Neuropsychology and Attention Disorders

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Questions and Answers

What best describes the difficulty associated with topographical memory?

Inability to navigate familiar environments (correct)

Failing to recognize familiar sounds and voices

Difficulty in performing coordinated physical tasks

Inability to understand written instructions

What characterizes reading and counting difficulties as described in the content?

Difficulty in counting objects accurately

Inability to understand the meaning of letters

Inability to recognize sound patterns during reading

Inability to recognize the placement of words on a page (correct)

What is the primary issue faced by individuals with auditory agnosia?

Complete loss of speech capabilities

Inability to hear any sound at all

Difficulty in producing sounds correctly

Failure to recognize familiar sounds despite the ability to hear them (correct)

In the context of apraxias, what defines ideomotor apraxia?

Inability to physically carry out movements on command Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following is NOT a method used to measure sustained attention?

Receptive language assessment Signup and view all the answers

Which scenario depicts ideational apraxia accurately?

A person who understands how to make tea but cannot complete the task without reminders Signup and view all the answers

Which statement best describes the two presentations of ADHD?

Both Inattentive and Hyperactive Impulsive Presentations affect attentional engagement. Signup and view all the answers

What is a key characteristic of neuropsychological examples related to attention disorders?

They can include conditions such as ADHD and visual neglect. Signup and view all the answers

Which treatment method shows evidence for improvement in children with attention deficits?

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Signup and view all the answers

Which brain anatomical regions are most relevant to sustaining attention?

Anterior cingulate cortex and parietal lobes Signup and view all the answers

What characteristic is associated with extrapersonal space neglect?

Failure to perceive sensations on the affected side Signup and view all the answers

Which treatment approach showed the least improvement across the studies mentioned?

Vestibular stimulation Signup and view all the answers

In the context of unilateral left neglect, what was a significant outcome of using hemi-spatial sunglasses?

One patient showed dramatic and lasting improvement Signup and view all the answers

What was the common observation among patients with neglect while performing tasks?

Omitting details on the affected side of their work Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following is NOT a reported behavior associated with unilateral neglect?

Reading words entirely without omissions Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary objective of the 10-minute task sequence?

Attempt to address each task while managing time constraints. Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following describes a restriction on task completion?

Parts A and B of the same task cannot follow one another. Signup and view all the answers

What action should be taken if a mistake is made during the Stroop test?

Correct the mistake and continue reading. Signup and view all the answers

Which method is suggested for managing tasks in the Goal Management Training?

Define the main task and list the steps to success. Signup and view all the answers

What is indicated by the phrase 'Check the mental blackboard' in Goal Management Training?

To confirm progress and alignment with goals. Signup and view all the answers

What performance test is conducted for COWAT during the class exercise?

One minute per letter with responses written down. Signup and view all the answers

What is orthographic depth?

The extent to which a written language maintains simple letter-phoneme correspondence Signup and view all the answers

What type of interventions specifically target impulsivity as mentioned?

Cicerone's self-instructional training. Signup and view all the answers

Which cognitive demand is primarily associated with reading fluency?

Automatization of decoding Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following pairs of tasks is represented in the 10-minute task sequence?

Describing a holiday and solving arithmetic problems. Signup and view all the answers

What role does the occipito-temporal region play in the reading network?

Facilitating memory for word forms Signup and view all the answers

In the context of reading, statistical knowledge is used to:

Understand the connections between words of inconsistent mappings Signup and view all the answers

Which statement best represents single word reading (decoding)?

It is essential for overall reading development. Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary hypothesis behind the Psycholinguistic Grain Size Theory?

It suggests that children adapt their reading approach based on orthographic designs. Signup and view all the answers

Which term describes the degree of difficulty learners may face in reading due to variations in letter-sound mappings?

Inconsistency in mappings Signup and view all the answers

Which component is crucial for audiovisual mapping in the reading process?

Understanding the statistical relationships in language Signup and view all the answers

What characterizes Broca's aphasia in terms of speech production and comprehension?

Poor speech production with relatively preserved comprehension. Signup and view all the answers

Where is the lesion typically located in a patient with Wernicke's aphasia?

