PS306 - Cognitive NeuroPsychology Flashcards
(30 cards)
What is Supervisory Attentional Systems (SAS), and how does it help in novel situations?
SAS (proposed by Norman and Shallice, 1986)is a high-level cognitive system that overrides automatic responses when novel, non-routine or conflicting situations arise. It supports decision-making, problem-solving, and error correction, such as when adjusting plans after a car accident blocks your usual route to work
Describe dysexecutive syndrome and its symptoms.
Dysexectutive syndrome results from frontal lobe damage and includes poor planning, disinhibition, impulsivity, difficulty switching tasks, and reduced insight. Affected individuals may struggle with everyday tasks, such as managing finances or maintaining convesations
How does ideomotor apraxia differ from ideational apraxia
Ideomotor apraxia involves difficulty performing gestures on command (waving) despite understanding them. Ideational apraxia involves failure to sequence steps in complex tasks (brushing teet before applying toothpaste)
What is the functional role of the ventral and dorsal visual streams?
The ventral stream (what) identifies objects and faces. Damage may casue visual agnosia (difficulty recognizing objects). The dorsal stream (where/how) guides spatial awareness and movement. Damage can result in optic ataxia (hand eye coordination)
Why are unstructured interviews problematic in accessing executive dysfunction?
They lack consistency and sensitivity to subtle deficits, especially when patients have poor insight. Standarized tools (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test - sorting cards based on diff criteria & changing the sorting rule without warning) offer more reliable data
What is the episodic buffer in working memory?
Introduced by Baddeley (2000) it integrates visual, spatial, and verbal info into a unifies episodic representation, linking working memory with long term memory via the central executive.
the episodic buffer is a component of working memory that integrates information from different sources, like the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad, with long-term memory to form coherent memories or “episodes”. It has a limited capacity and acts as a temporary storage space for this integrated information.
Define unilateral spatial neglect and differentiate it from hemianopia.
unilateral neglect is an attentional deficit where patients ignore stimuli on the side, often the left, despite intact vision. Hemianopia is a visual field of loss due to occipital damage. Neglect affects awareness, not vision.
Why does ecological validity matter in executive function tests?
High ecological validity ensures tasks mimic real-life demands. Tests like the Multiple Errands Test(ompleting tasks like purchasing items, collecting information, or attending appointments while adhering to rules) better predict real-world behaviour than abstract tests like the stroop test (o say the color of the ink the word is printed in, not the word itself)
How would you design memory rehab for severe episodic memory (long-term memory that stores and retrieves consciously recalled, personal experiences and events, including their associated details like time, place, and emotions) loss?
Use external aids (diaries, alarms), spaced retrieval training (asking questions, providing answers, and then asking the same question again after a delay, increasing the delay with each successful recall), and errorless learning (providing immediate prompts or cues after an instruction, ensuring a correct response is made before an incorrect one can be attempted) to compensate for deficits and support routine memory
How to differentiate confabulation from general memory impairments?
Confabulation involves fabricated memories without intent to deceive, and it is often seen in Karsakoff’s syndrome (severe memory deficits, specifically in learning new information and recalling recent events). General memory loss lacks this false narrative.
Why is Theory of Mind important in frontal lobe assessment?
ToM deficits, common in Frontal damage, impair empathy, social judgement, and relationship maintenance
Give an example fo how reduced insights affect assessments.
A patient with frontal lob injury may deny impulsivity or memory loss, leading to underreporting symptoms and misdiagnosis without corroborative reports.
Compare frontal lobe role in initiating vs inhibiting behavior.
Initiation relies on medial frontal lobe regions (anterior cingulate), while inhibiton depends on lateral prefrontal cortex. Damage can lead to apathy (initiation) or disinhibition (impulses)
What is attentional switching and what disorders impair it?
Attentional switching is shifting focus between tasks. It’s impaired in ADH, schizophrenia, and TBI. Assessed via tasks like the Trail-Making Test (used to assess cognitive functions like attention, concentration, visual search, and sequencing abilities)
Define executive memory and give an example.
Executive memory involves organizing and updating memories for tasks. for example: remembering to take medication after dinner requires sequencing and planning
Compensatory vs Restitutive approaches in apraxia (inability to perform actions due to brain damage) rehab - what is the difference?
Compensatory uses tools/routines to bypass deficits. Restitutive retains motor sequences. For example using a toothbrush holder (c) vs retaining brushing steps (r)
Two Executive function tests and their purpose?
Wisconsin Card Sorting Test - assesses flexibility and problem solving
Stroop test - measures inhibition and selective attention
Strategies in cognitive rehab for executive dysfunction?
Goal Management Training (GMT), external aids, errorless learning. and metacognitive strategies (self monitoring)
How does brain plasticity (the brain’s ability to change and adapt its structure and function throughout life, in response to various stimuli and experiences) complicate assessments in children vs adults?
Children may recover or compensate for damage due to higher plasticity, masking deficits that emerge later. Adult deficits are often more stable and observable
How to assess visospatial neglect in peripersonal (the area of space immediately surrounding the body where interactions, like reaching, grasping, and defending against potential threats, occur) vs extrapersonal (the area beyond a person’s body, encompassing the space that is not within reach or immediate interaction, and is typically beyond the peripersonal space) space?
Peripersonal: Line bisection (Patients are presented with a horizontal line, and instructed to mark the center with a pencil. The distance between the marked midpoint and the actual midpoint is measured, and a significant deviation (typically towards the right) can indicate neglect) or cancellation tasks (cognitive test where individuals are asked to identify and mark (e.g., cross out) a specific target stimulus among a field of distractors.)
Extrapersonal: Navigational tasks (requires individuals to use spatial knowledge and abilities to move through an environment, whether real or virtual, to reach a goal. This includes actions like finding a path, avoiding obstacles, or manipulating objects within a spatial context) , object pointing in the room
Why include informant reports in executive assessments?
Patients with poor insight may underreport symptoms. informants offer real-life example and add reliability to diagnosis
Stroke impacts attention:left vs right hemisphere?
Right hemisphere strokes often cause neglect and broader attentional deficits. Left strokes more commonly affect verbal working memory.
What is extinction in neglect and what does it show?
Extinction is failure to perceive a stimulus on the affected side when both sides are stimulated. It shows limited attentional capacity and competition
Define schema in Shallice’s model and how it is selected?
Schemas are action sequences (making tea). SAS selescts schemas when automatic routines conflict or are insufficient
