Neuropsychology and Neuroscience Lecture 5&6 Flashcards
What is the pre-frontal cortex?
The prefrontal cortex is the section of the frontal cortex that lies at the very front of the brain. The prefrontal cortex contributes to a wide variety of executive functions, including: Focusing one’s attention. Predicting the consequences of one’s actions; anticipating events in the environment.
What are the 3 regions of the prefrontal cortex?
The Dorsolateral, upper medial, and the ventromedial / orbitofrontal
Damage to the dorsolateral causes what?
Innappropriate sequences of action, poor working memory (not able to keep things in mind and update relevent info)
Damage to the Upper Medial causes what?
Apathy, Intertia, and poor motivation
Damage to the ventromedial / orbitofrontal causes what?
Loss of inhibition, risky behaviour, poor self-evaluation, unable to evaluate a social context, poor social skills.
What is the most common form of actue brain injury?
Closed head injury (Blow to the head without fracture of the cranium)
What are the areas most commonly damaged due to closed head injury’s ?
Damage to the ventromedial / orbitofrontal PFC but also anterior parts of the temporal lobes. This can cause Disinhibition, loss of self-control, and increased emotions. There can also be disconnections across brain regions and diffuse axonal injury
What did Phineas Gages head penetrating injury cause for him?
His personality and social behaviour was changed
What is a ventromedial prefrontal cortex injury?
People with damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex still retain the ability to consciously make moral judgments without error, but only in hypothetical situations presented to them. They are severely impaired in making personal and social decisions.
What is the result of a ventromedial prefrontal cortex injury during childhood?
Evidence suggests that this type of injury during child-hood leads to poor moral judgements for self-interest and less empathy than a similar injury in adults.
What is the result of a ventromedial prefrontal cortex injury during adulthood?
Adults with this injury are able to reject simple moral rule violations compared to those who had this injury earlier on in life
What are low-conflict, self-serving moral scenarios?
Scenarios which are low conflict and self serving that test whether you would break a moral rule or not.
What do adult vmPFC (ventromedial PFC) and amygdala injurys usually lead to in adults?
Leads to poorer attention to other peoples eyes for social attention and interaction
What is the amygdala?
The amygdala is responsible for the perception of emotions such as anger, fear, and sadness, as well as the controlling of aggression.
What do amygdala lessions cause in experiments?
A lack in social response in animals causing them to become isolated
What do lessions or for example calcification of the amygdala cause in humans?
Cause cause reduced fear to external threats, and the failure to recognise fearful faces. They usually fail to recognise someone elses personal space and tent to stick to someone more than what is comfortable.
How is the amygdala related to panic disorders?
Evidence has shown hyperactivity of the amygdala is related to panic disorders as it causes increased panic and fear to dangerous internal threats such as oxygen deprivation.
What is the urbach wiethe disease?
a very rare, recessively inherited disorder, characterized by yellowish white infiltrative deposits on the skin, the mucous membranes and other internal organs. It can lead to the calcification of the amygdala in the brain.
What is the hippocampus?
Hippocampus, region of the brain that is associated primarily with memory, located in the inner (medial) region of the temporal lobe, forms part of the limbic system,
How do you increase the volume of the posterior hippocampus?
Some kinds of exercise and learning although as this occurs anterior volume will decline.
Can you increase the volume of the posterior hippocampus?
Yes! although at the same time anterior volume will decline
What are enriched environments?
An environment in which influences the brain. It was found that enriched environments produce better quality brains
True or False? Enriched environments produce better quality brains
True
What do enriched environments produce in the brain?
More dendrites on neurons and more spines (synapses) on those dendrites. This helps with more efficient information processing.
Can environmental stimulation promote recovery of brain function after an injury
Yes. according to numerous studies.
Could enriched environments reduce impairments after brain injury to the limbic thalamus?
Yes!
What is the most common kind of dementia?
Alzheimers disease
What is alziemers disease?
Where an individual has lost their ability to make ‘independent judgements’ and have loss of everyday functions. There must be two or more areas of cognition that are compromised to have dementia. The most critical feature is the loss of brain tissue
What is progressive neuro degeneration?
The progressive loss of structure or function of neurons, including death of neurons
What are two types of abnormal culprits causing brain degeneration in alzheimers disease?
- High levels of Amyloid-beta plaques in the brain tissue
2. Abnormal levels of ‘tangles’ inside the brain neurons
What is atrophy?
Where a body tissue or an organ wastes away, especially as a result of the degeneration of cells, or become vestigial during evolution.
Is there a link between education and not getting dementia?
Yes! Slightly
What are the 7 modifiable lifestyle factors that increase the rates of dementia?
Midlife obesity, diabetes, midlife hypertension, depression, physical inactivity, smoking, and low education
