🧠 Higher Brain Functions

Three differences between primate and rodent brains

Larger cortex, more developed prefrontal cortex, greater cortical folding

Is brain chemistry very different between primates and rodents

No — similar neurotransmitters

Does bigger brain mean higher intelligence

Not necessarily — organisation and connectivity matter more

Are human brain differences hard

wired or acquired

Do non

human primates have consciousness

Two abstract concepts in non

human primates

Define prefrontal cortex

Frontal cortex region connected to mediodorsal thalamus / anterior to motor areas

Does prefrontal cortex change across lifespan

Yes — develops into adulthood and declines in old age

Brain areas projecting to prefrontal cortex

Thalamus, limbic system, sensory cortices

Brain areas receiving from prefrontal cortex

Motor cortex, limbic system, basal ganglia

Working memory test in rodents

Morris Water Maze (spatial learning, hippocampus)

Working memory test in monkeys

Delayed Response Task (prefrontal cortex)

Working memory test in humans

n

Do dolphins have working memory

Yes

How to test working memory in dolphins

Delayed matching

Is prefrontal cortex involved in working memory (fMRI evidence)

Yes — increased activation during working memory tasks

What is the stop

signal task

What does Wisconsin Card Sorting Test assess

Cognitive flexibility, rule shifting, executive function

What deficits do schizophrenic patients show in WCST

Impaired cognitive flexibility and set

Three functions of prefrontal cortex

Planning, decision

Define executive control

Ability to regulate thoughts and actions to achieve goals

When is executive control required

Novel situations and when overriding automatic responses

How does executive control improve performance

By focusing attention and suppressing irrelevant responses

Define attention

Selective processing of relevant information

Why must attention be selective

Limited processing capacity

Difference between overt and covert attention

Overt: eye movements; Covert: attention without eye movement

What is the binding problem

How the brain integrates features into a unified perception

Difference between top

down and bottom

Difference between extracellular and intracellular recording

Extracellular: measures outside neuron; Intracellular: measures membrane potential inside neuron

What is the Stroop test

Task measuring cognitive control (inhibition of automatic responses)

What is brain machine interfacing

Direct communication between brain and external device (e.g. controlling prosthetic limb)