Neuropsychology

Front 1

What types of cells are there in the brain?

Back 1

Neurons and glia. Glia are 10 times more common than neurons.

Front 2

Name the major glia cells (and functions).

Back 2

Astrocytes (nutritional, scavenger and help in blood-brain behavior) and oligodendroglia (create myelin for axons in the brain -- Schwann cells do this in the rest of the CNS and PNS). Functions of both not fully understood.

Front 3

Define apoptosis.

Back 3

Pruning of nerve cells that takes place in maturation to enhance the creation of neuronal pathways.

Front 4

What can enlarged ventricles indicate?

Back 4

Hydrocephalus or brain atrophy (ventricles expand to fill the space).

Front 5

What are the symptoms of NPH?

Back 5

NPH (Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus) is usually marked by: 1)incontinence, 2)clumsy, wide-based gait, and 3) disorientation including memory problems. The symptoms appear in the OPPOSITE order of Alzheimers (which starts with memory problems and ends with gait problems and incontinence).

Front 6

What can the cognitive symptoms of NPH be similar to?

Back 6

Symptoms are often similar to frontal lobe damage. Not surprising because expanding lateral ventricles put pressure on this area. (Cognitive symptoms are disorientation, confusion, apathy, decreased attention, motor slowing, and impaired new learning.)

Front 7

Name the parts of the hindbrain.

Back 7

Medulla, Reticular Formation (which encompasses the RAS), Pons, and Cerebellum.

Front 8

RAS: location, function, and symptoms of lesions.

Back 8

Reticular Activating System. From upper spinal cord, through medulla into diencephalon (thalamic area). Modulates wakefulness, and alerts organism. Lesions result in somnolence, stupor or coma.

Front 9

Pons: location, function, and symptoms of lesions.

Back 9

Inferior to midbrain. Pons and cerebellum coordinate postural and kinesthetic info. Lesions cause motor, sensory and coordination problems.

Front 10

Cerebellum: location, function, and symptoms of lesions.

Back 10

Inferoposterior position in brain. Proximal to pons. Primarily motor function. Lesions typically result in dizziness (vertigo, because connected to vestibular system), clumsiness (loss of fine motor control), and nystagmus; but can also disrupt abstract thinking, linguistic processing and other cognitive processes.

Front 11

Midbrain: location, function, and symptoms of lesions.

Back 11

Superior to Pons, inferior to Thalamus. Critical area containing RAS necessary for conscious experience. Lesions can result in death.

Front 12

Thalamus: location, function, and symptoms of lesions.

Back 12

Together with hypothalamus, most important structures of diencephalon. Relay center for all senses except smell. Lesions can result in loss of body sensation, unilateral inattention (opposite the side of the lesion), and in Korsakoff's syndrome when in dorsomedial nucleus. Memory impairments from thalamic regions characterized by anosognosia.

Front 13

Hypothalamus: location, function, and symptoms of lesions.

Back 13

Under the thalamus. Regulates appetite, thirst, and sex drive. Lesions can drive all these one way or the other. Damage to mammillary bodies can affect memory.

Front 14

Name the components of the basal ganglia.

Back 14

Caudate nucleus, putamen and globus pallidus (aka lenticular nucleus), amygdala, subthalamic structures, and substantia nigra.

Front 15

Basal Ganglia: Function and lesions.

Back 15

Neostriatum (caudate and putamen) translates cognition into action. Lesions primarily affect motor activity, e.g. Parkinson's affects neostriatum resulting in poverty of movement, and Huntington's affects caudate resulting in excessive motor activity.

Front 16

Limbic System: Function and lesions.

Back 16

Cingulate gyrus, hippocampus, and (in some systems) amygdala. Emotional memory. Lesions disturb emotional behavior (often anergic effect with loss of fear, etc.)

Front 17

Amygdala: Location, function and lesions.

Back 17

Temporal lobe. Direct connection with olfactory bulbs. Damage associated with hypersexuality and decreased aggression (Kluver-Bucy syndrome when uncus also destroyed--inability to learn, excessive eating and hypersexual). Implicated in autism.

Front 18

Cingulate gyrus: Location, function and lesions.

Back 18

Superior to corpus callosum. Anterior cingulate senses errors and conflicts during information processing and processes pain; connected to amygdala. Posterior cingulate involved with memory formation; connected to hippocampus.

Front 19

Hippocampus: Location, function and lesions.

Back 19

Runs the length of the interior of the temporal lobe, connected to entorhinal cortex, thalamus and fornix. Only sensorimotor skill learning and simple conditioning take place in other brain centers. Basically creates memories that are then stored elsewhere. Lesions usually result in anterograde amnesia. Hippocampus appears to be lateralized (left-verbal, right-spatial).

Front 20

Name intracerebral pathways.

Back 20

1) Association fibers (between cortical areas);
2) Commissural fibers (between hemispheres, mainly corpus callosum, also anterior and posterior commissure);
3) Projection fibers (cortical to subcortical and vice versa).

Front 21

Result of agenesis of corpus callosum.

Back 21

Typically no noticeable effects, except for slowed performance of intracerebral processing (incorporating visual and linguistic information) including higher order thought.

Front 22

True or false. Vision from the right eye maps to the left occipital lobe and vice versa.

Back 22

False. The left field of vision of both eyes maps to the right occipital lobe, and the right field of both eyes maps to the left occipital lobe.

Front 23

Homonymous hemianopsia.

Back 23

Lack of vision in both eyes in the same visual field (either right or left).

Front 24

Scotoma.

Back 24

Circumscribed field defects in either one or both eyes (pl. scotomata).

Front 25

True or false. The auditory nerves map just like the optic nerves.

Back 25

False. The auditory nerves are mainly ipsilateral, although some information is relayed to the opposite temporal lobe.

Front 26

Lateralization.

Back 26

Tendency of each hemisphere to specialize. Left towards linear processing (including rapid motor movements). Right towards spatial configuration and symbolic processing.

Front 27

Apperceptive visual agnosia.

Back 27

Inability to recognize that seen details are part of a whole object (not a recall problem).

Front 28

Associative visual agnosia.

Back 28

Inability to recognize a whole perceived object. Distinguished from a naming problem by the ability to identify an object through other senses.

Front 29

Balint's syndrome.

Back 29

Aka simultanagnosia. The inability to perceive more than one object at a time.

Front 30

Visual neglect.

Back 30

Aka visual inattention. Usually the result of both occipital damage and right parietal lobe damage.

Front 31

Prosopagnosia.

Back 31

Result of bilateral damage to undersides of occipital and temporal lobes (such as incurred in TBI by movement of the brain along the fossa).

Front 32

The "where" pathway.

Back 32

Parieto-occipital (dorsal)pathway. Orients an object's location.

Front 33

The "what" pathway.

Back 33

Temporo-occipital (ventral)pathway. Names an object.

Front 34

Apraxia.

Back 34

More precisely, an inability to perform previously learned, complex motor-skills. The term is also used more generally although this is to be avoided.

Front 35

Posterior lesions. Right versus left.

Back 35

Tends to disrupt constructional ability. Left usually interrupts sequenced motor activity necessary for constructional activity. Right usually creates defective spatial imagery.

Front 36

Astereognosis.

Back 36

Inability to identify an object by tough. Unilateral lesion in association area posterior to postcentral gyrus usually produces a contralateral effect, though right lesions can affect both sides.

Front 37

Sensory neglect.

Back 37

Neglect of one side upon double simultaneous stimulation. Not a perceptual fault. Associated with lesions to posterior association cortex (most often the right).