Cortical Association Areas

Question 0

Frontal lobe functions

Answer 0

Dominant side:
Language
Social conduct
Higher intellect
Personality
Lesions cause personality and behavioural changes

Question 1

What are the layers of the cortex and their functions?

Answer 1

I, II and III - output to other cortical association areas
IV - input from brainstem, thalamus and motor and sensory cortices
V and VI - output to hippocampus, basal ganglia, cerebellum and thalamus.

Question 2

Parietal lobe functions

Answer 2

Dominant side:
Language 
Calculation
Non dominant side:
Visiospatial functions 
Lesion causes attention deficits such as neglect.

Question 3

Temporal lobe functions

Answer 3

Memory
Language
Lesion causes recognition deficits such as auditory agnosia, prosopagnosia (inability to recognise faces)

Question 4

Occipital lobe function

Answer 4

Vision

Question 5

Limbic function

Answer 5

Attaches emotional connotations to sensory input

Reward/punishment

Question 6

Pre frontal function

Answer 6

Sensory + motor - consequences of action/plan for the future

Broca’s

Question 7

Parieto-occipital function

Answer 7

Visual, proprioceptive, auditory inputs

Wernicke’s

Question 8

Describe lateralisation

Answer 8

There is a dominant hemisphere (left in 95%)
Dominant hemisphere is responsible for language, maths, logic, motor skills
Non-dominant hemisphere is responsible for emotion of language, music and art, visiospatial functions and body awareness
The hemispheres are connected by the corpus callosum

Question 9

Describe how language is processed

Answer 9

Input to Wernicke’s area - interpretation of written and spoken words
Output from Broca’s area - formulation of language components, sends information to the motor cortex
Areas joined by the arcuate fasciculus

Question 10

Wernicke’s aphasia

Answer 10

Receptive/sensory/central 
Disorder of comprehension 
Speech fluent but unintelligible 
Jargon aphasia
Accompanied by loss of mathematical skills

Question 11

Broca’s aphasia

Answer 11

Expressive / motor
Poorly constructed sentences
Disjointed speech
Comprehension intact

Question 12

Declarative memory

Answer 12

Formed by hippocampus and other cortical areas
Rapidly learnt but rapidly forgotten
Immediate/short term

Question 13

Procedural memory

Answer 13

Cerebellum, premotor cortex, basal ganglia
Difficult to learn but long lasting
Performed without conscious recollection

Question 14

Temporal categories of memory

Answer 14

Short term “working”
Long term
Emotion, rehearsal, association, consolidation allow transformation

Question 15

What is long term potentiation?

Answer 15

Strengthening of frequently used synapses (glutamate receptors in hippocampus)
Long term depression is the opposite.

Question 16

What is anterograde amnesia?

Answer 16

Inability to form new memories

Occurs in destruction of hippocampus

Question 17

What is retrograde amnesia?

Answer 17

Inability to recall events and old memories.

Question 18

What connections exist between gyri?

Answer 18

Arcuate fibres (connect adjacent gyri) 
Commissural fibres (contralateral)
Association fibres (ipsilateral)

Question 19

What is the association cortex?

Answer 19

Part of cortex made from neurones that integrate multimodal signals
Visual unimodal association cortex
Auditory unimodal association cortex
Somatosensory unimodal association cortex
Anterior and posterior association areas
Limbic association area.