Fundamentals of Human Neuropsychology

The FSIQ has a mean of ______ and a standard deviation of ______ .

100; 15

Functional hierarchy of the vertebrate peripheral nervous system

(Spinal Cord --> Brainstem --> Forebrain) Each successively higher level of the nervous system controls more complex aspects of behavior. Forebrain above brainstem above spinal cord. When higher levels are damaged, behavior becomes simpler, less evolved. Ex: Patient H.M. case study where patient had part of the temporal lobe removed to treat epilepsy. He experienced partial amnesia as a result and was able to learn motor skills, but was unable to remember acquiring that skill and multiple memory systems.

Diencephalon

(within the brainstem) thalamus(20 nuclei projectiing into a specific area of the cerebral cortex. Information cortex receives is relayed first through thalamus), epithalamus(collection of nuclei located posteriorly in the diencephalon. Secretes melatonin, influences daily and seasonal body rhythms), and hypothalamus.ww

Sections of the brain (slices)

- (mid)sagittal section - slice down the forehead, nose, and chin (left and right sections remain. -Coronal section - Cut the ears so that front and back pieces remain. After slicing, the piece looks like a crown -Horizontal/axial section - slice along cheek bones so that top and bottom pieces remain

Which statements are true about receptive fields?

- Receptive fields are the area from which a stimulus can activate a sensory receptor. -Receptive fields sample sensory information, locate sensory events in space and facilitate different actions in space. -Within the eye, rapidly adapting rod-shaped receptors have a lower response threshold than the slowly adapting cone-shaped receptors.

lateral pairings of the brain

-Bilateral (both sides) -Contralateral (Opposite sides) -Ipsilateral (same side)

motor cortex and somatosensory cortex

-Both on top of cortex -Adjacent cells on motor cortex activate adjacent muscles in body -Adjacent cells on somatosensory cortex respond to adjacent receptors on skin -separated by the central sulcus

Different kinds of space

-body space -distal space -grasping space -time space (autonoetic awareness)

Modular organization

-cortical columns are called "basic functional units" i cerebral cortical processing, development, and evolution. In other words, it's a vertically arranged cell constellation, dendritic bundling, a pattern of connectivity, myelin distribution, metabolic characteristic, staining property, vasculature, magnitude of specific gene expression, embryonic origin, or functional properties. -if a micro electrode is places in the somatosensory cortex and lowered vertically from layer 1 to 5, all the neurons encountered appear functionally similar. -The evolutionary expansion of the cortex corresponds to an increase in the number of basic units

Decortication

-removal of neocortex, leaves the basal ganglia and brainstem intact -typical sleeping-waking cycles -can navigate simple mazes -ability to sequence series of movements -ability to generate biologically adaptive behaviors by inhibiting -the cortex is not essential for learning, however, decorticated animals fail at learning -do not build nests or hoard food, bit might around. Difficulty making skilled movements with tongue and limbs (unable to reach for food by protruding the tongue or by reaching with one forelimb -perform well in tests of classical conditioning, approach learning, operant conditioning, Q-learning, and pattern discrimination

Electrical systems making changes in the nervous system

1) Long Term Potentiation - change of the synaptic efficiency due to high frequency electrical stimulation 2) Kindling - The development of persistent seizure activity after repeated exposure to an initially subconvulsant stimulus

parallel cortical systems

1) functions to understand the world 2) functions to move us around the world (and allow us to manipulate it) Our knowledge of reality is related to the structure of our cortical maps

zonal pathways of the cerebral cortex

1) sensory unit - sensory input enters the primary sensory zone, elaborated in the secondary zone, and is integrated in the tertiary zones of the posterior unit 2) Motor unit - To execute an action, activation is sent from the posterior tertiary sensory zones to the tertiary frontal motor zone to the secondary motor zone for elaboration and finally to the primary frontal zone for execution This information is based on the assumptions that: 1) The brain processes information serially 2) This serial processing is hierarchical (no simple feed-forward system, instead, distributed hierarchical system) 3) Our perception of the world is unified and coherent

Principles of brain plasticity

1. Plasticity is common to all nervous systems, and the principles are conserved 2. plasticity can be analyzed at many levels: behavior, neural imaging, cortical maps, physiology, synaptic organization, mitotic activity, and molecular structure 3. The two types of plasticity derive from experience (experience-expectant plasticity and experience-dependent pasticity) 4. Similar behavioral changes can correlate with different plastic changes. 5. Experience-dependent changes interact (metaplasticity) 6. plasticity is age dependent 7. plastic changes are time-dependent 8. plasticity is related to an experience's relevance to the animal 9. plasticity is related to the intensity or frequency of experiences 10. plasticity can be maladaptive (drugs cause alterations in dendritic length and spine density; prefrontal morphology changes)

5 therapeutic approaches after brain damage

1. Rehabilitation - movement therapy, tactile stimulation, cognitive rehab 2. Pharmacological therapies 3. Brain stimulation 4. Brain-tissue transplants & stem-cell induction 5. diet

inattention

1. inattentional blindness - failure to notice a dot flashing 2. change blindness - failure to detect a change in the presence, identity, or location of an object in a scene. (occur when people are not expecting the change) 3. attentional blink - failure to detect a second visual target presented within 500 milliseconds of the first one.

