Exam 3 Review Questions PDF

Lecture 17-19: Temporal Lobes 9. Be able to identify the superior, middle, inferior temporal gyrus, superior temporal sulcus, and the lateral fissure (sylvian).XX In order of layers, highest to lowest: ○ Lateral fissure (sylvian): fissure located above the temporal lobe ○ S...

Lecture 17-19: Temporal Lobes 9. Be able to identify the superior, middle, inferior temporal gyrus, superior temporal sulcus, and the lateral fissure (sylvian).XX In order of layers, highest to lowest: ○ Lateral fissure (sylvian): fissure located above the temporal lobe ○ Superior temporal gyrus: auditory specification ○ Superior temporal sulcus: between superior and middle gyrus ○ Middle temporal gyrus: sound and semantic specification ○ Inferior temporal gyrus: vision 10. What is the neuroanatomical substrate for auditory object specification?XX Auditory travels through superior temporal gyrus (STG) ○ Flow to temporal pole Broddman’s 38 ○ Pull out sound objects/separate sounds 11. What is the neuroanatomical substrate for visual object specification?XX Travels through the inferior temporal gyrus 12. How does the dorsal auditory pathway run in the temporal lobe, what is its function?XX Connections from primary auditory cortex to the posterior parietal cortex Functions ○ Enables location of sounds in space ○ Promotes orienting and initiation of movements relative to sound location 13. Where in the temporal lobe is there a polymodal area, and from where in the temporal lobe does information flow there?XX In the STS (Superior temporal sulcus) ○ Gets auditory and visual information Connections emerging from the auditory and visual hierarchical pathways Directed to neurons enfolded within the superior temporal sulcus Polymodal region ○ Multi-sensory modality Touch, taste, smell, etc. ○ Believed to be involved in assignment stimuli (categorical class)  Weird things going on Categorization depends on the superior temporal sulcus Both auditory and visual information coming in ○ Auditory at the top 14. The perforant pathway runs from the entorhinal cortex to the hippocampus, what appears to be its function?XX Damage in this region severely affects memory (region important for memory) ○ Damaged → object specification doesn’t connect to index words or context Need to connect with the object being specific to some concept that is being stored with words Memory ○ Stimulus recognition and conscious experience of knowing, assimilating, and feeling Stimulus recognition ○ Familiar conscious experience of knowing, assimilating and feeling ○ Connects it to meaning Specification and identification Superior inferior gyrus just says the object or shape ○ Needs to connect to the hippocampus to say “oh, it’s a table” Lateral part of the temporal lobe (medial temporal lobe - has hippocampus) 15. How does the temporal cortex connect with the frontal lobes?XX Frontal lobe projection ○ In the end → all information ends up in the frontal lobe Where the decisions and actions are made ○ Other lobes Where processing happens and sends that to the frontal lobe to figure out what to do with it ○ Neurons from the temporal lobe has strong connections with the frontal lobe ○ Need to do something with the information after it is identified 2 sets of projections ○ Posterior temporal cortex  Connects to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex Reason and logic ○ Anterior temporal cortex Projects to the orbitofrontal cortex More emotional activity 16. How does the ‘theory of object perceptions” in the slides match up (very generally) with the functions in the various parts of the primary, secondary visual cortex, what may be happening in the (ventral) visual stream? (V1 to hippocampus)?XX Match up very well ○ Discrete areas specified in the theory that more or less correlate to the various parts of the ventral visual stream Ventral visual stream ○ Object perception ○ Biological motion ○ Face perception Theory of object perception ○ First thing done in a central visual system ○ Edges and bars of lengths, contrasts and orientations ○ Grouping elements into higher-order units ○ Separating figure and ground ○ Viewer-centered description matched onto stored 3D descriptions of structure of objects (rotation if needed?) ○ Meaning attributed to the stimulus ○ Naming of different terms Shapes are the most important thing, not color or pattern (pink elephant, plaid apple, etc.) “Theory” ○ Best guess to stages how we take in information and then see First, we see edges → further processes put together edges and orientations to get objects Primary visual cortex responds to edges and orientation Secondary analyzes it further  ○ Certain areas light up when thinking/seeing them (persons, animals, tools) Lateral occipital cortex ○ Most function here 17. What evidence goes against the progressive ‘coming in focus’ from the occipital lobe to the temporal pole?XX Tools are early on Animals are in the middle People activated closer to the temporal pole All these stages need to happen before you can name what things are 18. What (generally) is the difference between the sparse coding and population coding views of object perception?XX Sparse coding ○ Only a few or even 1 neuron fires in response to an object ○ These cells code for a specific thing Population coding ○ A group of neurons fire together in response to an object A lot of neurons are active to recognize objects 19. What types of evidence are there for object-specific (grandmother) cells? What are some of the problems with hypothesizing object-specific neurons in shape perception?XX Grandmother cells ○ Neurons that fire to specific/complex things, like your grandmother ○ Evidence Neurons respond to increasingly complex stimuli Problems ○ Fragile encoding  What if a neuron dies? How do you perceive novel (new) objects? What if grandma changed (greyer, thinner, etc.)? ○ Issues with sparse coding ○ Problems: if the object it is coded for changes, it may not recognize and may not fire (codes for a specific version of the object) Halle Berry cell ○ Showed face → fire ○ Showed with sunglasses → fire ○ Name → fire Neurons for objects ○ Single-cell recordings ○ Mitten → needs the fingers to fire (doesn’t recognize as hand) 20. What is the difference between view-dependent and view-invariant shape perception? What is the evidence for these types of shape perception?XX View-dependent ○ Need to see a particular object from a particular vantage point or at a particular viewpoint in order to be able to identify said object View-invariant ○ Means that the viewpoint doesn’t matter Example: common components of a bicycle (handlebars, wheels, pedals, etc.) allows you to identify it as a bicycle regardless of the viewpoint 21. What does ‘agnosia’ mean?XX Not knowing ○ Failure to “know” 22. What are the differences between apperceptive and associative visual agnosia both in how they present in patients and where the damage appears to be located.XX Apperceptive agnosia ○ V1 is not fired, see objects, lines, color, and brightness, but cannot pull it together ○ Have damage in more primary visual areas ○ Happens in hierarchical pathways ○ Cannot recognize objects  Associative agnosia ○ More damage in the social visual pathway ○ Disorder of meaning ○ Inability to name what is seen ○ More likely in the medial temporal pathway 23. What is biological motion perception and what parts of the temporal lobe seems to be involved in this? What is the role of biological motion perception in social cognition?XX Biological motion is important for detecting organisms (people and animals) ○ Spots of light on persons joints Walking → come to life Brain extracts regularities (know human is walking) ○ Super temporal sulcus (STS) Analyzes biological motion Between superior and middle gyri Invariances ○ Distances stays the same Important to distinguish organisms (evolutionary) Plays a role in social perception ○ Perception of social interactions (reading body language) ○ Important social information from movement of your eyes and the way people’s faces move Damage to STS ○ Trouble recognizing faces ○ Gives impaired perception of social signals STS neurons respond to biological and moving motion 5. What parts of face processing are carried out in the Fusiform face area, the superior temporal sulcus and the striate cortex?XX Fusiform face area ○ Inferior temporal gyrus ○ Used by most people to recognize faces or its set up to computate fine distinctions ○ Invariant aspects of faces, perception of unique identity  Tell differences between faces Superior temporal sulcus ○ Processes what changes with faces ○ Processes where someone is looking and emotional expression ○ Mimicry of faces Striate cortex ○ Face recognition 6. What is prosopagnosia? Are there differences in degree? Is it congenital or acquired?XX Prosopagnosia ○ Damage to face perception areas ○ Different levels of impairment in different people ○ Inability to recognize faces Born that way or had an accident Can be both congenital or acquired Different degrees of congenital 7. What processes commonly cause conductive hearing disorders, which are the most common?XX Processes that cause conductive hearing disorders ○ Conduction is not making it to eardrum, ear bones, or outer ear ○ Build up of ear wax Causing hear loss (in old people) Most common hearing loss ○ Air pressure differences not getting through to the cochlea Can happen in 1 or both ears ○ Something in outer ear interfering Problems in the outer and middle ear ○ Problems in conduction of sound due to outer ear, eardrums, ear bones in middle ear Ear infections, tumors, and gunk build up around the inner ear bones 8. What is the point of ‘tubes’ in your ears?XX Drain the build up of fluid behind the tympanic membrane (ear