Chapter 7 - Temporal Lobes

Question 1

What are the principal areas of the temporal lobe?

Answer 1

• superior temporal gyrus
• middle temporal gyrus
• inferior temporal gyrus

Question 2

What are some of the important internal structures of the temporal lobe?

Answer 2

• the limbic system, specifically the amygdala and the hippocampus

Question 3

Primary auditory cortex

Answer 3

• sensation of the stimulus
• detection threshold of sounds

Question 4

Damage to the primary auditory cortex

Answer 4

• impairment in auditory detection thresholds in the contralateral ear to damage
• tone deaf - auditory agnosias

Question 5

Secondary auditory cortex

Answer 5

perception - adding meaning to sounds

Question 6

Damage to the secondary auditory cortex

Answer 6

• R side damage; difficulty in musical perception
• L side damage; difficulty in distinguishing btwn similarly sounding words

Question 7

Wernicke’s Area

Answer 7

• located in L temporal lobe
• important for reception and comprehension of language
• Wernicke’s aphasia - pt can produce speech, but not understand it

Question 8

Damage to Wernicke’s

Answer 8

• Wernicke’s aphasia - difficulty in comprehending speech
• difficulty writing and speaking fluently
• paraphasia - substituting incorrect words
• pt unaware of deficit

Question 9

The temporal lobes are important for which visual functions? ​

Answer 9

• higher visual pathways enter this lobe
• visual processing of complex stimuli
• obj recognition

Question 10

Damage to the temporal lobe could result to what visual impairments?

Answer 10

• similar symptoms to Dr. P
• prosopagnosia - difficulty recognizing faces
• loss of upper half of field of vision
• visual agnosia - cannot ID objs visually

Question 11

Attention

Answer 11

• selective attention to visual or auditory input

Question 12

Damage to the temporal lobe could result to what attentional impairments?

Answer 12

• inability to attend to one source of stimulation specifically
• integration of stimuli perceived in diff sensory modalities (seeing sounds)
• tested using the McGill picture anomaly task - pt has to name what is wrong with the picture

Question 13

Memory

Answer 13

• controlled by medial temporal lobe, includes the hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus and the amygdala
• long term memory, spatial memory

Question 14

Mediotemporal lobe damage

Answer 14

• bilateral damage: memory deficit (anterograde amnesia), difficulty w/ digit span test, H.M., Clive Wearing, and Jimmy Gwas an example
• R side damage: impairment of spatial memory (EX: learning how to go through a maze)
• L side damage: impairment of verbal memory (have pt tell you a story, give Wecshler test)

Question 15

H.M.

Answer 15

• removal of both medial temporal lobes to treat severe seizures
• resulted in anterograde amnesia (cannot make any new memories)
• tested via digit span test

Question 16

Mirror Drawing Task

Answer 16

• pt has to look at a mirror only, and trace a shape
• H.M. and Jimmy showed improvement, but couldn’t remember doing it

Question 17

Gollins Incomplete Figures

Answer 17

• pt shown pairs of incomplete pictures, should be able to ID what they are earlier and earlier
• H.M. showed improvement in this task

Question 18

Where was Clive Wearing’s damage centralized?

Answer 18

• L side, due to larger L ventricle

Question 19

Corsi Block Tapping Task

Answer 19

• pt has to tap blocks in order following what the neurpsych does
• difficulty doing so if R side is damaged

Question 20

Brenda Milner

Answer 20

• cambridge gra who pioneered neuropsychology
• studies and tested pts before and after temporal lobe removal

Question 21

Rey-Osterrieth Task

Answer 21

• pt is shown a picture and must draw it from memory
• difficulty when there has been damage to R mediotemporal lobe

Question 22

Temporal lobe epilepsy (excessive activity in the area) can result in changes in personality like:

Answer 22

• aggressive outbursts
• hallucinations (auditory, visual)
• changes in sexual activity or orientation
• religious conversions
• oversharing in convos, may be difficult to get away from in convos

Question 23

Temporal lobe epilepsy can result in altered states of experience like:

Answer 23

• depersonalization
• paranoia/paranoid ideas
• deja vu
• jammis - opposite of deja vu

Question 24

John from video who had temporal lobe epilepsy

Answer 24

• felt omnipotent after seizures
• experienced depersonalization

Question 25

Kluver Bucy Syndrome

Answer 25

- severe damage to bilateral mediotemporal lobes - insatiable appetite to things - change in sexuality, even for inanimate things - calm and passive

Question 26

Bilateral damage in the temporal lobes

Answer 26

- anterograde amnesia

Question 27

Jimmy

Answer 27

- cirrhosis of the liver and Korsakoff's - memory deficit - anterograde amnesia - memory ended in 1945