dorsal orienting network

1. right lateralized 2. top-down process to synchronize visuospatial orienting-system activity

cranial nerves

12 pairs of cranial nerves convey sensory motor signals to and from the head. Knowledge of the cranial nerves' organization and functions is important for diagnosing brain injury. 1. Olfactory 2. Optic 3. Oculomotor 4. Trochlear 5. Trigeminal 6. Abducens eye 7. facial 8. auditory vestibular 9. glossopharyngeal 10. vagus 11. spinal accessory 12. hypoglossal Afferent - functions from sensory imputs from nerves of the eyes, mouth, ears, nose --> posterior brainstem efferent - functions from motor control of the facial muscle, tongue, and eyes --> anterior brainstem Some cranial nerves have both sensory and motor function

Brianstem

3 main regions: Diencephalon - Midbrain Hindbrain subregions: Tegmentum - in between diencephalon and midbrain. Motor function and slim movements. the substantia niagra within is important for rewarding behaviors. Periacqueductal gray matter (PAG) and cerebral aqueduct controlling species typical behavior; sexual behavior, modulating pain responses. pon- brisged inputs from cerebellum to the rest of the brain. Within the midbrain tectum - (sits ontop of the tegmentum) contain super colliculus (receive projection from retina of the eye) and inferior colluculus (receive projections from the ear) tegmentum - within brainstem of midbrain (medial lining) Reticular formation - long panels within the hindbrain. Damage to reticular activating system results in permanent unconsciousness cerebellum - (dense) motor coordination, motor learning, coordinating other mental processes. Damage to cerebellum --> equilibrium problems, posterial defects, impairment in skilled motor activities. medulla - (lowest part of brainstem) regulate vital functions such as breathing and cardiovascular functioning. Damage stops breathing and heart function (death)

What is conduction aphasia?

A condition in which the main impairment is in the ability to repeat words or phrases. It occurs when the theres a leson in the connection between Wernicke's and Broca's area. Affected individuals find it difficult to repeat things that are said to them.

Bálint's syndrome

A disorder following bilateral occipitoparietal stroke, characterized by difficulty in perceiving visual objects. Patients with the disorder can correctly identify objects but have difficulty relating objects to one another. They tend to focus attention on one object to the exclusion of others when the objects are presented simultaneously.

sensory neglect

A lack of awareness of or attention to stimuli on one side of the body when damage has occurred to the opposite-side parietal lobe

Patient HM

A patient who, because of damage to medial temporal lobe structures, was unable to encode new declarative memories. When he had both hippocampi (of the temporal lobe) removed, he was able to learn motor skills, but inhibition in memory. His case established that memory is a distinct cerebral function, separable from other perceptual and cognitive abilities, and identified the medial aspect of the temporal lobe as important for memory. He could remember some things — scenes from his childhood, some facts about his parents, and historical events that occurred before his surgery — but he was unable to form new memories.

Decelerate rigidity

A peculiar stiffness due to excessive muscle tone in low-decerebrates.

primitive developing brain

A series of enlargements at the end of the embryonic spinal cord. 3 regions: Prosencephalon (forebrain) - Breaks into telencephalon (cerebral hemispheres) and diencephalon for mammalian fetus. On outside curve (rostral-most part of the brain) controls body temp, reproductive functions, eat, sleep, display of emotion Mesencephalon (midbrain) - Does not change going into mammalian fetus; responsible for hearing/vision, middle of sections. Rhombencephalon (hindbrain) - breaks into metencephalon (across brain) and myelencephalon (spinal cord) going into mammalian fetus, turns into cerebellum, pons, fourth ventricle, medulla oblongata, and fourth ventricle going into fully developed brain; responsible for movement/balance, closest to the spinal cord (most-caudal part) Telencephalon --> neocrotex, basal ganglia, limbic system, olfactory bulb, lateral ventricles --> forebrain Diencephalon -->thalamus, hypothalamus, pineal body, third ventricle --> brainstem Mesencephalon --> tectum, tegmentum, cerevral aqueduct --> brainstem Metencephalon --> cerebellum, pons, fourth ventricle --> brainstem Myelencephalon --> medulla oblongata, fourth ventricle --> brainstem Spinal cord

What is a homonculus?

