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Clinical neuroscience > Higher cortical function > Flashcards

Higher cortical function Flashcards

1
Q

What is the fine structure of the cerebral cortex?

A
  • Arranged as 6 layers containing cell bodies and dendrites
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2
Q

What are most outputs of the cortex?

A
  • Axons of pyramidal neurones
  • E.g. upper motor neurones in the primary motor cortex
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3
Q

Give some examples of outputs of the cortex?

A
  • Projection fibres going down to the brainstem and cord e.g. upper motor neurones
  • Commissural fibres going between the hemispheres e.g. corpus callosum
  • Association fibres connecting nearby regions of the cortex in the same hemisphere e.g. arcuate fasciculus
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4
Q

Where do most inputs to the cortex come from?

A
  • Thalamus and other cortical areas
  • An important population of inputs arise from the reticular formation, maintaining cortical activation (consciousness)
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5
Q

What is the function of interneurones?

A
  • Connect inputs and outputs in a complex way
  • Gives rise to behaviour, emotion, memory etc.
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6
Q

What are the frontal lobe functions?

A
  • Primary motor cortex and associated areas
  • Expression of speech (usually left hemisphere) because Broca’s area is here
  • Behaviour regulation/judgement and cognition (prefrontal cortex)
  • Eye movements (frontal eye fields)
  • Continence (paracentral lobules)
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7
Q

What happens when the frontal lobe is damaged?

A

Impulsive and disinhibited behaviours
- Difficulty with tasks such as complex problem solving and calculations
- Problems with conjugate eye movement

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8
Q

Where is the primary motor cortex located and what can damage to this area cause?

A
  • Frontal lobe
  • Contralateral motor weakness
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9
Q

Where is Broca’s area located and what can damage to this area cause?

A
  • Damage to left frontal lobe can result in expressive dysphagia
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10
Q

Where is the prefrontal cortex located and what can damage to this area cause?

A
  • Frontal lobe
  • Impulsive, disinhibited behaviours e.g. sexual inappropriateness and aggression
  • Difficulty with tasks such as complex problem solving, including calculation
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11
Q

Where are the frontal eye fields located and what can damage to this area cause?

A
  • Frontal lobe
  • Problems with conjugate gaze and other eye movement disturbances (diplopia without other cortical features suggests brainstem/cranial nerve problem)
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12
Q

Where are the paracentral lobules located and what can damage to this area cause?

A
  • Frontal lobe
  • Urinary incontinence
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13
Q

What are the functions if the parietal lobe?

A
  • Sensory
  • Comprehension of speech
  • Body image and awareness of external environment
  • Calculation and writing
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14
Q

Where is the primary sensory cortex located and what can damage to this area cause?

A
  • Parietal lobe
  • Contralateral anaesthesia affecting all modalities
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15
Q

Where is Wernicke’s area located and what can damage to this area cause?

A
  • Left parietal lobe
  • Receptive dysphasia
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16
Q

Why does damage to the parietal lobe cause neglect?

A
  • Parietal lobe is involved in acknowledgement that things (including the body) exist
  • Involved in body image
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17
Q

How does the parietal lobe contribute to calculation and writing?

A
  • Works with frontal lobe to perform these tasks
  • Damage to left parietal lobe can affect calculation ability
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18
Q

How is the parietal lobe involved in the visual pathways?

A
  • Superior optic radiations project through parietal lobe
  • Damage here can cause a contralateral inferior homonymous quadrantanopia
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19
Q

What are the functions of the temporal lobe?

A
  • Emotion
  • Memory
  • Hearing
  • Olfaction
20
Q

Where is the primary auditory cortex located and what does damage to this area cause?

A
  • Superior surface of temporal lobe, near to Wernicke’s area
  • Damage leads to a number of complex effects on hearing e.g. auditory hallucinations
21
Q

Where is the hippocampus located and what does damage to this area cause?

