Summary Chapter 3: The Behavioral Geography of the Brain
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Course
Diagnostics
Institution
Universiteit Leiden (UL)
Book
Neuropsychological Assessment
This is an expansive summary of chapter 3 for the Diagnostics course at Leiden University.
It is written in a combination of bullet points and running text. So, if you prefer bullet points only, I recommend that you have a look first.
Extensive Lecture summary from the course Diagnostics in Clinical Neuropsychology
Summary literature for the course 'Diagnostics in Clinical Neuropsychology'of UL: fifth edition of the book Neuropsychological Assessment by Lezak, Howieson, Bigler, & Tranel
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Universiteit Leiden (UL)
Master Clinical Neuropsychology
Diagnostics
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Table of Contents
3 | The Behavioral Geography of the Brain 3
BRAIN PATHOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTION 3
THE CELLULAR SUBSTRATE 4
THE STRUCTURE OF THE BRAIN 4
The Hindbrain 5
The medulla oblongata 5
The reticular formation 6
The pons 6
The cerebellum 6
The Midbrain (Mesencephalon) 6
The Forebrain: Diencephalic Structures 7
The Thalamus 7
The hypothalamus 7
The Forebrain: The Cerebrum 8
The basal ganglia 8
The Limbic System 9
Intracerebral conduction pathways 9
The cerebral cortex 10
THE CEREBRAL CORTEX AND BEHAVIOR 10
Lateral Organization 10
Lateral asymmetry 10
Asymmetry between the hemispheres 11
Longitudinal Organization 14
FUNCTIONAL ORGANIZATION OF THE POSTERIOR CORTEX 14
The Occipital Lobes and Their Disorders 14
Blindness and associated problems 14
Visual agnosia and related disorders 15
Prosopagnosia 16
Two visuoperceptual systems 17
The Posterior Association Cortices and Their Disorders 17
Deficits arising from left posterior hemisphere lesions 18
Defects arising from right posterior hemisphere lesions 19
The Temporal Lobes and Their Disorders 20
Temporal cortex functions: information processing and lesion-associated defects
20
Memory and the temporal lobes 22
Emotion and the temporal lobes 23
FUNCTIONAL ORGANIZATION OF THE ANTERIOR CORTEX 24
Precentral Division 24
Premotor Division 25
Prefrontal Division 26
Prefrontal subdivisions 26
, Lateralization of prefrontal functions 27
Prefrontal cortex and attention 28
Prefrontal cortex and memory 28
Prefrontal cortex and cognitive functions 28
Behavior problems associated with prefrontal damage 29
Note: If you are referred to a specific page number in the summary, it is the one from
the PDF document. I don't use the page numbers stated in the book.
3 | The Behavioral Geography of the Brain
With progressing technologies, we are starting to learn more and more about the
brain. Neuroimaging techniques help us to uncover new information and to revise old
ideas of the brain. Some ideas that we revised are:
● Neurons DO proliferate after the early stages of development! This is the case
in some mammalian species, including humans. Neurogenesis might help
with repair of brain injury, new learning, and maintaining normal brain
functioning and emotional well-being. Essential areas for neurogenesis are
the hippocampus, and the olfactory bulb, and maybe also other limbic regions,
s.a. the neocortex, striatum, and substantia nigra.
● The basal ganglia are not only important for motor functions, but they also
play an important role in cognition and psychiatric conditions
● The motor cortex seems to play an active role in processing abstract learned
information
● The brain is deeply interconnected, even more than we had previously
assumed, and this makes it clear that even small lesions can have big effects
BRAIN PATHOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTION
As you may be pretty much aware of by now, the brain is extremely complex. Any
given behavior is a product of many different processes and interactions, and they
are not confined to any local area of the brain.
, Nonetheless, different psychological activities such as perception of tone or the
movement of the finger can be disrupted by lesions that are approximately the same
across humans. This means that some symptoms can be predicted by knowing the
location of the damage. But there are limits to such predictions, as behavioral
outcomes can be quite different. Let's just say that you cannot make a
straightforward correlation between the lesion and the deficit, but you can have a
broad idea.
THE CELLULAR SUBSTRATE
This part is a repetition of the common basics, so bullet points should be sufficient.
Otherwise, look at p. 65-66.
● Nervous system enables behavior and its activity modifies its performance,
its internal relationships, and its capacity to mediate stimuli from the outside.
● Neuron: The basic cell of the brain, which enables brain connectivity through
neurotransmitters. Even the neocortex alone has around 20 billion of them.
They conduct electrochemical impulses throughout the PNS and CNS. All
neurons are present from birth.
○ Nucleus (cell body)
○ Action potentials help them to communicate with each other. This
happens along axons that end in synapses.
○ Fasculi: Impulse transmitting axon bundles
● Glial cells: Supporting brain cells, there are several types. We have more
glial cells than neurons (by factor 2-3).
○ Astrocytes: Facilitate neural transmission, have a role in synaptic
functioning. Component of the blood-brain barrier.
○ Oligodendroglia: Form myelin for the axonal sheaths
● Blood-brain barrier: Prevents some substances in the blood from entering
the CNS
● Dendrite: The part of the neuron that receives information from other neurons
● Synapses: The way by which neurons communicate
● Synaptic vesicles: Are at the tip of axons, produce and house
neurotransmitters and interface with dendrites when released
● Excitatory and inhibitory pathways
● Long-term potentiation and long-term depression
● Neurotransmitters: Typical ones are acetylcholine, GABA, glutamate,
norepinephrine, serotonin, dopamine
● Apoptosis: Programmed cell death, enhances organization and efficiency of
some neuronal pathways in a process called pruning, which can be
prevented by neurotrophic factors
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