Chapter 8: The Cerebrum: Cerebral Function

Brodmann Areas

52 brain regions based on gross anatomy and cellular structure of the brain.

Prefrontal Cortex

Involved in cognition (executive control), personality, decision making, and social structure

If there's damage to the Prefrontal cortex, it can cause what?

It can change personality; Ex: Phineas Gage

What are the two profiles resulting from damage in the Prefrontal Cortex?

Profile 1: Depressive

Profile 2: Manic

Broca's Area

BA 44 and 45; involved in interpretation of language (syntax) and planning/programming of verbal responses; involved in coordination of speech organs for language production

Damage to Broca's area can cause:

Broca's Aphasia or Apraxia of Speech Impairment leading to difficulty in speech production.

Broca's Aphasia

Impairment leading to difficulty in speech production

Premotor Cortex

plans and selects motor movements.

Supplementary Motor Area

involved in sequencing and "turning on" motor plans

Primary Motor Cortex

Sends motor plans to muscles and integrates motor information form the supplementary motor area and premotor cortex to the muscles for them to act

Homunculus

A representation on the motor strip related to how much of the brain is dedicated to particular movements

Primary Sensory Cortex is also known as

the somatosensory cortex

What somatosensory information does the primary sensory cortex process?

Vibration, proprioception, touch, and astereognosis

Astereognosis

Inability to recognize objects by touch.

Somatosensory Association Cortex

interprets sensory experience during motor movements; specifically used to refine motor action (writing) and it is involved in fine motor movements associated with speech

Angular Gyrus

involved in reading and math abilities.

Damage to the angular gyrus can lead to:

alexia and acalculia

Alexia

difficulty with reading

Acalculia

Difficulty with mathematical calculations.

Supramarginal Gyrus

involved in phonological processing, storing auditory representations and word sounding.

Phonological Dyslexia

Difficulty reading new and non-words.

Occipital Lobe

Processes and receives visual information from the eyes.

What are two streams in the occipital lobe?

dorsal stream and ventral stream

Dorsal Stream

Analyzes motion and spatial relationships in vision.

Ventral Stream

Analyzes forms, colors, and faces in vision.

Damage to occipital lobe can cause

simultanagnosia, proposopagnosia, and micro/macopsia

Simultanagnosia

Inability to perceive multiple elements of a scene.

Prosopagnosia

Inability to recognize familiar faces.

micro/macropsia

things look abnormally small/large

Inferior Temporal Area

processes auditory, language info, and reading facial emotions

Parahippocampal gyrus

located on the medial surface of the temporal lobe

Hippocampus

Associated with declarative memory.

Entorhinal Cortex

major input/output relay between cerebral cortex and the hippocampus.

Fusiform Gyrus is also known as...

the occipitotemporal gyrus

Fusiform Gyrus

involved in remembering and naming seen objects acting as visual lexicon

Lesions in fusiform gyrus can cause:

anomia and lexical agraphia

Anomia

inability to name objects

Lexical agraphia

difficulty writing words

Primary Olfactory Cortex

receives and processes smell from the nose and emotional connections through the limbic system

Damage to the primary olfactory cortex can cause:

anosmia

Anosmia

Loss of smell due to damage.

Auditory Cortex

Receives auditory information from the ears through CN VII and the auditory pathway, processes sound intensity and frequency, organized by tones

The auditory cortex is also known as

Heschl's gyrus

Wernicke's Area

BA 22; attaches meaning to auditory information.

Wernicke's Aphasia

Characterized by verbal jargon and comprehension issues.

Cingulate Cortex

between the corpus callosum and frontal and parietal lobes; involved in the limbic system having connections to the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus

Functionally what do the anterior and posterior parts of the cingulate cortex do?

ACC: filters out irrelevant information

PCC: detects important information

Insular Cortex

Deep in lateral sulcus; role in language, lexical decision making, and possibly global aphasia

Global aphasia

large parts of the brain are impaired causing lots of impairments