, visual object recog, links with limbic system

Question 3

what is the function of the parietal lobe?

Answer 3

somatosensory cortex, spatial orientation

Question 4

what is the function of the occipital lobe?

Answer 4

visual processing

Question 5

what is the function of the cerebellum?

Answer 5

coordination of movement (incl eyes), balance

Question 6

What connects the brain’s hemispheres?

Answer 6

The corpus callosum.

essential re-integration of info transferred between R/L hem

Grey matter – cortex

White matter – fibres, myelin sheath insulates axon

Question 7

What is the role of grey and white matter?

Answer 7

Grey matter: Cortex; contains neuron cell bodies.
White matter: myelin sheath insulates axons that transmit signals.

Question 8

What role does the hippocampus play?

Answer 8

Hippocampus
- consolidation of new info - memory

Question 9

What role does the amygdala play?

Answer 9

controls emotional responses

• assess threats
• fear – part of fight-or-flight
• physiological response – avoid danger

Question 10

What is neural plasticity?

Answer 10

Intact part of brain takes over function
of damaged area

Brain does not physically change
shape!

Question 11

what happened to Phineas Gage in 1848?

Answer 11

tampering iron shot through cheek bone and frontal lobe but he physically recovered, though with significant personality changes.

Question 12

What were the psychological impacts on Gage?

Answer 12

disinhibition, impulsivity, hostility, and unpredictability.
Evidence of frontal lobe function in personality and executive processes.
- good psych recovery - behaviours exaggerated

Question 13

Evidence from neuroimaging

Answer 13

-rep of damage (Damasio et al, 1994) - sim trajectory of entry - compared scans - 27 normal brains matched size

• multiple frontal regions damaged - pg atypical beahv explained

Question 14

what about Individual anatomical differences?

Answer 14

no systematic assessment of pg psych defects

but - supports understanding of function of frontal brain regions

Question 15

How did connectivity studies (e.g., Van Hom et al., 2012) refine our understanding of Gage’s injury?

Answer 15

MRI RH males [25-36] - sim to find extent of GM+WM damage

Damage - localised to LFC

Affected other brain areas - contributor to PG behave change

Question 16

What led to H.M.’s surgery, and what was done?

Answer 16

severe epilepsy
surgeons removed large portions of:
- both medial temporal lobes
- most of his hippocampus.

Question 17

What were the effects of the surgery on H.M.’s memory?

Answer 17

Deficits: Severe anterograde amnesia (can’t form new explicit memories) and moderate retrograde amnesia (some loss of past memories).

Intact abilities: Procedural memory, short-term working memory, and intellect.

Question 18

What tasks could H.M. still perform post-surgery?

Answer 18

Learn motor skills (e.g., mirror tracing) without remembering learning them. [Corkin, 2002]

Recall information temporarily, such as a phone number while dialing it.

Question 19

What caused Clive Wearing’s memory impairment?

Answer 19

Herpesviral encephalitis damaged his hippocampus, resulting in profound amnesia.

Question 20

How did T.T.’s hippocampal damage affect his spatial memory?

Answer 20

Could navigate main roads but unable to find way on unfamiliar routes

Shows the hippocampus’s role in detailed spatial memory.

Question 21

What did H.M., Clive Wearing, and T.T. teach us about the hippocampus?

Answer 21

Essential for long-term memory consolidation.

Not as critical for implicit and procedural memory.

Crucial for spatial navigation.

Question 22

What caused D.F.’s visual impairment?

Answer 22

Carbon monoxide poisoning damaged her lateral occipital cortex, causing visual form agnosia

Question 23

What abilities were preserved in D.F.?

Answer 23

Impairment: Couldn’t recognize objects.

Preserved: Could act upon objects accurately.

Question 24

What does the two-visual streams model explain?

Answer 24

Ventral stream: Object perception and recognition.

Dorsal stream: Real-time visual control for movements.

Question 25

What caused S.M.’s inability to feel fear?

Answer 25

Bilateral destruction of her amygdala due to Urbach-Wiethe disease.

Question 26

How did S.M.’s condition affect her behavior?

Answer 26

No fear in dangerous situations.

Disinhibited social behaviors, such as reduced awareness of personal space.

Question 27

What did Feinstein et al. (2011) find about S.M.’s fear responses?

Answer 27

She showed little to no fear in response to frightening film clips.
She found them exciting or entertaining instead.

Question 28

What did Adolphs et al. (2005) discover about S.M.’s gaze?

Answer 28

She made fewer fixations to eyes when viewing faces but improved fear recognition when instructed to focus on eyes.

Question 29

What distinguished Einstein’s brain from others?

Answer 29

Thicker, denser corpus callosum.

Larger parietal lobes linked to mathematical and spatial abilities.

Question 30

What does the corpus callosum contribute to intelligence?

Answer 30

It facilitates efficient communication and integration of information between hemispheres.