Neuropsychology and neuroscience lectures 3-4

Question 1

What is the cerebellum?

Answer 1

The cerebellum receives information from the sensory systems, the spinal cord, and other parts of the brain and then regulates motor movements. It is made up of the cerebral hemispheres attached by the corpus callosum.

Question 2

A healthy corpus callosum enables what?

Answer 2

The smooth/seamless integration of information across two hemispheres.

Question 3

What is the corpus callosum?

Answer 3

The “Hard Body”. The corpus callosum is the region of the brain consisting of white matter tracts that connect the left and right cerebral hemispheres.

Question 4

How is the corpus callosum related to FASD?

Answer 4

The posterior regions of the Corpus callosum show vulnerability to alcohol exposure in the developing foetus. After severe exposure, the corpus collosum may be almost absent or be severely thin.

Question 5

What are the 4 lobes in each cerebral hemisphere?

Answer 5

FPOT

The Frontal lobe, The Parietal lobe, The Occipital lobe, and The Temporal lobe

Question 6

What is the function of the frontal lobe?

Answer 6

The frontal lobes are related to action and motor aspects of behaviour, including planning, and anticipating action (motor planning) and coordinating information across other brain structures to facilitate motion.

Question 7

What is the function of the posterior lobes of the cerebral hemisphere (Parietal, Occipital, and Temporal)?

Answer 7

These are related to sensory processing- sight, hearing, body senses.

Question 8

What is damage to the frontal regions of the cerebral hemisphere associated with?

Answer 8

Defects in “Action” and the control of cognitive processed

Question 9

What is damage to the posterior regions of the cerebral hemisphere associated with?

Answer 9

Defects in “Processing, storage and retrieval of sensory events”
Occipital - Vision
Parietal - Body sense and egocentric space
Temporal - Language, hearing, knowledge, and memory

Question 10

Who is Paul Broca?

Answer 10

A french neurologist responsible for two important ideas in neuropsychology

1. Localisation of function
2. Functional asymmetry between the hemispheres.

Question 11

What is localisation of function?

Answer 11

Regional differences. States that specific brain regions had specific functions

Question 12

What is functional asymmetry between the hemispheres?

Answer 12

It was proposed that the left hemisphere was specialized for language not the right hemisphere.

Question 13

What is brocas area?

Answer 13

Broca area, also called convolution of Broca, region of the brain that contains neurons involved in speech function.

Question 14

What is asphasia?

Answer 14

A language disorder that affects a person’s ability to communicate.
It can occur suddenly after a stroke or head injury or develop slowly from a growing brain tumour or disease.

Question 15

What is broca’s aphasia?

Answer 15

Individuals with Broca’s aphasia have trouble speaking fluently but their comprehension can be relatively preserved. This type of aphasia is also known as non-fluent or expressive aphasia.

Question 16

What is conduction aphasia?

Answer 16

A type of fluent aphasia. Damage typically involves the arcuate fasciculus and the left parietal region. The patient may be able to express him- or herself fairly well, with some word-finding issues, and comprehension can be functional.

Question 17

What does injury to the angular gyrus cause?

Answer 17

A lesion to the angular gyrus can result in problems with arithmetic, as well as writing, telling left from right, and the inability to tell one’s fingers apart. Aka poor reading and poor comprehension

Question 18

What does a lesion in the temporal and frontal lobes cause?

Answer 18

Problems in word repetition and misspoken words as if they mishear words. Aka conduction asphasia

Question 19

When you see words which cortex is activated?

Answer 19

The visual cortex

Question 20

When you hear words which cortex is activated

Answer 20

The auditory cortex

Question 21

When you repeat words which cortex is activated?

Answer 21

The posterior sensory and motor cortex are activated

Question 22

When you have to self-generate words which cortex is activated?

Answer 22

Both the posterior temporal cortex and a wider area than the broca’s region show activation

Question 23

What is epilepsy caused by?

Answer 23

Epilepsy may occur as a result of a genetic disorder or an acquired brain injury, such as a trauma or stroke.

Question 24

Do the two hemispheres of the brain have different functions?

Answer 24

Yes.

Question 25

Of the people who are right handed, how many have left-hemisphere dependence on speech.

Answer 25

Most. Around 96%

Question 26

Of the people who are left handed, how many have left-hemisphere dependence on speech?

Answer 26

Around 70%, the rest seem to be evenly distributed between bilateral representation or left-hemisphere dominance.

Question 27

What is a split brain?

Answer 27

Split-brain syndrome, is characterized by a cluster of neurological abnormalities arising from the partial or complete severing or lesioning of the corpus callosum

Question 28

If you cut your corpus callosum can you still recognise words?

Answer 28

Yes! The brain can still recognise words just not verbally.

Question 29

What is hemi-neglect?

Answer 29

a common and disabling condition following brain damage in which patients fail to be aware of items to one side of space

Question 30

What is an odd behvaiour associated with Hemi-Neglect?

Answer 30

Those with hemi-neglect fail to realise they have not addressed the left side ect the food on the left side of the plate or drawn the left figure correctly.

Question 31

What is the limbic system of the brain?

Answer 31

The limbic system is a set of structures in the brain that deal with emotions and memory. It is a subcategory of the Telencephalon area of the brain.

Question 32

What does limbic mean?

Answer 32

A ring of cortical and subcortical neural structures that straddle an inner border between the bulk of cerebral cortex and the brain stem.

Question 33

What does the limbic system intergrate?

Answer 33

Processed info about the external world and processed info about the internal world.

Question 34

What is the encephalon?

Answer 34

the brain.

Question 35

How is the limic system related to episodic memory?

Answer 35

Episodic memory is the conscious recall of an event you experiences, injury to many of the limbic structures can selectively impair this type of memory.

Question 36

Does injury to the limbic system impair implict memory? (Ability to learn new skills or respond to stimuli)

Answer 36

No

Question 37

What was interesting about HM who had severe amnesia?

Answer 37

He had a very short span of attention and could not retain information although his implict memory system was still intact or little changed

Question 38

True or False? All structures of the brain are interconnected

Answer 38

True

Question 39

What is the medial temporal lobe MTL memory system?

Answer 39

The medial temporal lobes (MTL) are crucial to episodic memory in which we retain information about the conscious source of the memory. Amnesia patients with bilateral damage to the MTL are correspondingly unable to remember specific past episodes or to learn new ones.

Question 40

What is diencephalic amnesia?

Answer 40

A form of amnesia resulting from loss of neurons in the diencephalon, especially the limbic system and the mammillary bodies. This is often associated with Korsakoff’s psychosis or syndrome as a consequence of alcohol abuse and thiamine deficiency.

Question 41

What is korsakoffs syndrome?

Answer 41

a chronic memory disorder caused by severe deficiency of thiamine (vitamin B-1)

Question 42

Are people with korsakoffs syndrome able to learn new cognitive skills?

Answer 42

Yes similar to those with amnesia, they usually have functioning implict memory systems allowing them to learn things although they cannot recall things (explict memory system)

Question 43

What is developmental amnesia?

Answer 43

Developmental amnesia is a memory disorder in which the episodic memory is several impaired but sematic memory works as well, or even better than usual

Question 44

In regards to developmental amnesia what occurs to the hippocampal volume and mammillary bodies?

Answer 44

Hippocampal volume losses of aroung 50% and the loss of mammillary body.

Question 45

The loss of blood flow in the thalamus produces what?

Answer 45

Amnesia when injury causes damage to the MTT aka mammillo thalamic tract and its adjacent structures.