Anatomy & Physiology Fundamentals Flashcards
7 cards from real CDT practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Anatomy & Physiology Fundamentals flashcards as text
The cerebellum has been implicated in some theories of dyslexia primarily due to its role in:
Answer: Automating overlearned motor and cognitive sequences
The cerebellar deficit hypothesis (Nicolson & Fawcett) proposes that cerebellar dysfunction impairs automatization of skills like reading and writing, which require procedural learning.
Which white matter tract connects the occipital lobe to the temporal and parietal lobes and is part of the ventral reading stream?
Answer: Inferior longitudinal fasciculus
The inferior longitudinal fasciculus connects occipital visual areas to temporal regions, forming part of the ventral 'what' stream important for recognizing whole word forms.
During oral reading aloud, which sequence of brain regions is most accurately activated in a fluent reader?
Answer: Occipital → parietal → frontal → motor cortex
Reading aloud generally proceeds from visual processing (occipital), to orthographic-phonological mapping (parietal-temporal), to phonological retrieval and articulation planning (frontal and motor cortex).
What is the role of the thalamus in phonological processing?
Answer: It acts as a relay station for sensory signals, including auditory information, on the way to cortex
The thalamus serves as the brain's relay station, routing auditory information from the brainstem (via the medial geniculate nucleus) to the auditory cortex for higher processing.
A child with dyslexia demonstrates slow, effortful decoding but good listening comprehension. This profile is most consistent with a deficit in which neural system?
Answer: The dorsal phonological decoding pathway
Slow, effortful decoding with intact listening comprehension points to a deficit in the dorsal phonological pathway (temporoparietal region), which maps print to sound, while semantic comprehension networks remain functional.
Which hemispheric specialization pattern is most typical for language functions in right-handed individuals?
Answer: Left hemisphere dominant for language, right hemisphere for visuospatial processing
In approximately 95% of right-handed individuals, language is left-lateralized, while the right hemisphere shows relative specialization for visuospatial and prosodic processing.
The phonological loop, a component of working memory important for reading, consists of:
Answer: A phonological store and an articulatory rehearsal process
Baddeley's phonological loop comprises a phonological store (holds sound-based information briefly) and a subvocal articulatory rehearsal process that refreshes decaying traces.