Posterior part of the superior temporal gyrus on the left. Signup and view all the answers

What distinct feature is present in the speech of patients with Wernicke's aphasia?

Presence of neologisms and incoherent speech. Signup and view all the answers

Which type of aphasia is primarily characterized by difficulty with repetition?

Conduction aphasia. Signup and view all the answers

In cases of Alexia, which of the following abilities is typically affected?

Ability to read aloud and comprehend written words. Signup and view all the answers

What combination of symptoms is indicative of Gerstmann syndrome?

Acalculia and left-right confusion. Signup and view all the answers

What role does the arcuate fasciculus play in conduction aphasia?

It acts as a connection between Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area. Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following best describes agrammatism as it relates to Broca's aphasia?

Sentences that lack grammatical elements. Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

Perception

Perception is the interpretation of information from the sensory system.
All senses contribute to perception: vision, audition, smell, taste, and touch.

What is Perception?

Perception involves interpreting raw sensory data.
The brain processes sensory information to create our perceptions of the world.

"Outside World" Diagram

Sensory information (light, sound, etc.) from the external world reaches receptors.
The sensory organs (eyes, ears, nose, skin, tongue) process stimuli and convert it into raw data.
The brain interprets this raw data to create perception.

Sensation and Sensory Organs

Sensation involves receiving, transmitting, and converting information from the environment.
Sensory organs transmit this information to the brain.
Perception occurs in the brain.

Top-Down and Bottom-Up

Direct perception theories involve bottom-up processing.
Bottom-up processing starts with the sensory input and moves to higher brain levels.
Constructive perception theories involve top-down processing, where expectations and previous experiences influence perception.
Top-down processing is from higher brain levels to lower sensory input.

Stimuli

Light, pattern, motion, color, and shape are examples of stimuli that provide information.
Sensory stimuli from the environment lead to perception.
Recognition processes, such as selection, organization, and interpretation, convert incoming data into meaningful perceptions.

Errors with Perception

Perceptual experiences can be in error.
Visual illusions are visual stimuli that are misinterpreted.
Form information into patterns, and then understand the patterns.
Organization forms information into patterns.
Interpretation understands the pattern.

Perceptual Constancy

Environment is perceived as remaining the same even with changes in sensory input.
This includes size constancy, shape constancy, and color constancy.
Also includes brightness constancy.

Interpreting Perception

Perception depends on factors:
Perceptual adaptation
Perceptual set
Motivation
Frame of reference

Absolute Thresholds of the Senses

Vision: Candle flame viewed from 30 miles away on a clear, dark night
Hearing: A watch ticking 20 feet away in a quiet room
Taste: 1 teaspoon of sugar dissolved in 2 gallons of water
Smell: One drop of perfume diffused throughout a small house
Touch: The pressure of a fly's wing falling on a cheek from a distance of 0.4 inches

Visual Perception

Visual perception involves understanding 'what' an object is and 'where' it is.
This includes aspects like color, texture, shape, and size.
Separated into two neural systems: Ventral stream and Dorsal stream.

Visual Perception - Neural Systems

Ventral stream supports 'what' perception.
Dorsal stream supports 'where' perception.
Both streams project to the frontal cortex for actions to be taken.

Visual Cortex (V1,V2) (Primary Visual Cortex)

Sensory areas of the visual cortex process different aspects of stimuli in the visual field, like orientation, size, and color.
The visual cortex processes stimuli and categorizes these to other regions for further analysis and recognition.
Damage causes total or partial blindness.

Object Recognition (Ellis and Young, 1996)

Stages of object recognition include a primal sketch, 2-dimensional image, 3-dimensional image, viewer-centered representation, object-centered representation, recognition unit, and semantic system.
This conceptual model details the stages in object recognition.

Form Perception (Gestalt principles)

People organize visual elements into unified wholes based on Gestalt principles.
Principles include proximity, similarity, symmetry, closure, and common fate.

Law of Proximity

Objects close together are perceived as a group.

Law of Similarity

Similar objects are perceived as a group

Law of Common Fate

Objects moving in the same direction.

Law of Closure

Unfinished objects are seen as complete.

Law of Figure Ground

An object is distinguished from its background, perceived as a figure and a surface/ground.

