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Cognitive Neuroscience > Week 3 > Flashcards

Week 3 Flashcards

1
Q

Hierarchy of Motor Structures?

A

-Lowest level: spinal cord
-Top level: cortical regions

Prefrontal and parietal cortex > premotor and supplementary motor cortex regions> motor cortex> brainstem> spinal cord

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2
Q

What does spinal circuitry do?

A

Produces simple reflexive movements

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3
Q

Which neurons innervate muscle fibers and produce concentrations of fibers?

A

Alpha motor neurons (releases acetylcholine transmitter)

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4
Q

Which neurons are important for sensing and regulating the length of muscle fibers (proprioceptive)

A

Gamma motor neurons

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5
Q

What are the sensory receptors called that are embedded in the muscles and provide information about how much the muscle is stretched?

A

muscle spindles

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6
Q

What are Extrapyramidal tracts?

A

Primary source of indirect control over spinal activity modulating posture, muscle tone, and movement speed; they receive input from subcortical and cortical structures

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7
Q

Describe the cerebellum

A

A densely packed structure. Inputs project primarily to the cerebellar cortex and the output from the deep cerebellar nuclei projects to the brainstem and cerebral cortex via the thalamus. Damage to the
cerebellum results in a syndrome known as ataxia.

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8
Q

Describe the basal ganglia

A

A collection of 5 nuclei: the caudate nucleus and the putamen (referred to together as the striatum), the globus pallidus, the subthalamic nucleus, and the substantia nigra.

  • The afferent fibers to the basal ganglia terminate in the striatum, composed in primates of two nuclei: the caudate and putamen.
  • The output nuclei: the globus pallidus (GPi) and the pars reticularis of the substantia nigra (SNr). They use the same inputs to create different outputs.
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9
Q

What are motor areas?

A

Cortical regions for voluntary motor functions (planning, control, execution of movement).

-They include the primary motor cortex, the premotor cortex, and the supplementary motor area

-Sensory areas include somatosensory cortex. Parietal and prefrontal cortex are also essential in producing movement

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10
Q

What function does the motor cortex have?

A

Regulates the activity of spinal neurons

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11
Q

What are axons that exit the cortex and project directly to the spinal cord called? It is referred to as a pyramidal tract.

A

Corticospinal tract (CST) (the longest neurons in the brain)

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12
Q

Which cortex is located in the posterior frontal lobe and receives input from almost all motor control cortical areas (parietal, premotor, supplementary motor, frontal cortices AND basal ganglia, cerebellum)?

A

Primary Motor Cortex (M1)

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13
Q

M1 two anatomical subdivisions?

A

Rostal(evolutionarily old): homologous across species. Corticospinal neurons originating here terminate on spinal interneurons

Caudal (present in humans/primates): projections to muscles of the upper limb, and they support the dexterous control of our fingers and hands

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14
Q

What is somatotopic representation?

A

Different regions of the cortex represent different body parts (e.g. M1)

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15
Q

What is Hemiplegia?

A

The loss of voluntary movements on the
contralateral side of the body. Reflexes are absent immediately after a stroke.

Happens with lesions in M1

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16
Q

What are the secondary motor areas?

A

Are involved with the planning and control of movement.

They consist of:
1. premotor cortex
2. supplemenraty motor area (SMA)

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17
Q

The parietal cortex functions?

A

For sensory-guided actions, such as grabbing a cup of coffee or catching a ball

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18
Q

Supplemenraty motor area (SMA) function?

A

Strong connections with the frontal lobe (preferences and goals)

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19
Q

Visual processing stream: dorso-dorsal stream functions?

A

Has a role in reaching; lesions cause optic ataxia

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20
Q

Visual processing stream: ventro-dorsal stream functions?

A

producing both transitive gestures (those that involve the manipulation of an object) and intransitive gestures; lesions in this stream result in apraxia

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21
Q

central pattern generators?

A

Are neurons that produce entire sequences of movement without any
descending commands or external feedback signals. They evolved to trigger actions essential for survival, such as locomotion.

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22
Q

What is a population vector?

A

a more global representation of cell activity of individual cells. This suggests that each neuron can be considered to be contributing a “vote” to the overall
activity level. The strength of the vote will correspond to how closely the movement matches the cell’s preferred direction

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23
Q

Affordance competition hypothesis

A

explain how we set goals and plan actions. Affordances are the
opportunities for action defined by the environment

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24
Q

SMA functions?

A

Complex actions, sequential & coordinated movements

*alien hand syndrome (if damage)

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25
Q

What is the mirror neuron network?