A topographically mapped circuit impulse pattern representation of the body, creating a "little person" in our head; Image of a person with the size of the body parts distorted to represent how much area of the cerebral cortex the brain is devoted to it

Dead Reckoning

Ability to monitor one's movement speed, travel time, and directional changes; path integration

afferent vs efferent

Afferent carries sensory impulses toward the brain (from skin/sensory centers to brain) Efferent carries motor impulses away from the brain (en route from the brain to muscles and localized areas around the body)

Spinal chord signalling hub

Anterior - motor, efferent Posterior - sensory, afferent

Orientation pairings

Anterior/posterior (face to back of head), Dorsal/ventral (top of the head to neck), Rostral/caudal (head to tail), Proximal/distal (close and far)

basal ganglia

Associated with movement and learning functions. Have reciprocal connections within the midbrain. Basal ganglia impairments: -huntington's disease: basal ganglia cells die progressively and associated within this cell death, involuntary body movements occur almost continuously - tourette's syndrome: involuntary motor tics, especially of the face of head. loss of basal ganglia cells -parkinson's disease: loss of connection from/to the basal ganglia. difficulty in initiating movement and muscular rigidity.

Choose the correct anatomical term from the list below for "posterior":

Back

Which of the following structures is the most important for: movement control

Basal ganglia

precentral gyrus

Blue, precentral gyrus observes involuntary movements of the right side of the body

Choose the correct anatomical term from the list below for "ventral":

Bottom

On what basis did Broca defend functional localization of the brain?

By establishing the relationship between production of speech and the left frontal lobe

Which of the following is a computerized neuropsychological test battery?

CANTAB

What does the term "afferent" mean:

Carries messages toward a given structure

Forebrain

Caudate nucleus(receives projections from all areas of the cortex and sends its own projections to putamen and globus pallidus to thalamus --> frontal cortical areas) putamen globus pallidus

synaptic plasticity

Changes that happen at the level of the synapse to either strengthen or weaken the connection between two neurons and therefore increase or decrease the amount of neuronal activity.

What is CANTAB?

Computer-based cognitive assessment system consisting of a battery of neuropsychological tests, administered to subjects using a touch screen computer

Which statement(s) describe challenges with neuropsychology assessments?

Cutoff scores are difficult to justify due to variations in cerebral organization and problem-solving strategies. Neuropsychological assessments can be time-consuming and expensive.

Spinal chord organization

Dorsal/Posterior root (sensory) - afferent; bringing info in from body's sensory receptors Ventral/Anterior root (motor) - efferent; carry info from spinal chord to the rest of the muscles Grey matter - composed of neural cell bodies & capillaries(unmyelinated) White matter - composed of axons (myelinated) Bell-Magente Law - Puppies experiment where cutting dorsal root --> loss of sensation and cutting ventral root --> loss of movement. This study distinguishes sensory to motor impairments

Match each of the given terms that is used when mapping the nervous system with the term that is its opposite: ventral—_____; medial—_____; ipsilateral—_____

Dorsal; lateral; contralateral

The most convincing experimental evidence for demonstrating the localization of a particular function to a brain region is the:

Double Dissociation

Identify the methodology MOST commonly used to evaluate a patient for epilepsy.

EEG

This method is capable of monitoring brain activity during sleep

EEG (noninvasive and used for research of sleep)

kinds of glial cells

Epemdymal cell - line the brain's ventricle and make the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) Astrologia (plural); astrocyte (singular) - provide structural support and nutrition to neurons microglial cell - tiny glial cell, fight infection and remove debris ogliodendroglial cell - insulate neurons in the CNS schwann cell - Insulate sensory motor neurons in PNS. The insulation is myelin.

True or False: Among the symptoms of damage to the geniculostriate system is visual ataxia, or the inability to recognize where objects are located.

False

True or False: Because of advances in functional neuroimaging, clinical neurologists' main role is diagnosing their patients, rather than helping them to rehabilitate.

False

True or False: Associators experience sensory mixing as reality, whereas projectors experience sensory mixing in their minds' eye.

False (the other way around)

Cerebral Spinal Fluid (CSF)

Fluid that is produced by ependymal glial cells located adjacent to the ventricle. Flows from the lateral ventricles out through the 4th ventricle to drain into the circulatory system at base of the brainstem.

The MOST sensitive measure of malingering is the _________.

Forced Choice Digit Memory Test

Choose the correct anatomical term from the list below for "anterior":

Front

Damage to the right hemisphere affects aspects of language, including_____.

Generation and perception prosody

Cortex, brainstem, spinal cord

Gyri line the outer layer of the cortex. Can be viewed on lateral view of left hemisphere.

gyri vs sulci

Gyri- grooves/ridges Sulci- valley/clefts

The Case of Dave Duerson

He had chronic traumatic encephalopathy --> repeated head injury. Anterior right hemisphere (temporal cortex and medial temporal lobe shone in coronal slices). Dave Duerson's experience demonstrates the difficulty of stimulating functional recovery after. After a brain is injured, it will forever be coping with damaged cuircuits.

binding problem

How does sensation in specific channels , whether touch, vision, hearing, smell, and taste combine into perceptions that translate as a unified experience which is what we call reality? Utilizing the visual cortex, dorsal stream, and ventral stream, the brain links features together so that we see unified objects in our visual world rather than free-floating or miscombined features. Dorsal stream is the pathway in charge of localizing where stimuli are in space and the ventral stream identifies which stimuli we are looking at. The binding problem is at which stage of this hierarchy do things get integrated? passive options: 1) A critical hub receives inputs from cortical areas and bind into a unitary perception 2) Interconnected cortical areas receive inputs, modify, and shares them back by means of reentry

The Basal ganglia are involved in which two diseases?