Blindsight

Subjects are blind to visual information due to damage to area V1 in the visual cortex.
They can still sometimes "guess" the direction of moving objects or their color.
Suggests that visual information might still be reaching other parts of the brain.
An unconscious processing of visual information is likely involved.

Visual Information and Cortex Damage

Visual information reaches other levels of the cortex, even if V1 is damaged

Trichromatic and Opponent-Process Theories of Color

Trichromatic theory: Three types of cones for color perception.
Opponent-process theory: Three types of color pairs (red-green, blue-yellow, light-dark).

Color Blindness

Trichromat: Normal color vision.
Monochromat: Totally color blind.
Dichromat: Partial color blindness (distinguish between two colors).
Color blindness occurs more often in males.

Spatial Function

Localisation and perception of objects in space as well as perception of movement.
Depth perception, spatial memory, and topographical orientation are related.
The left and right hemispheres of the brain are involved in spatial function.

Auditory Perception

Sounds are processed by sensory receptors that transmit information to the brain through auditory nerves.
The outer, middle, and inner ear play a role in this.

Absolute Thresholds – Auditory

A watch ticking.
Range of hearing – Decibels

Absolute Thresholds

Decibels and levels of sound.

What vs. Where Systems (Auditory)

Auditory pathways to different parts of the brain help in localization.
Ventral and dorsal pathways can be used, depending on the information being processed.
Sound localization

Perception of Smell

Odors trigger receptor neurons in the olfactory membrane.
Olfactory information travels to the brain.
Smell contributes significantly to the flavor of food.

Perception of Taste

Taste is detected through taste cells on taste buds.
Four primary taste qualities: sweet, sour, salty, bitter.
Flavor depends on odor, texture, temperature, and taste.

Perception of Touch and Pressure

Sensory receptors in the skin fire when stimulated.
Some body areas are more sensitive due to denser nerve endings.
More sensory cortex dedicated to these areas.

Perception of Temperature

Temperature perception is based on thermal receptors located just beneath the skin.
Skin temperature increases, causing warm receptors to fire.
Skin temperature decreases, causing cold receptors to fire.

Perception of Pain

Nociceptors in the skin mediate pain sensations.
Nociceptors stimulate pain more acutely in areas with denser nerve endings.
Pain can be felt throughout the body.
Phantom limb pain is pain experienced in amputated limbs.

Body Senstation

Touch, temperature, and pain are sensed by skin receptors and transmitted to the brain.
Vestibular sense (body orientation in space) involves semicircular canals.
Kinesthetic sense (body posture, movement) depends on receptors within muscles, joints, and tendons.

Agnosias

Inability to recognize objects despite intact sensory input.
Possible sensory or associative deficits.
Sensory agnosia, apperceptive agnosia, and associative agnosia are types.
Prosopagnosia: Inability to recognize faces.

Visual Agnosia

Visual acuity normal and perception of stimuli in both visual fields may be intact
Cannot point to named objects or match/copy/discriminate simple visual forms.
May draw well from memory.
Recognition may improve if objects are moved around.

Associative Agnosia

Cannot point to names of objects, but may match/copy/discriminate simple forms.
Unable to process meaning from vision but can recognize objects from touch.
Indicates intact object knowledge.
May occur accompanied with optic aphasia, suggesting a deeper loss of knowledge about objects from any modality.
Semantics related to objects can be affected.

Prosopagnosia

Inability to recognize familiar faces.
Normal visual acuity.
Likely caused by a lesion to the right inferior temporal lobe.
Patients often use other clues.

Primary Visual Cortex

Different cells respond differently to various stimulus aspects (orientation, size, or color).
Categorizes rather than analyzes.
Projects to other regions for further analysis.
Damage results in total or partial blindness.

Form Perception

Unified whole.
Visual elements organized into groups or unified wholes based on certain principles.
Proximity: close objects grouped together
Similarity: similar objects grouped together
Symmetry: balanced or symmetrical objects appear complete or whole
Closure: incomplete or partially obscured objects are perceived as whole.
Common fate: objects moving in the same direction are grouped together.

