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thinking brain lecture 1 Flashcards

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1
Q

Describe the human cortex

A

Large surface area
>1 trillion synapses
Most complex neural stucture in brain

Mediates:
– Voluntary motor
activity
– Sensory perception
– Learning and memory
– Language
– Affective disorders
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2
Q

What are the 5 parts of cortex?

A

Frontal -
Parietal
Temporal
Occipital

Also brainstem, cerebellum Diencephalon

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3
Q

What frontal cortex used for?

A

Thinking, planning, executive function, motor execution

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4
Q

What is temporal cortex used for?

A

Language function, auditory perception, long term memory and emotion

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5
Q

What parietal cortex used for?

A

somatosensory perception,
integration of visual &
somatospatial information

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6
Q

What occipital cortex used for?

A

visual perception

and processing

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7
Q

brainstem, cerebellum Diencephalon cortex used for?

A

Basic life support
Motor coordination
Arousal and attention

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8
Q

Describe difference between white greay matter?

A

White Matter, -> inside brain, cell axons

Grey matter -> on the outside, cell bodies

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9
Q

Describe hemisphere crossover?

A

touching and sensing from one side of body is processed by other side in brain

Each hemisphere sends
motor commands to the
contralateral body side via
descending cross over of
axons in brainstem
– Output is via corticospinal tract
• Each hemisphere receives
sensory information from the
contralateral body side via
ascending cross over of
axons in brainstem
– Input is via thalamus
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10
Q

Describe frontal lobe functions? specifically prefrontal cortex

A 
Prefrontal cortex areas involved in
“executive” control of anticipation,
planning, prediction, working
memory, olfactory input
• Primary motor cortex area in
precentral gyrus controls motor
activity of limbs and speech (motor
homunculus) on contralateral side

• Broca’s area for speech production

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11
Q

Describe parietal lobe functions?

A 
Primary somatosensory
cortex area in postcentral
gyrus maps skin and
muscle receptors of body
(sensory homunculus) of
contralateral side
Somatosensory
association cortex
integrates sensory map to
produce understanding of
recognition of objects1
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12
Q

Describe temporal lobe functions?

A 
Auditory and language functions,
long term memory storage and recall
Primary auditory cortex receives
auditory information
• Auditory association cortex
processes sound recognition
• Language areas (Wernicke’s
area) process language/speech
recognition, integrating with
vision for reading
• Medial temporal lobe is
input/output for hippocampus and site of storage of long term memory – damage causes retrograde amnesia of varying severity
• Olfactory processing
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13
Q

Describe occpital lobe functions?

A 
Visual processing and recognition. 
Primary visual cortex (at
back tip of cortex)
receives visual inputs and
forms retinal map
• Visual association area
surrounds primary visual
cortex and interprets
visual input for recognition
and location of visual
objects
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14
Q

Describe cortex layer structure?

A

6 layers, arranged
parallel to surface

Layer based on cellular
types and structures
present, synaptic inputs
and outputs
• Some layers are missing
or more complex in
different cortical areas
>Layes based on cellular tyoes n strcture, and synaptic inputs or outputs

> Some layers missingor more complex in different cortical areas

1) Molevulr layer: mainly axons, input
2) External granular layer
3) Eternal pyramnindal layer
4) Internal granular input as well
5) Internal pyramidal main output cells
6) Multiform -> main output cells

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15
Q

Describe vertical columns?

A

Respond similarly to specific snesory input
Links specific set of inputs to outputs in microcolumn
all species of mammals have these microcolumns

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16
Q

Describe The canonical cortex circuit

A

Processing circuit repeated within columns, similar connections between layers

Sensory input comes from thalamus to excitatory cells in layers 2 3 4
Thalamic inputs to excitatory
neurons in layers 5 and 6 are weak
• Smooth cells are GABAergic s are inhibitory, and project back to layers,

Theres lots of feedbacks

Outputs from 2/3 -> other cortical areas

5/6 to subcortical areas

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17
Q

Describe brain structural asymmetry

A 
Right hemisphere goes further
forward
• Left hemisphere goes further back
• Left hemisphere sylvian fissure is
longer and less sloped than right
• Wernicke’
s area in left temporal lobe
adjacent to sylvian fissure is larger
• Neurones in Broca’
s area in left
frontal lobe show more synaptic
connections than in right frontal lobe
• Angular gyrus is larger on left
• Parietal area is larger on righ
18
Q

Describe brain functional asymmetry

A

Left: linguistic processing,, analytical functions, local features i.e trees
rational language, thoughts, seeing the trees- individual specific features

Right: spatial, facial, music, emotions, whole forest, put it all togethe

19
Q

What happens if you have hemisphere damage? IF THERE CAPITAL M MADE OUT OD Z’S

A

Right damage, would not see the M just the Zs

Left Damage, would not see the Zs just the big M

20
Q

How is two hemipsheres connected?