drum)  ○ Allows air into the middle ear to clean up buildup from ear wax 9. What processes commonly cause sensorineural hearing disorders?XX Dysfunctional inner ear (cochlea), auditory nerve or high auditory processing centers (8th cranial nerve) Dysfunction of hair cells (most common) Physical trauma ○ Surrounding bone breaking Old age Disease Ototoxins Exposure to loud noises (for an extended period of time) 10. What is the general idea behind hearing aids?XX To get sounds directly down the path of where it needs to go or if you have to project sound directly against the eardrum or farther Amplify sound the signal of the sound waves Digital ○ Analyze the sound and amplify frequency in which has deficits Analog ○ Amplifies the signal being received Increasing efficacy of hearing and filtered by audiologist 11. What is the general idea that governs cochlear implants, how does the information from air vibrations get to the “normal” part of the auditory system, and which part is that?XX There is a microphone outside with a speech processor outside of ear which filters and amplifies sounds and filters for speech sound It transmits the information to a receiver implanted inside the head, with wires that go in through the round window, into the cochlea, with various parts representing different tones There are 24 channels of frequency that transmit it to the implant and goes into the round window Stimulator has an array of electrodes that go into the round window on the basilar membrane that stimulates different parents of it for different sounds  ○ Transmitter sends the information to a receiver which stimulates the 23-28 electrodes placed on the basilar membrane (one electrode per frequency level) ○ Activates the basilar membrane and sends the correct information via the 8th cranial nerve 8th cranial nerve must be fully functional for a cochlear implant 12. What type of hearing disorder may make people a candidate for cochlear implants? What is a requirement for a cochlear implant to work?XX Moderate to profound sensorineural hearing loss in both ears ○ Cochlear implants helps sensorineural disorders Requirement for a cochlear implant to work ○ 8th cranial nerve needs to work Sensorineural Hearing Loss ○ Caused by: Measles Mumps Meningitis Prolonged exposure to loud noises (Over 90 decibels) Skull based injuries Lasix (neurotoxin) and Gentamicin (anti-biotic) 13. What is (usually) the result of bilateral lesion of primary auditory cortex? Why is this strange?XX Bilateral lesion of the primary auditory cortex does not lead to cortical deafness Contrast with damage to primary somatosensory or visual cortex (which leads to blindness) ○ Strange 14. What are auditory hallucinations? What is a disorder where sufferers commonly experience auditory hallucinations? What is thought to be the cause of auditory hallucinations? What does the research of Dierks et. al. (1999) show? What is the difference in emotional valence of auditory hallucinations in those who have and don’t have schizophrenia?XX Auditory hallucinations ○ Hearing sounds that are not there  Sufferers who experience auditory hallucinations ○ Schizophrenia Cause ○ Spontaneous neural activity in the auditory cortex ○ Interacting with language areas in the temporal lobe Spontaneous firings in the auditory cortex/brain is used to interpret them Dierks et. al. ○ Conducted an fMRI on people with schizophrenia while they were having auditory hallucinations ○ Result: Showed that the Broca’s area was active Primary auditory cortex and speech zone in posterior temporal cortex were active ○ The amygdala and hippocampus and this all occurs in only one side of the brain unlike regular auditory stimuli Voices are usually negative and hostile People without disorders also experience auditory hallucinations ○ Nearly 15% of the general population 1. What are two different kinds of auditory processing?XX Rapidly presented stimuli ○ Rapid presentation of language, needs to be quickly analyzed ○ Quickly figure out order of sounds → speech is ordered one sound after another (patterns of sound make speech) Complex patterns of stimuli ○ Melody, long period of time ○ Different analysis Based on sound streams ○ More complex than speech (e.g. music) 2. What are special characteristics of speech in comparison to other sounds?XX You can tell gender, size, age, and mood in speech without seeing the person or knowing their language  Comes from 3 restricted ranges of sound ○ Called formants Speech most important stimulus ○ Auditory stimulus ○ Most information about the environment Same speech sounds are different depending on spoken context but perceived as same sound. Auditory system categorizes sounds as equivalent ○ Speech constancy Male voices and female voices are different, accents, native/non-native speakers, whispering → sounds being produced are different Can still understand Speech sounds change rapidly with relation to each other and the order is crucial ○ Order makes a big difference 3. What is achieved by the auditory system categorizing sounds?XX Enabling more efficient organization and retrieval of information ○ Organize and categorize sounds into language 4. What are the symptoms of left and right auditory cortex damage w.r.t. speech perception, i.e. what functions appear to be on those sides?XX Patients with left temporal lobe damage ○ Everything is going too fast ○ Difficulty discriminating sounds (complain that people are talking too fast) Can catch a word here and there, but is going too fast for full meaning ○ Judging the temporal sequence of heard sounds Which sound came when? Normally, two sounds resolved within 50-60 ms Damage results in 10-fold increase (10x slower) in temporal requirement for discrimination Patients with right temporal lobe damage ○ Difficulty understanding emotional intention of language (tone of voice, etc.) Pitch contours (we don’t speak monotone)  Processed on right → tells you what to listen to, gives emphasis, indicates tone → lots of meaning comes from tone Left: fine analyses Right: larger patterns 5. What are the main characteristics of music that can be perceived?XX Loudness (loud/soft) ○ intensity Pitch (frequency) ○ high/low Timbre (quality of the air chamber in which the sound resonates) ○ Can have same pitch, but different sound ○ Air chamber in which sound resonates can be different Ex: violin → size and shape influences vibrations made with bow Timing in music ○ Rhythm Interval patterns Left temporal lobe and other parts of the brain ○ Meter Right temporal lobe ○ Melody 6. What problems in music perception L and R hemisphere (i.e. which hemisphere does what part of music). What is amusia?XX Left hemisphere is concerned with speed and grouping (rhythm) Right hemisphere is concerned with frequency differences ○ Difficulties with pitch discrimination Amusia ○ Deficit in pitch discrimination, hard time appreciating music 7. What can be the result of temporal lobe damage on selection of auditory input?X Trouble recalling visual or audio input when too such stimuli are presented simultaneously ○ Example: one word said in each ear  ○ Drop in total number of words remembered Brain doesn’t prioritize right ear 8. Know examples of functioning selection of auditory input, and how it is tested.XX Selectivity in auditory perception ○ Attending to two different conversations or different elements of a musical piece Selectivity in visual perception ○ Watching a football game Where is the attention - the quarterback or the runners? Dichotic listening task (to check for impairment) ○ Two words simultaneously presented in each ear ○ Normal result Right ear words are recalled more (left temporal lobe selectivity) ○ Patient Drop in correct recall of words due to loss of selectivity (brain tries to simultaneously process information delivered in both ears) Visual tasks involve simultaneous flashing of stimuli that are not correctly recalled 9. How is use of contextual information tested by Neuropsychologists? How is this function in some people with temporal lobe damage?XX Certain things are interpreted differently depending on context ○ Example “Bank” is a financial institution or the side of a river Face recognition of person out of context Inability to remember material that requires contextual cues ○ Can’t use context → word with multiple meanings → can’t decipher meaning from context McGill picture anomalies tests (MPAT) for right temporal lobe damage Impaired in use of context information ○ Money or fishing? Depends on context Don’t usually know the person out of context ○ Seeing lady at the dining hall vs. seeing same lady at gym Right temporal lobe damage  ○ Issues picking out what is wrong with picture Something that wouldn’t be used in the context, can’t recognize that it is wrong 10. What is the effect on damage to the medial temporal lobe? What is the difference between left and right temporal lobes?XX Damage on medial temporal lobe ○ Impairment in long-term memory Left temporal lobe ○ Loss of ability to remember verbal material Right temporal lobe ○ Loss of ability to recall nonverbal information and geometric material 11. What changes in personality & affect can occur in some temporal lobe epilepsy?XX Talked about themselves, used difficult words, emphasize trivia, petty details, paranoia Typically aggressive and hostile Self-centered, pedantic Preoccupation with religion 12. What is the difference between interoception and exteroception?XX Interoception ○ The perception of sensations from inside the body and includes the perception of physical sensations related to internal organ function such as heartbeat, respiration, satiety, as well as the autonomic nervous system activity related to emotions Pain, temperature Exteroception ○ Sensitivity