Neuroanatomy, Communication Disorders, and Neurogenic Pathologies Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards generated from lecture notes on Central and Peripheral Nervous System structures, cranial nerves, language/speech/cognition definitions, aphasia classifications, paraphasia types, right hemisphere damage deficits, stroke etiologies, and memory types.

Wernicke's Area

A brain region in the temporal lobe of the language-dominant hemisphere responsible for interpreting and decoding speech.

Broca's Area

A brain region in the frontal lobe of the language-dominant hemisphere responsible for forming and encoding speech.

Frontal Lobe

Brain lobe containing Broca's area and the primary motor cortex (voluntary movement); responsible for high-level thinking, some emotion, and personality.

Parietal Lobe

Brain lobe that receives and processes sensory information; contains the primary sensory cortex.

Temporal Lobe

Brain lobe containing the hippocampus (memory), Wernicke's area, and primary auditory cortex.

Occipital Lobe

Brain lobe responsible for vision; contains the visual association cortex.

Anatomical Map of the Brain

Diagram depicting the major cerebral lobes (Frontal, Parietal, Temporal, Occipital), sulci (Central sulcus, Lateral sulcus), and key functional areas (Broca's Area, Wernicke's Area, Primary motor cortex, Primary sensory cortex, Primary auditory cortex, Primary visual cortex).

Thalamus

Brain relay station that directs afferent signals to their appropriate destinations in the brain.

Basal Ganglia

Subcortical structure that plays a key role in movement.

Limbic System

Brain system responsible for fight/flight responses, pleasure, emotional memory, motivation, feeding, and mating behaviors.

Cognition

The ability to process thought.

Speech

Sounds made by the mouth to produce words.

Language

A set of symbols used to convey meaning across multiple modalities.

Arcuate Fasciculus

The neural pathway connecting Broca's and Wernicke's areas; damage disrupts this connection, causing global aphasia or repetition deficits.

Corpus Callosum

Structure connecting the left and right hemispheres; damage leads to uncoordinated movements and communication deficits.

Trigeminal Nerve (CN V)

Cranial nerve originating in the pons (sensory/motor) responsible for sensation from the face, lips, and jaw, and movement of the mandible.

Facial Nerve (CN VII)

Cranial nerve originating in the pons (sensory/motor) responsible for taste from the anterior 2/3 of the tongue and movement of the lips and face.

Cochleovestibular Nerve (CN VIII)

Sensory cranial nerve originating in the pons and medulla responsible for hearing and balance.

Glossopharyngeal Nerve (CN IX)

Cranial nerve originating in the medulla (sensory/motor) responsible for taste from the posterior 1/3 of the tongue and movement of the superior pharynx.

Vagus Nerve (CN X)

Cranial nerve originating in the medulla (sensory/motor) responsible for sensation from the larynx, pharynx, and abdominal viscera, and movement of the larynx, pharynx, and velum.

Accessory Nerve (CN XI)

Motor cranial nerve originating in the medulla and spinal cord that assists the Vagus nerve in movement of the larynx, pharynx, and velum.

Hypoglossal Nerve (CN XII)

Motor cranial nerve originating in the medulla responsible for movement of the tongue.

Fluent Aphasia

Aphasia characterized by fluent yet nonsensical speech, usually without motor deficits, where the patient is unaware of the deficit; caused by damage to or near Wernicke's area in the dominant hemisphere.

Nonfluent Aphasia

Aphasia characterized by agrammatic, halting, and effortful speech often with more content words, where the patient is usually aware of the deficit; caused by damage near the anterior motor area of the dominant hemisphere.

Global Aphasia

The most severe type of aphasia, characterized by little to no language, making patients candidates for AAC.

Transcortical Motor Aphasia

A nonfluent aphasia similar to Broca's aphasia, but with intact repetition ability.

Transcortical Sensory Aphasia

A fluent aphasia similar to Wernicke's aphasia, but with intact repetition ability.