A

Its connected through corpus callosum,
Commissurotomy involves cutting the corpus
callosum and effectively splits the cerebral
hemispheres apart. This operation has been used to
treat epilepsy. Patients show surprisingly little
evidence of perceptual or motor disabilities and have
a relatively normal everyday life.

21
Q

Tell me about Split brain studies?

A

LANGUAGE PROCESSED IN LEFT HEMISPHERE, CANT NAME A THING THEY SEE ON RIGHT RETINA BUT CAN POINT ON IT IF RIGHT HEM

If you present objects, on right visual field (left hemisphere) it can be recognize and named.

On left retina right hem- cant name

]But can still recognize it.

Suggests left hemisphere is ‘interpreter’ e.g rationalizes

Face recignition, can name half face to left field with high accuracy- PRESENTED to right hemisphere, can see face

But can point

22
Q

What are some other effects of splitting brain?

A

Difficulty in learning to associate names and faces, eventually
learned by isolating some unique feature of the face to associate
with the name.
• Difficulty with solving geometrical problems. Split-brain patients
show a marked right hemisphere superiority in matching two- and
three-dimensional patterns.
• Aberrant motor behaviour on right and left sides of the body. Rarely,
some patients report uncontrolled or competitive behaviour of right
and left hands.
• Evidence of simple language ability of the right hemisphere. Simple
words presented visually can be associated with pictures.
• Motor tasks that involve coordination of two hands may be poorly
done.

23
Q

Describe Handedness asymmetry?

A

Left-handed people do not usually have functional
cerebral lateralization which is the “mirror” image of right
handed people
• 70% of left-handers show the same lateralization as right
handers
• 15% do show reversal of usual lateralization pattern
• 15% show bilateral distribution of language and spatial
functions that are usually lateralized

24
Q

Tell me about rodent whiskers

A 
Rats and mice have long
whiskers (vibrissae) arranged in
parallel rows along muzzle
• Large vibrissae are actively
moved (whisking) as animal
explores environment
• Whisking can discriminate object
position with 0.25 mm difference
• Single column of sensory cortex
devoted to processing input from
one vibrissa
• Cortical columns are called
whisker “barrels” due to their
shape in layer IV of sensory
cortex
25
Q

Describe 3 synapse pathway to barrel cortex

A 
Each vibrissal follicle innervated by
1-200 sensory mechanoreceptors
As it bends, these receptors get triggered,
Sensory afferent cell bodies in
trigeminal ganglion (in brain stem) and project
centrally via trigeminal (Vth) cranial
nerve
single virissa goies to single barrelette
• Barrelette in trigeminal nucleus
receives inputs from single vibrissa
crosses over
• Barrelette output goes to barreloids
in contralateral thalamus
– main output to ventroposterior medial
thalamic nucleus (VPm)
– smaller output to posterior medial
thalamic nucleus (POm)
 Output from VPm goes to
barrels in cortex layer 4, output
from POm goes to septal
areas between barrels in
cortex, layer 5 and 1
26
Q

Describe different been vpm and pom.

A

Vpm very narrow and has loop,

Pom broad receptive field, strongly regulated by animals, needs to be awake, state, also has loop

VPm • Signal information related to narrow receptive field (deflection of a single vibrissa) • Axons terminate in single barrel in layer IV • Minor axon termination in upper layer VI • Corticothalamic layer VI neurons project back to VPm

POm • Signal information from broad receptive fields • Activity strongly regulated by state-dependent control from cortex and other areas • Axons terminate in layers 1 and Va, in septal areas between barrels • Corticothalamic layer V neurons project back to Pom

27
Q

Tell me about cortical representation of a single whisker?

A 
• Microelectrode recording
and intrinsic optical
signalling shows that single
whisker deflection causes
firing and activity localised
to single cortical barrel
• Voltage-sensitive dye
imaging shows that subthreshold activity starts in
single barrel but rapidly
spreads across barrel
cortex
28
Q

Tell me about whiskers sensorimotor loop?