to stimuli originating outside of the body ○ Sensitivity, sensitiveness, sensibility (physiology) Responsiveness to external stimuli ○ The faculty to sensation ○ “Sensitivity to pain” visual modality ○ Visual sense, vision, sight ○ The ability to see; the visual faculty 13. Which submodalities are normally included in somatosensation (know the name and be able to describe), which one did your instructor add under that category? Which ones are interoceptive and which ones exteroceptive?X Exteroceptive and interoceptive ○ Feeling/sensing the body Temperatures in extremes ○ Unpleasant Nociception and hapsis ○ Exteroceptive Nociception ○ Perception of unpleasant stimuli (pain and temperature) Hapsis ○ Perception of objects using fine touch and pressure receptors Proprioception ○ Perception of position of limbs and their movement ○ Position of body Stand in position, close eyes, still know where every part of the body is In order to point, body needs to know where it is coming from ○ Interoceptive Balance ○ Vestibular system gives information on movement of your body Mediated by vestibular system in inner ear linear/angular motion, where you are in respect to the horizon ○ Combination of intero and exteroceptive 14. What kind are the receptors for pain and temperature?XX Free nerve endings ○ No special structure for pain Damage to nerve endings → releases chemicals → irritates the free nerve endings → pain ○ Stimulus: Damage to dendrite or to surrounding cells 15. Recognize the names of the different receptors for hapsis as such.XX  Meissner's corpuscle ○ Touch Pacinian corpuscle ○ Flutter Ruffini corpuscle ○ Vibration Merkel’s receptor ○ Steady skin indentation Hair receptor ○ Flutter/steady skin indentation Stimulus: Pressure 16. What 3 types of receptors give proprioceptive information?XX Muscle spindles ○ Muscle stretch Inside muscles Tell you if contracted/expanded Golgi tendon organs ○ Tendon stretch Tension on tendons Joint receptors ○ Joint movement State of joints States of muscles ○ Are they contracted or relaxed ○ Constantly sending information about where every bit of body is (under appreciated) Knows where it is starting from Stimulus: movement stretching the receptors 17. What somatosensory submodalities are carried in the spinothalamic tract? How does the spinothalamic tract run, where does it cross (decussate), where does it go in the thalamus?XX Somatosensory submodalities carried in the spinothalamic tract  ○ With pain and temperature information (only nociception) Afferent neurons Synapses at spinal cord level and then crosses ○ Contralateral goes up Comes in from dorsal root ganglion → synapses in grey matter → crosses immediately in SC → sent to the brain in white matter tract ○ Goes through medulla and then synapses in thalamus 18. What somatosensory submodalities are carried in the dorsal column medial lemniscal pathway? How does the dorsal column medial lemniscal pathway run, where does it decussate, where does it go in the thalamus?XX Larger tract With touch and proprioceptive information Decussates at the medulla only Touch receptors (hapsis) ○ 5 Proprioceptive information ○ 3 Information from the periphery ○ Dorsal root ganglion ○ Dorsal side of spinal cord ○ Does not cross (ipsilateral) Reaches medulla and then crosses to medial lemniscus ○ Contralateral to thalamus ○ Ascends on same side 19. What is the pain scale useful for? What can you not do with it very well? (from last time)X Useful for gauging pain on an intermediate level ○ Used to compare pain before and after a procedure Not good at getting an accurate representation of pain levels ○ Can’t tell whether it is better or not ○ Patient could just be handling it better 20. What are the two different subparts of the vestibular system? What in general do the parts of the vestibular system respond to?XX  (1) 2 otoliths organs (saccule and utricle) (linear motion) calcium carbonate particles lying next to hair cells ○ 2 cavities with “crystals” ○ Little grains of sand Filled with fluid/jelly like substance ○ Otoliths/otoconia: Calcium carbonate particles lying next to hair cells When head tilts, otoliths push against hair cells and cause excitation (vestibular nerves firing) (2) Three semicircular canals (angular motion) ○ Jellylike substances and hair cells are activated when the head moves ○ Any motions divided into vectors (divided into three axes) Up and down Side to side (left to right) Front to back The vestibular system allows use to stand upright, maintain balance, and move through space ○ Responds to motion of head and tilt of head 21. Be able to explain why spinning around and around followed by a sudden stop results in a feeling that the world is spinning.XX Kid ○ Stood on grass and twirled around and around ○ Fell over Canals Sloshing liquid around and around Vortex will keep going for a bit Signal sent to brain is that you are still moving around Hard time staying upright Occupations ○ Ballerina and figure skaters How come that do not fall over  ○ People learn how to spot Keep eyes on fixed point They swing body around as far as possible to focus on certain point Slip head while body spins slowly to prevent spinning motion 22. Which cranial nerve deals with the information from the vestibular system? To what purposes in general is the information from the vestibular system used?XX Vestibular system attached to cochlea ○ Using hair cells to detect motion 8th cranial nerve (vestibulocochlear nerve) ○ Pons and medulla Staying upright and eye movement The information from the vestibular system is used for proprioception Used for balance ○ Axis of head tilt and information is also conveyed to nerves controlling eye movements Information travels through 8th cranial nerve to vestibular nuclei in pons and medulla (close to postrema) to spinal cord, nuclei for nerve 3, 4, and 6 (eye movement cranial nerves → eye movement heavily involved in balance), and the thalamus (VPI) and cerebellum (motor control) ○ Losing balance, need immediate signal sent to many places 23. Where in the thalamus does information from proprioception and hapsis go? What did we see in class about the thalamic relays for vestibular information?XX VPL, VPM, VPI They go all over the thalamus 24. What is somatosensory mapping? How is the homunculus (generally) represented on the somatosensory cortex?XX The homunculus represents the body part by how dense in receptors it is, so the greater the receptors, the bigger the body part ○ Get more cortical space ○ It doesn’t say where on the cortex it is projected ○ Hands and lips are huge (high receptor density)  Shin has almost no pain receptors Each location in the somatosensory cortex represents sensation from a different body part ○ Proportional representation of receptors on cortex Which areas have more cortical real estate 25. In what sense are there multiple representations of the body on the somatosensory cortex?XX There are multiple representations of the body on the somatosensory cortex because it is organized into 4 separate homunculi ○ 1. Muscles 3a ○ 2. Skin (slow) 3b ○ 3. Skin (fast) 1 ○ 4. Joints, pressure information 2 Each with different somatosensation coming in Corresponds to Broddmans area ○ Information if passed from 3a, 3b, and 1 to area 2 3 different cell architectures (Brodmanns 1,2,3) ○ Contain different streams of information (proprioception and hapsis) Lecture 20-21: Parietal Lobes 7. Be able to locate on sketches of the parietal lobe: anterior parietal area, general location of superior parietal lobule, inferior parietal lobe and intraparietal sulcus. How in general are the functions of these three areas different?XX Anterior parietal: Post central gyrus (Brodmann 1, 2, 3), Parietal Operculum (Brodmann 43) ○ Somatosensory cortex, somatosensation, sense of self Superior parietal lobule: Brodmann 5 and 7 ○ Where to attend, how to shift attention Inferior Parietal Lobe: supramarginal gyrus (Brodmann 40), Angular gyrus (Brodmann 39) ○ When to shift to important perceptual information Intraparietal Sulcus: ○ weighing and prioritizing information (making decisions) 8. What are the precentral and postcentral gyrus? Which one is in the parietal lobe? What function does it have?XX Precentral gyrus ○ Primary motor gyrus ○ Frontal lobe Post central gyrus (anterior zone) ○ Primary somatosensory cortex ○ Parietal lobe ○ Brodmann 1,2,3 ○ It is the location of the primary somatosensory cortex, the main sensory receptive area for the sense of touch 9. What are the two areas that comprise the inferior parietal lobe?XX Supramarginal gyrus (Brodmann 40) Angular gyrus (Brodmann 39) 10. What is the general organization of connections, and what are the functions of superior and inferior posterior parietal lobe areas? What does intermodal integration mean?XX Posterior (Brodmanns 5,7,40, and 39) ○ Integration of input from vision and body and other senses, for purpose of movement Superior: Brodman 5,7 Inferior: Brodman 39, 40 Supraminal gyrus: 40 Angular gyrus: 39 Superior posterior parietal lobe areas ○ Made up of brodmann 5 and 7 ○ Function: wernicke’s area → speech fluency and language comprehension ○ Dorsal stream organization of function Inferior posterior parietal lobe areas ○ Made up of supramarginal gyrus (brodmann 40) and angular gyrus (brodmann 39) ○ Integration of output from vision and other body senses Superior  ○ Spatial organization ○ Input from primary sensory areas ○ Functions Guidance of limbs based on sensory data (position, movement, etc.) Intermodal Integration: ○ Combining input from multiple sensory systems to create a complete picture/coherent understanding Connections: ○ Area 5 Input from primary sensory areas (1, 2, 3) Output to primary motor cortex (4), supplementary motor area (SMA), and