A
  • Crucial structure for consolidating declarative memories located in temporal lobe
  • Damage may lead to amnesia
  • Some pathologies such as temporal lobe epilepsy can trigger the feeling of deja vu
22
Q

Why is the temporal lobe involved in emotion?

A
  • Temporal lobes contain a number of limbic system structures such as the hippocampus and amygdala
23
Q

What effect do temporal lobe lesions have on emotions?

A
  • Complex effects
  • May be related to the pathogenesis of some psychiattric disorders
24
Q

How is the temporal lobe involved in the visual pathway?

A
  • Inferior optic radiations project through the temporal lobe
  • Damage here can cause a contralateral superior homonymous quadrantanopia
25
Q

What is meant by cerebral dominance?

A
  • Some functions are represented more prominently in one hemisphere
  • Knowledge of cerebral dominance allows us to predict the effects of lobe lesions
26
Q

What is the left hemisphere responsible for?

A
  • Dominant for language and mathematical/logical functions
  • In 95% of people
27
Q

What is the right hemisphere responsible for?

A
  • Dominant for body image, visuospatial awareness, emotion and musical ability
  • In 95% of people
28
Q

What is the function of the corpus callosum?

A
  • Allows the two hemispheres to communicate with one another
  • Destruction of corpus callosum can lead to some interesting deficits such as alien hand syndrome and subtle effects on language processing
29
Q

Where is Broca’s area found?

A
  • In the infero-lateral frontal lobe
  • Sits near to the mouth and pharynx area of the primary motor cortex
30
Q

What is the function of Broca’s area?

A
  • Responsible for the production of speech
31
Q

What does damage to Broca’s area cause?

A
  • Staccato speech
  • Patient still understands what is being said to them
32
Q

Where is Wernicke’s area found?

A
  • At the parieto-temporal junction
  • Sits near to the primary auditory cortex in the temporal lobe
33
Q

What is Wernicke’s area responsible for?

A
  • Responsible for the comprehension of speech
34
Q

What does damage to Wernicke’s area cause?

A
  • Fluent non-sensical speech where the patient does not appear to understand what is being said to them
35
Q

What can large middle cerebral artery infarcts cause ?

A
  • Dense/global aphasia
  • Where both areas are destroyed leading to virtually no verbal language function
36
Q

What connects Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas?

A
  • Arcuate fasciculus
37
Q

What can damage to the arcuate fasciculus cause?

A
  • Inability to repeat heard words
38
Q

What are the different types of memory?

A
  • Declarative/explicit
  • Non-declarative/implicit
  • Short term memory
  • Long term memory
39
Q

What is declarative/explicit memory?

A
  • Factual information
  • Tends to be stored in cerebral cortex
40
Q

What is non-declarative/implicit memory?

A
  • Motor skills
  • Emotion
  • Tends to be stored in subcortical structures (e.g. basal ganglia) and cerebellum
41
Q

What is short term memory?

A
  • Stored for seconds to minutes as a reverberation or echo in cortical circuits
42
Q

What is long term memory?

A
  • Stored for very long periods of time in the cerebral cortex, cerebellum etc. following consolidation
43
Q

What is consolidation?

A
  • Converting short term memories into long term memories
44
Q

What are the factors influencing consolidation?

A
  • Emotional context
  • Rehearsal
  • Association
45
Q

What is the function of the hippocampus?

A
  • Sits deep in the temporal lobe (rolled medial edge of the temporal lobe)
  • Has multimodal inputs from many brain systems, making it good at associating stimuli
  • Has a role as an oscillator, facilitating consolidation of memories in the cortex via its output pathways
46
Q

What are the output pathways of the hippocampus?

A
  • Fornix
  • Mamillary bodies
  • Thalamus
  • Cortex
47
Q

What is long term potentiation?

A
  • Key molecular mechanism of memory consolidation
  • Causes changes in glutamate receptors in synapses leading to synaptic strengthening
  • New physical connections can also form between neurones to further strengthen connections (axonal sprouting)

Clinical neuroscience (19 decks)

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