A

Suggests that our ability to understand the actions of others depends on the
neural structures that would be engaged if we were to produce the actions ourselves. It is also anticipatory in nature; can distinguish good from bad performance.

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26
Q

Constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT)

A

A method that restrains patients from using their unaffected limb.

(brain may favor short-term solutions over long-term gains)

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27
Q

Why is recovery slow or limited in motor loss?

A

After stroke, there is an increase in GABA in the peri-infarct zone. This inhibitory neurotransmitter reduces the efficacy of sensory inputs and in turn leads to
neuronal hypoactivity.
Thus, pharmacological interventions to reduce GABA levels were used and showed early and robust gain of motor recovery after a stroke.

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28
Q

Brain-machine interfaces (BMIs)?

A

Decoding algorithms to control prosthetic devices with neural signals. They use neural signals to directly control robotic devices such as a computer cursor or a prosthetic limb.

BMI systems work with output from the primary motor cortex, also with cells in premotor, supplementary motor, and parietal cortex.

29
Q

What is Reinforcement contingency (basal ganglia learning)?

A

It is the contingency (relationship) between a response and a reinforcer

30
Q

What is Huntington’s disease?

A

It’s a hereditary neurodegenerative disorder. Within a year from onset movement abnormalities are noticed: clumsiness, balance problems, and a general restlessness.

*Excessive movements called hyperkinesia

31
Q

What is Parkinson’s disease?

A

The loss of dopamine-producing neurons in the SNc, is the most common disorder affecting the basal ganglia.

*Hypokinesia is a reduced ability to initiate voluntary movements

*Bradykinesia refers to a slowing in the rate of movement.

*Akinesia, the total absence of voluntary movement.

32
Q

What is Sensorimotor adaptation?

A

The ability to gradually modify our motor commands in order to compensate for
changes in our body and in the environment.

33
Q

Sensorimotor learning?

A

The cerebellum is essential for learning the new mapping, but M1 is important for
consolidating the new mapping (long-term retention). The parietal cortex is important for the storage of the new sensorimotor map.

34
Q

What is a Forward model?

A

an expectancy of the sensory consequences of our action. The cerebellum is a neural network
for the generation of forward models. It receives a copy of motor signals being sent to the muscles from the
cortex (information that can be used to generate sensory predictions). Also receives input from various receptors of the somatosensory system.

35
Q

What is Cognitive control (executive function)?

A

A set of physiological processes that enable us to use our perceptions,
knowledge, and goals to aid actions and thoughts. The behaviors are goal-oriented and require the coordination of a complex set of actions that may unfold over an extended period of time.

36
Q

What are the 4 major components of the preforntal cortex?

A
  1. lateral prefrontal cortex
  2. frontal pole
  3. orbitofrontal cortex
  4. medial frontal cortex
37
Q

What are the 3 prefrontal control systems?

A
  1. Supporting goal-oriented behavior: s involved with planning; simulating consequences; and initiating, inhibiting, and shifting behavior (LPFC, OFC, FP).
  2. Guiding and monitoring behavior: monitoring ongoing activity to modulate the degree of cognitive control needed to keep behavior in line with current goals (MFC).
38
Q

What is Preservation behavior in frontal lobe lesions?

A

Patients that insist that they are correct even when told they are not.

39
Q

What is Utilization behavior in frontal lobe lesions?

A

Extreme dependency on prototypical responses for guiding behavior. Not being
able to inhibit their response or change it to fit the context

40
Q

What are LPFC cells?

A

What-where cells that exhibit an increase in firing rate during the first delay period. They exhibit task-specific selectivity.

LPFC reflects a representation of the task goal and serves as an interface with task-relevant long-term representations in other neural regions

41
Q

Goal representation hypothesis?

A

PFC is connected with post sensory regions of the temporal and parietal cortex

42
Q

What’s an N-back task?

A

Tests the manipulation of information in working memory. Participants are instructed to push a button when they detect a repeated stimulus. Activation in the LPFC increases as n-back task difficulty is increased. = the region is critical for manipulation operation

43
Q

(PFC) A ventral–dorsal gradient?

A

Organized in terms of maintenance and manipulation, as well as in a
manner that reflects general organizational principles observed in more posterior cortex, such as the
ventral and dorsal visual pathways for “what” versus “how.”

44
Q

An anterior–posterior gradient?

A

More abstract representations
engage the more anterior regions (frontal pole), and the less abstract engage more posterior regions of the frontal lobes.

45
Q

A lateral–medial gradient?

