Applied Psychology 654
Neurobiological & developmental Bases of Learning and Behaviour
Final Examination (Take-Home)
The Rules
1. You may discuss the exam with other students if you wish. It is impossible to
mandate independent work on a take-home exam.
2. However, I want each person to develop and write their own answers. Please do
NOT divide up the questions and have one person answer one question for
everyone else. This is relevant to the long answer section in particular. If answers
sound too much alike, students will be asked to complete make-up questions
under my direct supervision.
3. Completed exams are due by the end of the day (4:30 pm mountain time) on
Monday December 12th. Late exams will be penalized 5% / day starting Tuesday
(i.e. exams received Tuesday will lose 5%, Wednesday 10%, etc.)
4. Academic dishonesty (plagiarism) will be dealt with in accordance with university
policy.
5. The exam is marked out of 90 points. Your score on the exam will be divided in
half, thus accounting for 45% of your final grade.
Good luck everyone!
Section 1:
Match items in columns A and B. In the space before the items in column B, put the letter
of the matching item from column A:
Column A
Column B
A. Neglect
_E_ visual system
B. The Bell Curve
_I_ responds to stress
C. Aphasia
_G_ mental flexibility, for instance
D. Language Acquisition Device
_A_ Visual-spatial disorder
E. LGN
_J_ memory disorder
F. Myelin
_H_ unilateral weakness or paralysis
G. Executive function
_C_ language disorder
H. Hemiparesis
_D_ Noam Chomsky
I. HPA axis
_F_ facilitates fast neural impulses
J. Amnesia
_B_ Proposed genetic basis for racial IQ
differences
Mark: _____ / 20
Section 2: Short Answer Questions. Choose 10 of the following 14 questions. Feel free
to use point form. Each question is marked out of 3, so answers should require no more
than 3 sentences.
1. What embryonic structure(s) become(s) the ventricular system? List the
ventricles in the human brain.
- The neural tube forms the ventricular system.
Ventricles:
-
2 Lateral (within each cerebral hemisphere)
third and fourth ventricles (along midline)
2. Explain the difference between a critical period and a sensitive period.
- Critical period certain conditions are necessary for normal development during this
time.
- Sensitive period certain conditions can influence the course of development during
this time.
3. What postnatal neurodevelopmental process is unique to the postnatal period (i.e.
we dont think it happens prenatally)?
- Competitive elimination Non-genetically driven period of neural elimination.
- Surplus neurons eliminated
- Important contribution of environment (experiences) - Use it or lose it!
4. What are the motor and sensory homunculi?
- Scaled pictorial representations of the anatomical divisions of the primary motor cortex
and the primary somatosensory cortex.
- Shows the relative representation of the different parts of the body.
5. What is Apraxia?
- A motor planning disorder where a person is unable to carry out planned, skilled
movements (anything that requires motor planning) even though the required muscles
work properly (they can execute/inhibit movements appropriately).
- Examples: writing, using cutlery
6. What is the circuit of Papez?
- Pathway in the limbic system involved in control of emotion and in encoding of
memories.
- Loop: hippocampus, fornix, mammillary bodies, thalamus, cingulate cortex, through
temporal lobe back to hippocampus (the encoder the 2nd time).
7. How is language cortically represented in most right and left handed people?
- Lateralized on the left side of the brain
8. What functions are related to Brocas and Wernickes areas, respectively?
- Brocas area motor aspects of language expression, located in the frontal lobe
- Wernickes area heavily involved in language comprehension, located in the temporal
lobe extending back into the parietal cortex.
9. What is commonly referred to as Jensens error?
10. Identify two major traditions in the development of intelligence testing.
11. List the components of Lurias model of executive functions.
12. What distinguishes Aspergers disorder from Autism?
Aspergers does not have the same level of impairment as Autism, though you can see
similar social and behavioural difficulties (e.g., impaired social reciprocity,
stereotyped/restricted interests) but typically without the language deficit (language
delayed/absent in Autism).
13. Discuss assessment issues in FAS-D. How can we improve our diagnostic
accuracy?
- Difficult to determine the pattern/amount of alcohol exposure of alcohol consumption
(reliance on self-report or report by someone with direct knowledge; individuals may
under-report/fail to report; depending on amount, it may be difficult for that person to
have accurate knowledge about their use).
- Must account for the effects of co-occurring conditions
- Lack of standardization in the area
- Accuracy can be improved with use of a standardized approach (FAS Diagnostic and
Prevention Network) code based on 4 criteria (growth deficiency, FAS facial features,
CNS damage, prenatal alcohol).
14. Choose one of the Pervasive Developmental Disorders or one Learning Disability.
Suggest 2 intervention strategies you might use if you are planning to work with an
individual who has the condition you have chosen.
Mark: ______ / 30
Section 3: Long answer questions. Choose 4 of the following 7 questions. Each question
is worth 10 marks. Answers should not be more than 1 page in length. Feel free to use
point form if you wish
1. Discuss postnatal brain development. How do these maturational processes help
us to understand disorders of brain functioning? Be sure to refer to plasticity and
cognitive reserve in your discussion.
2. List and briefly describe at least 5 disorders of muscle tone.
1) Paralysis total loss of muscle function for one or more muscle sets (no movement).