premotor areas (6, 8) Takes sensation, tells motor cortex what it is feeling (guides movement by giving info about what limbs are feeling) Function: guiding movement by giving information about limbs, their position, and movement ○ Area 7a Input from primary sensory areas (1, 2, 3), secondary sensory (5), motor and premotor cortex and visual areas Output to primary motor cortex (4), supplementary motor area (SMA), and premotor areas (6, 8) Function: more elaborate movement guidance by giving information about limbs, their position and movement Takes into account more info that area 5 (complex computation) ○ Area 7b, 39 - angular gyrus, 40 (dorsal stream) Input from visual, skin sensation, proprioception, auditory, vestibular, oculomotor, and cingulate areas → parieto-temporal-occipital crossroads” All sensory info into inferior posterior parietal lobe Output: many outputs including important connections with prefrontal cortex Decide what action is going to be (if anything)  Function: intermodal integration; spatially guided actions based on visual and tactile information 12. Explain the difference between route-based and map-based navigation strategies.XX Route-based landmarks (inferior temporal gyrus) ○ Go straight and then turn left ○ Based on recognition ○ Para hippocampal place area (for landmarks) Landmark agnosia Not able to recognize landmarks Map-based ○ Map in head ○ Know where the general relationship between various landmarks Picture end of street where parents lived → know what turn is next ○ Requires formation in head - studied 13. What are the three regions that are involved in spatial navigation beyond egocentric (close) space? What types of information are these areas processing?XX PPA (inferior temporal gyrus): landmarks ○ Parahippocampal place area RSC (parietal lobe): uses landmark information to figure out where person is in the environment ○ Bookstore at back (what building would you see here etc.) ○ retrosplenial cortex MTL (medial temporal): maplike representations ○ Hippocampus Spatial navigation beyond personal space ○ Combine your location with knowledge of landmarks and maps 14. What are the “vaguely spatial” functions in the inferior posterior parietal lobe? How are they spatial?XX Arithmetic ○ Space makes a difference ○ Damage will have problems with math  Dyscalculia ○ 1. Read numbers based on where it was in space → landed in posterior inferior parietal ○ 2. Kind of close to sensation on fingers Learn to count on fingers, connection between fingers and arithmetic One to one match with what you were counting People with damage ○ Suffer from finger agnosia ○ Do not know which finger they are touching ○ Learned arithmetic by counting on fingers Reading ○ Left to right or right to left ○ Spatial element ○ Order of words Grammar and the way you say (order) matters Landed in lower posterior parietal lobe ○ Sequencing → putting things in an order Language ○ Spacial ○ There’s an order to it ○ Landed in lower posterior parietal lobe Tasks requiring sequencing ○ Significant presence Lots of tasks requiring ordering Ex: alphabet requires ordering 15. What are some of the reasons that arithmetic is hypothesized to be processed in the inferior posterior parietal lobe? Results show activity in parietal (inferior parietal lobule and precuneus) and frontal (superior and medial frontal gyri) cortices, core areas related to mental-arithmetic, as well as brain regions such as the insula and claustrum, which are not typically discussed as part of mathematical problem solving models  ○ Counting on fingers, related to spatial 16. What are four types of attentional processes, which areas of the brain appear to have a large role in these processes?XX 1. Alertness and arousal ○ Ascending reticular activating system ○ Keep you awake and alert 2. Vigilance and sustained attention ○ Basal forebrain and right hemisphere in general (frontal lobe) ○ Looking endlessly 3. Selective attention ○ Superior colliculus for automatic orienting, parietal lobe very important ○ Orienting two areas 4. Attentional control ○ Lateral PFC regions (goals) ○ Control where attention is going Parietal lobe ○ Attention (complex) Superior parietal lobe ○ Where to attend, how to shift attention Inferior parietal lobe ○ When to shift to important perceptual information Intraparietal area ○ Weighing and prioritizing information ○ Make decisions (where my attention goes) 17. What type of attention is the parietal lobe very important for?XX Selective attention 18. How are dizziness and vertigo different?XX Vertigo ○ Rotating feeling (very specific connotation of world spinning around you) ○ Light headed ○ Lose balance  ○ Feeling for no reason Real characteristic with vestibular disorders (hard time staying upright) Dizziness ○ Light headed when getting up ○ Vague 19. What are the symptoms of Menière's disease? What is thought to be the cause? How common is it? How is it treated?XX Example of a vestibular disorder ○ Meniere’s disease (rare, don’t know what causes it) 15 in 100,000 Possible cause: too much fluid in the ear ○ Semicircular canals are close to cochlea Symptoms ○ Vertigo (nauseous) attacks, hearing loss attacks, tinnitus (ringing/rushing sound) (common), fullness feeling in ears ○ Duration up to 24 hours ○ Unpredictable incidence of attacks All kinds of triggers → stress, fatigue, pressure changes Treatment ○ Difficult to find treatment → nothing seems to work super well ○ Symptomatic during attacks (antiemetics → stop from throwing up, dramamine), diuretic for maintenance (make fluid get out of you), histamine antagonist 20. Why is there a division between somatosensory and posterior parietal disorders?XX Anterior zone of parietal lobe is for somatosensation and somatosensory processes ○ So somatosensory disorders are caused by lesions in a different area than lesions in the posterior parietal lobe ○ Issues with somatosensation Posterior zone of parietal lobe deals with the integration of input to guide motor functions ○ Issues with motor functions or integrating sensory input 21. What are the symptoms in cases of focal lesions in postcentral gyrus?XX Postcentral gyrus  ○ Primary somatosensory cortex High threshold to sense something ○ Exert more pressure in order to sense Impaired sense of position Difference in somatosensory thresholds ○ Lesions in postcentral gyrus (primary somatosensory cortex; anterior part of parietal lobe) result in: Anterior parietal lobe → somatosensation Posterior → action in space High sensory thresholds (more stimulation to get stimulus registered; exert more pressure in order to sense) Touch 22. How are sensory thresholds measured?XX Touch → if damaged, need to press harder to feel it Two point sensitivity ○ How far apart you need to touch areas on the skin in order to feel you are being touched in two places ○ Distance apart becomes worse Distance has to be even further for you to notice 23. What are phantom limbs, and phantom limb pain?XX Phantom limbs ○ Sensation that limb is still moving or (often) causing pain ○ Sensation that they are still there People who have parts of body amputated (mostly from car accidents) ○ Feeling that is not there Touch → exteroceptive (hapsis) 60-80% have sensations (are pain sensations → nothing to get rid of the pain) Pain ○ Thought it was irritation of nerve endings at the stump (used to cut stump further and the pain would eventually come back)  Thought to be caused by rewiring of somatosensory cortex ○ No neurogenesis (no new neurons) ○ Connections with lots of areas Usually stimulation from hand overwrites all other connection Without hand, earlier connections are made 24. What is a mirror box in the context of phantom limbs, and what is it used for?XX Mirror box for treatment ○ Basic box ○ Angles ○ Mirrors go both ways ○ Insert real arm (imagine the right arm is the phantom) ○ Relief ○ Brain: convincing illusion that mirrored hand is real ○ Visual input overrides the pain (seeing hands open up and release the pain) Benefit → convincing illusion ○ Contraction will loosen up ○ Relief illusion must be total Reflecting limb looks like missing one 25. What does the mirror box substitute that is missing in people with phantom limbs?XX Reflects limb that looks like missing one 26. What is astereognosis (also astereognosis) and how is it assessed?XX Somatoperceptual disorder ○ Normal → put information from touch together Stick hand in backpack and feel until you find the object (somatoperception) Look for certain shapes Put together sensations you have by hand to find the object Astereognosis ○ Parietal lobe damage ○ Inability to recognize object by touch Tested:  ○ Pattern placed on blindfolded subjects arm for five seconds, then placed among other patterns Task is to identify the original pattern after handling other patterns ○ A duplicate of one of another group of patterns handled Task is to identify matching pattern in the array 27. What are asomatognosia? What are autotopagnosia and how is finger agnosia related to autotopagnosia? What is anosognosia?XX Asomatognosias ○ Loss of knowledge or sense of own body or bodily condition ○ Anosognosia Unawareness or denial of illness Doesn’t know there’s something wrong Will deny that they’re sick If someone challenges it ○ Make excuses to not do it (defensive) Example: stroke Some people will deny they can’t move their body parts ○ Autotopagnosia Can occur in different parts of body Inability to localize and name body parts Fingers (common) (finger agnosia) Close eyes and someone is touching fingers (can’t tell which finger is being touched) Can tell they are being touched but don’t know where 9. What is CIPA? Why is this often fatal at early ages?XX Congenital insensitivity to pain (with anhidrosis) ○ Anhidrosis - cannot