A

The degree to which working memory is influenced by information in the environment (more lateral) or information related to personal history and emotional states (more medial).

46
Q

What are Network analyses that have been employed to depict organizational principles of brain connectivity?

A
  • Finger-tapping
    -N-back task
47
Q

What are Action-outcome decisions?

A

With an action–outcome decision, the decision involves some form of evaluation (not necessarily conscious) of the expected outcomes

48
Q

What are Stimulus-response decisions?

A

After we repeat an action-outcome decision, and if the outcome is consistent, the process becomes habitual.

49
Q

What is a Model-based decision?

A

An internal representation of some aspect of the world and uses this model to evaluate different actions.

50
Q

What is a Model free decision?

A

Only an input–output mapping, similar to stimulus–response decisions.

51
Q

What are Primary reinforcers?

A

They have a direct benefit for survival fitness. But reward value is also flexible and shaped by experience.

52
Q

What are secondary reinforcers?

A

Rewards that have no intrinsic value themselves, but become rewarding
through their association with other forms of reinforcement

53
Q

What are factors that contribute to representation of value?

A
  • Payoff
  • Probability
  • Effort/cost
  • Context
  • Preference
54
Q

What is temporal discounting?

A

The value of a reward is reduced when we have to wait to receive that reward (in the OFC region).

55
Q

Where are dompaniergic-activated cells located?

A

Usually scattered throughout the brain, however, most prevalent in Substantia Nigra pars compacta (SNc) and Ventral Tegmental area (VTA)

56
Q

What are the two VTA pathways?

A

-Mesolimbic pathway: structures important to emotional processing

-Mesocortical pathway: neocortex, medial portions of the frontal lobe

57
Q

What brain area is related to emotional and motivational events?

A

The habenula- located within the dorsal thalamus

58
Q

What is the Alternative hypothesis of dopamine activity?

A

Dopamine release is the result, not the cause, of learning. Two responses: valence & salience

59
Q

Three components are essential for successfully developing and executing an action plan?

A
  1. Hierarchy of goals- identify a goal with subgoals
  2. Anticipate any consequences
  3. Determine any requirements for subgoals
60
Q

What is selection of task-relevant information?

A

The ability to focus attention on perceptual features or information in memory. The LPFC

  • dynamic filtering mechanism (PFC)- helps to retrieve and select information that is relevant to the current task requirements.

-PET

-fMRI

61
Q

Two hypotheses about how we become proficient multitaskers?

A
  1. Doing the tasks in parallel
  2. Switching between the tasks

-fMRI study: Inferior lateral aspect of PFC became weaker over the scanning sessions due to shorter duration and faster switching.

62
Q

Why do the frontal lobes mature late?

A
  • Traditional view: A late addition in evolution means late development
  • Hypothesis: An immature frontal lobe might make people more open minded, perhaps because they don’t have strong response associations to environmental cues or well-established value representations. = good for learning and problem solving.
63
Q

Dynamic filtering could influence the contents of information processing in at least two distinct ways (not mutually exclusive)?

A
  1. Facilitatory: Enhance task relevant information
  2. Inhibitory: Inhibit irrelevant information

-electrophysiological & fMRI studies

64
Q

What is Supervisory attentional system (SAS)?

A

A psychological model of cognitive control to ensure goal-oriented behaviors succeed.

  • Planning or decision making is required.
  • Responses are novel or not well learned.
  • The required response competes with a strong, habitual response
    -error correction
65
Q

Which cortex is consdiered a monitoring system?

A

The medial frontal cortex (MFC), part of the ACC (arousal and cognitive control)

-DTI studies

66
Q

ATTENTIONAL HIERARCHY HYPOTHESIS

A

MFC is part of the higher hierarchy, playing a critical role in coordinating activity across attention systems

67
Q

ERROR DETECTION HYPOTHESIS

A

Evidence implicating the MFC in the detection of errors.

68
Q

RESPONSE CONFLICT HYPOTHESIS

A

Key function of the MFC is to evaluate response conflict. Conflict monitoring is a computationally appealing way to allocate attentional resources.

-Post-error slowing (PES): after making an error on a reaction time task, participants slow down

-Decision threshold hypothesis: more information must be sampled from the environment before a response is selected.

69
Q

Single-cell study (monkeys) show?

A

Neurons in the lateral intraparietal cortex, a region known to represent decision signals related to saccades. = two factors associated with PES.

  1. increase in the decision threshold
  2. reduced sensitivity to sensory information after an error

Cognitive Neuroscience (4 decks)

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