Absolute Thresholds - Summary

Minimum amount of sensory stimulation.
Measured across different senses.

Perception of Movement

The brain detects continuous movement from successive positions of a moving object.
The medial temporal cortex area (MT) plays a critical role in perceiving movement
Difficulty in judging movement might indicate problems with the MT area.

Clinical Example

Bilateral damage to area V5 in medial temporal cortex in a patient.
The patient lacked the ability to perceive continuous motion.
Difficulty with daily tasks requiring a perception of movement, such as crossing the street or pouring a drink.

Auditory-visual Perception

Auditory receptors, processing in the brain
Integration with multiple senses, including vision, results in more nuanced perceptions.

Absolute Threshold Levels (Auditory)

Measures sound levels (decibels) in terms of a threshold.

Spatial Perception

Relating objects in space to oneself in a three-dimensional structure.
Ability to orient the body in space and use three-space in a comprehensive sense.

Memory

Sensory memory: Information from the senses (very brief duration, large capacity)
Working memory: Storing information temporarily (limited duration, limited capacity)
Long-term memory: Storing information permanently (limitless capacity)

Memory and Brain Structures

Hippocampus, dentate gyrus, and subcortical cortex play a role in forming memories.

Hebbian Theory

Learning process based on a network of neurons responding to a stimulus.
Changes in the synaptic strength in response to repeated exposure (the stimulus activation) and the development of a neural network called an engram are crucial to memory formation.
Memory is stored in different parts of the brain, and multiple sources of sensory information may contribute to its formation.

Declarative Memory

Declarative memory is of storing facts and events.
The brain areas that are involved in declarative memory include: frontal cortex, parietal cortex, temporal cortex, hippocampus, thalamus, and amygdala.

Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)

A change in synaptic strength as a result of repeated stimulation.
A mechanism for memories to be created.

Procedural Memory

Knowledge of how to do things (e.g., playing a piano, riding a bicycle)
Involvement of areas, like the pre-motor cortex, basal ganglia, and cerebellum.

Forgetting

Forgetting occurs at different stages of information processing.
Short-term memory: inability to code information.

How to Ensure Effective and Ethical Rehabilitation

Cognition and emotion should be considered together.
Focus on real-life problems and understand the different terminology used by different disciplines.
Use a broader and more inclusive theoretical base.

General Guidelines

Provide guidelines, assistance, and support to individuals with memory problems.

Approaches to Rehabilitation

Improving encoding
Improving storage: Rehearsal strategies in memory.
Improving retrieval: Contextual details as prompts
Anatomical Reorganisation: Brain areas taking over memory functions.
Environmental adaptations
External aids for functional adaptations
Self-help support groups

### Improving Encoding, Storage, and Retrieval

Simplify information (to make encoding easier)
Use rehearsal strategies (PQRST, for example, to improve storage)
Use contextual cues (improve retrieval from multiple perspectives)

Remembering and Learning

Memory aids need to be practised to be useful over time.

Memory Problems and Aids

Using memory aids: Requires memory function to work effectively and may need additional training on use.

Better use of Residual Skills

Mnemonic strategies may improve memory learning and retention, and repetition could be important too.

Errorless Learning

Errorless learning is a way of teaching new information or skills without mistakes occurring.
It emphasizes repetition from different perspectives and may be important for individuals experiencing memory dysfunction.

Implicit Learning/Memory

Learning new skills and information through repetition or experience.
Includes activities like Motor tracking, Typing, and piano playing.

Stem Completion

Retelling a word/sentence from its letters or parts of an existing or known word.
This may be used in assessment of memory.

Frequency Word

Common words are used as part of learning.

Case Study- What Do You Observe?

Detailed observation of a patient with a case study of a road accident.

Theory of Executive Dysfunction

Executive function relies on a range of distributed neural networks.
Frontal, parietal, basal ganglia, thalamus, and cerebellum are all involved.

Metacognition (Flavell)

Metacognition refers to thinking about your thinking—your knowledge and regulation about your cognition.

Metacognitive Strategy Training

Metacognitive strategies training involves knowing your own strengths and weaknesses, recognizing task demands, and selecting appropriate strategies to use to improve your performance.

