Chapter 15: Temporal Lobes

PSYCH 377

What three major gyri are visible on the lateral view of the temporal lobe?

The superior temporal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, and inferior temporal gyrus.

The fissure that separates the temporal lobe from the frontal and parietal lobes is known as the _____.

Lateral (Sylvian) fissure.

What two key subcortical structures are located within the temporal lobe?

The amygdala and the hippocampus.

On the medial view of the temporal lobe, what structure is located adjacent to the parahippocampal gyrus?

The fusiform gyrus.

What deep sulcus in the temporal lobe contains multimodal association areas?

The superior temporal sulcus (STS).

The gustatory cortex is located within the _____, which is found deep within the Sylvian fissure.

insula

The olfactory (pyriform) cortex is found on which surface of the temporal lobe?

The medial surface.

What brain region, located at the boundary of the temporal and parietal lobes, is involved in attention, memory, and social decision-making?

The temporal–parietal junction.

What is the function of the hierarchical visual and auditory pathways that project to the temporal lobe?

These pathways are used for object recognition.

What is the primary function of the dorsal auditory pathway?

It directs movements in response to auditory information.

The polymodal pathway involving the superior temporal sulcus supports what cognitive function?

Object categorization.

Projections from visual and auditory areas to the medial temporal lobe are crucial for what type of memory?

Long-term memory.

Temporal lobe output pathways to the frontal lobe are important for which two functions?

Motor control and short-term memory.

Projections from the inferotemporal cortex to the amygdala support the processing of what type of stimuli?

Emotional stimuli.

Which pathway from the inferotemporal cortex provides information about a stimulus's positive or negative valence?

The pathway to the ventral striatum.

Pathways from area TE to the orbitofrontal cortex and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex are involved in what functions?

Object–reward pairings and working memory.

Damage to the temporal lobe typically results in deficits in which two related cognitive processes?

Identifying and categorizing stimuli.

The ability to integrate visual and auditory information, known as cross-modal matching, likely involves which structure?

The superior temporal sulcus (STS).

Which subcortical structure in the medial temporal lobe is primarily involved in generating an affective response to a stimulus?

The amygdala.

Following damage to the amygdala, how do animals respond to threatening stimuli?

They do not have a typical emotional response.

The hippocampus contains specialized neurons called _____ that encode location in space to support navigation.

place cells

What is 'biological motion' and which brain region is specialized for detecting it?

Movement of relevance to a species; it is detected by the superior temporal sulcus (STS).

The ability to infer the intentions of others, a key part of social cognition, depends on multimodal integration in which area?

The superior temporal sulcus (STS).

According to studies on monkeys, neurons in the STS respond most strongly to what type of body movement?

An approaching body.

In the distributed system for face perception, what type of facial aspects does the superior temporal sulcus (STS) process?

Changeable aspects, such as expression, eye gaze, and lip movement.

In the distributed system for face perception, what type of facial aspects does the fusiform face area (FFA) process?

Invariant aspects, such as unique identity and gender.

Activity in area TE neurons depends on complex combinations of what features?

Orientation, size, color, and texture.

How do TE neurons change their response patterns?

Their response patterns are altered by experience and training.

What does the Thatcher illusion demonstrate about face perception?

It suggests a selective ability to recognize upright faces, as recognition is disproportionately impaired for inverted faces.

Lesions to which hemisphere's temporal lobe have a greater impact on the ability to process faces?

The right temporal lobe.

In the extended system for face perception, what information does the anterior temporal cortex contribute?

Personal identity, such as name and biographical information.

In the extended system for face perception, which structures are responsible for processing emotion related to a face?

The amygdala, insula, and limbic system.

In speech sounds, frequency bands that are largely restricted to specific ranges are known as _____.

formants

How do vowels and consonants typically differ in terms of their frequency characteristics on a spectrogram?

Vowels tend to have a constant frequency, while consonants tend to change frequency rapidly.

While nonlinguistic sounds become a buzz above 5 segments/second, comprehensible speech can be processed at up to what rate?

About 30 segments per second.

What is the subjective magnitude of a sound called?

Loudness.

What term refers to the distinct qualities or complexities of a sound?

Timbre.

The subjective position of a sound on a musical scale, which is related to frequency, is known as its _____.

pitch

What is the lowest frequency of a musical note called?

The fundamental frequency.

When perceiving rhythm, the left temporal lobe is predominant for _____.

temporal grouping

When perceiving rhythm, the right temporal lobe is predominant for _____.

perceiving meter (temporal regularity)

How does musical training affect the brain morphology of Heschl's gyrus (primary auditory cortex)?

Musicians have a greater volume of gray matter in Heschl's gyrus.

The posterior pyriform cortex connects with the entorhinal cortex, perirhinal cortex, and amygdala to link olfactory sensations with what?

Memory and emotion.

A disturbance of auditory sensation is associated with lesions to which Brodmann areas?

Areas 41, 42, and 22.

Disorders of music perception are most probably linked to lesions in the _____.

superior temporal gyrus

Poor long-term memory is a symptom of lesions affecting which areas of the temporal lobe?

Areas TE, TF, TH, and area 28.

Changes in personality and affect are most probable following lesions to which temporal lobe structures?

Area TE and the amygdala.

Impaired comprehension of language is associated with a lesion in which specific area and hemisphere?

Area 22 in the left hemisphere (Wernicke's area).

Patients with temporal-lobe damage need up to _____ milliseconds between sounds to identify which came first, compared to 50-60ms for controls.

500

Damage to Wernicke's area produces what disorder?

Aphasia (a disturbance of language comprehension).

What is congenital amusica?

A condition where an individual is tone deaf from birth, which cannot be remedied by music training.

Patients with damage to the right temporal lobe often fail to notice what when describing a visual scene?

They fail to notice things that are out of place or don't fit the context.

Damage to the _____ temporal lobe results in bilateral deficits in shifting attention between stimuli.

right

Damage to the _____ temporal lobe results in impairments in categorization, such as the inability to place words into categories.

left

Olfactory auras are often associated with seizures in which brain lobe?

The temporal lobe.

Damage to the right temporal cortex impairs the ability of people to interpret information from _____.

context

The inability to form new memories, known as anterograde amnesia, resulted from the removal of what brain region?

The medial temporal lobe, including the hippocampus and adjacent cortex.

Damage to the left inferotemporal cortex results in memory impairments for what type of material?

Verbal material.

Damage to the right inferotemporal cortex results in memory impairments for what type of material?

Nonverbal material.

Temporal-lobe epilepsy is associated with what kind of personality changes?

Personality changes that emphasize trivia and details in daily life.

Bilateral damage to the amygdala results in what specific behavioral change?

Increased sexual behaviors.

The inferotemporal cortex is also known as what Brodmann area?

Area TE.

In the columnar organization of area TE, cortical columns are formed by neurons that respond to what?

Categories of shapes.

What part of the auditory system can identify a musical note's fundamental frequency even when it has been filtered out?

The auditory system can identify it based on the overtones (harmonics).

Personality changes after temporal lobe damage are more common after damage to which hemisphere?

The right hemisphere.

What is the core function of the occipitotemporal-neostriatal network within the ventral stream?

It projects to the striatum to support skill learning.