Brain/Behaviour relationship

Question 1

Cranial Nerves

Sensory and Motor

Answer 1

Sensory - take info from external environment into brain (olfactory, optic, auditory, vestibular)
Motor - Movement (Spinal, hypoglossal, oculomotor, trochlear, abducens, facial)

Question 2

Functions Hindbrain and Brainstem

Medulla Oblongata and Pons

Answer 2

Regulates basic functions such as heart rate, respiration, blood pressure, swallowing, eye movement

Question 3

Functions Hindbrain and Brainstem

Reticular Formation

Answer 3

arousal & sleep/wake cycle

Question 4

Functions Hindbrain and Brainstem

Cerebellum

Answer 4

Balance & coordination and learning of skill movements, muscle tone, cognitive and motor sequencing (esp. timing)

Question 5

Function Midbrain

Tectum

Answer 5

Superior colliculi (nuclei for visual function)
Inferior colliculi (nuclei for auditory function) - orienting

Question 6

Function Midbrain

Tegmentum

Answer 6

eye movement

Question 7

Function Midbrain

Ventral Tegmental Area

Answer 7

natural reward circuitry (motivation, social affiliation)
Dopamine producing (Alongside nucleus accumbens)

Question 8

Diencephalon

Thalamus

Answer 8

Relay station for sensory signals – lateral (visual), medial (auditory) geniculate nuclei, dorsal (memory) and ventral posterior nuclei (sensory)

Question 9

Diencephalon

Hypothalamus

Answer 9

Regulates hormone release from the pituitary gland 
Mediates ANS function and behaviour 
- Fight or flight
- Hunger/thirst
- Sexual drive

Question 10

Limbic System

Answer 10

Emotion, memory & learning, motivation – fleeing/ fighting, feeding and sexual behaviour
Contains Hypothalamus, Mammillary bodies, Cingulate gyrus, Hippocampus, amydala

Question 11

Amydala

Answer 11

Primary processing of emotion

Question 12

Hippocampus

Answer 12

Memory

Question 13

Basal Ganglia

Answer 13

Contain the caudate nucleus, globus palladis, putamen, limbic (nucleus accumbens and ventral tegmental area)
Important for voluntary control of motor function, procedural and reward learning, executive functions, emotion

Question 14

Dysfunction of Basal Ganglia

Answer 14

Parkinsons - Tremours at rest, rigidity

huntington - whole body twisting, violent movement

Question 15

Cerebral Cortex Lobes

Frontal Lobes

Answer 15

motor, executive function, behavioural regulation, memory, speech production
Dorsolateral - memory and attentional processing
Medial - judgement, decision making and detection errors
Frontal - planning, guidance, evaluation of behaviour
Damage = lower performance on IQ testing, problems with organising.sequencing behaviour, modulating behaviour, initiating/cessating behaviour, generating appropriate emotional responses, using strategies to retrieve memories (repeat activities and find hard to initiate new activities)

Question 16

Cerebral Cortex Lobes

Temporal Lobes

Answer 16

audition, speech comprehension, emotion, memory, visual perception, processing music
Hippocampus - consolidation long term memories
left = verbal right = spatial info
Damage = prosopagnosia, inability recognise common sounds, agnosia (auditory and visual)

Question 17

Cerebral Cortex Lobes

Parietal Lobes

Answer 17

somatosensory, visual perception, multi-modal integration of stimuli
Integrating information from sensory modalities, sensory info into stored memory and internal state to external environment
Somatosensory processing:
- Primary area: recognition of sensory stimuli from contralateral side of the body
- Secondary area: tactile perception, touch discrimination and body sense
- Tertiary area (TPJ): integration of stimuli (visual, auditory and somatosensory); guiding movement in space and spatial representation
damage = alexia, agraphia (problems reading and writing, apraxia (inability to perform skilled movement), spatial processing (locating sound in space) Heminegelct- neglect left visual field

Question 18

Cerebral Cortex Lobes

Occipatal Lobes

Answer 18

vision

Question 19

Cerebral Cortex Lobes

Insula

Answer 19

consciousness, interoceptive awareness, self-awareness, emotion (contagion), body homeostasis, pain (Describe pain)
Develop during adolescence (Self identity)
Overactive for people with depression (internal focus, rumination)
Compassion for self and others

Question 20

What are the 2 visual pathways

Answer 20

Temporal lobe- Ventral Stream - detect what visual info is (What? - Stimulus recognition)
Parietal Lobe - Dorsal stream - locating object in space (Where? - Guiding visual movement)

Question 21

What are the consequences of damage to the Temporal visual areas?

Answer 21

Visual agnosia: inability to combine visual impression into complete patterns and interpret these
Object agnosia:
- Apperceptive: Inability to develop a “percept” of objects (failure to recognise objects, cannot copy, cannot match)
- Associative (failure to recognise objects despite intact perception – can copy/match objects but not identify) – failure to associate visual representation with meaning
Prosopagnosia:
inability to recognise faces
Bilateral damage to the occipital-temporal junction (fusiform)

Question 22

What are the consequences of damage to the parietal visual areas?