A 
Rodents rapidly move
vibrissae (whisking) to explore
objects, sensing object
position, shape, texture
• Barrel cortex responses to
active whisker contact during
whisking are much stronger
than for passive whisker
contact
• Whisking occurs at
frequencies which enhance
synchronous discharge of
thalamocortical neurons

During whisking response is much stronger, amplification from sensory info from thalamic output.

Sensorimotor activation may amplify cortical response to vibrissal contact
Trigeminal sensory neurons
fire most strongly when
vibrissa contacts object
B. Voltage-sensitive dye shows
barrel activity follows
vibrassa contact and spreads
rapidly beyond barrel
C. Low-level sensorimotor loop
between trigeminal nuclei
neurons and facial
motoneurons may cause
acceleration of vibrissa after
object contact, amplifying
sensory response to higher
order areas
29
Q

/is imitation inportant?

A

Yes, especially for infantsm
Imitation is important Monkey to monkey Monkey to human

• Infant monkeys learn social gestures (lipsmacking) by imitating mother’s gestures • Infant monkeys can also imitate others species (human) facial gestures

30
Q

What are mirror neurons?

A

Individual cortical neurons active under 2 circumstances ,
someone performs action
– someone observes someone else perform similar action
These systems may underlie the capacity to
– recognise actions and intentions of others
– empathise with or imitate others
– may be associated with evolution of language
• Disorders of mirror neuron system have been
suggested to underlie autistic spectrum disorders

31
Q

Where are these mirror neurons in humans??

A 
Recordings of single
mirror neuron activity in
human brain have now
been reported
• Functional imaging
studies (fMRI and PET)
and transcranial magnetic
stimulation (TMS) are
consistent with mirror
neuron system in same
functional areas of ventral
prefrontal cortex and
inferior parietal cortex
• Single neurons with activity changes
during both action observation and
execution were recorded in
– medial frontal cortex (supplementary motor area,
anterior cingulate cortex)
– medial temporal lobe (amygdala, hippocampus,
parahippocampal gyrus, entorhinal cortex)
• Neuron activity change varied
– Increase for both observation and execution
– Decrease for both observation and execution
– Increase for execution, decrease for
observation
32
Q

What can children and apes do?>

A

• Young children and apes can
– selectively attend to faces, bodies and actions
– understand basic mental states such as goals and
perceptions
– understand interactions between two objects
• They cannot
– distinguish between the object of a mental state and
the content of a mental state (theory of mind)
– Understand interactions between three objects
• Humans older than a year develop these
abilities

33
Q

Describe The empathic mirror neuron system

A 
MNS connected to limbic system via
insula
• MNS, insula and amygdala are
activated in observing or imitating
emotional expressions of others
• Empathic subjects have
– higher levels of activity in MNS areas
when viewing motions or hearing sounds
– better imitation of emotional expression of
others
• Subjects experiencing pain or
observing situation in which pain
was putatively applied to loved one
show increased activity in anterior
cingulate cortex and anterior insula
• Similar activation seen in subjects
who are congenitally insensitive to
pain (CIP)
34
Q

Mirror nuerons and humans?

A

Actions have to map to motor reportoire of the animal/person, like biting but not narlomg
Language->Capacity of MNS for movement imitation, even without
obvious purpose (intransitive) ® communicative ability
• Anatomical overlap between MNS and language areas
suggests that MNS ® language evolution from
communicative gestures
• Hand and mouth gestures highly linked in humans, both
® activity in left motor cortex hand area
• Listening to verbal material (language) vs. non-verbal
(pseudowords) increases left motor cortex activity and
tongue muscle excitability without speech occurring

35
Q

What is MNS organised into?

A

two main cortical networks
– Ventral premotor cortex and inferior parietal lobule
– Insula and anterior cingulate gyrus

36
Q

Specific thalamic nuclei

A

“corticak switchboard”
• Relay specific signals from ascending sensory
pathways (vision, hearing, touch) to specific cortical
areas arranged in sensory maps

37
Q

– Association thalamic nuclei

A

• Receives outputs from cortex, limbic nuclei, basal

ganglia and projects to specific cortical areas

38
Q

– Non-specific thalamic nuclei

A

• Project widely to cortex and other thalamic nuclei

39
Q

Premotor association cortex

A

controls planning of complex

learned motor patterns

40
Q

• Supplementary motor cortex

A

controls bilateral motor patterns

requiring dexterity

thinking brain (4 decks)

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