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Autism and Social Cognition Flashcards

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1
Q

what is neurogenesis

A

the idea that our brain can make new neurons

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2
Q

what is social cognition

A

how we know what other people are thinking

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3
Q

having a bigger hippocampus might logically lead to better

A

spatial memory

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4
Q

what is neuroplasticity

A

ability of ns to adapt and change

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5
Q

taxi drivers that inc spatial learning (where everything was)

A

had larger posterior hippocampi - not by a lot though

but, not much space of brain to ‘grow’

to allow posterior to get bigger, anterior has to become smaller

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6
Q

3 months of intense juggling practice impact on grey matter

A

modest inc in intraparietal sulcus

but reduces once practice stops

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7
Q

anatomical plasticity in healthy adults

A

intense practice or extremes of behaviour may produce visible structural changes in anatomy, specifically changes in size and increase in density (particularly in number of connections between neurons) / synaptic plasticity

but, limited evidence in general population - limited/no correlation between hippocampus size and spatial ability in random sample of population

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8
Q

you are born with all the neurons you will ever have - true or false?

A

false

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9
Q

adult neurogenesis occurs in how many regions

A

3

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10
Q

neurogenesis and brain injury

A

following brain injury neurons may be redirected elsewhere to repair

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11
Q

neurons migrate to the

A

olfactory bulb

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12
Q

what regions does neurogenesis primarily occur in

A

subventricular zone - wall of ventricles

dentate gyrus of hippocampus

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13
Q

dentate gyrus of hippocampus makes how many neurons per day

A

700, dec with age

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14
Q

neurogenic hypothesis of depression

A

circumstantial

shown reduced hippocampal colume in depression, esp major

neurogenesis reduced in depression

stress is a risk factor for depression, and inhibits neurogenesis

fluoxetine and other ssris stimulate neurogenesis, but takes weeks to develop

neurogenesis in dentate gyrus seems more important here than subventricular zone

why are the new neurons happy neurons???? yet to be answered

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15
Q

major depressive disorder

A

350 million worldwide

variety of symptoms but diagnostic criteris is diminished ability to think or concentrate, indecisiveness, daily

cog symtpoms include impaired executive function, attention, memory, processing speed, psychomotor skills during both symptomatic and remitted phases (even when the personality symptoms are lesser)

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16
Q

exercise, cognition, depression

A

short bursts of intense activity improve test performance

long term improvements in cognition with exercise, esp pronounced in ageing

relieves symptoms of depression - more effective for mood vs cognitive symptoms, but effective as a treatment

reduced stress and anxiety, potentially due to effects on hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis

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17
Q

what is social orienting

A

joint attention, comsidering another’s intentions

e.g. looking at something because others are looking at it

thus, responding appropriately

taking turns e.g. in convo, knowing when it is your turn

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18
Q

what parts of language is social cognition important for - 4

A

idioms

symbolic play e.g. pretending a banana is a phone

non verbal cues

other exec function, planning, language

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19
Q

what is theory of mind

A

ability to attribute mental states - understand others have beliefs, desires, intentions, perspectives, different to one’s own

people with autism struggle to do this

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20
Q

when do we normally develop theory of mind

A

3-4
delayed in autism

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21
Q

how is theory of mind tested - 2

A

false belief tests

e.g. smarties task
box labelled smarties, given to child, “what do u think is in box”, no smarties in box, pencils instead. box closed, another person comes into room and sees box. child asked what other person would think is in the box

reading mind in eyes test - basing person’s emotions from only eyes

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22
Q

what brain regions are involved in theory of mind (5)

A

medial prefrontal cortex

temporal parietal junction

posterior superior temporal sulcus

posterior cingulate cortex

precuneus (region of medial parietal lobe)