Answer 22

Right: contralateral neglect, inability to consciously attend to objects in the left visual space despite intact visual pathways and cortex (spatial attentional problem)
Left/bilateral – multimodal integration (temporo-parietal junction) = visual/auditory/tactile & motor
Affects reading, writing, maths and skilled movements (alexia/dyslexia, agraphia, acalculia, apraxia)

Question 23

What occurs when occipital lobe is damaged?

Answer 23

Area 17: Contralateral loss of visual sensation and recognition
Areas 18, 19: Perceptual problem: difficulties in discriminating visual objects that are different in sizes, shapes, orientations, and colours

Question 24

Types tactile processing disorders

Primary and secondary

Answer 24

Primary area (somatosensory strip)
- Loss or alteration of sensation of touch, pain, temperature and body sense on contralateral side of the body
Secondary area
- Partial or complete inability to recognise somatosensory stimuli. 2 types:
- Loss of ability to recognise objects by touch
- Loss of knowledge or sensory awareness of one’s own body or bodily condition

Question 25

Hierarchy of motor movement and brain areas involved

Answer 25

Tertiary - Formation of behavioural intention (prefrontal cortex) Secondary - Preparation and organisation of motor programmes (Premotor areas of frontal lobe) Primary - execution of motor programmes (Motor cortex and input form the thalamus and basal ganglia, to spinal cord)

Question 26

Damage to motor areas

Answer 26

Damage to primary motor area: impairment of motor functioning (speed, movement and strengths) in limb and digits – extensive damage = hemiplegia Damage to tertiary and secondary motor areas: impaired planning, selection and organisation of motor behaviour – apraxia and apathy

Question 27

Damage to auditory processing areas | Primary, secondary and tertiary

Answer 27

Damage to primary, secondary and tertiary areas (41, 42, 22) of temporal lobe can lead to disorders of auditory sensation and perception damage to primary area of auditory cortex - deficits in discrimination damage to secondary and tertiary areas = Auditory perceptual problems Auditory agnosia (amusia, agnosia for sounds) Left hemisphere - Speech Right hemisphere - Music

Question 28

Damage to language areas

Answer 28

Wernicke’s aphasia (Left hemisphere) - deficits in language comprehension, word recognition, poor repetition Broca's aphasia (Right hemisphere) - problem with speech production Global Aphasia - non-fluent spontaneous speech, poor comprehension, poor repetition and naming Conduction Aphasia - Fluent spontaneous speech, good comprehension, poor repetition and poor naming, tend to repeat what someone has said

Question 29

Where do verbal hallucinations originate?

Answer 29

activated the primary auditory cortex, Broca’s area, and speech zone in posterior temporal cortex (LH), and limbic system

Question 30

Attention systems | Posner model of attention (3)

Answer 30

1) Alerting or Arousal Network (security guard – surveillance and alert) – brain stem (RAS) and parietal lobes – sustained attention or vigilance 2) Orienting Network (signal detection - brain shifts from general to specific attention) – selective attention (midbrain, parietal and Temporoparietal Junction) 3) Executive Network (signals are evaluated and a decision is made about what to do next) – Dorsolateral PFC and ACC, attentional switching and divided attention

Question 31

Areas of brain for each type of memory

Answer 31

Declarative (Episodic - Memory of past events - and semantic - facts about the self and the world) - Medial temporal lobe, diencephalon Nondeclarative memory - Procedural (Skills, Habits) - Basal Ganglia - Priming - Neocortex - Simple classical conditioning - amygdala, cerebellum - Habituation/sensitization - Reflex pathways

Question 32

Damage to temporal lobes (Memory related)

Answer 32

Damage to medial temporal cortex (hippocampus) leads to material specific memory problems LH problem in learning and remembering verbal material RH problem in learning and remembering visual material

Question 33

Role of the Amygdala

Answer 33

Role in emotional processing and emotional learning and memory (both implicit/explicit). Mediates approach and withdrawal behaviour Fear conditioning – neutral stimuli gets paired with fearful experience and produces fear reaction (phobia and avoidance reactions) interacts with the hippocampal memory system: - Responsible for assigning emotional significance to stimuli and events - Affects the storage of memories and influences recall

Question 34

Two Threat Processing Pathways

Answer 34

1) Innate and fast-acting thalamo-amygdala pathway, bypasses cortex to elicit immediate autonomic, endocrine and behavioural response (unconscious/implicit processing) Advantage of emotion driven system: adaptive for survival, diverts attention in presence of threat and danger Disadvantage of this system: can be too dominating; hasty and potentially irrational reactions that affect goals 2) Slow acting thalamo-cortical-amygdala pathway that supports cognitive appraisal of the meaning of stimuli within context – react in accordance with goals and social need - conscious processing through orbital prefrontal cortex

Question 35

What is the role of the orbito-frontal cortex?

