The frontal cortex

Question 1

What are the 3 major subdivisions of the frontal cortex?

Answer 1

Primary motor cortex
premotor cortex
Prefrontal cortex

Question 2

What are the function of the premotor cortex?

Answer 2

Higher order control

• movement planning/selection/sequencing
• inhibitory control of motor cortex.

Question 3

What is the function of the motor cortex?

Answer 3

Control of skeletal muscles.

Question 4

What are the 2 neuropsychological tests for which deficits in patients with frontal lesions were reported?

Answer 4

Verbal fluency

Wisconsin Card Sorting Test

Question 5

Describe the findings from the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test

Answer 5

Patients continue to sort the cards according to a specific rule even though they are told that it is no longer the rule.
- this is known as preservation

Question 6

What is meant by lesion mapping?

Answer 6

Takes MRI images from patients and overlays them to see where the different lesions overlap with each other.
- they then link the common areas in a specific lesion to specific deficits in a task.

Question 7

What did Stuss et al conclude about the lateral prefrontal cortex?

Answer 7

Its main function is for executive functioning.

• Left = Task setting
• Right = monitoring

Question 8

What did Stuss et al conclude about the Dorsomedial PFC?

Answer 8

Energisation - the process of initiating and sustaining any response

Question 9

What did Stuss et al conclude about the orbital PFC?

Answer 9

Behavioural and emotional self-regulation

Question 10

What did Stuss et al conclude about the Polar PFC?

Answer 10

Metacognition (thinking about thinking)

Question 11

What is the function of the lateral PFC?

Answer 11

Plays important role for executive functions/cognitive control/ top-down control/goal-directed behvaiour

Question 12

Which psychologist agreed that the areas in the LPFC are involved top-down control as a functional unit?

Answer 12

Duncan

Question 13

What was Duncan’s evidence for areas in the LPFC are involved top-down control as a functional unit?

Answer 13

Areas of the Multi-demand network are activated by diverse cognitive demands - there is no clear distinction in their function.

• fMRI scans show no apparent functional difference in MD network.
• regions in the LPFC of monkeys can change their coding properties.

Question 14

How do neurons in the LPFC adapt to task demands (Freedman et al.;)?

Answer 14

Asked monkeys to classify images as either dog-like or cat-like

• they found neurons in the LPFC distinguished between 2 classes.
• during a delay neurons continued to fire - more so for dogs.
• they then changed it to adapt to 3 properties
• —the coding properties of the neurones adapted to the tasks demands.

Question 15

Which psychologists disagree with the idea that areas in the LPFC are involved top-down control as a functional unit?

Answer 15

Koechlin/Badre/Nee

Question 16

What is the main idea as to why the areas in the LPFC are not involved top-down control as a functional unit?

Answer 16

The LPFC is hierarchically organised
- the anterior LPFC areas process more abstract information whereas posterior LPFC areas process more concrete information.

Question 17

Describe Badre’s evidence as to why V

areas in the LPFC are not involved top-down control as a functional unit?

Answer 17

They visualised anterior to posterior functional differentiation in the lateral frontal cortex.
The function are mapped to different ‘orders’ of the brain.
- processes are localised.