sweat (cool down temperature) Can easily overheat ○ Inherited condition Can’t feel pain or temperature (nociception) Kids die of heatstroke easily  ○ Need pain sensations (signal what is wrong and do something about it) Weight lying on side Tissue is not getting sufficiently oxygenerated (uncomfortable → you will change sides) Could cause ischemia CIPA do not get feeling of discomfort (won’t change sides) ○ Poor oxygenated tissues → bed sores → tissue damage ○ Asomatognosia Does not know where limbs are - life without proprioception ○ Shortened lifespan (will eventually get an infection) Bone infection Repeatedly fall 10. What type of agnosia did Ian Waterman have (general term). What was unusual about his case? What was unique about Ian Waterman's recovery?XX Ian Waterman ○ Asomatognosia Unusual → all over his body (no sense of where limbs are) ○ Destruction of fibers for certain proprioceptive receptors No information of contractive state of his muscles (where everything was is gone) Was able to teach himself how to walk although his physical movements were no longer automatic ○ Had to plan movements, look at everything he does in order to control it Important for recovery ○ Keep up with it and be determined → otherwise, it will get you nowhere 11. What is the constellation of symptoms in Balint's syndrome? Describe each of these symptoms, be able to recognize vignettes.XX Posterior parietal damage ○ Integration of higher level functioning (action of space) Integration of somatosensory information Balint’s syndrome (very rare)  ○ Occurs in some bilateral parietal lesions (mostly in superior parietal) Reach and grab (action in space) Need to see things in order to grab ○ Problems fixating on object (although eye movement is intact) Can’t fix eyes on a specific thing, will veer off Issues with controlling ○ Attention limited to one object at a time (simultagnosia) Only one thing in existence Signal coming in, but unnoticed In general focus on one object at a time Still aware with other stuff around ○ Reaching deficit (optic ataxia - misreaching) See object but misreach them ○ Simultagnosia and optic ataxia can happen outside of balint’s syndrome too Vignette: in psychological and sociological experiments presents a hypothetical situation, to which research participants respond thereby revealing their perceptions, values, social norms or impressions of events. 12. What are the symptoms of neglect (contralateral, contralesional, unilateral, hemineglect, hemispatial agnosia, hemispatial inattention all names for the same phenomenon)? What is normally the lesion location in those with neglect?XX Right parietal lesions ○ Common → contralateral, contralesional, unilateral, hemineglect, hemispatial agnosia, hemispatial inattention) People ignore left side of body and left side of space Example: lady who makes up only one side of her face - right side gets make up People do not eat food on left side of plate - ignore what is happening in left visual field Severe anosognosia ○ They do not believe you - convinced they did what you asked them to do ○ Open to rehabilitation  Writing is leaning against right side of space ○ They are drawing incomplete pictures → they think it is complete 13. Is neglect treatable? What a very large obstacle in the rehabilitation of those with neglect?XX Yes ○ Takes a lot of time, practice and effort that a lot of people aren’t willing to put in 14. What are the symptoms in Gerstmann syndrome? Know what they entail. Where is the lesion in Gerstmann syndrome? What is aphantasia?XX Gerstmann syndrome ○ Posterior parietal damage ○ Left parietal symptom constellation (BA 39 and 40) Finger agnosia Do not recognize what finger is being touched ○ Can’t differentiate fingers Co-occurrence of acalculia and finger agnosia Right-left confusion (agnosia) Speed of identifying right and left is hard - hard to spontaneously identify (common) ○ Random answers for which side is which Agraphia - inability to write Used to be able to write Acalculia - inability to do arithmetic operations Dyscalculia Lesion is on left parietal lobe Parietal lobe deals with action in space Rare ○ Having all 4 Mental rotation is important Spatial cognition ○ Right: loss of ability to use topographic information, loss of ability to perform operations on mental image ○ Left: Loss of ability to generate mental image  Aphantasia Assessed by asking people image of friend or relative who you frequently see 15. What is apraxia? (see book as well as slide)XX Disorder of movement not due to weakness, inability to move muscles, abnormal muscle tone/posture, intellectual deterioration, or tremor ○ Posterior parietal damage Many types ○ Ideomotor, construction (not being to assemble things in the right order), speech (sounds come out in wrong order) Sequencing ○ Unable to carry out actions in correct order Motor disorder → annoying movement disorder of exclusion Inability to perform skilled sequential purposeful movement ○ Speech, limb apraxia Lecture 22-25: Frontal Lobes 16. What percentage of the neocortex are constituted by the frontal lobes?XX Approximately 20-30% of neocortex 18. When are the frontal lobes fully developed?XX Halfway through third decade of life (35 years old) ○ Very late in life since myelination isn’t done until mid-20s (also first to deteriorate with age) Last to finish synaptic pruning 19. What is the general function of the frontal lobes, be able to explain this to a random strangerXX Generating appropriate behavior ○ Prefrontal cortex → executive functions Decides what actions are going to be Cognitive control ○ Motor cortex → motor functions  Without motor functions No output system → need to be able to move Frontal lobe ○ Two actions Motor Does it Executive functions Generates plan of action ○ Integrate information coming in from all other lobes (judge, evaluate, and decide what to do) ○ Sends message to motor cortex which carries out movement that prefrontal cortext decided on 20. What 4 general types of information (in 2 categories) have to be taken into account when deciding what action in appropriate?XX Executive functions/cognitive control (functions prefrontal cortex) ○ Controlling cognitive processes so appropriate movements are chosen to be performed at the right time in the right place ○ What is appropriate based on Internal Information What just happened ○ Stored in working memory ○ Especially speech ○ Did you hear/did you see something? Need to maintain in order to determine what to do about it Action has to be generated in response Contextual information ○ Context makes actions appropriate vs not appropriate Different situations, different appropriateness Store in long term memory and follow Knowledge of self  ○ Takes into account usual habits and personality ○ Appropriate action for you (may be different from what someone else would do in situation) External information External cues for action ○ Immediately react based on external information (causes you to do something) Take into account for actions Example ○ What did she say? Working memory of recent events Someone insults you (decide what to do depends on context) ○ Different manners with friends compared to with grandma Very formal - not appropriate to use fingers 21. Why are motor functions so important?XX Motor functions enable the organism and underlie the execution of all motivational goals In many ways the brain’s goal-initiated regulation of the motor system determines the emotional and social well-being of the organism Becomes impossible to reach goals without it 22. What is the main problem for patients in locked-in syndrome (not the cause)?XX Locked-in syndrome ○ All voluntary muscles are paralyzed including cranial nerves ○ Move eyes from side to side and blink (occurs with certain types of stroke) ○ Almost no output system Output is necessary Certain types of stroke ○ Paralyzed from neck down and up to eyes No speech, can maybe move eyes and eyelids Only output is blinking No motor systems really work except maybe oculomotor ○ Previously called vegetative state 10. What are the anatomical divisions in the frontal lobes, how do these relate to functional distinctions in the frontal lobe?XX Main subdivisions (primarily functional distinctions) ○ Motor (primary) ○ Premotor (“before motor”) and supplementary motor cortex Also known as the secondary motor cortex ○ Prefrontal cortex (“in front of the front”) Dorsolateral PFC Orbitofrontal PFC Over eye sockets Medial PFC Middle Anterior cingulate gyrus 11. What areas constitute the primary and secondary motor cortices?XX Primary motor ○ Precentral gyrus ○ M1 ○ Brodmann's area 4 Premotor and Supplementary Motor Cortex: Secondary motor cortex ○ Brodmann’s 8 and 6 Large part of brain (frontal lobe) ○ Higher cognitive functions 12. What are the four areas of the prefrontal cortex that we are going with in this class (there are other ways of naming)?XX Dorsolateral PFC Orbitofrontal PFC ○ Over eye sockets Medial PFC ○ middle Anterior cingulate gyrus 13. What is the general direction of information flow in the brain?XX  Information flows towards the frontal cortex 14. Which thalamic nuclei are associated with PFC and motor cortices? What is the input to these thalamic nuclei that gets relayed to the cortex? How is this different from the relays to the visual, auditory and somatosensory cortex?XX Originally identified as the target for the projections of the dorsomedial nucleus of the thalamus - PFC Dorsomedial PFC ○ Projects to prefrontal cortex ○ Input from amygdala, olfactory bulb, hippocampus Motor Cortices: ○ Ventrolateral and anteroventral nuclei ○ Input from basal ganglia and cerebellum The ventrolateral (VL) and anterventral (VA) nuclei also project to the frontal lobe Differs from