Week 5 - Topic 1 :Cerebral cortex and mental health

Question 1

What are the sections of the Cortex?

Answer 1

Primary sensory area, Primary motor area, Secondary sensorimotor areas, Association cortices

Question 2

What is the flow of information in the association cortices?

Answer 2

INPUT: primary and secondary sensory and motor cortices, brain stem, and thalamus.

OUTPUT: cerebellum, hippocampus, and basal ganglia. Information also flows between the different association cortices.

Question 3

What does Top-down processing achieve?

Answer 3

The information we receive is modulated by higher up processes, influencing our interpretation of ambiguous stimuli based on context-dependent expectations or prior experience.

Question 4

What is the role of the association cortex?

Answer 4

Integrates sensory and motor inputs to make sense of the world around us, allows flexible behavior, and allows abstract representations.

Question 5

How can the association area be divided?

Answer 5

Posterior/parietal association area, Limbic/temporal association area, Anterior/frontal association area.

Question 6

What is the posterior (parietal) association area important for?

Answer 6

Attention and integration of sensory info from different modalities.

Question 7

What is the Limbic (temporal) association area important for?

Answer 7

Emotions and long-term memory, which influence behavior.

Question 8

What is the frontal (anterior) association area important for?

Answer 8

Planning, decision making, and working memory.

Question 9

Why do executive functions play an important role in adapting to novel situations?

Answer 9

Executive functions include generating behavior, planning behavior, inhibiting behavior, switching behavior, and monitoring behavior.

Question 10

Who developed the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and when?

Answer 10

Grant and Berg in 1948.

Question 11

In what ways can cards be classified in the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test?

Answer 11

Colour of symbols, shape of symbol, number of symbols on card.

Question 12

Describe the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test.

Answer 12

Subject given a card and asked to pick a corresponding card from the 4 displayed on the table. Each of the 4 displayed cards will either match the given card’s colour, shape, or number of symbols. Feedback is given (correct/incorrect). If incorrect, subject must apply a different rule.

Question 13

What test is designed to test cognitive reasoning?

Answer 13

Wisconsin Card Sorting Test.

Question 14

What does the Tower of Hanoi test?

Answer 14

Cognitive abilities and ability to plan.

Question 15

Explain the Tower of Hanoi test.

Answer 15

Given 3 pegs, one peg has disks stacked in size order. Asked to transfer all disks to a different peg disk by disk, without placing a larger disk on top of a smaller disk.

Question 16

What does the Stroop task measure?

Answer 16

Inhibitory control.

Question 17

Explain the Stroop task.

Answer 17

First, you recite the colour of a list of coloured shapes. Then, you recite the colour of words that spell out opposing colours, requiring cortical inhibition for the correct answer.

Question 18

Define working memory.

Answer 18

The ability to hold information in mind while you manipulate it.

Question 19

What test measures working memory?

Answer 19

The n-back test.

Question 20

Describe the n-back test.

Answer 20

A sequence of images is shown, and subjects click a key when they see the same image repeated after a given number of images. E.g., in the 2-back test, respond if the first image is repeated after a different image.

Question 21

What does the n-back test measure?

Answer 21

Attention and working memory.

Question 22

What are the 2 forms of evidence for the Frontal lobes’ importance in executive functioning?

Answer 22

Neuroimaging cases and neuropsychological cases.

Question 23

What do fMRI studies show during executive functioning tasks?

Answer 23

Activation of prefrontal regions.

Question 24

What kind of studies show activation of prefrontal regions during executive functioning tasks?

Answer 24

fMRI studies.

Question 25

What did Hampshire et al 2014’s fMRI study find during an inhibition task?

Answer 25

Frontal lobes were highly activated at the beginning of the task, but this activation decreased as participants progressed, indicating importance for learning new information.

Question 26

What experiment showcases the importance of the frontal lobes in responding flexibly to our environment?

Answer 26

Hampshire et al 2014’s fMRI study.

Question 27

Which disorders are linked to frontal lobe impairment and executive dysfunction?

Answer 27

ASD, ADHD, BD, SZ, Depression.

Question 28

Which executive function tasks do ASD patients have trouble with?

Answer 28

Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Tower of Hanoi, planning tasks.

Question 29

Which executive function tasks involve planning?

Answer 29

Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and Tower of Hanoi.

Question 30

How can theory of mind be tested?

Answer 30

Animations, written stories, static cartoons.

Question 31

What brain areas are activated during Theory of Mind tests?

Answer 31

PFC, temporal lobes, superior temporal sulcus.

Question 32

What fMRI difference can be seen in ASD individuals during Theory of Mind tests?

Answer 32

They simply describe events without inferring intentions, showing a different pattern of brain activation.

Question 33

What is thought to cause lack of Theory of Mind in ASD?

Answer 33

Lack of top-down processing and atypical connection between brain areas.

Question 34

What abilities are impaired by acquired or developmental frontal lobe dysfunction?

Answer 34

Executive functions and the ability to respond flexibly to novel situations.