Conduction Aphasia

Aphasia in which Broca's and Wernicke's areas are not connected, resulting in an inability to repeat or paraphrase.

Anomic Aphasia

Aphasia characterized by fluent speech and intact receptive language, but severe word-finding difficulty (anomia).

Anomia

Deficit in word-finding ability.

Agrammatism

Lack of grammar characterized by telegraphic speech using fewer function words and more content words.

Phonemic Paraphasia

An expressive language error where the word produced is mostly identifiable, but contains phonemic-level mistakes such as deletion, substitution, or transposition.

Neologism Paraphasia

An expressive language error where the produced word is 50% or more different/unintelligible from the target word, creating a made-up word.

Semantic Paraphasia

An expressive language error where the word produced is similar yet different from the target word.

Unrelated Verbal Aphasia

An expressive language error where the word produced is completely unrelated to the target word.

Perseverative Aphasia

Repeatedly but not purposefully repeating a word while knowing it is not the target word; being stuck on a word.

Alexia

Impairments in reading, encompassing many subtypes such as dyslexia.

Agraphia

Impairments in the ability to form letters or words.

Logorrhea

Nonstop output of speech, associated with Wernicke's aphasia.

Anosognosia

Neurological denial or unawareness of a deficit or problem that oneself has (not a psychological choice).

Schuell's Stimulation Therapy

A restorative approach that focuses on using auditory language to bring back other language modalities based on neuroplasticity.

Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT)

A restorative approach that uses intact melodic and prosodic processing of the right hemisphere to retrieve language.

Constraint Induced Therapy (CIT)

A restorative approach involving intensive speech drills with no gestures or other modalities allowed.

Errorless Learning Therapy

A restorative approach where task difficulty is set low to avoid errors so that errors are not reinforced.

Prosopagnosia

Inability or difficulty to recognize faces, caused by damage to the visual association cortex in the occipital lobe.

Simultagnosia

Visuoperceptual deficit characterized by difficulty visually comprehending many details at once, caused by damage to the right parietal-occipital area.

Cerebral Achromatopsia

Acquired color blindness where a person sees shades of gray, caused by damage to the right hemisphere.

Neglect

Attentional deficit involving the inability to attend to one side of the body and/or its environment, caused by damage to the right temporal-parietal-occipital area.

Capgras Delusion

Neuropsychiatric delusion characterized by the belief that a loved one has been replaced by an imposter with malevolent intent.

Fregoli Delusion

Neuropsychiatric delusion characterized by the belief that a familiar person is assuming someone else's appearance and following them with malevolent intent.

Ischemic Stroke

Stroke caused by a blockage or restriction in a blood vessel blocking oxygen-rich blood to the brain; includes thrombotic, embolic, and TIA types.

Hemorrhagic Stroke

Stroke occurring when a blood vessel ruptures or bursts in the brain, causing bleeding in the brain and interrupted blood flow.

Thrombosis

An occlusion that slowly forms in an artery.

Embolism

A mass, such as a blood clot or broken thrombus, that travels to an artery and lodges inside.

Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA)

A 'mini' stroke that typically resolves itself within 24 hours, serving as a warning for a possible future stroke.

Aneurysm

Abnormal stretching or ballooning of a blood vessel wall that can lead to a rupture.

Tonic Clonic Seizure

Generalized seizure impacting the whole brain with loss of consciousness and two distinct phases: tonic (loss of awareness, stiffened body) and clonic (convulsions, twitching for 2-3 minutes).

Petit Mal Seizure

Seizure characterized by loss of awareness for a couple of minutes, which can go unnoticed because it resembles daydreaming.

Working Memory

Ability to hold a finite amount of information for immediate processing and manipulation.

Episodic Memory

Ability to recall specific and recent events.

Semantic Memory

Memory for word knowledge, information, facts, and ideas.

Declarative Memory

Ability to remember and recall facts.

Procedural Memory

Ability to remember sequences of actions needed to complete a task.