Matt Roser L4 Flashcards

(48 cards)

1
Q

What are the hemispheres of the brain separated by?

A

The longitudinal/sagittal fissure

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2
Q

How are the hemispheres of the brain connected?

A

by commissures, which are tracts of white matter

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3
Q

What is the biggest commissure?

A

Corpus callosum > 200 million axons (95% myelinated)

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4
Q

Where are subcortical commissures?

A

Between subcortical nuclei

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5
Q

Which cortices connect across the hemispheres?

A

Associative cortices

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6
Q

Homotopic connections

A

Across hemispheres to same region

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7
Q

Heterotopic connections

A

Across hemisphere to different region

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8
Q

Ipsilateral connections

A

To different regions within the same side of the brain

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9
Q

Midline fusion

A

Strict homotopy between primary cortices across the corpus callosum

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10
Q

Anatomical asymmetries of the brain (3)

A

Anterior right hem/posterior left hem overlap midline, Sylvian fissure longer in left and ascends more anteriorly in right, underlying regional size/myelinisation

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11
Q

How do we test each hemisphere of the brain? (3)

A

lateralised visual presentation, dichotic listening, fMRI statistical lateralisation map

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12
Q

Commissurotomy

A

Surgery separating the corpus callosum

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13
Q

Callosotomy

A

Surgery separates some or all of the corpus callosum in order to stop atonic seizures (drop attacks).

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14
Q

Disconnection syndrome

A

A collection of symptoms which appear when the corpus callosum is severed i.e. difficulty paying attention and slower processing of information

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15
Q

How do we assess hemispheric integration in individuals who have had a commissurotomy?

A
  • Subcortical commissures and what info can be transferred
  • partial callosotomy showing specificity of transfer
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16
Q

Partial or staged callosotomy - what part of the corpus callosum is responsible for what information transfer?

A

Anterior - semantic
Central - motor
Posterior - sensory

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17
Q

What has unilateral brain damage shown for language processing?

A

That in 97% RH and 70% LH, language centres are predominantly left-hemispheric

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18
Q

How is language processing presented in patients with split-brain disconnection syndrome?

A

language is predominantly left-hemispheric, and only in the right visual field can stimuli be named. The right hemisphere still has a lexical ability (knows what it is seeing) just not grammatical

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19
Q

Normal brain Non-word decision

A

Stronger in the right visual field and ear -> left hemisphere associated with faster and more accurate responses

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20
Q

Normal brain semantic priming

A

Semantic priming is the provision of stimuli that are semantically related to the next stimuli. Stronger in RVF

21
Q

What is the difference between simple and sophisticated visuospatial processes in split-brain patients?

A

Simple processes (illusory contours) are bilateral, yet more complex processes (amodal completion) draw on the right hemisphere

22
Q

What are the hemispheres best at processing respectively?

A

LH is a sophisticated language processor and RH is a sophisticated visuospatial processor

23
Q

What is the RH superior at processing with respect to higher level percepts?

A

construction, detecting offset, orientation, mirror reversal, and perceiving degraded stimuli

24
Q

Hemispheric prediction

A

The left hemisphere confabulates and looks for patterns

25
The left-hemisphere interpreter
The function of the left hemisphere attempting to give a causal explanation for events, behaviors or feelings (chicken and shovel)
26
When is there cooperation between the two hemispheres?
When tasks become more difficult there is a bilateral advantage (better when displayed bilaterally)
27
When is there competition between the two hemispheres?
- Motor inhibition via corpus callosum between motor cortices (decoupling) - When developing language abilities in the left hemisphere it inhibits the development in the right hemisphere - but LBD early in development often allows for the LH processes to be born in the RH
28
Why has the brain evolved to be divided?
The most efficient use of cortical space and allows for faster intrahemispheric processing - necessary for language etc.
29
Are hemispheric differences fluid or dichotomous?
Relative and fluid, even for domains most commonly characterised as lateralised - language
30
When can lateralised processes change?
With certain stimuli, task requirements and task difficulty
31
Aristotle on the mind and body
Soul is the essence of being and the mind is centred on the heart
32
Galen on the mind and body
Pneumatic theory of brain - brain was a pump filled with animal spirits which affected behaviour
33
Vesalius on the mind and body
predecessor of Descartes - increased knowledge of human anatomy
34
Descartes on the mind and body
- Dangerously promoted the possibility of a science of the mind - Mechanistic view of behaviour - animal study/automata/reflex mechanism
35
Cartesian Dualism
Mind and body are separate realms
36
Cogito, ergo sum
I think therefore I am - the existence of the soul is indubitable
37
Extensions of Descartes' mechanistic view (3):
- Conditioning (Pavlov's dog) - Behaviourism (stimulus responses) - Cognitive revolution (1960s) mentalistic structures
38
Modern perspective of mind and body
monist/materialist - psychological phenomena are to be accounted for as effects of organic changes in the brain and nervous system
39
Modern perspectives of consciousness (6):
- Awakness - General alertness - Focal attention - Reflective (metacognition) - Self-awareness - Qualia (subjective) First 5 = access consciousness - examined by cog.neuroscience Last = Phenomenal consciousness
40
Three tractable characteristics of consciousness
Operationalised (defined), implementation (in an artificial neural network) and adaptivity (evolutionary)
41
Processing of a stimulus may reach consciousness only if it is integrated into a:
large-scale system of cortical activity (a global neuronal workspace)
42
What is consciousness in the brain?
A global pattern of activity across the brain
43
Interaction of modular processes allowing information to be maintained and influence other processes is characteristic of:
Attentional amplification in the prefrontal cortex
44
When do processes become a part of consciousness?
When modular processes integrate with the global workspace network
45
Fractionated consciousness
Associated with lesion patients having reduced awareness of their functions
46
Blindsight
residual visual function to navigate an area but no residual consciousness
47
Anosognosia for hemiplegia and neglect
confabulation to interpret the world in a way consistent with conscious experience
48
Fractioned Consciousness and the global neuronal workspace
A patient may lack awareness because there is a disruption to the mechanisms linking local processes to global patterns of activation