Answer 35

Role in regulating emotional expression and inhibition of inappropriate social behaviour Connections with the limbic system: - amygdala may elicit learnt emotional associations - OFC corrects/adjusts responses (down regulation) Reasoning about an emotional event can reduce its emotional impact and alter behaviour

Question 36

Psychological effects of damage to temporal lobe

Answer 36

Personality and emotional behaviour Pedantic speech, egocentricity, fixed beliefs, obsessiveness, perseveration on conversation topics, paranoia, preoccupation with religion, prone to aggressive outbursts

Question 37

``` Prefrontal Cortex (Executive Functions) Dorso-lateral region: ‘Cool EF’ ```

Answer 37

Cognitive flexibility, problem-solving, planning, working memory, prospective memory and complex attention

Question 38

``` Prefrontal Cortex (Executive Functions) Ventro-medial region: ‘Hot EF’ ```

Answer 38

Emotional decision making Reward based learning Perspective taking - ToM

Question 39

``` Prefrontal Cortex (Executive Functions) Orbito-frontal region ```

Answer 39

Regulating social and emotional behaviour Learning from experiences (stimulus-response) Olfaction - smell

Question 40

``` Prefrontal Cortex (Executive Functions) dorso-medial region ```

Answer 40

Motivation and drive

Question 41

Consequences of damage to dorsolateral cortex

Answer 41

``` Cognitive deficits/impairments in: Planning and organisation Problem-solving (novel) Alternating and divided attention Mental flexibility Sequencing Rule following and strategy formation Working memory and on-line monitoring Response suppression/inhibition ```

Question 42

Consequences of Damage to orbito-prefrontal and ventro-medial prefrontal

Answer 42

Behavioural dysregulation - Social disinhibition (e.g., lack of tact) - Lack of spontaneity and stimulus bound behaviour - Reduced social skills (e.g., reading and responding to social cues) Personality changes - Lack of empathy and poor mentalising ability - Increased or decreased emotional responsivity - Relatives may perceive the person as “no longer himself”

Question 43

Brain Regions involved in Empathy

Answer 43

Fusiform Gyrus and amygdala - Emotion recognition Inferior frontal, inferior parietal & insula - Emotional contagion (shared emotion) Temporo-parietal junction and medial PFC- Theory of mind and perspective taking Anterior cingulate and medial PFC - emotional and social response - Mirror neuron network - Simulates other’s mental states by directly mapping other’s thoughts, actions, and intentions to the self Insula - The insula processes emotional response to self and others’ experience of pain (physical and emotional)

Question 44

Deficits in Empathy

Answer 44

Autistic Spectrum Disorder Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Conduct Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Disorder Brain injury and dementia Narcissistic and Antisocial Personality Disorders Schizoid Personality Disorder and schizophrenia Borderline Personality Disorder

Question 45

Emotion Regulation | Cognitive reappraisal

Answer 45

Cognitive reappraisal: reinterpreting an emotion-eliciting event to effectively change its emotional impact - thoughts are altered or the emotion-eliciting stimuli are re-evaluated: DLPFC (develop cognitive strategy to reframe affective experience) MPFC and ACC (revaluate internal states and the external stimuli (changes intensity of emotion and physiological response)

Question 46

Emotional Regulation | Expressive Supression

Answer 46

actively inhibiting the observable expression of the emotional experience by controlling or neutralizing emotional behavior. OPFC involved in inhibition of inappropriate social and emotional behaviour

Question 47

What is the relationship between depression and the amygdala?

Answer 47

Abnormal increase in resting activity of the amygdala stimulates cortisol release or stress response Severity of mood symptoms correlates with increase in glucose metabolism in amygdala People with depression have over-activity of orbito prefrontal cortex, insula and amygdala of people with major depression

Question 48

What is the relationship between anxiety and phobias with the amygdala?

Answer 48

Abnormal interactions between the amygdala and PFC Greater amygdala activation in anxious adults and children, compared to healthy controls, when presented with brief threatening stimuli. A positive correlation between amygdala activation and anxiety symptom severity. Increase in amygdala response in anxiety occurs in the absence of a compensatory increase in modulation by the PFC. Fast-acting thalamo-amygdala pathway dominates, leading to impulsive instinctive behaviours

Question 49

What is the relationship between PTSD with the amygdala?

Answer 49

People with damage to amygdala less likely to develop PTSD | - differences due to less intense symptoms rather than complete lack of symptoms

Question 50

Changes in the hippocampus

Answer 50

Early abuse, war and other extreme stress can impair the activity of the hippocampus, a structure very sensitive to stress Hippocampal volume is reduced in PTSD Trauma exposure without PTSD may be associated with hippocampal volume deficits Possible that hippocampal dysfunction leads to distortion and fragmentation of memories

Question 51

What is neuroplasticity?

Answer 51

The brain’s ability to reorganise its structure, function and connections in response to internal or external stimuli The lifelong capacity of the brain to change and rewire itself in response to learning and experience. Occurs in response to positive and adverse life experiences

Question 52

What is neurogenesis?

Answer 52

Neurogenesis = ability to create new neurons and connections between neurons (synaptogenesis)

Question 53

What brain regions are involved in the brains vulnerability to stress?

Answer 53

limbic-hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis- Trauma and maltreatment activates a prolonged biological stress response PFC and limbic system - The developing brain is particularly vulnerable: prolonged activation of this system leads to structural and functional brain change