Huntington's disease and Parkinson's disease

Low Decebrate

If hind brain and spinal chord remian connected after an injury, but both are disconnected from the rest of the brain, -difficulty maintaining consciousness -forebrain "in the dark" -incactive when undisturbed -no effective ability to thermoregulate -ability to swallow food -affective behaviors when stimulated -slow-wave sleep and active sleep (locus neural center that produce sleep is in the hindbrain)

egocentric disorientation

Inability to represent the location of objects in relationship to the self; associated with damage to the posterior parietal region, either bilaterally or unilaterally in the right hemisphere.Inability to perform mental rotations.

developmental topographic disorientation

Inability to segregate landmarks and derive navigational information from them, navigate through a nonverbal process, or generate cognitive maps.

shifting attention

Increase of activation in the posterior parietal cortex attending to the moving light. Left parietal cortex active only when the stimulus is in the right visual field

high decerebration

Injury to the brainstem in which the highest intact functioning structure is the midbrain. -without the basal ganglia and cerebral hemispheres -ability to control hormonal systems and pituitary -sham rage (diencephalic animal displays sympathetic nervous system signs of rage_) -hyperactivity and energized behavior (diencephalon energizes an animal's behavior)

The study of patients with brain lesions has made historical contributions to cognitive neuroscience because

It was the first historical evidence of the association between brain and behavior

behavioral analysis of plasticity

Learning and remembering require changes in the nervous system. Using a special prism glass, manipulation of the visual field helps the brain adapt. Electrical stimulation can change the nervous system.

heading disorientation

Lesion to the posterior cingulate. Inability to represent direction of orientation with respect to environment. No sense of direction

What does the term "ipsilateral" mean:

Located on the same side of another region

retrograde spatial amnesia

Loss of ability to navigate in environments that were familiar before the injury

motor cortex vs sensory cortex

Motor - anterior to Central Sulcus. Controls movement of individual muscles. small layers IV, large layers V and VI. Sensory (somatic) - posterior to Central Sulcus. Detects sensations in various parts of body. Large layer IV, small layers V and VI.

What is the Wisconsin Card Sorting test?

Neuropsychological test that assesses abstract reasoning and set-shifting

What is the forced choice digit memory test?

Neuropsychological test that determines whether subject are performing tests as requested or are malingering

Which of the following is not a brain wave that can be monitored on EEG

Omega (delta = slowest < theta < alpha < beta < gamma = strongest)

Dual-stream theory (the what and the where pathway)

Originating in the visual cortex, the "what" pathway is in the temporal lobe and is responsible for identifying objects. The "where" pathway projects through the parietal lobe and is responsible for guidance of movement (spatial navigation in relation to objects). The "what" and "where" are synthesized in the frontal lobe. Specifically: "what" pathway - pariato-premotor pathway --> visually guided action -parieto-prefrontal pathway --> spatial navigation -parieto-medial temporal pathway --> spatial memory

what is nocioception?

Perception of pain, temperature, and itch.

The _____ is critically important in planning motor movements.

Prefrontal Cortex

Movement sequences are organized by neurons in the_____.

Premotor cortex

What is inattentional blindness?

Process that occurs when an individual fails to perceive an unexpected stimulus in plain sight, purely as a result of a lack of attention rather than any vision deficit.

subcortical loops

Reciprocal cortical-subcortical connections or feedback loops. The neocortex above subcortical structures are constantly sending each other information looped between the neocortex, hippocampus, amygdala, striatum, and thalamus.

in this diagram, the area in blue (left) is the __________ cortex, while the area in red (right) is the ________ cortex.

S1, M1

the limbic system

Self-regulating behaviors: -emotion -functional memory -spacial behavior -social behavior regios: -cingulate cortex: 3 layer strip of limbic cortex, above the corpus collosum along medial walls of the cerebral hemisphere. sexual behavior and social interactions -amygdala: emotion; temporal lobe base -hippocampus: anterior-medial temporal lobe; personal memory/social navigation -olfactory bulb

Kinds of neurons

Sensory Neurons carry incoming information from the sense receptors to the CNS (bipolar and somatosensory) Motor Neurons carry outgoing information from the CNS to muscles and glands Interneurons connect sensory and motor neurons. Ex: stellate cells, purkinje cells, and pyramidal cells

Principles of neocortical function

Spinal chord (center for reflexes, can mediate many reflexes)<-- Lowest CNS level Hind brain (postural support) The Midbrain (spontaneous movement) Diencephalon (affect and motivation) Basal Ganglia The Cortex <-- highest CNS level

Reflex

Spinal chord-dependent movement caused by sensory stimulation. Sections: cervical (top) Thoracic Lumbar Sacral (bottom) Connections between segments = complex movements, require the cooperation of many spinal segments Stimulation of pain and temporal receptors in a limb produces: 1. Flexion reflexes - towards the body 2. Extension reflexes - away from the body (if stimulus is mild, only distal part of limb flexes in response with stronger stimuli, the size of the movement increases until the whole limb is drawn back.

what is the posterior cortex?

brain region that specifies movement goals and sends information from touch, vision, and hearing to the frontal regions.

