22 Flashcards
(17 cards)
What percentage of the neocortex are constituted by the frontal lobes?
20-30%
What does it mean that the frontal lobes are late developing from the evolutionary point of view?
Frontal lobes evolved more recently compared to other brain areas
more developed in humans than in other animals, supporting complex cognition, planning, and social behavior.
When are the frontal lobes fully developed?
halfway through third decade of life 35
What is the general function of the frontal lobes, be able to explain this to a random stranger
Help plan, decide, control impulses, solve problems, speak, and move your body.
What 4 general types of information (in 2 categories) have to be taken into account when deciding what action in appropriate?
Internal Information:
Motivation / Desires
Emotional State
External Information:
Sensory Input (environmental cues)
Social Context / rules
Why are motor functions so important?
*Motor functions enable the organism and underlie the execution of all motivational goals
*In many ways the brain’s goal-initiated regulation of the motor system determines the emotional and social well-being of the organism
Locked-in syndrome
What is the main problem for patients in locked-in syndrome (not the cause)?
Patients unable to move or speak due to paralysis of almost all voluntary muscles
What are the anatomical divisions in the frontal lobes, how do these relate to functional distinctions in the frontal lobe?
Anatomical divisions:
Primary motor cortex (M1) - voluntary movement
Premotor cortex - movement planning
Prefrontal cortex - decision-making, personality, executive functions
Broca’s Area - speech production
Each division supports different functional roles from basic motor execution to complex thought and planning.
What areas constitute the primary and secondary motor cortices?
Primary Motor cortices
Located in the precentral gyrus
Directly controls voluntary muscle movement
Secondary motor cortices
Premotor cortex - plans movement based on external cues
Supplementary Motor Area (SMA) - plans internally driven movement
What are the four areas of the prefrontal cortex that we are going with in this class (there are other ways of naming)?
Dorsolateral PFC:
Handles planning, memory, and self-control
Orbitofrontal PFC:
Manages emotions and social behavior
Medial PFC:
Involved in self-reflection and motivation
Anterior Cingulate Gyrus:
Detects conflicts, errors, and helps regulate emotions
What is the general direction of information flow in the brain?
From sensory areas (posterior) -> to association areas -> to motor and prefrontal areas (anterior)
Which thalamic nuclei are associated with PFC and motor cortices? What is the input to these thalamic nuclei that gets relayed to the cortex? How is this different from the relays to the visual, auditory and somatosensory cortex?
PFC:
Dorsomedial nucleus
Motor Cortices:
Ventral anterior (VA) and Ventrolateral (VL) nuclei
These thalamic nuclei receive input from the basal ganglia and cerebellum, then relay motor-related information to the cortex.
Sensory relays (like the lateral geniculate nucleus for vision or medial geniculate nucleus for hearing) receive direct sensory input, while motor thalamic relays are indirect—they integrate signals from subcortical motor systems.
What is the difference in the cues used in premotor, supplemental and cingulate motor areas in action sequence choice?
Premotor:
uses external cutes
Supplemental:
uses internal cues
Cingulate Motor Areas:
uses emotional or motivational cues
What is reflexive movement and how is it related to voluntary movement?
Reflexive movement is automatic and involuntary
Faster than voluntary movement and can occur without conscious thought, but can be overridden or modified by voluntary control
What are mirror neurons? What type of actions do they react to? Why did mirror neurons occasion such excitement in psychologists when they were discovered?
Fire when performing an action or watching someone else doing the same action
React to goal-directed actions
Psychologists were excited since they may underlie imitation, empathy, and learning, potentially understanding how we understand others’ intentions.
What is the general function of the primary motor cortex?
Initiates and controls voluntary muscle movement
What is corollary discharge, what is its function?
Copy of a motor command to sensory areas of the brain to predict and suppress expected sensations from your own movement
It helps distinguish self-caused sensations (like touching your own arm) from external ones
