Session 13 - Emotion, Memory, and Language

What is emotion

Subjective experience inbued with a physical quality that is agreeable (pleasant) or disagreeable (unpleasant)

What are the 6 universal basic facial expressions?

Anger, Fear, Disgust, Happy, Sad, Suprise

Define memory

Mental registration, retention, and recall of past experience, knowledge, ideas, sensations, and thoughts

What is prospective memory?

Memory of the future, predict what may happen

Define working memory

Running commentary mediated by the prefrontal cortex (plan/organize in real time)

Define short term memory

A short lived period during which the learned event can remembered (lasts only seconds to minutes)

Define consolidation

Intermediate process whereby short term memory is transferred to long term memory

Define long term memory

The event can be recalled over a period of days or years, even a lifetime

What is declarative (explicit) memory?

Memory for facts and events, episodic and semantic

What is procedural (implicit) memory?

Memory of procedures and skills

What structures are found in the temporal lobe?

Amygdala, uncus, hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, dentate gyrus, cingulate gyrus

Henry Gustav Molaison

Removal of large section of temporal lobes to treat epilepsy; lost ability to consolidate STM into LTM; IQ, procedural memory, and LTM were spared

To form new declarative memories you need what

At least one intact hippocampus

Where are memories stored after is has been consolidated?

Pre-frontal cortical areas

What do deficits in language result from?

Cerebral injury on left side

Deficits in speech may follow injury to what structures?

Cerebrum, brainstem, cerebellum, or PNS structures

What is the planum temporale

Primary auditory cortex

On what side is the planum temporale larger?

Left side

What are found in the Perisylvian language zone?

Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area

What does the Superior longitudinal fasciculus do?

Connects Broca’s to Wernicke’s area

Where is Broca’s area found?

Frontal lobe

Where is Wernicke’s area found?

Parietal lobe

Broca’s aphasia

Also called motor, expressive, anterior, or non-fluent aphasia; few words and difficulty with language production (comprehension intact)

What does Broca’s aphasia result from?

Damage to the posterior part of the inferior frontal gyrus and surrounding cerebrum

Wernicke’s Aphasia

Also called sensory, receptive, posterior, or fluent aphasia; characterized by deficit in language comprehension with relatively fluent but error-filled production

What does Wernicke’s Aphasia result from?

Damage to posterior part of the superior temporal gyrus and surrounding cerebrum

Global aphasia

Characterized by impairments in language production and comprehension; caused by lesion that destroys nearly all of the perisylvian language zone

What is prosody?

Rhythm, pitch, loudness, intonation, length, emphasis, stress, frequency, duration, tones

What side of the brain causes prosody?

Non-dominant hemisphere (Right side)

Motor prosody would result in what?

Monotone voice

Sensory prosody would result in what

Inability to understand sarcasm, excitement, etc.

Clinical evaluation of language

Observation

MoCA test

Screening assessment for detecting cognitive impairment

Define cognition

Mental processes by which the brain manipulates information; very interrelated with language, emotion and memory

What is a unimodal association cortex

An area of brain that is really involved with one modality (occipital lobe for visual information)

What is a multimodal association cortex?

Area of brain that received information from several unimodal association areas

What are the two lateral association cortexes?

Posterior association cortex

Anterior association cortex

What is the deeper multimodal association cortex?

Basomedial (limbic) association cortex

What can go wrong with damage to the posterior association area?

Spatial cognition on the right side (unilateral hemispatial neglect)

Facial recognition (damage to the temporal lobe): Prosopagnosia

What are tests for the Posterior Association Area?

Draw a clock, flower, or house; three dimensional block design test

What are anterior association areas known for?

Neural substrates for planning, foresight, insight, empathy, altruism, abstract reasoning, self-awareness, and the governing of emotion

Phineas Gage

Iron rod destroyed prefrontal lobe; lost ability to regulate and govern emotion

How do you test Anterior Association Area?

Observation of behavior, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Stroop Test

Describe the Basomedial (limbic) association cortex

Involved with emotional processing and performance evaluation and optimization; roles in focused problem solving, error recognition, and anticipation

Cognitive functions of the basal ganglia

Basal ganglia mediates cognitive function through the caudate nucleus

What are the two complex basal ganglia loops?

Dorsolateral prefrontal circuit, Limbic circuit

What does the dorsolateral prefrontal circuit do?

Role in cognition such as executive functioning

What does the limbic circuit do?

Role in motivation

Parkinson’s disease

Patient have cognitive deficits so they achieve fewer card-sorting categories on the WCST

Huntington’s Disease

Triad of behavioral manifestations (motor, cognitive, and memory impairments); subcortical dementia due to loss of striatal neurons, co-occurs with depression of prefrontal neuronal function