visual, auditory, and somatosensory because they receive input from sensory organs 15. What is reflexive movement and how is it related to voluntary movement?XX Reflexive and rhythmic movement ○ Produced by stereotyped patterns of muscle contraction Voluntary movement ○ Goal-directed and improve with practice as result of feed-forward (anticipatory) and feedback mechanisms Posterior parts of frontal lobe ○ Motor control Reflexive ○ Things you do when you are born Survival purpose (sucking, grabbing, stepping-walking (alternating legs)) Peripheral stimuli ○ Build motor patterns Rhymic movement ○ Chewing, swallowing Voluntary  ○ Takes a long time to develop = goal directed ○ Learn how to crawl because they want to get somewhere (standing up) ○ Stimulus poor environments are not good for babies - need practice for voluntary movement ○ Toys → motor development is faster ○ Feed forward → throws a ball from across the room (ball is coming forward - move hand to catch ball) Feedback - information coming in as the ball hits your hand 16. What is the difference in the cues used in premotor, supplemental and cingulate motor areas in action sequence choice?XX Consists of (all secondary motor areas) ○ Supplementary motor area (dorsal) (SMA) Reacts to intentional cues (notice it) ideas/in your head Example: hungry, thirsty → move towards the bottle of plate of food Spontaneous well-learned actions ○ Premotor cortex (lateral) → secondary motor cortex (have to choose specific movement) More external cues (currently experiencing) Ex: Catch a ball Currently experiencing (seeing, feeling) Readiness for action role (getting ready to act) ○ Cingulate motor areas (on medial side) Emotional/motivational impetus for movement Damage (lack of spontaneous movement): Just sit (don’t react) ○ Movement doesn’t get started Function ○ Preparation of specific sequences of movements Prefrontal  ○ Decides what you are going to do and sends information to secondary motor cortex ○ Decide how you will carry out whatever you got from prefrontal cortex ○ Example Person with box is going to basement (place is dark) Prefrontal cortex is telling you to turn on light Secondary motor cortex → specific sequence of movement to deal with that type of light switch (reach out, grasp, twisting motion) Sequence required to turn on switch Sends information to primary motor cortex 17. What are mirror neurons? What type of actions do they react to? Why did mirror neurons occasion such excitement in psychologists when they were discovered?XX Found in monkeys Secondary motor areas found mirror neurons Active during both preparation of a movement by self and while watching someone else perform a similar movement ○ Motor cortex firing while seeing someone do something ○ Connect what other people are doing with what you do (understand why people do what they do) Tuned to goal-directed actions ○ Pretend to reach → doesn’t react ○ Only goals Human analogs in various areas suggested 18. What is the general function of the primary motor cortex?XX Decides which neurons contract and relax Major point of (where fine choices are made) ○ Convergence for cortical sensorimotor information ○ Departure to subcortical and spinal regions Orders of action ○ Has to go to spinal cord → release certain fibers 19. What is corollary discharge, what is its function?XX  Corollary discharge (from primary motor cortex) ○ Relates to the stability of the world as the individual moves Compare to pressing eyeball ○ Info of what you are planning to do Discharged to somatosensory cortex Prepare somatosensory cortex for plan ○ Helps with interpretation of what’s happening ○ There is a voluntary component to our actions, neural signals prepare for the perception of a stable world if movement is going to take place Moving (body not expecting the movement) The frontal lobe signals the parietal and temporal cortex neurons This “informs” the sensory system for anticipated changes Can’t tickle yourself “knows what’s happening” ○ Has the discharge 20. What aspects of movement does the cerebellum moderate?XX 2 sets of checks on the orders ○ Cerebellum and basal ganglia Cerebellum ○ Balance and coordination and accuracy Huge number of neurons 40% more coming in than coming out Check loop → signal sent back ○ Important for tasks that require timing ○ Important in acquiring new movement sequences 21. What aspects of movement do the basal ganglia moderate?XX Basal ganglia ○ Important for force of movement Has say on how much force needs to be exerted ○ Critical for learning motor skills, organizing sequences of movement, “automatic” behaviors, and new habits 7. What are the two major pyramidal output tracts from the primary motor area? What is the difference between their functions?XX Messages from the brain must reach the medulla and spinal cord to control the muscles via pyramidal tracts ○ Medulla Where they cross (decussation) ○ Corticobulbar tracts Paths from the cerebral cortex (primary motor cortex) to the pons and medulla to control facial movement Cranial nerve nuclei in medulla and pons Control muscles 7th cranial nerve (facial) → movements run by this (info from primary motor cortex) ○ Corticospinal tracts (neck down) Paths from the cerebral cortex to the spinal cord Corticobulbar - cranial nerves - motor parts Corticospinal - spinal nerves - motor parts 8. What is the difference between upper and lower motor neurons?XX Upper: ○ Start in motor cortex and go to spinal cord Lower: ○ Start in spinal cord and go to muscles 9. What are the two corticospinal tracts we mentioned in class? What is the subdivision between the functions of the corticospinal tracts? What are extrapyramidal tracts?X Lateral corticospinal tract ○ Controls movement in peripheral areas (hands and feet) ○ Needs large tract Fine motor control Medial (or anterior) corticospinal tract ○ Allow control of muscles of the neck, shoulders, and trunk Really just torso (smaller tract)  Gross motor control ○ Enables movements such as walking, bending, standing up, and sitting down Lateral corticospinal ○ White matter - axons - descending pathways Medial corticospinal ○ Trunk muscles - stability as you walk, turn, and bend Descending pathways (PMC → down to spinal cord level) Extrapyramidal ○ Indirect influence on motor movement Tectospinal, vestibulospinal 10. How are cortical motor disorders different from subcortical ones?XX Cortical → Cortex related Subcortical → Cerebellum related 11. What is agrammatism? What is mutism?XX Also movement selection The generation of words is a response to external (choose different words based on what is seen) and internal (idea in head) stimuli Two speech zones ○ Broca’s area (area 45/44) → necessary for finding motor patterns Involved in retrieval of words based on external cues (object, word, letter, meaning) Action words (verbs) and grammatical construction impaired by damage to this region ○ Trouble constructing complex sentences and understanding problems Condition = Agrammatism ○ Damage → problems with complex grammar ○ Supplementary area (dorsal area 6) Retrieval of words in the absence of external cues (responds to internal cues - other neural signals) Extensive damage, including medial side → produces mutism  Can’t produce much speech at all Producing words is motor → muscles contractions is lungs, throat, mouth 12. What two general types of problems are there with cerebellar disorders?XX Subcortical motor disorders ○ Cerebellar disorders Cerebellum → coordinates voluntary movement Problems maintaining balance and posture (ataxia) Uncoordinated voluntary movements (can’t produce smooth movement → step-by-step movement) Decomposition of movement Intention tremor Difficulty with alternating movements 13. What is decomposition of movement?XX Example: Move shoulder, forearm, than open hands (step-by-step process rather than smooth movements) ○ Step by step movement ○ Can’t produce smooth movement 14. What is intention tremor?XX When you reach the target → shaking ○ Shaking close you get to target ○ Specific to cerebellar disorders 15. What is Parkinson’s disease? What is the proximate cause of PD?XX Progressive subcortical disease ○ Cause by gradual and progressive death of neurons, especially in the substantia nigra Progressive (starts and does not stop) ○ Substantia nigra sends dopamine-releasing axons to the caudate nucleus and putamen Black matter → where there’s a bunch of dopamine producing → sent to basal ganglia In Parkinson’s → 60% of death  No effects till 60% death ○ Lots of compensation ○ Loss of dopamine ideas to less stimulation of the motor cortex and slower onset of movements Origins ○ People who have had vagus cut (lower incidence of PD) ○ Damage from gut → travels up to brain via vagus 16. What is the incidence of the PD disease in people over 60?XX 1% of population older than 60 (estimates vary 15-300/100,000) 17. How much substantia nigra has usually been lost before the motor function impairments become noticeable? (60% of neurons, 80% of dopamine)XX 60% Dopamine is made in the substantia nigra ○ Excitation in putamen → inhibits globus pallidus and thalamus → excitation of cerebral cortex → involves movement getting started Increase inhibition of globus pallidus to thalamus ○ PD decrease excitation of cerebral cortex → lack of starting movement ○ High levels of loss of SN → 60% Lost a lot of neurons because disease starts to become noticeable Decreased excitation from substantia nigra to putamen → decreased inhibition from putamen to globus pallidus → increased inhibition from globus pallidus to thalamus → decreased excitation from thalamus to cortex 18. Explain the distinction between positive and negative symptoms?XX Positive symptoms ○ What people have on top of normality A regular person