Exam 1 Study Guide: Cognition, Right Hemisphere Disorder, TBI, and Dementia

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering core concepts from the Exam 1 study guide, including cognition, right hemisphere disorder, traumatic brain injury, normal aging, MCI, and dementia.

WHO-ICF

The World Health Organization International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health framework, which outlines domains used to evaluate impairment of body structure/function, activity limitations, and participation restrictions in clinical cases.

A&Ox3 and A&Ox4

Clinical designations for orientation indicating whether an individual is alert and oriented to three spheres (person, place, time) or four spheres (person, place, time, situation).

Memory Processes

The sequential stages of memory function, consisting of encoding (taking in information), consolidation (stabilizing the memory trace), storage (maintaining information over time), and recall (retrieving stored information).

Automatic versus Controlled Processing

The distinction between cognitive processing that occurs fast, involuntarily, and with minimal attentional demand (automatic) versus processing that requires deliberate conscious effort, active attention, and limited cognitive resources (controlled).

Social Cognition

The complex cognitive abilities and mental processes required to perceive, interpret, and appropriately respond to social cues, interpersonal interactions, and the mental states of others.

Task Impurity Problem

The psychometric challenge in cognitive assessment where tests designed to measure a specific executive function inevitably recruit other non-executive cognitive domains (e.g., language, sensory, motor), making pure isolation of the target function difficult.

Anosognosia

A neurogenic impairment characterized by an individual's inability to recognize or appreciate their own neurological, physical, or cognitive deficits, distinguishing it from psychological denial.

Apragmatism

Deficits in pragmatic communication commonly occurring with right hemisphere disorders, manifesting across linguistic, paralinguistic (e.g., prosody, intonation), and nonlinguistic (e.g., eye contact, facial expression) domains.

RHD as a "Hidden Diagnosis"

A concept describing Right Hemisphere Damage where cognitive and communication deficits (e.g., subtle pragmatic and executive impairments) are less obvious on routine medical screenings than overt language deficits, leading to unreliable incidence estimates.

Coup and Countrecoup Damage

Mechanisms of focal traumatic brain injury where coup damage occurs at the site directly beneath the point of cranial impact, and countrecoup damage occurs on the opposite side of the brain as it rebounds against the skull.

Penetrating versus Non-Penetrating TBI

A classification dividing traumatic brain injuries into open-head injuries where the dura mater is breached by an object (penetrating) versus closed-head injuries where the skull and dura remain intact following blunt trauma or acceleration-deceleration forces (non-penetrating).

Primary versus Secondary TBI Injuries

Primary injuries represent immediate structural damage occurring at the direct moment of mechanical impact (e.g., lacerations, contusions), while secondary injuries represent delayed cellular and systemic complications that develop over hours or days (e.g., edema, ischemia, intracranial pressure).

Epidural Hematoma

A collection of blood that pools between the inner surface of the skull and the outermost protective meningeal layer, the dura mater.

Subdural Hematoma

An accumulation of blood located beneath the dura mater and above the arachnoid membrane, commonly seen at higher incidence in elderly individuals and young children.

Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

Bleeding into the subarachnoid space between the arachnoid mater and the pia mater surrounding the brain.

Diffuse Axonal Injury (DAI)

Widespread shearing, stretching, and tearing of nerve axons throughout the brain's white matter tracts caused by high-velocity rotational and acceleration-deceleration forces.

Disorders of Consciousness

A spectrum of altered consciousness after severe brain trauma, comprising coma (no arousal and no awareness), vegetative state (wakefulness with sleep-wake cycles but no awareness), and minimally conscious state (inconsistent but reproducible behavioral evidence of awareness).

Post-Traumatic Amnesia (PTA)

A state of transient disorientation, confusion, and inability to store or retrieve continuous new day-to-day memories following a traumatic brain injury.

Retrograde vs. Anterograde Amnesia

Retrograde amnesia is the loss of memory for events occurring before the trauma, whereas anterograde amnesia is the impairment in forming and encoding new memories after the onset of the injury.

Brain Herniation

A potentially fatal complication where critically high intracranial pressure forces brain tissue to shift through rigid openings or anatomical boundaries within the cranium.

Cognitive Reserve

The brain's resilience, capacity to improvise, and ability to optimize performance via alternative neural networks to mitigate the visible effects of aging or underlying neuropathology.

Theories of Typical Cognitive Aging

Hypotheses explaining cognitive changes in normal aging, including the resource deficit model, common cause hypothesis, speed of processing theory, and inhibition deficit model.

Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)

A clinical condition involving intermediate cognitive decline that is measurable and exceeds expectations for normal aging, but does not substantially impede independence in activities of daily living, distinguishing it from dementia.

Four Main Types of Dementia

The primary progressive neurodegenerative dementia conditions: Alzheimer's Disease (AD), Vascular Dementia, Lewy Body Dementia, and Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD).

Strengths-Based Approach in Dementia

A clinical philosophy in dementia care focusing on preserving, adapting, and leveraging remaining intact cognitive-communication abilities rather than exclusively attempting to remediate lost functions.

Implicit versus Explicit Learning in Dementia

The distinction in learning capacity where explicit (conscious, declarative) memory declines early in dementia, while implicit (procedural, habit-based, non-declarative) learning remains relatively preserved and viable for clinical intervention.