Neuroanatomy; Visual-spatial perception disorders

Question 1

3 anatomical planes

Answer 1

frontal/coronal plane, sagittal plane, horizontal plane

Question 2

Gyri vs. sulci

Answer 2

brain tissue; spaces between the brain tissue

Question 3

Grey matter vs white matter

Answer 3

comprises the cortex (lateral) of the brain; consists of axons that act as cables (medial)

Question 4

Structural vs. functional connectivity

Answer 4

direct connections between brain regions; regions that work together and form networks without direct connections

Question 5

Lateralization

Answer 5

left side processes language and right side processes spatial information

Question 6

Contralateral vs. ipsalateral

Answer 6

opposite or same side of the body

Question 7

Main functions of the anterior and posterior of the brain

Answer 7

doing (front half) and sensing (back half)

Question 8

Contralateral deficits caused by right-brain damage

Answer 8

hemiplegia (paralyzed left side), left-sided neglect, spatial-perceptual deficits, tendency to deny/minimize problems, rapid performance and short attention span

Question 9

Contralateral deficits caused by left-brain damage

Answer 9

right-side hemiplegia, impaired speech/language aphasias, impaired right/left discrimination, slow and cautious performance, awareness of deficits (e.g. depression, anxiety)

Question 10

6 patterns of brain lesions

Answer 10

focal lesion with focal deficit; multifocal lesion with multiple deficits; large lesion with multiple deficits; mass lesion with minimal deficits; focal lesion with deficits in other brain regions; focal lesion with multiple deficits

Question 11

Pathways of dorsal vs. ventral visual streams

Answer 11

from occipital lobe to parietal lobe; from occipital lobe to temporal lobe

Question 12

Functions of dorsal vs. ventral visual streams

Answer 12

processes information on location, movement, and spatial relations; processes information on color, texture, shape, size

Question 13

Visual object agnosia

Answer 13

the failure to recognize an object from sight

Question 14

2 subtypes of visual object agnosia

Answer 14

apperceptive and associative

Question 15

Brain regions associated with apperceptive vs. associative agnosia

Answer 15

occipital and parietal lobes; occipital and temporal lobes

Question 16

Apperceptive visual agnosia

Answer 16

deficits in early stages of perceptual processing leading to inability to recognize, draw, or copy objects (but knowledge of it is intact)

Question 17

Associative visual agnosia

Answer 17

failure in recognition despite no deficit in perception (ability to draw or copy objects intact)

Question 18

Prosopagnosia

Answer 18

deficit in identifying familiar faces but ability to describe discrete aspects of a face, nose, mouth, eyes typically intact

Question 19

Brain region affected by prosopagnosia

Answer 19

fusiform face area in the ventral stream

Question 20

Topographagnosia

Answer 20

inability to navigate around and form a mental map of one’s surroundings

Question 21

Simultanagnosia

Answer 21

inability to see more than one object in a scene at a time, the multiple aspects of a single object or the totality of an object (but can identify its discrete features); inability to read words (but can process each letter)

Question 22

Cortical blindness

Answer 22

loss of vision caused by bilateral damage to the visual pathways posterior to the lateral geniculate nuclei (not optic nerves or eye) but pupillary light reflexes are normal

Question 23

Most common cause of cortical blindness

Answer 23

anoxia (oxygen deprivation)

Question 24

Hemispatial neglect

Answer 24

failure to report, respond, or orient to stimuli on one side of the visual field opposite to the lesion (usually left-sided neglect); not attributable to sensory or motor impairments

Question 25

5 diseases that impact visuospatial abilities

Answer 25

stroke (e.g. right MCA or PCA), anoxia, alzheimer’s, lewy body dementia, posterior cortical atrophy