peerwise qs Flashcards
(225 cards)
An elderly man comes in to the doctor, talking of poor long term memory. He says he thought it was just old age, however after further examination it is discovered that he has Alzheimer’s. How can we decipher between normal cognitive ageing and Alzheimer’s?
Alzheimer’s has a steeper rate of decline than normal cognitive ageing
hippocampus function specifically
Hemineglect is common following a stroke, resulting in the neglect of sensory information from one hemisphere. Patients with hemineglect will miss things from one side. For example, leaving the left side of a plate uneaten, or right side of drawing unfinished. When asked which finger is moving they will miss one until it moves ‘into view’. The patient is unaware of this missing sensory information.
Damage to which associated cortex causes ‘neglect’ of incoming sensory information.
Posterior parietal cortex
The key distinctions between hemianopia and hemineglect are that
the patient is aware of the loss in hemianopia
damage to primary visual cortex = hemianopia
posterior parietal cortex = hemineglect
In a neurobiology lab, a student stimulates a hippocampal neuron repeatedly and observes a lasting increase in synaptic strength. His supervisor explains this phenomenon is crucial to memory formation, especially in the CA3 to CA1 pathway of the hippocampus.
Which mechanism underlies the strengthening of synapses and supports long-term memory formation?
Long Term Potentiation
Sanji, a university student is preparing for a culinary exam. He tries to multitask by listening to music, scrolling through social media, and reading his textbook at the same time. After an hour, he realizes he barely remembers anything he read.
Which cognitive factor most likely interfered with his ability to retain information?
Cognitive overload
Jason struggles to identify people he knows when he cannot see their hair, jewellry or clothes. What part of his brain’s function is impaired?
Fusiform
Jason struggles to identify people he knows when he cannot see their hair, jewellry or clothes. What is this called?
prosopagnosia
“facial blindness”
A patient comes in stating that they are an electrician and was on their ladder doing a job when they had a fall. After this accident the patient says that their vision has become impaired, but all other brain functions seem to be normal. Which part of the brain have they most likely fell on?
Occipital Lobe
A patients has been asked to draw a picture of a flower. When finished, only the left half of the flower has been drawn. What is the name of this condition? It is caused by damage to which region of the brain?
Hemineglect, Posterior Parietal Cortex
A 52 yo man arrives at the hospital. He is unable to recognise people from their faces, although can recognise his wife by her voice and clothing.
Which of the following conditions best explains this?
Prosopagnosia
A 60 year old man with a long history of alcohol abuse is brought to the hospital by his wife. She reports that he often forgets recent events and sometimes makes up stories when he can’t remember what happened. He struggles to recall both past and recent information. Lab tests confirm a severe thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency.
Which of the following brain regions is most likely damaged in this patient?
Medial thalamus and mammillary bodies - these structures are primary targets in thiamine deficiency from alcoholism (Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome), explaining both the memory deficits and confabulation.
What test would be used to see fine and soft tissue in the brain?
mri
Seren presents with an inability to recall personal experiences, such as the events of a recent family vacation, but can still remember general facts, such as the capital of France. Seres shows a problem with episodic memory, but her semantic memory appears to be intact. Which area of the brain is most likely responsible for this type of memory processing?
hippocampus
hippocampus forms declarative/explicit memories ultimately stored in the cortex. tells you where you are in the world
Ben knows that if he behaves while his mother is doing some shopping, she’ll buy him the toy car he’s been wanting.
Dopamine is released to act on the brain so that Ben is motivated to behave and later receive his toy car.
What area of the brain acts to complete the reward circuit?
Substantia Nigra
Dopamine regulates reward-related behavior through the mesolimbic dopaminergic pathway by acting on the nucleus accumbens, ventral tegmental area and the prefrontal cortex. Dopaminergic action on the substantia nigra is crucial for motor control, yes, but not for the completion of the reward circuit.
Amy has been looking after her 67 year old father who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. He constantly loses his spectacles and phone, leaving them in odd places, he tends to wander around the neighbourhood and get lost when he goes on walks, and he suffers from memory loss. These symptoms allude to damage in which part of the brain?
hippocampus
A young woman has a rare neurological condition where she experiences intense emotional reactions to neutral visual stimuli, such as seeing a tree and interpreting it as having a face. Which condition does this describe?
face pareidolia
Cognitive processes for managing behavior and achieving goals
The Executive Function
A patient reports difficulty understanding spoken language. They can speak fluently, but their sentences often lack meaning, and they appear unaware of their language difficulties. Which region of the brain is most likely damaged?
Wernicke’s area
A patient with schizophrenia has difficulty concentrating during conversations and reports heightened sensitivity to background noises. Which thalamic structure is most likely involved in this impaired ability to filter sensory input?
Pulvinar nucleus
The pulvinar nucleus plays a vital role in sensory gating which is the brain’s ability to filter out irrelevant or distracting sensory input to maintain focus. This gating process is often disrupted in schizophrenia leading to heightened sensitivity to background noise and difficulty maintaining focus.
The arcuate fasciculus connect the Brocas and Wernickes areas of the brain which are both located on the left side where language is most dominant. What type of white matter tract/ fibres is this?
association fibres
PTSD is an anxiety disorder caused by very stressful, frightening or distressing events.
Functional neuroimaging of an individual with PTSD shows hyperactivity of which brain area?
amygdala - major processing for emotions esp fear
A patient exhibits fluent but nonsensical speech and is unable to comprehend spoken language. Which area of the brain is most likely affected?
wernicke’s area
in temporal, understanding language
A patient is unable to speak fluently. They speak in short, effortful phrases but seem to understand spoken language well. What area of the brain is most likely affected?
Broca’s
Which brain structure is primarily involved in the storage and retrieval of explicit memories, such as recalling personal experiences and factual information?
hippocampus