week 11 bio

Question 1

What is association cortex

Answer 1

non-sensory cortex regions across the cortex is a complex distribution and supports our higher cognitive functions

Question 2

What are the roles of the frontal lobes

Answer 2

primary motor cortex- movement control
premotor areas- planning/guidance of movement
executive control, attention, working memory and top down control

Question 2

The frontal lobes

Answer 2

about 1/3 of the cerebral cortex in all mammalian species has tremendous evolution expansion and is the seat of intelligence and abstract thinking

Question 3

Prefrontal cortex

Answer 3

most anterior portion of the frontal lobe, highly interconnected with rest of brain, Once thought to be functionally insignificant

Question 4

Who was Phineas Gage

Answer 4

Famous neurological patient: dramatic prefrontal damage, source of early insight into how brain controls behaviour

Question 5

What is the case of Phineas Gage

Answer 5

Before- average intelligence, very industrious and dependable, energetic and persistent in executing all of his plans of operation
After: Gage was no longer Gage, No obvious motor or memory impairments, Mainly affected personality, impaired concentration rude and aimless

Question 6

What are Lobotomy patients

Answer 6

Surgical separation of portion of frontal lobes form rest of brain, treatment for mental disorders, early report miraculous recoveries but- severe negation effects on a patient’s personality and ability to function independently

Question 7

Modern evidence

Answer 7

Prefrontal lesions- various unusual emotional, motor and cognitive changes

Question 8

What is lateral surface

Answer 8

closet to the skull anterior to the premotor areas and the frontal eye fields

Question 9

What is medial surface

Answer 9

lies between the two hemispheres and to the front of the corpus callosum and anterior cingulate cortex

Question 10

What is the orbital surface

Answer 10

Above the orbits of the eyes and the nasal cavity. the orbitofrontal cortex is closely related to the ventral medial surface

Question 11

What is executive functions

Answer 11

aka executive control or cognitive control

Question 12

What are the 3 main cognitive capacities

Answer 12

Inhibition- overcoming a prepotent response
Updating/WM- maintenance, monitoring updating, manipulation of the STM contents
Shifting/ cognitive flexibility- flexibly switching between tasks and behaviours

Question 13

peripheral frontal cortex

Answer 13

larger PFC volume and greater PFC thickness associated with better executive task performance

Question 14

What is PFC and top-down control

Answer 14

top down control when goals or plans are involved in actions
PFC- as gating filtering biasing mechanism of neural activity

Question 15

What is Stroop task

Answer 15

Measures ability to inhibit a prepotent response name of a colour and colour of font and incongruent colour where name of the colour and colour of font has different colour

Question 16

What is testing response inhibition

Answer 16

Go/No-Go task- respond to go trials presented majority of time
Stop-Signal reaction time- stop signal present after go:
measure stop action delay
Lateral PFC implicated, particularly inferior frontal region

Question 17

What is planning and problem-solving

Answer 17

Patients with lateral PFC damage: slower+ more moves to solve
fMRI: ToL activates right DLPFC

Question 18

What is Wisconsin Card Sorting Test

Answer 18

Measures how well people adopt to the changing rules, 3 different ways to classify each card: colour, shape, Number rules change
Patients with frontal lobe damage: make more errors, can’t keep track of the rule change, longer reaction times

Question 19

What is the issue with assessment of frontal lobes

Answer 19

Most complex aspect of neuropsychological assessment, Few sensitive test available, Isolated cognitive function may be unimpaired, ecological validity, lack of insight

Question 20

detecting executive function impairments

Answer 20

The frontal lobe paradox, people with impaired PFC function can be unaware of problems and deny they need help/support knowing-doing disassociation. Not knowingly denying truth: reflects the fact that the areas of the frontal lobes that are responsible for self-monitoring and developing insight have been affected by their brain damage

Question 21

Effect of multi tasking

Answer 21

patients with PFC lesions may be particularly impaired at multi-tasking hold goals in mind while performing or processing secondary subgoals

Question 22

Hot versus cold control processes

Answer 22

distinction between the control of affective or reward-related stimuli (hot) versus purely cognitive (cold) stimuli

Hot cognitive control involves primarily the orbitofrontal cortex whereas cold cognitive control involves primarily the lateral PFC

Question 23

What is Iowa gambling task

Answer 23

aim is to win as much money as possible
patients with orbitofrontal cortex dysfunction continue to persevere with the bad decks, sometimes even though they know that they are losing money overall

Question 24

What is LPFC vs OFC delay discounting

Answer 24

delay discounting also point to a difference between the lateral and orbital PFC
Delay discounting preference for smaller immediate rewards over larger delayed rewards
Patients with OFC/VM lesions fail to plan ahead and exhibit impulsive behaviour by opting for immediate rewards

Question 25

PFC is crucial for using information to guide behaviour

Answer 25

working memory- active maintenance of goal-related information in the face of distractors/interference; task-dependent
Delayed response task: requires response to stimuli that saw/heard a short while earlier DLPFC shows increased activity during delay period: stronger activation; better memory performance

Question 26

What is insight into WM from neuroimaging

Answer 26

Neuroimaging studies show that working memory is mediated by frontal cortex and several posterior cortical regions, posterior cortical regions seems to specialise in the type of information held in working memory, Frontal area may have a special role in integrating information