Unit 1: History of Neuropsychology Flashcards
1
Q
“Brain Theory”/cerebrocentric
A
The brain is the source of behavior
2
Q
Mentalism
A
The mind is responsible for behavior. This metaphysical construct leads to the mind-body problem.
3
Q
“Mind-body problem”
A
How can an immaterial mind control a material body?
4
Q
Monism
A
The brain creates the mind.
5
Q
Dualism
A
Mind and body are separate but can interact and influence each other.
6
Q
Rationalism
A
All knowledge could be gained through the use of reason alone. Truth is thought of as intellectual and not sensory.
7
Q
Empiricism
A
The brain starts as a blank slate and knowledge comes from a sensory experience.
8
Q
Materialism
A
Rational behavior can be explained by the workings of the nervous system.
9
Q
Localism
A
Each section of the brain specializes in a different function.
10
Q
Holism
A
The brain is one whole that is highly interactive and you can’t divide it into piecemeal pieces
11
Q
Phrenology
A
A method to determine an individual’s character, personality traits, and intellectual abilities based on the shape and size of various areas of the skull.
12
Q
Engram
A
The enduring offline physical and/or chemical changes that were elicited by learning and underlie the newly formed memory associations / the biological basis for memory storage within neural circuits.
13
Q
Mass action (Lashley)
A
The amount of function loss is proportional to the amount of cortex destroyed / more brain area, more functions.
14
Q
Equipotentiality (Lashley)
A
All parts of the brain can perform the same memories. If a little bit is left, you can still do the function.
15
Q
Spontaneous recovery
A
Recovery without intervention, tissue adapts to lesions, happens early after injury (~3 months)
16
Q
Representational remodeling
A
Use of specific somatosensory areas to show greater representation with use (phantom limb phenomenon good evidence for remapping)
17
Q
Intermodal plasticity
A
Brain regions normally associated with one modality being used for a different modality (e.g. visual cortex in blind patients used for auditory processing instead)
18
Q
Kennard principle
A
Younger animals recovered better motor functions.
This applies to humans in language areas but there is evidence that brain damage earlier on to other functions does not lead to better outcomes as the brain is still developing.
19
Q
Clinical neuropsychology
A
An applied science concerned with the behavioral expression of brain dysfunction.
20
Q
Psychologists
A
Study behavior, PhD or PsyD
21
Q
Neuropsychologists
A
Psychologists who study brain-behavior relationships
22
Q
Neurologists
A
Identify/treat clinical disorders of the nervous system, emphasize anatomic correlations of disease
23
Q
Neuropsychiatrists
A
MDs who focus on organic aspects of mental disorders
24
Q
Neurosurgeons
A
Surgeons of nervous structures; nerves, brain, spinal cord
25
Neuroscientists
Researchers interested in molecular composition, functioning, and cognitive basis of the nervous system
26
Why is neuropsychological assessment still valuable?
Neuropsychological assessment can provide more detailed information for rehabilitative staff than a neuroimaging result.
Neuropsychological assessments have the capacity to be more flexible and respond to the patient’s needs.
The neuropsychologist can also break down the result and aid the patient and their families in understanding the diagnosis and prognosis more than a neuroimaging result can.
While neuroimaging can provide other useful information with expectations for how behavior will be impacted, it is not perfect and expectations may not be lined up.
The patient doesn’t really care what their brain looks like. They are more concerned with how their behavior will be impacted.
27
What are the purposes of a neuropsychological examination?
Diagnosis
Patient Care and Planning
Treatment Part 1: Identifying Treatment Needs
Treatment Part 2: Evaluating Treatment Efficacy
Research
Forensic research
28
What are the factors involved in recovery?
The age at the injury was received
- Younger brains tend to recover better from injuries impacting language areas. There is evidence that they don’t recover as well from other injuries as the brain is still developing, neurons are still migrating, and functions haven’t built up a solid foundation yet.
The scope of the injury/size of the lesion
-Wider-spread injuries that affect more functions may take longer to heal.
The development speed of the injury
-Did it occur quickly like a stroke or more slowly like a tumor?
-Faster-developing injuries can take much longer to heal and be more severe than slower-developing injuries.
Rehabilitation
-Being forced to exercise the functions that were damaged or lost can start rebuilding those connections in the brain and aid in the gain of that function again.
Reorganization/plasticity/accommodation of tasks.
29
How is the Iowa-Benton approach to neuropsychological assessment flexible and hypothesis-driven?
The approach is flexible because neuropsychological tests used vary for every patient based on personal factors and the patient’s goals.
The approach is hypothesis-driven based on the interpretation insight gained from the compilation of the patient’s medical history, neurological findings, and neuroimaging results.
