Neuropsychology

left hemisphere processing of single aspects of stimuli - detailed "part" analysis

Luria's zones of overlapping between lobes (e.g., O-T-P), related to highest levels of functioning

recognition of objects by touch

• brain managers for planning, organizing, monitoring,
• evaluating, modifying behaviors

initial brain damage causes additional damage

symptoms that are clearly diagnostic of a known disorder; hard signs

brain hits one part of skull and then bounces off and hits another; common in decleration

ignoring stimuli on side opposite injury; more often related to R parietal and L side neglect

crossed sensory and motor pathways allowing contralateral control

speaking clearly without meaning "word salad" in temporal lobe near the Sylvian Fissure

unable or difficulty recognizing objects

small blind spot due to occipital damage and compensated for by nystagmus

unable or difficulty recognizing faces

writing/saying the wrong word

bulging eyes due to increased CSF after brain injury

rapid eye movements to fill in gaps that can be caused by cranial nerve damage

trouble carrying out individual motor acts even though they still have concepts of motor activities

trouble with the concept of the motor activity even though individual motor acts can be completed

• loss of vision in one field of vision in both eyes,
• resulting from damage posterior to the optic chiasma in the hemisphere contralateral to the visual field loss

shifting from one motor response to another

• trouble with or inability to preform complex graphomotor and constructional tasks in
• light of adequate vision and motor functions

a fluent aphasia with poor word repetition and adequate comprehension area

non-fluent, halting, or absent speech with word finding difficulties; naming difficulties (anomia)

coordination problems resulting in irregular motor performance

trouble with voluntary movement b/c of sensory or motor deficits

loss of or difficulty with receptive +/or expressive language

lack of recognition of deficits often in R parietal lobe dysfunction

failure or limited recognition of stimuli in spite of intact senses

agnosia, R/L confusion, acalculia, agraphia from L parietal damage

inability to speak/difficulty with speech, caused by motor cortex or cranial nerve damage

• "superhigway" pathways allowing for intermodal
• connections and complex behaviors; more in R hemisphere

• "little man" the arrangement of known area
• representations in somatosensory and motor cortex; legs medial; face lateral

white matter that connect the two hemispheres

• higher-level cortex that integrates across sensory and or motor function including parietal,
• occiptal, and temporal lobes

sorting and recording incoming sensory info

• organizes and codes info from primary zone; perceives input (sensory) or prepares output
• (motor) - damage may lead to agnosias and aphasias

data is merged from multiple sources and collated for organizing complex behavioral response

drug that inhibits the effects of a neurotransmitter

a drug that facilitates the effects of a neurotransmitter

automatic performance of a routinized skill; likely to be related to cerebellar/basal ganglia & frontal circuits/procedural memory

prior knowledge or crystallized abilities; probably related to the integrity of the media & lateral temporal lobes - explicit memory

• the "what" visual stram btwn the occipital &
• temporal lobes, providing object recognition

loss of pre-injury memory - suggesting more global cortical destruction

loss of pre-injury memory - suggesting more global cortical destruction

inability to recall events and learn new info after insult

• the "what" occipital-parietal stream, necessary
• for perceiving spatial relationships and perception of self in environment

signal going toward CNS from lower to higher levels of processing

signal going from the CNS and from higher to lower levels of processing

the posterior/inferior part of brain, contrasted with dorsal

toward the midline of the brain or body

toward the side of the brain or body

the anterior/superior part of the brain

toward the top of the brain

the belief that early CNS damage is less likely to result in long-term deficits than later damage; unlikely to be uniformly true

• belief that undamaged brain areas can "take over"
• for damaged brain areas, resulting in some sparing of function, but that both the spared and original functions subserved by the undamaged brain area are subsequently depressed

w/in bony structures; brain and spinal cord

outside of bony structures; somatic and autonomic

voluntary movement and regulation

involuntary movement

• norepinepherine,
• dompamine,
• seratonin,
• glycine,
• GABA

generates energy - fight, flight, freeze (dialate pupils, +heart rate, broncials open, -stomach, bladder relaxed) - norepinepherine

conserves energy - relaxation (constrict pupils, +saliva, -heart rate, constrict bronchials, +stomach, constrict bladder)

thalamus, hypothalamus, basal ganglia, limbic system

maintains wakefulness; sensory relay

autonomic regulation; influences endocrine system

massive tract of white matter connecting the 2 hemispheres

• a cluster of nerve pathways that receive input from all sensory modalities and extend from the pons to the thalamus - involved in
• regulating wakefulness and sleep cycle

small paired structures near hippocampi - important in drives

neural pathway that connects limbic structures and prefrontal lobes

• I -illegals;
• II-highly abusive, but medically useful;
• III-abusable como drugs;
• IV-mild abuse potential

• Proencephalon (forebrain)
• Mesencephalon (midbrain)
• Rhombencephalon (hindbrain)
• Spinal cord

• Telencephalon
• cerebral hemispheres and cortex
• subcortical white matter
• basal ganglia
• basal forebrain nuclei
• Diencephalon
• thalamus
• hypothalamus
• epithalamus

• cerebral penduncles
• midbrain tectum
• midbrain tegmentum

• Metencephalon
• pons
• cerebellum
• Mylencephalon
• medulla

12

Olfactory nerve - smell

Optic nerve - vision

CN III, IV, and VI

Occulomotor nerve - parasympathetic pupi constrictor and lens for near vision

Trochlear nerve - move eyes down and in

Trigeminal nerve - sensory input for face, mouth, and sinuses

Abducens nerve - outward movement of eyes

Facial nerve - facial expression (motor), taste anterior 2/3 of tongue

Vestibulochlear nerve - hearing and vestibular sensation

Glossopharyngeal nerve - taste posterior 1/3 of tongue, sensation in posterior pharynx

Vagus nerve - swallowing, voicebox, parasympathetics to heart, lungs, GI, taste from epiglottis and pharyns, baroreceptors

Spinal accessory nerve - muscles in the neck and shoulders

Hypoglossal nerve - intrinsic muscles of the tongue