Regional function of the brain

• Major cerebral lobes

  A) frontal

  B) parietal

  C) temporal

  D) occipital

  E) cerebellum

  
• Frontal lobe functions

  • cognitive functions (judgement, decision making, planning and excretion)
  • affective/emotional behaviour
  • control autonomic systems
  • motor functions
• Temporal lobe functions

  • short-term and long-term memory
  • hearing
• Cerebellum function

  • coordination of movement
• Parietal lobe functions

  • receive and analyse somatic sensory stimulation and integrate with other information i.e. spatial awareness, sensation
• Occipital lobe function

  • recognise visual stimuli from contralateral half field of sight
• Language and handedness are lateralised functions. Most people have a dominant left hemisphere. (about half of left handed people are left hemisphere dominant)
• important sulci

  A) central sulcus

  B) lateral sulcus

  
• What is the correct associated function of the highlighted areas?

  A) speech comprehension

  B) speech production

  
• Broca's area in the frontal lobe is responsible for speech production
• Wernicke's area in the temporal lobe is responsible for speech comprehension
• Dysphasia - disorder of higher centre control of using communication/language, either receptive or expressive
• Dysarthria - difficulty with articulation, no problems with content of speech
• Dysphonia - altered quality of voice with reduction in volume
• Broca's area (expressive) aphasia

  • single word comprehension and reading is fine
  • short utterances
  • effortful, clumsy
  • repetition problems
  • grammar problems
• Wernicke's area (receptive) aphasia

  • fluent, grammatical, prosodic
  • decreased comprehension
  • irrelevant and/or non-words
  • decreased reading and writing skills
• What lobe is affected if the patient has change in personality and decreased inhibition?

  Frontal lobe
• Frontal lobe damage

  • personality change
  • re-emergence of multiple primitive reflexes
  • contra-lateral weakness according to homunculus
  • gait apraxia
  • expressive aphasia
  • loss of micturition control
• What lobe is affected if patient develops ataxic gait, dysarthria and nystagmus?

  Cerebellum
• Cerebellum damage

  • dysdiadokinesia/dysmetria
  • ataxia
  • nystagmus
  • intention tremor
  • slurred speech
  • hypotonia
• What lobe is affected in patient with difficulty with language comprehension and memory loss?

  temporal lobe
• Temporal lobe damage

  • memory loss
  • upper quadrant hemianopia
  • dysphasia
• Which lobe is affected in a patient with left-sided spatial neglect and inability to recognise a sponge touching her skin when eyes are closed?

  Parietal lobe
• Dominant parietal lobe damage

  • Gerstman's syndrome
  • acalculia
  • agraphia
  • left-right discrimination
  • finger agnosia
• Non-dominant parietal lobe damage

  • visual/sensory inattention
  • visual field defects
  • tactile agnosia
  • two-point discrimination
  • constructional agnosia
  • spatial neglect
• What lobe is affected if the patient cannot see the right half of his visual field?

  Occipital lobe
• Occipital lobe damage

  • contralateral homonymous hemianopia
• Nonfluent/agrammatic primary progressive aphasia: grammatical deficit, comprehension intact
• Semantic primary progressive aphasia: naming and comprehension deficits, grammar and syntax intact
• Logopenic primary progressive aphasia: word finding difficulties and repetition