30
How is the frontal lobe separated from the other lobes?
The frontal lobe is the most anterior, delimitated posteriorly by the central sulcus
31
How is the temporal lobe separated from the other lobes?
Delimitated superiorly by the Sylvian fissure
32
How is the parietal lobe separated from the other lobes?
Posterior to the central sulcus, delimitated on the medial surface by the parieto-occipital sulcus
33
How is the occipital lobe separated from the other lobes?
This is the most posterior, superiorly delimitated by the parieto-occipital sulcus on the medial surface, divided in two by the calcarine fissure (cuneus and lingula)
34
What is the prosencephalon?
Forebrain
35
What is the telencephalon?
Part of the prosencephalon that contains cerebral hemispheres (cerebral cortex + basal ganglia).
36
What is the diencephalon?
Part of the prosencephalon that contains the thalamus and hypothalamus along with associated structures
37
What is the mesencephalon?
Midbrain; contains the cerebral peduncles, midbrain tectum, and midbrain tegmentum.
38
What is the rhombencephalon?
The hindbrain.
39
What is the metencephalon?
Part of the rhombencephalon that contains the pons and cerebellum
40
What is the myelencephalon?
Part of the rhombencephalon that contains the medulla.
41
Where is the frontal pole?
The anterior part of the frontal lobe.
42
What is the orbitofrontal cortex?
The prefrontal cortex region involved in decision making.
43
Where is the gyrus rectus?
The fissure that is parallel to the longitudinal fissure in the frontal lobe.
44
Where is the cingulate cortex?
Superior to the corpus callosum and inferior to the frontal and parietal lobe by the cingulate sulcus.
45
What parts make up Broca’s area location?
Made up of the pars opercularis and pars triangularis of the inferior frontal gyrus.
46
Where is the primary motor cortex?
Rostral to the central sulcus
47
Primary somatosensory cortex location
Caudal to the central sulcus.
48
Primary visual cortex location
Along the banks of the calcarine fissure.
49
What are the primary cortices?
The main areas where basic sensory or motor processing is performed.
50
What are the association cortices?
Areas secondary to the primary cortices that carry out higher-order information processing
51
What are unimodal association cortices?
Association cortices that process single sensory or motor modality
52
What are heteromodal association cortices?
Association cortices that integrate functions from multiple sensory and/or motor modalities
53
What is the difference between gray matter and white matter?
Gray matter - cell bodies.
White matter - axons.
54
What is Brodmann’s map?
A classification scheme for different regions of the cerebral cortex based on cellular morphology and organization
55
What is the limbic system?
Collective structures located near the medial fringe (limbus in Latin) of the cerebral cortex. (Hypothalamus, basal ganglia, amygdala, hippocampus, anterior thalamic nucleus, mammillary body, entorhinal cortex, medial dorsal nucleus of thalamus)
56
What are the functions of the limbic system?
Binding information for memory formation
Focuses on emotional and behavioral states
Linking autonomic/hormonal/immunological states with mental activity
Verbal/nonverbal behaviors for social engagement (affiliative behaviors)
Perception of taste/smell/pain
57
What is the difference between synaptogenesis and synaptic pruning?
Synaptogenesis is the formation of synapses while synaptic pruning is the removal of synapses that are rarely used or not needed.
58
What is the encephalization quotient?
The ratio of actual brain size to expected brain size for a typical mammal of a particular body size
59
What are 4 factors that may have influenced the growth in Hominin brain size?
Climate change leading to the need for more complex food-finding techniques.
Increased reliance on socialization
Brain growth allows for more efficient brain cooling
Slowed maturation
60
What is neoteny?
The concept of slowing maturation to allow time for the brain and body to grow.
61
What is the Flynn effect?
IQ scores continuously rise over generations
62
Why do we study animals?
To understand basic brain mechanisms
Design animal models of human diseases/conditions
Understand evolutionary and genetic influences on brain development.
63
What are the 8 main differences between the hemispheres?
The right hemisphere is slightly larger and heavier.
Asymmetry in the temporal lobes shows the differences in language vs. music between the two hemispheres.
The thalamus is bigger on the left side.
The slope of the lateral fissure is gentler on the left side.
Asymmetry in the frontal operculum between the two hemispheres. The left side’s is more buried and specializes in grammar production while the right side’s is bigger and may influence the tone of voice.
The distribution of neurotransmitters differs between the hemispheres.
The right hemisphere extends farther anteriorly while the left hemisphere extends farther posteriorly.
The left hemisphere contains a thicker cortex with more gray matter while the right hemisphere contains more surface area.
