Parietal and frontal lobes

Question 1

What separates the parietal and frontal lobes?

Answer 1

Central sulcus (Rolandic fissure)

Question 2

What separates the parietal and occipital lobes?

Answer 2

Parieto-occipital fissure

Question 3

What are the main areas within the parietal lobe?

Answer 3

Somatosensory cortex
Posterior parietal cortex~
- Superior and inferior parietal lobules

Question 4

Where is the somatosensory cortex located?

Answer 4

In between the central and postcentral sulci

Question 5

What is the main role of the somatosensory cortex?

Answer 5

Processing information about bodily sensations e.g. temperature, pain, proprioception and visceral sensations

Question 6

Where does the information to the somatosensory cortex come from?

Answer 6

Spinal cord –> thalamus –>SSC

Question 7

Where does information from the SSC go to?

Answer 7

Motor cortex (frontal lobe)
Posterior parietal areas

Question 8

What happens with phantom limb?

Answer 8

Somatosensory cortex recognition
Cells from arm region dont receive inpur so neighbouring face cells expand
Activation spreads from arm to face region and brain interprets signals as from arm even though its missing

Question 9

What separates the two posterior parietal lobules?

Answer 9

Interparietal sulcus

Question 10

What separates the inferior lobule and temporal lobe?

Answer 10

Lateral sulcus (Sylvius fissure)

Question 11

What are the roles of the superior parietal lobule? (3)

Answer 11

Elboration and integration of sensory information from the somatosensory cortex
Maintains a representations of the body state that’s used during voluntary limb movement
Has a role in controlling attention

Question 12

What are the roles of the inferior parietal lobule?

Answer 12

Multimodal sensory integration
Calculation
Language
Sense of self
Direction of attention to objects
VIsuo-motor coordination

Question 13

What are the possible consequences of damage to the inferior parietal lobule?

Answer 13

Expressive/Broca’s aphasia
Receptive/Wernicke’s aphasia
Hemispatial neglect
Optic ataxia (difficulties looking/reaching)
Ocular apraxia (visual motor disturbance/gaze)
Simultanagnosia (difficulty seeing more than one object at once)

Question 14

What separates the frontal and temproal lobes?

Answer 14

Lateral sulcus (Sylvius fissure)

Question 15

What are the main areas of the frontal lobe?

Answer 15

Prefrontal cortex
Motor cortex 
- Premotor area
- Supplementary motor area
- Primary motor cortex

Question 16

What does information processing require?

Answer 16

Attention
Decision making
Control

Question 17

Why is the locarion of the prefrontal cortex important?

Answer 17

It can control all other brain areas

• Connected to sensory, motor and subcortical areas
• Can exert top-down influence by selecting task relevant actions and suppressing task irrelevant processing

Question 18

Main roles of the prefrontal cortex (6)

Answer 18

Cognitive control (executive function)
Controlled attention
Working memory
Problem solving
Emotion and decision making
Language

Question 19

Where is the primary motor area located?

Answer 19

In between the central and precental sulci

Question 20

What is the main role of the primary motor area?

Answer 20

Control of voluntary movement

Question 21

What inputs into the primary motor cortex?

Answer 21

Somatosensory cortex

Premorot/supplementary motor areas

Question 22

Where does information go when it leaves the primary motor area?

Answer 22

Spinal cord (via cortico-spinal tract/brain stem)
--> muscle execution (left/right cross over) and somatosensory cortex

Question 23

Main roles of premotor/supplementar motor areas?

Answer 23

Planning of complex movement sequences

Selection of appropriate actions

Question 24

How does attention utilise these areas?

Answer 24

Goal setting (prefrontal coretex) + attraction to salient objects and spatial processing (inferior and posterior parietal lobules)