Lecture 7

Question 1

What are the major functions of the frontal lobe?

Answer 1

-Top down processes
-Planning, selecting, reasoning, and judgement
-ignoring stimuli/tasks focus and persistence
-Tracking past events and behaviors
-Self-and other-related processes

Question 2

What functions does the prefrontal cortex specialize in?

Answer 2

-Internal cues
-external cues
-Context cues
-Autonoetic (self) awareness

Question 3

What are the major subregions of the frontal lobe?

Answer 3

-Lateral PFC
-Medial PFC
-Premotor PFC
-Primary motor cortex

Question 4

Which subregion specializes in self-identity?

Answer 4

Medial PFC

Question 5

What does dlPFC stand for and what are its primary functions?

Answer 5

Dorsalateral prefrontal cortex

-working memory, attential selection and planning
-self-regulation
-problem-solving

Question 6

What does OFC stand for and what are its primary functions?

Answer 6

orbitofrontal cortex

-closely connected to limbic system
-forming social attachments
-regulating emotions
-flexible behaviors & adaptation

Question 7

What does vlPFC stand for and what are its primary functions?

Answer 7

ventrolateral prefrontal corte
-arousal / alertness
-emotion, reward, motivation, threat detection, and fear
-context-based memory retrieval
-vlPFC lesions cause insomnia

Question 8

What does vmPFC stand for and what are its primary functions?

Answer 8

ventromedial prefrontal cortex

-self-perception
-self-referential processes
-salience of self-relevant information
-social decision making and emotion regulation
-context-based decision making
-connects to amygdala, temporal lobe, ventral stream, olfactory system, and the thalamus
-lesions make it harder to remember self-relevant information

Question 9

What does ACC stand for and what are its primary functions?

Answer 9

Anterior cingulate cortex

-emotional expression
-attention allocation (self-relevant direction)
-mood regulation
-self-conscious emotional reactions
-lesions can cause lack of empathy

Question 10

What does dmPFC stand for and what are its primary functions?

Answer 10

dorsalmedial PFC

-conducts signals between congnitive control and affective brain regions
-generates and regulates emotion
-self-identity processing
-distinguishes self from other

Question 11

What are the main functions of the medial premotor cortex?

Answer 11

activates self-motivated movement (connects to parietal lobe)

Question 12

What are the main functions of the lateral premotor cortex?

Answer 12

select movement sequences (plans- and organises behaviour) -> Broca”s region falls largely in this region

Question 13

What are the main functions of the primary motor cortex?

Answer 13

controls muscle activity (generates the signals for movement)

Question 14

What part of the Frontal Lobe includes Broca’s area?

Answer 14

Lateral Premotor Cortex

Question 15

Who was Phineas Gage and why was he important to neuroscience?

Answer 15

● in 1848 he taught us about regional brain functions
● damaged his frontal brain, and after coma he had become a different person
● Suffered social impairment
● White matter recovers much better than grey matter (he lost more white matter -> explains his
fast recovery)
● Can live with frontal lobe damage, but become more primitive (changes your life)

Question 16

What is dementia?

Answer 16

§ Umbrella term for impaired memory, cognition, and decision-making
* Common causes: Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
§ Symptoms include poor mood and perception
* May include depression, apathy, and hallucinations

Question 17

What are the causes and symptoms of frontotemporal dementia?

Answer 17

Dementia mostly impacting the frontal lobe (shrinks), most of the occipital and parietal lobe get spared

Symptoms of Frontotemporal Dementia:
● The most common signs of frontotemporal dementia are usually in the form of extreme changes in behaviour and personality
- Increasingly inappropriate social behaviour
- Loss of empathy and other interpersonal skills (e.g., insensitivity to another’s feelings)
● Affects men and women equally
● 10% - 30% of cases have genetic causes
- Runs in families
- Clumps of abnormal protein forms inside neurons
- Cause of other 70% - 90% of cases is usually unknown

Question 18

What are symptoms of frontal lobe lesions?

Answer 18

● Motor disturbances
- Fine motor movements, speed & strength
- Movement programming
- Voluntary gaze
- Corollary discharge
- Speech
● Thinking alterations
- Decreases in IQ score
- Loss of divergent thinking (i.e., creativity/problem solving abilities)
- Loss of behavioural spontaneity (more rigide, less flexible)
- Loss of strategy formation
● Difficulty using environmental cues
- Response inhibition
- Risk taking/rule breaking
- Decrease of self-regulation
- Decrease of associative learning
● Poor temporal memory
- Delayed response
- Recency memory
● Impaired social & sexual behaviour
- Pseudodepression/pseudopsychopathy
o ”Pseudo” = not genuine, false (e.g., depression-like traits
but cause is the brain lesion)
● Orbitofrontal syndrome = brain lesion that causes disinhibition (act
more inappropriately)

Question 19

What are some differences between a brain lesion and a tumor?

Answer 19

What’s the difference between a tumour and a lesion?
- Dementia and lesions have interventions but not treatments
- Brain tumours can be benign (non-cancerous) but still disrupt functioning, BUT Tumours can
often be removed through surgery

Question 20

How does chronic stress affect PFC neurons?

Answer 20

● PFC neurons generate top-down goals: this occurs through repeated excitatory connections between neurons (dendritic spines)
● Chronic exposure to uncontrollable stress causes loss of spines and loss of dendrites (=loss of synapses)