64
What is cerebral torque?
Left/right asymmetry in the frontal and parieto-occipital regions.
65
What may impact the amount of asymmetry between the hemispheres?
Handedness (particularly left-handedness) and sex.
66
What does the right hemisphere specialize in?
Visuospatial tasks (reading faces, mental spatial transformation, sorting objects, perceiving wholes from a collection of parts, and discriminating musical chords).
Face integration and recognition
Parallel processing (multiple things going on at the same time).
Understanding physical space through cues such as proprioception.
Understanding social cues
67
What does the left hemisphere specialize in?
Integrating various information in a sequential and holistic way
Interprets information to provide an answer.
Verbal functions
68
What is agnosia?
The loss of ability to recognize objects, faces, voices, or places due to damage in the right hemisphere.
69
What is anomia?
The inability to remember the right names for people or objects due to damage in the left hemisphere.
70
What is agraphia?
The loss of the ability to write
71
What are disconnection syndromes?
Caused by the damage to white matter that conducts input and output to convergence centers for mental functions.
72
Pure alexia/word-blindness
Can recognize objects by visual inspection and can copy words but cannot read the words.
73
Hodology
Looking at the brain’s connections
74
Topography
Looking at the overall landmarks but not digging in.
75
What are hubs?
Highly connected brain regions that coordinate processing for brain networks for high cognitive functions.
76
Edge density
A measure of hubness from white matter.
77
Participation coefficient
A measure of hubness from gray matter.
78
What is a coup?
A brain bruise when the brain is compacted by the bones pushing inward.
79
What is a contrecoup?
An additional bruise when the pressure of a coup may push the brain against the opposite side of the skill.
80
What is shearing?
Twisting and tearing of nerve fibers.
81
What are symptomatic seizures?
Seizures with an identifiable cause such as infection, trauma, tumor, high fever, or other neurological disorder.
82
What are idiopathic seizures?
Seizures that occur without an identifiable cause from another CNS disorder.
83
What is an aura?
A subjective sense or experience prior to the onset of a seizure.
84
Ischemic stroke
Strokes due to a blood vessel being blocked.
85
Hemorrhagic stroke
Occurs when there is a leak or burst in a cerebral blood vessel.
86
What in stroke cases can increase the chance of dementia?
Age, pre-existing vascular disorders of the brain, the site of the lesion, and accumulation of infarcts (disrupted blood flow).
87
What factors are important to predict TBI recovery?
Areas impacted by coup, contrecoup, and shearing.
Age/Gender
-Men are more likely to sustain head injuries.
-Head injuries occur the most during young childhood, late teenage years, and +75 years.
Duration of unconsciousness following injury (correlates to mortality, intellectual impairment, and deficits in social skills.
Duration of coma and amnesia.
Mechanism of action of trauma (diffuse axonal damage vs. blunt trauma and direction of the trauma itself → temporal vs. frontal)
Accumulation of tau protein, a marker for neuronal degeneration
Signs of brainstem damage: initial dysphasia, or hemiparesis
A single occurrence of injury or chronic injuries (like in the case of sports/combat)
GCS at admission
Variation of GCS over time
88
What are the main identifying criteria for AD?
Progressive amnesic dementia
Anterograde learning deficit
CSF levels of A𝛽 42 (LOW) and tau protein (HIGH)
Cognitive impairments: spatial cognition, executive function, language
Principle lesions: neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) or neuritic plaques (NPs) of A𝛽.
89
What are the risk factors for developing AD?
Depression, some genetic factors such as APOE4, sleep disturbances, and changes in monoaminergic systems (such as decreased dopamine, serotonin system dysfunction in the dorsal raphe nucleus, lack of histamine, noradrenaline, and melatonin).
90
What are the differences between AD and FTD?
AD:
Slower progression over time
Atrophy starts in the hippocampus.
Associated with amyloid deposits and neurofibrillary tangles (tau pathology).
Onset is usually anterograde and eventually retrograde amnesia, especially in the retaining of new information, later additive cognitive deficits, and language retrieval problems.
FTD:
Sharper onset earlier in life
Atrophy starts in the orbitofrontal and medial prefrontal regions.
May be Tau + or Tau -. Associated more with argyrophilic cytoplasmic inclusions and TDP-43
Associated with social behavior modification and modifications of the executive functions.
91
How is epilepsy diagnosed?
A seizure with cognitive, psychological, and social consequences must have occurred, (especially recurrent ones)
Occurrence of at least one unprovoked epileptic seizure (without or without a known medical cause)
Evidence of seizure activity in an EEG can also help with discerning a diagnosis.
92
Who was Descartes and what was their contribution to neuroscience?
A philosopher who discussed the mind-body problem. Proposed that the mind was in the pineal gland.
93
Who was Broca and what was their contribution to neuroscience?
Localization of speech center
His work started with Tan in 1861.
94
Who was Wernicke and what was their contribution to neuroscience?
Localization of speech comprehension
95
Who was Gall and what was their contribution to neuroscience?
Developed phrenology to localize functions based on skull bumps in 1815.
96
Who was Penfield and what was their contribution to neuroscience?
Neurosurgeon, motor-sensory homunculi; topographic map for somatosensory system
97
Who was Benton and what was their contribution to neuroscience?
Combined neuroscience research with clinical neurology; started the neuroscience department at UIowa
98
Who was Gary van Hoesen and what was their contribution to neuroscience?
Neuroanatomist at UIowa.
Focused on how connectivity is important to consider when assuming behaviors/functions are related.
Looked at the plausibility of connections in biology
99
Who was Brenda Milner and what was their contribution to neuroscience?
Studied H.M. and learned a lot about amnesia. Discovered the difference between procedural and episodic/semantic memory.
100
Who was H.M. and what was their contribution to neuroscience?
A patient with epilepsy, removed large portions of the hippocampus which caused him to be unable to form new explicit memories, though he could still form implicit ones
Ex. Could improve over days of doing the same task (non-declarative) but he would never recall the task and each time declared he hadn’t seen the task before (declarative)
101
Who was David Weschsler and what was their contribution to neuroscience?
An American neuropsychologist who developed the Weschler Intelligence Test: Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC)
102
Are strokes and tumors able to be compared for brain/behavior relationships? Why or why not?
They should not be compared. Tumor patients had less impairments overall likely due to the chronic slower nature of their condition. Stroke patients had more impairments and this was likely due to their condition being acute.
103
Are strokes and TBIs able to be compared for brain/behavior relationships? Why or why not?
They are able to be compared. Both patient groups had similar impairments. This is likely due to both conditions being an acute injury.
104
What area of the brain does herpes simplex encephalitis target?
Herpes simplex encephalitis produces severe hemorrhagic necrosis targeted at the hippocampus, insular cortex, amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex, and basal forebrain.
105
What are the differences in amnesia between bilateral and unilateral herpes simplex encephalitis damage?
Bilateral: Anterograde amnesia due to mesial temporal damage. Retrograde amnesia due to anterolateral temporal damage. Other kinds of memory such as working and procedural are likely fine.
Unilateral cases:
-Left: anterograde and/or retrograde verbal amnesia and anomia (cannot retrieve name information)
-Right: anterograde and/or retrograde non-verbal amnesia.
106
What brain changes are associated with anterograde amnesia?
Smaller hippocampal and regional gray matter volumes (frontal and temporal) were correlated with increased anterograde amnesia, particularly in area CA1 of the hippocampus.
107
What is the function of the ventral-medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC)?
Adaptive functioning/executive functioning for decision making and determining risk and reward.
108
What is the difference between episodic and semantic memory?
Episodic memory is remembering different scenes/stories. Semantic memory is remembering facts.
109
What is the difference between declarative and non-declarative memory?
Declarative memory is memory you can speak about. This includes episodic and semantic memory. This relies on a lot of networks either in or related to the hippocampus.
Non-declarative memory is memory that you can’t describe as well verbally. This includes procedural memory/muscle memory. This includes many other systems like the basal ganglia or cerebellum.
110
What is autobiographical memory?
Autobiographical memories are memories a person has about their own life.
111
What are differences between internal and external differences for autobiographical memory?
Internal details: those that pertain directly to the main event described by the participant, were specific to time and place, and were considered to reflect episodic re-experiencing
External details: include semantic information, repetitions and details of events other than the one chosen for narration.
112
What is the difference between episodic autobiographical memory and semantic autobiographical memory?
Episodic autobiographical memory is like watching a movie scene from your life. You remember all the sensory pieces at once and not each little detail separately.
Semantic autobiographical memory is like reading off a list of everything that is in the memory without having that whole scene component where they all run smoothly. You are remembering the CV version of your life and not the full context of the memory.
113
What are some of the impacts of having impaired episodic but not semantic memory for these patients?
A weakened sense of self from not being able to recall episodic memories to back up how they feel about themselves.
They struggle with maintaining relationships as they feel distanced from them.
Both feel isolated.
They react more strongly to recent memories as they don’t have previous ones to provide context.
They feel insecure about the truthfulness of their memories.
They are worried about being moored in the present.
They have impaired planning and decision-making as they don’t remember what worked in the past.