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23
Q

what is autism

Study These Flashcards
A

some genetic component

no approved drugs in uk for treatment

spectrum - neurodiversity

24
Q

autism diagnosis ratio male to female

Study These Flashcards
A

4:1 male:female

25
autism diagnostic criteria
diagnosed as persistent deficits in social communication and interaction across multiple contexts: (need all 3:) social emotional reciprocity, non verbal communication, developing maintaining and understanding relationships (two of:) restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests, or activities insistence on sameness, inflexible adherence to routines highly restricted, fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus hyper/po reactivity to sensory input or unusual interest in sensory aspects of environment
26
common behaviours in autism - 4
insistence on sameness repetitive movements - think fidget spinner not responsive to verbal cues or eye contact difficulty in social situations e.g. idioms, expression of needs, symbolic thinking, attachments to objects not people, self-injurious behaviours in response to sensory environment, echolalia (repeating what is said to them)
27
what are the levels of impairment of autism
level 0 - no support level 1 - require support level 2 - require substantial support level 3 - require very substantial support
28
autistic spectrum disorders - 2
aspergers syndrome pervasive developmental disorder- not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS)
29
aspergers syndrome
less severe symptoms, dont meet criteria for formal diagnosis or arent severe enough no language delay or clinically significant cog delay - normally above avg intelligence
30
pervasive developmental disorder- not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS)
autism symptoms, may be debilitating, not enough symtpoms to meet full autism diagnosis
31
what is empathy
ability to sense, understand, share other people's emotions
32
two types of empathy
cognitive affective/emotional
33
what is cognitive empathy
reading body lang/ facial expressions and imagining what others are feeling accordingly impaired in autism theory of mind
34
what is affective/ emotional empathy
appropriate emotional response to what someone else is feeling, caring about how others feel not impaired in autism impaired in antisocial personalitity disorder and psychopaths
35
empathising and systemising population distribution
30% type E 30% type S autism associated with extreme type S - one vers of autism is hypersystematising 30% balance between 2 genetic basis
36
what is systemising
understanding, predicting and constructing rule based systems focus on objects not people pattern recognition opposite to empathising
37
hypersystematising
important and valuable for society autistic people are better at recognising sounds reviewing intelligence footage anything involving systems, patterns, repitition
38
neuroscience of autism
unknown. maybe the size bs but doesnt appear to be the case. as we age brain initially gets a bit bigger. mid-late teens, number of neurons dec as end of development of brain. this pruning process may be different in autistic people
39
brain size in autism
starts off slightly larger in children ages 3-10. ends up slightly smaller in adulthood. differences mainly in cortical thickness of frontal and temporal lobe. amygdala mayyyyybe is enlarged but data inconclusive cerebellum reduces in size and number of cells - unclear what this means, maybe motor symptoms in autism. more likely indicates unknown/ poorly understood roles of cerebllum in behaviour
40
main role of the amygdala
emotional memory, classical conditioning
41
cerebellum function
wham. motor memory and coordination coordinates movement - doesnt initiate or select role in motor learning, motor predictions, and narrowing range of motor options aka - what should happen (cerebral motor cortex) sends to muscles via spinal cord (what actually happens) - cerebellum mediates between two and predicts and corrects if two are mismatched
42
how many neurons does the brain have
86 bil
43
how many neurons does the cerebellum have
69 bil
44
what happens when cerebellum goes wrong - 4
ataxia dysdiadochokinesia dysmetria cerebellar cognitive affective syndrome
45
what is ataxia
wide gait, instability of trunk flailing movement, imbalance
46
how is ataxia tested
by testing for dysmetria
47
what is dysmetria
inability to coordinate complex motor activity involving several muscle groups
48
what is dysdiadochokinesia
inability to perform coordinated smooth rapid alternating movements of the hands
49
what is cerebellar cognitive affective syndrome
cognitive deficits less pronounced than motor cerebellum heavily conneted to cortex defects in exec. function, linguistic processing, spatial cognition, affect regulation, personality change damage to cerebellar damage associated to some autism symptoms
50
dysmetria of thought
cerebellum = modulates behaviour according to context damage can cause dysmetria of thought = autism symptoms motor normally, can be emotional, cognitive
51
attention to faces in autism spectrum disorder
may attend less reduced activity in fusiform face area less attention to faces, slower processing of faces emotions more likely to focus on mouth, not eyes, and peripheral cues instead
52
which brain region responsible for recognising faces
fusiform gyrus
53
joint attention is implicated in autism. which brain region
prefrontal cortex normal devel is age 1 autism = less initiation, less following
54
theory of mind is implicated in autism. which brain region
medial prefrontal cortex normal devel is age 5
55
social reward is implicated in autism. which brain region
orbitofrontal cortex normal devel is age 1 autism = less responsive to praise or smiles
56
social pursuit/ orienting is implicated in autism. which brain region
superior temporal sulcus normal devel is shortly after birth autism = less attentive to social cues

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