CDT Anatomy & Physiology Fundamentals 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: The magnocellular pathway in the visual system is thought to be particularly relevant to dyslexia because it processes:
- Color and fine detail
- Rapid temporal changes and motion (Correct answer)
- Contrast and brightness only
- Binocular depth perception
Correct answer: Rapid temporal changes and motion
The magnocellular pathway processes rapid temporal information and motion, and some researchers propose that magnocellular deficits contribute to the visual timing difficulties seen in some individuals with dyslexia.
Question 2: Which lobe of the brain contains the primary auditory cortex (Heschl's gyrus)?
- Frontal lobe
- Parietal lobe
- Temporal lobe (Correct answer)
- Occipital lobe
Correct answer: Temporal lobe
Heschl's gyrus, the primary auditory cortex, is located on the superior surface of the temporal lobe within the lateral sulcus (Sylvian fissure).
Question 3: Which neurotransmitter is most closely associated with attention and focus, and is targeted by stimulant medications sometimes used in co-occurring ADHD?
- Serotonin
- Dopamine and norepinephrine (Correct answer)
- GABA
- Acetylcholine
Correct answer: Dopamine and norepinephrine
Stimulant medications used for ADHD primarily increase dopamine and norepinephrine availability in prefrontal circuits, improving attention and executive function.
Question 4: The inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) in the left hemisphere, also known as Broca's area, contributes to reading by:
- Storing orthographic representations of whole words
- Supporting phonological analysis and subvocal rehearsal (Correct answer)
- Processing the visual features of individual letters
- Coordinating eye movements during reading
Correct answer: Supporting phonological analysis and subvocal rehearsal
Broca's area (left IFG) is involved in phonological processing, articulatory rehearsal, and the assembly of phonemes during decoding, making it important for reading.
Question 5: Which part of the inner ear contains the hair cells responsible for transducing sound waves into neural signals?
- Semicircular canals
- Utricle
- Cochlea (Correct answer)
- Eustachian tube
Correct answer: Cochlea
The cochlea contains hair cells (inner and outer) that convert mechanical vibrations from sound waves into electrical neural signals transmitted via the auditory nerve.
Question 6: The angular gyrus, located at the junction of temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes, is important for reading because it:
- Produces the motor commands for eye saccades
- Integrates visual, auditory, and language information for grapheme-phoneme mapping (Correct answer)
- Stores procedural memory for letter formation
- Regulates emotional responses to reading failure
Correct answer: Integrates visual, auditory, and language information for grapheme-phoneme mapping
The angular gyrus is a convergence zone that integrates multimodal information, supporting the mapping of visual letter patterns (graphemes) to their corresponding sounds (phonemes).
Question 7: Neuroplasticity research in dyslexia intervention studies most commonly shows that effective reading instruction leads to:
- Growth of new neurons in the hippocampus only
- Increased activation in left-hemisphere reading circuits and reduced compensatory right-hemisphere activity (Correct answer)
- Permanent reduction in left-hemisphere language areas
- Increased white matter volume in the corpus callosum only
Correct answer: Increased activation in left-hemisphere reading circuits and reduced compensatory right-hemisphere activity
After effective reading intervention, neuroimaging studies show normalization of left-hemisphere reading network activation and reduction in the compensatory over-recruitment of right-hemisphere regions.
CDT Anatomy & Physiology Fundamentals 3
The magnocellular pathway in the visual system is thought to be particularly relevant to dyslexia because it processes: