Lecture 9.1: Higher Brain Functions Flashcards

1
Q

Cortical Association Areas of the Brain

A
  • Pre-frontal lobe
  • Premotor cortex
  • Broca’s area
  • Wernicke’s area
  • Temporal lobe
  • Somatosensory association area
  • Auditory association area
  • Visual association area
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

The pefrontal cortex accounts for …% of total cortex in humans

A

29

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Role of the Prefrontal Cortex

A
  • Learning, memory & planning
  • Personality (appreciation of self in the world that
    allows actions to be planned and executed)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What is the Parietal Lobe involved in?

A

Attention and perceptual awareness

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What is the Temporal Lobe involved in?

A

Recognition and identification of complex stimuli

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

What happens if the Temporal Lobe is damaged?

A
  • Difficulty recognising, identifying and naming objects
    = Agnosias
  • Acknowledge the stimulus but cannot say what it is
  • Can describe face but not recognise the person =
    damage to inferior RIGHT temporal cortex =
    prosopagnosia
  • LEFT inferior temporal cortex damage: poor recall of
    verbal and visual content (e.g music recognition)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What is Lateralisation of Function?

A

Tendency for some neural functions/cognitive processes to be specialised to one side of the brain

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

Functions of Left Brain (4)

A
  • Processes logical tasks/analytical
  • Language: spoken/heard, written/read,
    gestured/seen
  • Maths
  • Motor Skills (handedness)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Functions of Right Brain (5)

A
  • Processes non-verbal tasks/spatial relationships
    mental imagery
  • Emotion of Language
  • Music/Art
  • Visuospatial
  • Body Awareness
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What is Aphasias?

A

Disruption in the comprehension and/or generation of language

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Role of Wernicke’s Area

A

Interpretation of written and spoken words
Language comprehension

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Role of Broca’s Area

A

Formulation of language components and sends information to motor cortex Motor function

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What connects the Broca’s and Wernicke’s Areas?

A

Arcuate fasciculus as subcortical white matter tracts

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

What happens in Wernicke’s Aphasia?

A
  • Receptive/sensory
  • Language expression is normal but comprehension
    and repetition impaired
  • Language produced but it lacks meaning and
    contains paraphrasic errors and neologisms
  • Written language similarly incoherent
  • Unable to follow spoken or written commands
  • Usually unaware and hence unaffected
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What happens in Broca’s Aphasia?

A
  • Expressive, non-fluent
  • Paucity of spontaneous speech, telegraphic and
    minimal
  • Can follow instructions as long as no need to
    verbalise ‘close your eyes’
  • Patient typically aware and frustrated by it
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

What part of the brain is damaged in Conductive Aphasia?

A

Arcuate fasciculus

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

What happens in Conductive Aphasia?

A

Repetition impaired but comprehension and expression intact

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

What happens in Global Aphasia?

A

Combines features of Broca’s and Wernicke’s

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

What is the Role of the Right hemisphere in speech?

A
  • Adds ‘colour’ to speech
  • Tone, stress, rhythm
20
Q

What is Dysarthria?

A

Inability to correctly use muscles to verbalise

21
Q

What is the Limbic System?

A

Complex set of cortical structures that deal with emotions, memory and arousal

22
Q

Where is the Limbic System found?

A

Found either side of the thalamus, underneath the cerebrum

23
Q

What parts of the brain are part of the Limbic System? (5)

A
  • Hypothalamus
  • Hippocampus
  • Amygdala
  • Cingulate gyrus – wraps around the corpus callosum
  • Para hippocampal gyrus – medial temporal lobe
24
Q

Roles of the Hypothalamus (4)

A
  • Homeostasis
  • ANS
  • Endocrine
  • Hunger
25
Q

Roles of the Hippocampus (3)

A
  • Short Term Memory
  • Emotion
  • Spatial Navigation
26
Q

Roles of the Amygdala (3)

A
  • Emotions
  • Fear
  • Aggression
27
Q

Role of the Limbic System

A
  • High level processing of sensory information and
    output to homeostasis planning of behaviours and
    motor responses
  • Attaches a behavioural significance and response to
    a stimulus
28
Q

What is Memory?

A

Ability to register (encode), store and retrieve information

29
Q

Damage to what parts of the brain can cause memory issues? (2)

A

Impaired by diffuse cerebral injury or temporal lobe disease

30
Q

Types of Memory (6)

A

a) Motor and non-motor
b) Declarative and nondeclarative
c) Working – current, problem solving
d) Explicit – events and factual knowledge
e) Working memory – material maintained in
consciousness
f) Long-term memory – stored unconsciously

31
Q

Declarative vs Non-Declarative Memory

A
  • Declarative memory allows us to consciously
    recollect events and facts
  • Non-Declarative memory, in contrast, is accessed
    without consciousness or implicitly through
    performance rather than recollection
32
Q

What is Working Memory?

A
  • Ability to hold something in the mind for seconds to
    minutes
  • Limited capacity (7 items) to store items/chunks of
    information in conscious memory before it rapidly
    disappears when attention diverted
33
Q

What is Long Term Memory?

A

Storage of potentially unlimited capacity

34
Q

What parts of the Brain are involved in Long Term Memory? (5)

A
  • Hippocampus
  • Amygdala
  • Mammillary Bodies
  • Thalamus
  • Prefrontal Cortex
35
Q

What are the 2 subsections of Long Term Memory?

A
  • Explicit
  • Implicit
36
Q

What is Explicit Long Term Memory?

A
  • Memories that are accessible to consciousness
  • Episodic – autobiographical content
  • Semantic – facts
37
Q

What is Implicit Long Term Memory?

A
  • Memories not consciously accessible (typically
    motor memory)
  • Motor skills – riding a bike
  • Conditioning – Pavlovian responses
  • Priming – name a city
38
Q

What is Amnesia?

A

Inability to learn new information or to retrieve information already acquired

39
Q

Why is forgetting is essential?

A

‘Buffers’ useless information from our brains to avoid
overcrowding/distractions

40
Q

What is Anterograde Amnesia?

A
  • A type of memory loss that occurs when you can’t
    form new memories
  • Temporal lobe dependent
41
Q

What is Retrograde Amnesia?

A
  • Amnesia where you can’t recall memories that were
    formed before the event that caused the amnesia
  • It usually affects recently stored past memories, not
    memories from years ago
  • More diverse throughout cerebral cortex
42
Q

What is Transient Global Amnesia?

A

A temporary, anterograde amnesia with an acute onset that usually occurs in middle-aged and older individuals, patient’s usually wake and don’t recall the preceding 24-48hrs

43
Q

What can cause Transient Global Amnesia? (5)

A
  • Idiopathic
  • Minor Head Trauma
  • Sexual Intercourse
  • Heavy Exercise
  • Brief Shock
44
Q

Which hemisphere of the Parietal Lobe is more dominant?

A

Right

45
Q

What is Korsakoff Syndrome?

A

A memory disorder that results from vitamin B1 deficiency and is associated with alcoholism