does not have it Negative symptoms ○ Less of something or slower than typical people 19. Recognize the positive motor symptoms in Parkinson’s diseaseXX Positive symptoms ○ Resting tremor  Very present, very common Hand shaking (first significant sign) ○ Rigidity Muscles are very tense (difficult to unbend arm) High muscle tone ○ Stoop From the way they walk ○ Balance problems Suddenly peel over 20. Recognize the negative motor symptoms in Parkinson’s diseaseXX Negative symptoms ○ Slow movement Bradykinesia ○ Hard to initiate movement (starting movement) ○ Slow, festinating gait, no arm swing Festinating (hurrying but slow shuffle) No arm swing (conscious effort to make arm swing is not a good use of mental energy) ○ Lack of facial expression (hard to move facial muscles around) ○ Slow, soft speech Think they are making as much effort to speak loudly and yet people cannot understand what they are saying 21. What is bradykinesia a synonym for (see book)? What is freezing in PD?XX Bradykinesia ○ Slowness of movement Freezing ○ Very common at certain stage ○ Tricks to use to get over freezing → rock person from side to side ○ Significant impairment of motion 22. Recognize non-motor symptoms for Parkinson’s disease.XX Visuospatial deficits  ○ People get lost and get confused what they are doing (cortical) ○ Subcortical disorder There is also damage building up in cortex ○ Poor navigation Executive functioning deficits ○ Losing cognitive control over memory, attention, switch between different trains of thought ○ Lack of cognitive control Paying attention Can’t focus that well ○ Can’t keep mind there Control over mind Language difficulties ○ Articulation Motor skill in mouth Needs tongue ○ Lack of emotional expression ○ Word finding problems Hard to find correct words Mood ○ Depression (antidepressants can be used) Appears to be a symptom ○ Progressive disorder Dementia (age-related) ○ Protein malfunction → leaving debris in brain Will get it earlier than typical dementia patients 23. Which factors appear to protect against PD, what are risk factors for PD?XX Risks ○ Environmental toxins risk increase Heavy Metals ○ Males have more risk  ○ Cigarette smoking and coffee drinking risk decrease But have other bad effects 24. What is the standard (primary) treatment for PD? What are some other treatments? What is the problem with L-dopa?XX Treatment ○ Treated for symptoms ○ The drug L-dopa is the primary treatment for Parkinson’s and is a precursor to dopamine that easily crosses the blood-brain barrier Limited window for working After certain years (7-8 years that works), it will stop working and PD gets worse ○ Deep brain stimulation ○ Stem cell therapy Substantia nigra (dopamine restored by producing more of it) Would be from people themselves 25. What is deep brain stimulation? When is deep brain stimulation not an option?XX ○ Deep brain stimulation Implant electrodes Stimulates globus pallidus or subthalamic nucleus ○ Don't know why, but it works Pacemaker → turn it off and on Allows people/system to work again Lifesaver for people who have gate problems with PD Stimulated area of brain (helps with motor control → only used for motor symptoms) Not an option when there’s too much cognitive decline ○ Unable to answer questions midway through surgery (to make sure it is in the right place) ○ Does not help with cognitive problems of PD but helps regain control of limbs Turn back clock a bit (does not destroy brain cells and is reversible) 26. How effective is stem cell therapy right at this point in time?XX  Not as successful ○ Viable option right now 27. For which symptom of PD did we see deep brain stimulation used?XX Regain control of limbs again 28. What is Huntington’s disease? (genetic, progressive, subcortical)XX Associated with gradual and extensive brain damage especially in the caudate nucleus, putamen, globus pallidus, and the cerebral cortex ○ Complete destruction of basal ganglia Cortex is thinner, white matter shrunk ○ Destruction of brain Completely genetic → another reason why nothing can be done Very progressive disease 29. What is the incidence of Huntington’s disease?XX Incidence ○ Affects 5-10 in 100,000 in the United States ○ Usually appears between the ages of 30 and 50 Rarer than PD → very little can be done 30. What are the motor symptoms in Huntington’s disease?XX Motor symptoms ○ Initial motor symptoms include arm jerks and facial twitches ○ Progression to tremors and writhing that affect the persons walking, speech, and other voluntary movements Fidgeting goes on and on not under their control (gets worse) Eventually can’t move by themselves anymore Non-motor symptoms ○ Cognitive difficulties from premotor functioning breakdown and connection caudate to frontal lobe ○ Concentration/executive function problems 31. What was the pathway used to attempt therapies in Huntington's that we discussed in class?XX Autosomal dominant  ○ If you have one allele, you will present with disease Has a parent with Huntington’s Completely hereditary ○ People will already have kids by the time they start having symptoms See their parents going through deterioration Defect on gene (gene on chromosome 4 → Huntington) Excessive number of repeats (hereditary disease) How bad disease presents Huntington’s ○ More repeats of sequences (earlier you will show it) Defective protein (huntington) ○ Kill indirect pathway neurons in caudate nucleus Study in animals ○ Drug kills mRNA to prevent damaged protein from being made mRNA has the damaged protein Kill mRNA (messenger) → no damaged protein ○ Limiting damage, reduce speed with which the damage is done ○ In clinical trials in humans → current best hope 32. What is damaged in ALS?XX Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s disease ○ Very rare Type of motor neuron disease Damage and deterioration of upper and lower motor neurons ○ One or both damaged 2-4 in 100,000 Ice bucket challenge (Facebook) → support research in ALS Motor neurons cause movement ○ Lose the ability to move (deterioration happens fast) ○ Prognosis 3-4 years → at a certain point you can’t breathe anymore Upper: motor cortex (Broadmanns 4) to spinal cord Lower: spinal cord → muscle 12. Recognize the functions that are mediated by the DLPFC which ones are strategy-related, which ones are memory related, which ones are inhibition related? What part of empathy is within the purview of the DLPFC?XX Dorsolateral PFC (pure cognition; reasoning, logic, and pure thinking) ○ Memory Working memory What you are mentally engaged with (getting from the environment and stuff you recall) ○ Can pop into working memory Left hemisphere → more for retrieval/language Right hemisphere → visual/spatial Maintenance of behavioral sets Requires effort Come up with a goal and stick with it Maintain attention on the task you have rather than be distracted by something else (getting done what you have to get done) Temporal-spatial ‘tagging’ Remember what was done before and after Time and space stamp Where and when you did things/things happened (added to memory of experience) ○ Vague time and location tagging Memory search and retrieval (+strategy) Dependent on working memory Look where you have last seen it (have strategy to find location) Verbal and nonverbal fluency (+strategy) Coming up with words and patterns ○ Strategy and sequencing (involve memory) Generation of strategic and divergent responses (mainly strategy) Coming up with ideas Planning and organization (+memory)  Coming up with plans (how big an event is going to be) ○ Diff strategies → sequencing Abstract reasoning (+memory) Logical sequencing → different steps towards the goal Need to line up argument, conclude reasoning, generate arguments from memory Organize things in logical order ○ Attention (keeping your attention there) Selective and sustained attention ○ Inhibitory control Figured out what you want to do, monitor that what you are doing is going well Self-monitoring (also memory and attention) Wake up call Stop what you are doing in wrong direction and evaluate and recalibrate goals Maintaining attention ○ Catch yourself, stop getting distracted ○ Insight After done thinking ○ Judgment Working with insight → using rational part of your brain Reasoning supported by memory ○ Cognitive aspects of empathy Empathy → putting yourself in someone else’s position (feel for the person) Feeling what they might be feeling does not light up dorsolateral PFC 13. What do all the functions of the OFPFC have in common? Be able to recognize them when you see them.XX Orbitofrontal PFC  ○ Meditation emotional and social responses (projects what feelings would be in situations) Emotional elements of empathy Projects what feelings would occur if in their shoes Linking of memory content and autonomic states Sitting in lecture and bored → register lecture that was bad (feel class was awful) Encode feelings to your opinion about something Little experiences encoded together to form an opinion ○ Memory with how you feel Basis of opinions Rapid learning in response to changing reinforcement contingencies Positive vs negative situation ○ Consciously good at picking up patterns (reinforcement) Keeping track of things that get reinforcement changed Inhibitory control Makes you stop and not do something Prevent yourself from punching someone in the face Inhibition of excessive emotional displays 14. What main type of functions for the Anterior cingulate PFC?XX Anterior cingulate PFC ○ Response monitoring Umpire area Monitors responses, checks what you are going to do Respond automatically → stop yourself from doing that and do something different ○ Error detection ○ Resolution between competing responses ○ Inhibitory control of prepotent responses ○ Selective and divided attention Divided attention → switching back and forth  ○ Motivated behavior If you are feeling thirsty, you have to do something with your thirst Requires a certain push People with lesions will just sit and not get up when they have to go to the bathroom ○ Final decider 15. What are the overwhelming findings w.r.t the effects of multitasking on performance? What are the surprising findings about frequency of media multitasking and performance? What is the relationship between confidence in multitasking abilities and performance?XX Multitasking ○ Doing more than one thing at a time (multitasking) results in deterioration of performance in all the tasks attempted The more you multitask, the worse you are at it The better you think you are multitasking, the worse you are at it ○ Multitaskers could be looking to spend most time on most rewarding activity Tasks require full attention → require mental effort 16. Explain the difference between divergent and convergent problems.XX Convergent problems ○ Only a single answer or solution is possible What is your name?