Types of cortical neuron cells

Spiney neurons - excitatory --> mostly found on the spine. likely to have receptors for excitatory transmitters glutamate or aspartate Spiney stellate cells - (contain a dendritic spine) smaller, star shaped inter0neurons whose processes remain within the region of the brain where the cell body is located. Pyramidal cells - send information from a cortical region to another region of the CNS. They are the efferent projected neurons of the cortex. Largest population/type of cortical neurons Aspiny neurons - (don't contain dendritic spine) have short axons and no dendritic spines. all aspiny neruons are inhibiting and are likely to use GAMA aminobutyric acid (GABA) as a neurotransmitter.

Brain cell development

Starts as a stem cell --> proliferation, some die and some become--> mature stem cell = progenitor cell --> neuroblast(--> neurons) or glioblast(--> glial cells)

Which of the following structures is the most important for: early visual processing

Striate cortex

autonomic nervous system

Sympathetic System Arouses the body for action. Ex: stimulating the heart beat faster, inhibiting digestion when we exert during exercise or time of stress. Parasympathetic System Calms the body down. Ex: slowing the heart rate and stimulating digestion to allow us to rest and digest after exertion and during quiet times.

The hippocampus is located on the medial edge of the:

Temporal lobe

If you want to test a patient's ability to shift between different task rules, a measure of cognitive flexibility, which of the following would you use?

The Wisconsin Card

A 33-year-old man with frontal lesion (Case 1) would probably show improvement on follow-up tests given a year after surgery, with the exception of scores on _______.

The Wisconsin Card-Sorting Test

A 33-year old man with frontal lesion would probably show improvement on follow-up tests given a year after surgery, with the exception of scores on:

The Wisconsin card sorting test (frontal lobe region is very hard to recover)

topographic memory

The ability to orient oneself to move through space

alerting network of attention

The ascending reticular activating system (RAS). Drugs acting on noradrenergic release affect the alerting system

The Brain Hypothesis

The brain is the source of behavior

cortical maps

The cortical maps of motor and somatosensory organization can be determined by stimulating the cortex. Ex: the homunculus. This can be done either 1) Inter-cranial electrodes 2) Transcranial stimulation (TMS) 3) Functional neuroimaging (fMRI)

Hippocampus involvement in spatial awareness

The dorsal and ventral stream pathways both converge on the hippocampus. The hippocampus is particularly linked to responsibility in spatial memory. The hippocampus plays and important role in spatial behavior (ex: caching: distal spatial cues (requiring hippocampus) are used for moving of food to storage site for consumption at a later date)

Break down of the nervous system

The nervous system is the body's fast, electrochemical communication network. 1. Central Nervous system Lies within boney encasements (skull & bones) Limited Self-repair -Brain -Spinal Cord -Limited self-repair 2. Peripheral Nervous system -outside the bones-- lacking protection, divisions are more vulnerable to injury (than in CNS), but can renew themselves after injury by growing new axons and dendrites (more self repair) -Somatic (motor and touch) -Autonomic a)sympathetic b)parasympathetic

The only sensory system whose afferent fibers do NOT cross is_____.

The olfactory system

A patient who has difficulty with balance, posture, and coordination would MOST likely have a lesion in the_____.

brainstem motor areas

Broca's area

The third convolution of the left frontal lobe that is found to be lesioned in patient "tan" (loss of articulated speech results from deficit to broca's area)

The neuron hypothesis

The unit of brain structure and function is the neuron. Neurons are the nerve cells of the brain and work as its functional units. A neuron sends electrical signals along the dendrites and axons by chemical means. Communication happens via synapse. Neurons are plastic.

What is the discontinuity theory?

Theory that language evolved rapidly and appeared suddenly, occurring in modern humans

Variables affecting recovery

These qualities may influence the effect of brain damage: - age - sex - handedness - intelligence - personality

Choose the correct anatomical term from the list below for "dorsal":

Top

What is the lateral spinothalamic tract

Tract that carries sensory information regarding pain and temperature

What are rods?

Type of photoreceptive cell used for night vision

The deepest layer of the cerebral cortex is given the Roman numeral _____

VI

What is the sagittal plane?

Vertical plane which passes through the body longitudinally?

hierarchical organization

Within the brain's functional hierarchy, higher level provides an animal with more precision and flexibility in behavior. Although subcortical structures are lower in the hierarchical organization of the CNS, they can mediate complex behavior. Cortical <-- more precision/flexible function Limbic Midbrain Brainstem

What happens when you perform a "callosotomy"?

You disconnect the two hemispheres by resecting the corpus colosseum (split the mid-saggital plane)

hemispatial neglect

a failure to attend to stimuli on the opposite side of space to a brain lesion A neuropsychological condition in which after damage to the right parietal lobe, a deficit in attention to awareness of one side of the field of vision is observed. A mirror is often used to help the patient see what she can't in her own visual field.

