Lecture 3: Impaired Cognition

Question 1

Korsakoffs syndrome:

Answer 1

• typically a result of long term alcohol abuse
• massive confusion and disordered eye and limb movement
• deficit in anterograde and retrograde amnesia
• immediate memory preserved
• can leave them capable of only habitual tasks
• thiamine deficiency: absorption of thiamine is impaired
• haemorrhagic lesions in mammillary bodies and other structures in the limbic system
• damage in the thalamus and diencephalic structures (Jernigan et al, 1991)
• enlarged ventricles

Question 2

amnesia

Answer 2

…

Question 3

what part of the brain suffers neuronal loss in Korsakoffs syndrome?

Answer 3

medial anterior nuclei

Question 4

Hemispatial neglect (impairment of attention) is…

Answer 4

an attentional deficit in which patients fail to respond or orient to stimuli presented in the contralesional side of space

Question 5

What are patients with hemispatial neglect not able to do?

Answer 5

Disengage from the ipsilesional side- orientation bias

Question 6

What hemisphere is hemispatial neglect most common in and why?

Answer 6

The left hemisphere, as the right hemisphere is key in modulating attention

Question 7

What are the 3 main areas affected in hemispatial neglect?

Answer 7

Tempo-parietal junction
Intraparietal sulcus
Supramarginal gyrus

Question 8

What are the keys symptoms of hemispatial neglect?

Answer 8

• deficits in body representation
• fail to incorporate parts of the world they do not perceive
• ignore people on the left side
• anosognosia: unaware of their disorder
• representational neglect?
• extinction?

Question 9

Tests of hemispatial neglect? Behrmann et al (1997)

Answer 9

Analysed eye movement in neglect patients…