/arithmetic problems/yes or no answers Divergent problems ○ Open-ended; multiple possibilities ○ Different ways to get to solutions 17. How do the word fluency and design fluency tasks work? What is perseveration on these tasks? What is poor spontaneity?XX Individual fails to spontaneously generate multiple ideas ○ Test 1: word fluency Normal individuals: up to 60 words; frontal lesions: fewer than 10 Ask people to come up with words that start with certain letter (word fluency) ○ Test 2: Design fluency  Testing the range for drawing a variety of shapes Lesioned patients: preservation, poor variety Perseveration: persisting with the same theme Poor variety: repetition of similar shapes Nonverbal fluency Draw as many non-representative shapes as you can ○ Problem coming up with new drawings (perseverating with the same ideas) Hard time generating new ideas ○ Additional related changed include loss of initiative and increased susceptibility of distractions 18. How do planning tasks test divergent thinking?XX Loss of divergent thinking ○ Poor strategy formation (dorsolateral PFC) ○ Assessment of patients typically shows poor performance on problems involving novel situations and circumstances Hard time generating strategy to deal with problem ○ Frontal lobes are therefore required to weigh up external (especially new) and internal information (especially physiological states and memories) to reach a decision that will be the best course of action Multiple errands test (MET) ○ Giving them a bunch of different tasks ○ List of errands → deal with novel problems (a whole host of mental capacity) ○ With frontal lobe damage Go to the same place at least 3 times (forgetting things to get at the specific store) Going back and forth → no strategy 19. What do the Stroop task and the WCST test? Know how these tests work!XX WCST ○ Response inhibition Not changing behavior when the test demands behavior (WCST)  Most people usually figure out the rule the experimenter wants them to sort the cards by People with damage can’t make the switch to a new sorting rule The WCST reveals a number of common problems associated with frontal lobe lesions Perseveration Inability to inhibit responses (even though the individual knows he/she should stop) Rule violation Stroop ○ Non inhibiting prepotent response ○ Subject asked to name the color in which the word is written ○ Task required that the individual inhibit the urge to read the word ○ Patients with damage to the prefrontal cortex are unable to inhibit the impulse to read the word ○ Name color in which the word is written ○ Young children will do better - don’t have great reading skills yet 20. What types of problems do frontal lobe patients have on the WCST?XX Perseveration Inability to inhibit responses (even though the individual knows he/she should stop) Rule violation 21. What types of problems do frontal lobe patients have on the Stroop?XX Unable to inhibit the impulse to read the word 22. How are Stroop, WCST environmental control of behavior?XX Difficulty using information from the environment to regulate and change behavior Response inhibition ○ Not changing behavior when the test demands behavior (WCST) ○ Not inhibiting prepotent response (Stroop) Risk taking ○ Learning reward/penality contingencies (gambling) Associative learning  ○ Different hand gestures ○ Damage to frontal lobe: can’t learn the new hand gestures 23. Explain what poor temporal memory is.XX Monkeys ○ 25 doors, each door has food once a day ○ Strategy for opening only doors that have not had food yet Humans ○ Recency tests: series of cards with two stimuli, once in a while a card asking which of the two stimuli was seen most recently. Poor performance of frontal lobe patients Show two cards which you have seen before - which one have you seen more recently Unable to encode time into memory 24. What is the difference in personality symptoms between frontal lobe patients with left brain damage and right brain damage? What were the now retired labels for these personality change constellations?XX Personality change due to frontal lobe lesions ○ Predominantly left side damage (pseudodepression - past term) Outward apathy, indifference (don’t really care), loss of initiative Reduced sexual interest, little or no verbal output Looks like depression, isn’t really ○ Predominantly right side damage (pseudopsychopathy - past term) Immature behavior, lack of tact and restraint (lack of ambition; inability to inherit) Promiscuous sexual behavior Coarse language, lack of social graces, increased motor activity (seen in people with dementia) 10. What is the difference in emphasis between the terms cerebral asymmetry, hemispheric specialization, cerebral dominance and lateralization of function?XX Hemispheres are specialized for certain functions Lateralization of function (sidedness)  ○ Language depends on one side of the cortex more than the other ○ For most functions you do use both sides of the brain Cerebral asymmetry (anatomical or functional) ○ Differences in anatomy and functions of cortices Cerebral (or hemispheric) dominance ○ Dominance → information is processed more on one side than the other HS: focus on what each hemisphere does (one does one thing and the other does another thing) ○ both hemispheres have some form of every activity LF: looking at function CA: anatomical or functional CD: brain gives one side priority in processing stimulus all ways of saying that the two sides of the brain are slightly different 11. Which side of the brain has the longer Sylvian fissure? Which side of the brain has the steeper Sylvian fissure? (see slide)XX Longer Sylvian fissure in left hemisphere Steeper angle of lateral (Sylvian) fissure on right hemisphere ○ Results in reduction of inferior parietal cortical area ○ More temporal lobe, less parietal Left - less steep, longer ○ More parietal lobe Steepness of angle: how much space lobe has 12. Which side of the brain has the larger inferior posterior parietal lobe area? (see slide)XXX The left hemisphere 13. Which side of the brain has the larger planum temporale? (see slide)XXX Planum temporale (behind Heschl’s gyrus) ○ Speech and language The left hemisphere 14. Which side of the brain has a larger Heschl’s gyrus (or even gyri)? (see slide)XXX The right hemisphere ○ Sounds and noise 15. What is Wada test for? What is the principle behind the Wada test? What is the procedure for the Wada test?XXX Can be used in normals and non-normals Goal: Figure out what function in hemisphere. In pre-neurosurgery patients to make sure you know what functions are Principles ○ Anesthetize one hemisphere, see what the other one ‘does’ Procedure ○ Drug infused into left and right carotid arteries (internal carotid). The activity in the injected hemisphere is suppressed for a few minutes. As the individual recovers, testing is performed. The left hemisphere typically is revealed to be the dominant hemisphere for language, but not always Figure out language dominant hemisphere Contralateral arm falls can look at lesions or split brain patients need to know where speech center is if you are getting surgery ○ usually left side has language 16. What is the corpus callosum and what is the function of the corpus callosum?XXX Generally not understood for the first half of the 20th century Lack of symptoms in ○ Humans and animals with transected corpus callosi ○ Those born without corpus callosum (agenesis) Then really careful testing of learning in animals with split brains - learning in lower animals can happen in both hemispheres Function of corpus callosum is sharing information between the cerebral hemispheres 17. What is the corpus callosum and what is a commissurotomy of the corpus callosum?XXX Corpus callosum ○ A dense fan-like collection of axons that connect the two cerebral hemispheres ○ The connections typically connect homologous regions of the cortex of each hemisphere ○ CC is the biggest of 3 commisures  Commisurotomy is the transection of the corpus callosum to limit convulsive activity ○ Stop the spread of abnormal activity 18. How can the hemispheres in a typically lateralized patient with commissurotomy of the corpus callosum respond to questions? (see video)XXX Commissurotomy (of corpus callosum) limits convulsive activity ○ Many never have another major convulsion Sperry and Gazzaniga ○ Developed procedures to test split-brain patients ○ The results differed from early split-brain animal studies in that the left and right hemispheres demonstrated different capabilities Left hemisphere: - stronger for tasks - stronger for responses requiring speech (or language) - —> can TELL what it has seen or heard Right hemisphere - unable to re