Phrenology

a pseudoscience which involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits

The basal ganglia

a set of subcortical structures that directs intentional movements

A patient with closed-head brain injury goes to see a neuropsychologist. To assess the nature and extent of disability, the provider has the patient undergo:

a thorough neuropsychological assessment

mirror neurons

a type of brain cell that respond equally when we perform an action and when we witness someone else perform the same action

theory of mind

ability to attribute mental states to oneself and others and to understand that others experience similar states.

Gerstmann syndrome

agraphia, aclaculia, finger agnosia, left-right disorientation. Damage to dominant- parietal temporal cortex.

universality assumption

all cognitive systems are basically identical

Which is NOT a goal of assessment in clinical neuropsychology?

all of the above: classifying disorders, identifying the presence or absence of brain damage, and recommending pharmacological interventions

The common output of sensory transduction in all sensory systems is_____.

an action potential

The term "disconnection syndrome" is used to describe the behavioral effects of_____.

an interruption of communication between two cerebral regions

bottom-up processing

analysis that begins with the sensory receptors utilizing information from the environment and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information

The condition that results from severing the anterior commissure is called_____.

anosmia

The carotid artery supplies blood and oxygen to the brain. It is divided into branches named Anterior, Middle, and Posterior Carotid Artery. Which of them is the major supply of blood and oxygen to the frontal lobe?

anterior

Difficulty maintaining proper posture and balance would MOST likely result from damage to the_____.

anterior corticospinal tract

A patient who experiences no difficulties finding her way around the home where she lived for most of her adult life but becomes spatially disoriented in her most recent home can be said to be suffering from ____ disorientation.

anterograde

Prior to the development of brain imaging methods such as MRI and PET, _________ were used to provide information regarding localization of cerebral damage.

behavioral tests

Prior to the development of brain imaging tests such as MRI and PET, neuropsychologists relied primarily on _____ to provide information regarding localization of cerebral damage.

behavioral tests

parallel processing of sensory input

binding problem of binding multiple objects in the attentional spotlight 1. Cells sensitive to complex configurations 2. Serial selection of items (parallel processing)

ventral orienting system

bottom-up; includes temporo-parietal junction, ventral frontal cortex are involved in switching (when position is miscued in a task); strongly right lateralized

Huntington's disease is a genetic disorder resulting from degeneration of_____.

caudate putamen cells

Stimulation studies are useful because they can provide a _____ link between brain activity and function.

causal

_____are better able to transduce bright light and are used for daytime vision; _____are sensitive to dim light and are used mainly for night vision.

cones; rods

The property that sets sensory receptors apart from other cells is their ability to_____.

convert energy into nerve impulses

The three axes that are used to slice the brain are

coronal axial sagital

Microelectrodes, positron emission tomography (PET), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) are all examples of _______ methods of studying the brain.

correlational

In contemporary models of function, complex cognitive operations involve____________.

cortical areas acting conjointly through large-scale neural networks.

Route following

cue learning, a response made to a specific cue

fractionation assumption

damage to the brain can produce selective cognitive lesions

The most appropriate diagnosis for a 10-year-old child who continually makes mistakes in reading aloud, such that semantically related words are substituted for the printed word (e.g., "puppy" is read as "dog" and "woman" is read as "mother"), would be_____.

deep dyslexia

damage to parietal cortex

deficits in navigating cognitive maps (spatial impairments)

What is sensory pathway

determines the sensory modality of neurons encoding a different type of stimulus

On which of the following tasks would you expect to see the LEAST impairment following hemispheric disconnection?

dichotic listening

Caching Behavior

distal spatial cues (requiring hippocampus) are used for moving of food to storage site for consumption at a later date

Parkinson's disease is caused by a loss of neurons that release the neurotransmitter,_____.

dopamine

dual contribution theory vs. scene construction theory

dual contribution theory: spatial and episodic memory as hippocampal functions: dorsal and ventral stream projections remain partially separate: dorsal stream --> spatial memory ventral stream --> episodic memory scene construction theory: the hippocampus functions for neither spatial or episodic memory, but instead employs both to create more including imagining and future thinking.

Commissurotomy is performed in humans primarily as a treatment for_____.

epilepsy

What is hyperkinesia?

excessive movement

Receptors that respond to external stimuli are called_____; receptors that respond to our own activity are called_____.

exeroceptive; interoceptive

Receptors that respond to external stimuli are called _____; receptors that respond to our own bodily activity are called _____.

exteroceptive; interoceptive

episodic memories are about events whereas semantic memories are about

facts

True or False: Descending messages from the cortex can block pain signals (i.e. gating) but cannot amplify them.

false

What is the contribution of the cerebellum to the control of movement?

fine-tuning of timing and accuracy

attention

focusing awareness on a narrowed range of stimuli or events -automatic processing (bottom-up; data driven, relying on stimulus information being presented in the environment) ex: pop-out effect -conscious processing (top-down; conceptually driven; relying on information already in memory) ex: serial search/conjunction search

anterograde amnesia affects

forming new episodic memories

dorsal view of brain

from the top, looking down at the Gyri on top of the frontal and parietal lobes. Can identify left and right hemispheres.