Most typically caused by nervous system damage (e.g., spinal cord injury). Location of
injury determines type of paralysis (e.g., lower injury paralysis of legs/lower body,
higher up quadriplegia).
2) Paresis attenuated movement/weakness of certain areas or groups of muscles. Often
the result of damage to the primary motor cortex from a stroke or acquired brain injury
(e.g., damage to middle of motor strip (thumb/hand area) weakness in one arm).
The following often co-occur with paresis:
3) Spasticity refers to the state of the muscles of a particular body area, usually the
limbs. Resistance of the muscle increases with the strength or speed of manipulation (i.e.
the harder you push on the limb, the harder the muscles resist the pushing). Hard to do
physio with this type of disorder.
4) Rigidity The muscle resistance is independent of strength and speed of manipulation
(i.e. it doesnt matter how hard you push, has the same amount of resistance). Somewhat
better response to physio, but not great.
5) Dystonia Involves involuntary muscle contractions (can be repetitive, but can also
be random), abnormal postures (e.g., head tilted, hunched over). These muscle
contractions are often dramatic and involve more than one muscle system. More random
than Tic Disorder (stereotyped/repetitive). Can still execute voluntary movements, but
poorly executed.
6) Hypotonia Reduced resistance to manipulation (i.e. flaccid muscles, poor muscle
tone). Can still execute voluntary movements, but weak.
3. List and briefly describe 5 disorders of visual perception (Hint: 4 of these are
subtypes of a single category).
1) Discrimination Disorder Impairment in ability to appreciate an object based on the
same types of attributes other people commonly use to recognize the object (e.g., salient
aspects of an object, its distinction from background, completion of partial features).
Agnosias: Inability to recognize familiar objects despite having intact sensory and
cognitive skills. Parietal/somatosensory and parietal/association areas. Can have
involvement of occipital and auditory areas. Different types listed below:
2) Simultanagnosia Relatively rare condition, cant derive meaning from component
parts of complex stimuli (e.g., panoramic view).
3) Object Agnosia Inability to recognize familiar objects (one at a time) even if their
components can be (e.g., can recognize tail, whiskers, but cannot identify that it is a cat).
4) Prosopagnosia A disorder of face perception. Relatively rare condition. Can have
selective deficits in the ability to recognize famous faces or familiar ones. Capgras
Syndrome variant of prosopagnosia where the individual is convinced their family has
been replaced by strangers/aliens (they dont recognize them).
5) Colour Agnosia inability to correctly associate colours with their names, though
different colours can be distinguished. These individuals can often match the same shades
of colours. Can also sometimes remember information about colours (e.g., a banana is
yellow, but cant recognize the colour yellow).
4. What, according to nativist and non-generative perspectives, do children
require for language development to proceed normally?
Nativist/Generative Perspective:
- We are hard-wired for language.
- Noam Chomsky: we possess an innate sensitivity to linguistic rules. With instruction
and practice our innate sensitivity is transformed into a set of language rules we can
apply creatively to new situations (i.e. in ways that have not been modeled).
- Universal Grammar set of inherent principles possessed by all languages, though
how they are expressed varies between languages.
- LAD (Language Acquisition Device) childrens brains seem to be organized in a
way that facilitates learning of linguistic rules. Allows them to figure out the structure of
their language without formal instruction (exposure necessary).
Non-Generative Perspective:
- Language is acquired through general principles of learning (no language-specific
modules).
- No universal grammar. Communication is the primary function of language. Doesnt
have any universal properties looking across languages, other than use language for
communication.
- Importance of individual differences in the course of language development (dependent
on grammatical structure of the language, experiences of the individual).
Commonalities:
Nativist and Non-Generative theorists would agree that children need the following
prerequisites for normal language development:
- sensory acuity, grossly normal cognitive development (biological)
- a certain quantity and quality of exposure starting at a young age, and fairly regular
(environmental)
- relationships that foster the development of the interpersonal nature of language,
language as a tool for communication, to share information (psychological)
5. Compare and contrast Brocas and Wernickes aphasias. Which language
abilities should one assess in order to accurately identify aphasia subtypes?
Brocas Aphasia
Non-fluent speech
If there is any output, it is telegraphic,
aprosodic and agrammatic
Speech apraxia
Anomia (word finding problems)
very common
Dysarthria (articulation problem)
Deep problems with reading/writing
appreciating phonetic and
grammatical properties of written text
Intact comprehension
Impaired repetition
Typically involves a lesion in the left
motor area involved in speech (frontal
lobe Brocas Area)
Wernickes Aphasia
Fluent speech, but often hyperfluent
(lots of word-finding and repetition
errors) which makes it difficult to
comprehend
Impaired comprehension (reading
comprehension may also be impaired)
Impaired repetition
Posterior Superior Temporal lesion,
typically left hemisphere (Wernickes
Area)
In order to accurately identify the subtypes of aphasia, you must ensure you assess the
following language abilities: verbal fluency, auditory comprehension, repetition and
object naming.
6. Discuss the tenets of the bell curve argument regarding the cause of racial
differences in IQ. Where do Herrnstein and Murray make critical logical and/or
empirical errors?
7. Discuss the putative role of the amygdala in our perception of our environment.
What are the two routes to our perception of danger? Discuss the relationships
between all the components of the limbic system (e.g. Papezs circuit) and how
this might shape our ability to learn from our environment.
Mark: ______ / 40
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