Psychological Science Flashcards
What percentage of brain volume is frontal lobe?
30%
What are the 3 different ways of subdividing the brain?
Cytoarchitectonic
Thalamic connections
Functional properties, e.g. primary, secondary, association areas.
What is the major form of cytoarchitectonic classification of the brain?
Brodmann’s areas
What does neuropsychology study?
Brain-behaviour relationships
Who was Phineas Gage?
Patient who had:
Penetrating head injury involving at least the left frontal lobe in 1848
Dramatic changes in personality with relative intact intellectual ability
“…his mind was radically changed, so decidedly that his friends and acquaintances said he was no longer Gage.”
What does Luria’s functional systems described the anterior unit as being concerned with?
Planning, executing and verifying behaviour

What is meant by “executive function?”
Umbrella term
Describes inter-related processes responsible for goal directed, purposeful behaviour
Includes emotional and social behaviour as well as cognition
Often considered a ‘frontal lobe’ function
What are the 3 major functional subdivisions of the pre-frontal cortex?
Dorsolateral, medial and orbital pre-frontal cortex

What are the functions of the dorsolateral pre-frontal cortex?
“ Traditional” executive functions:
Working memory
Response selection
Planning and organising
Hypothesis generation
Flexibly maintaining or shifting set
Insight
Moral judgment
Which part of the pre-frontal cortex is concerned with “traditional” executive functions?
Dorsolateral pre-frontal cortex
Which artery supplies the dorsolateral pre-frontal cortex?
Middle cerebral artery
What are the functions of the medial pre-frontal cortex?
Emotional – motivational interface:
At most extreme: akinetic mutism (systems are all intact but lack of motivation to initiate)
Apathy
Initiative
Indifference
Which part of the pre-frontal cortex is concerned with emotional functions?
Medial pre-frontal cortex
Which artery supplies the medial pre-frontal cortex?
Anterior cerebral artery
Where does the site for self-awareness sit in the brain?
In the medial pre-frontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex
What is the orbitofrontal cortex highly connected to?
Limbic areas
What functions has the orbitofrontal been associated with?
Inhibition - emotional, cognitive and social
Impulsivity
Which artery supplies the orbitofrontal cortex?
Anterior and middle cerebral arteries
Which area of the pre-frontal cortex has “opposite” functions to the medial pre-frontal cortex?
Orbitofronal cortex
What will lesions in the orbitofrontal cortex result in?
Social disinhibition.
Patients taking less time to complete a task but they make the most errors.
Which area of the brain is the last to develop and first to degenerate with age?
Frontal lobe
Which functions are the last to reach maturity?
Executive functions
What is the progression of development of the pre-frontal cortex?
‘Lower order’ functions develop first
‘Higher order’ eg. set shifting and reasoning develop later
Which positive and negative processes take place during frontal lobe maturation?
Positive processes: eg. Neuronal proliferation
Negative processes: eg. “pruning”