Voluntary eye movements are largely regulated by neural circuits centered in the_____.

frontal eye fields

During the Wisconsin Card-Sorting Test, Stroop Test, and Chicago Word-Fluency Test, imaging has shown that subjects demonstrate activation in the _____.

frontal lobe

Lobes of the brain

frontal, parietal, occipital, temporal

phoenemes

fundamental language sounds that form a word or part of a word

Tests of language abilities in split-brain subjects show that the right hemisphere has_____.

good language comprehension but poor production abilities

Tests of language abilities in split-brain subjects show that the right hemisphere has:

good language comprehension, but poor production abilities

_____is our tactile perception of objects.

hapsis

ventricles of the brain

hollow interior (canals) in the brain that contain cerebrospinal fluid. 4 prominent pockets of the hollow regions = ventricles (bladders) 1,2 Lateral ventricles are c-shaped legs underlying cerebral cortex 2,3 ventricles extend into the brain stem and spinal chord --> cerebral aqueduct (connects 3rd to 4th ventricle)

High decerebrate

human or animal whose spinal cord, hindbrain, and midbrain have been disconnected from the forebrain. A damage separating the diencephalon form the midbrain, region, including superiod colliculus, inferior colliculus, and a number of nuclei. - all subsets of voluntary movements present at subcortical level of midbrain -effective autonomic movements

spatial discrimination

identification of body region being stimulated (parietal and frontal cortices)

In the amnesic H.M., his basic IQ scores _____ with long-term follow-up exams, and his amnesia _____.

improved; remained unchanged

Topographic disorientation

inability to orient oneself in one's surroundings

As information moves from primary to secondary to higher-level cortex in the sensory unit, it becomes

increasingly elaborated and integrated.

A patient who can comprehend speech, produce meaningful speech, and repeat speech but has great difficulty in finding the names of objects likely has sustained damage to the:

inferior temporal lobe

The Wechsler scales are used to assess _____.

intelligence

Difficulty holding a pen to write would MOST likely result from damage to the_____.

lateral corticospinal tract

Axons of the_____motor pathway cross over to the opposite side of the spinal cord at the level of the pyramids of the brainstem.

lateral corticospinotract

In this diagram, we are looking at a __________ view of the ______ hemisphere of the brain

lateral; right

functions of the layers of the neocortex

layer IV - input zone of sensory analysis --> receive projections from other cortical areas and others in the brain (large in the sensory cortex, small in the motor cortex) layer V & VI - output zone --> send axons to other cortical areas or other brain areas (large in the motor cortex, small in the sensory cortex)

Aphasias are commonly seen following blockage of the ____ cerebral artery

left-middle

Aphasias are most commonly seen following blockage of the _____ cerebral artery.

left-middle

A blockage of blood supply to the brain might result in a

lesion (blockage of blood supply is a stroke)

transparency assumption

lesions affect one or more components within the preexisting cognitive system but do not result in a completely new cognitive system being created

anterograde spatial amnesia

loss of ability to navigate in new or novel environments

The ventral horn in the spinal cord contains these neurons

lower motor neurons

According to the videos, which factor(s) helped enhance advancements in neuropsychological assessment?

managed health care functional brain imaging cognitive neuroscience

Neurons that respond both when the subject performs an action and when the subject observes the action being performed are called_____ neurons.

mirror

The basal ganglia receive neural inputs from two main sources. These sources are the_____.

neocortex and substantia nigra

what are interneurons?

neurons within the brain and spinal cord that communicate internally and intervene between the sensory inputs and motor outputs

A patient who has difficulty finding words and has a laborious, slow, and halting speech is showing signs of

nonfluent aphasia

A patient who has difficulty finding words and has laborious, slow, and halting speech is showing signs of:

nonfluent aphasia

What is Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)?

noninvasive form of brain stimulation affects CNS activity by applying powerful magnetic fields to specific areas of the brain.

The degenerative disorder associated with muscular rigidity and difficulty initiating and performing movements is called_____.

parkinson's disease

What are the dorsal language pathways

pathways proposed to transform sound information into model representation to convert phonological information into articulation

The subjective experience that results from sensory processing is referred to as_____.

perception

Compensation vs Recovery

plasticity is NOT regenerating dead neurons. Rather, it is the brain's capacity to compensate for neuronal deaths by reorganizing neural circuits to circumvent their absence. Ex: a case of BK: regained functions by compensation. He learned to direct vision so that paths of words that disappeared are captured using lower visual field. Adjusts his gaze and allows him to recognize. These changes happen spontaneously fMRI can show functional improvement based on changes of cerebral activation. Physiological mapping

Areas that function to combine characteristics of stimuli across different modalities are called __________.

polymodal

The planning of motor movements seems to be the primary responsibility of neural circuits in the______.

prefrontal cortex

Disruption of movement sequences, in the absence of muscle weakness, would follow lesions of the_____.