Behavioral Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome (BADS)

Everyday problems for individuals with executive dysfunction.
Problems with planning, organizing, problem-solving, and decision-making abilities are assessed in this method.

Tempora Judgment

Estimating various complete events and their duration.

Action Program

Analyzing practical problem-solving and planning skills based on achieving a specific result from multiple steps.

Key Search

Subjects' abilities to use a strategy to search and solve a problem—in an analogy, like searching for a lost item within a space.

Zoo Map

Ability to plan a route to different places based on a constructed map.

Modified Six Elements

This task involves planning and task-scheduling skills. Subjects are asked to identify, schedule, and perform a series of tasks over a set period.

Rule Shift Cards

Learning to change established response patterns using familiar materials is assessed.
The ability to adapt responses and inhibit previous responses, when rules change, is measured.

Modified Six Elements Task

This is a test of the ability to plan and sequence tasks.
Involves specific tasks, instructions, and feedback and is done over a set period

Tower of London Test

Assessing the individual's ability to plan, sequence, and solve problems (in a practical example).
Tasks are complex and may involve multiple steps.
Subjects may struggle with tasks that demand complex planning.

Benton Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT)

Assessment of fluency/verbal expression. Involves generating words starting with a particular letter within a set time limit.

Reading and Written Comprehension

Reading and written comprehension, in these sections, involves the use of multiple brain components.

Types of Aphasia

Fluent aphasia: Speech is fluent but comprehension is affected.
Global aphasia: All language aspects impaired—this is the most severe form of aphasia.
Broca's aphasia: Difficulty producing speech but comprehension is relatively well-preserved
Wernicke's aphasia: Ability to produce speech but struggle with comprehension.
Conduction aphasia: Relatively good speech production and comprehension, but the inability to repeat words.

Alexia & Agraphia

Alexia is an acquired disorder characterized by the inability to read aloud or to comprehend writing.
Agraphia: an acquired disorder in which writing deficits are evident, often occurring in association with alexia, with impairments in other areas like arithmetic and in distinguishing the left from the right.

Different Types of Language Disorders

Spoken language deficits
Acquired language disorders (e.g., aphasia)
Reading (e.g., dyslexia)
Developmental language disorders (e.g., dyslexia)

Reading Comprehension

Processing units of information (letters, syllables, words, phrases)
Combining units for meaning
Context is used for understanding words and phrases.

Reading - Consistency

Consistent and inconsistent words (spelling, phonetics) and their influence on decoding speed
Consistency effects based on patterns in the orthographic to phonological mapping during reading processes.

Reading Comprehension - Bilinguals

Inconsistent/consistent orthography of different languages (with a comparison between English and Welsh)
Bilinguals may adjust their decoding strategies depending on the associated language.

Reading Comprehension - Memory, Focus, Speed

Speed, focus, and memory related to reading.
Using previously understood vocabulary, contexts, and patterns from previous experience are vital for reading comprehension.

Reading Comprehension - Models, Theories

Dual route: Combination of lexical and sublexical routes for decoding.
Orthographic depth: The effect of a language on how complex the reading process is.
Consistency effects in decoding are dependent on consistency and the associated language.

Reading Comprehension - Problems

Inconsistent input influences the reading process.
People reading in languages with inconsistent orthographic depth may be slower and make more mistakes.
Whole-word lexical phonology is more important in reading with inconsistent orthography.

Reading Comprehension - Groups of German and English Language Speakers

Analysis of visual behaviours for cognates among German and English speakers (using various tasks and measurements)
Sub-lexical approach to language decoding.

Reading Comprehension - Bilingual Understanding

Alteration of the reading strategy based on the language being processed.
Linguistic context—and the related knowledge from other experiences—may determine which strategy to use.

Reading Comprehension - Fixation and Consistency

Comparison of eye fixations among languages that are similar lexically.
Number of fixations to understand words with similar semantics across different languages.

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Description

This quiz explores various aspects of neuropsychology, focusing on attention disorders, apraxias, and memory issues. Test your knowledge on topographical memory, auditory agnosia, ADHD presentations, and the effectiveness of treatment methods. Answer questions to understand the complex relationship between neurological conditions and cognitive functions.