premotor

Match the cortical region in each question with the correct alternative.

primary cortex - generation of specific movement prefrontal cortex - planning of movement posterior cortex - source of sensory information premotor cortex - sequencing of movement

The upper motor neurons are located in the

primary motor cortex

A patient who cannot locate the position of her limbs in space unless she is looking at them is suffering from a loss of_____.

proprioception

primary sensory cortex

regions of the cerebral cortex that initially process information from the senses. The primary sensory cortex sends information to various association region which share information with each other and correspond to either the -frontal lobe -rear most part: primary motor cortex -middle part: premotor cortex (ordering movements and controlling hands, limb, and eye movements) -frontal-most part: prefrontal cortex (controlling movements in time and forming short term memories of sensory information) -paralimbic cortex (forms long term memories; 3 layers) -multimodal cortex -basal ganglia

The axons of the _____ form the optic nerve.

retinal ganglion cells

How do we call the plan that divides the brain into the right and left halves?

sagital

medial view of brain

sagittal slice, shows corpus colossum in center

central sulcus

separates frontal and parietal lobes

lateral view of the brain

side view of the whole brain (sliced is medial view)

The ability to discriminate individual stimuli is highest from surfaces with_____.

small, closely space receptive fields

The combination of neuropsychological test development and imaging techniques has led to an understanding of the role of the right frontal lobe in _____.

social cognition

Functionally, the visual system is entirely crossed, such that stimuli in the left-visual field are initially processed by the right-visual cortical areas and vice versa. Which of the following systems is MOST similar to vision in this regard?

somatosensory

Neuroimaging

sophisticated computer-aided procedure that allows nonintrusive examination of nervous system structure and function. It allows imaging of the brain en vivo. Types: - CT scan (computerized tomography) -PET scan (position emission tomography) -MRI scan (magnetic resonance imaging) -DTI Tractography (diffusor tensor imaging)

neural correlates of consciousness

specific brain states that seem to correspond to the content of someone's conscious experience - Numerous interacting systems - Sensory areas - Memory structures - Emotion - Executive control These are integrated by arousal, perception, attention, and working memory Neuronal groups exhibit synchronous oscillations

Evidence suggests that the primary motor cortex is organized on the basis of_____.

specific movements

The MOST posterior portion of the corpus callosum is called the_____.

splenium

_____ are reciprocal feedback loops that play some role in amplifying or modulating cortical activity.

subcortical loops

which of the following is NOT a "principle" of human neuropsychology

the Mind is what the Brain does

cerebral arteries

the arteries that supply blood to large portions of the cerebral cortex of the brain. anterior cerebral artery (ACA) middle cerebral artery (MCA) posterior cerebral artery (PCA) carotid artery (anterior) vertebral artery (posterior)

The sensory homunculus is a cortical representation of:

the body proportional to body surface sensitivity.

consciousness

the level of responsiveness of the mind to impressions made by the senses. It's a collection of many processes. It's not always the same and varies across development & across the span of a day. It is more than being simply responsive or being able to produce movement. Language fundamentally changes the nature of human consciousness. It provides adaptive advantage in processing complex information.

agnosia

the loss of the ability to recognize objects, faces, voices, or places. It's a rare disorder involving one or more of the senses.

depth perception

the mechanism for depth perception is in the right hemisphere

Meninges

three protective membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord. Skull (outside) Dura mater Arachnoid membrane (thin sheet of delicate tissue) Subarachnoid space (filled with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) Pia matter (tough tissue clings to the brain surface) Brain (inside)

executive control of attention system

top-down role 1. dorsolateral-PFC-parietal network 2. anterior cingulate/medial frontal-anterior insular network

Piloting

topographic guidance; the ability to find a place without a direct cue; place learning

The effects of direct electrical stimulation of the cortex on language functions have been confirmed using the noninvasive technique of

transcranial magnetic stimulation

True or False: The fibers of somatosensory neurons that make up the hapsis and proprioception system are relatively large, heavily myelinated, and for the most part, rapidly adapting. In comparison, anterior spinothalamic tract nociceptive fibers are somewhat smaller, less myelinated, and more slowly adapting.

true

Spatial Disorientation deficits

unable to perceive themselves accurately relative to the environment. Medial parietal lobe & cingulate cortex deficit.

landmark agnosia

unable to represent appearance of prominent landmarks. They can recognize landmarks, but have trouble using them to find their way. Either bilateral or solely confined to the right side of the medial aspect of the occipital lobe, including the lingual gyrus.

Following damage to the left hemisphere, the most likely outcome would be a decline in:

verbal ability

Testing spatial behavior

visualization tests (boundary expansion), single cell recordings(neuron discovery: place cells, head-direction cells, grid cells)

Grey Matter / White Matter location

white matter - myelinated; consist largely of axons that extend from these cells bodies to form connections with neurons in other brain areas grey matter - unmyelinated; grey-brown color is from capillaries and neuronal cell bodies. The cortex is made up of layers of neurons referred to as grey matter.