Deck 9: Disorders of Thinking and Problem-Solving

Question 1

Luria (1966) suggested that the responsibility of the frontal lobes is to

A) store and consolidate long-term memories
B) regulate visual input
C) program and regulate behaviour
D) control circadian rhythms of the body

Answer 1

C

Question 2

How do frontal patients tend to perform on the Stroop test?

A) very well
B) the same as individuals without frontal lobe lesions
C) very poorly
D) only slightly worse than individuals without frontal lobe lesions

Answer 2

C

Question 3

In sorting or organising tasks, frontal patients tend to

A) perform very well
B) make use of negative feedback
C) not make use of negative feedback
D) not make use of negative feedback until very late on in the task

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Barceló and Knight (2002) termed the trial and error process of rule learning

A) efficient errors
B) efficient learning
C) inefficient errors
D) inefficient learning

Question 5

The Brixton Spacial Anticipation Test differs from the Winconsin Card Sorting Test in that

A) it creates far less confusion for participants
B) it allows for greater use of contextual information when completing the task
C) changes in the rules can be easily anticipated
D) it allows for the amount of guessing to be estimated

Question 6

Shallice and Evans (1978) suggest that frontal patients' poor performance on cognitive estimates is a result of

A) poor use of negative feedback
B) poor probability estimation
C) poor attention switching
D) poor strategy formation

Question 7

The Tower of London task is an example of

A) goal-oriented problem-solving
B) attention switching
C) a card sorting task
D) a broad cognitive test, covering all aspects of frontal lobe function

Question 8

Patient AP reported by Shallice and Burgess (1991a), demonstrated

A) agressive behaviour and poor social skills
B) disorganisation and an inability to plan
C) significantly reduced motivation and enthusiasm
D) that he was able to continue with his career without any major difficulty

Question 9

Stuss and Alexander (2007) suggest at least three 'supervisory' processes within different regions of the frontal lobes, which are

A) energization, activation and monitoring
B) activation, task-setting and regulation
C) energization, task-setting and monitoring
D) energization, task-setting, and regulation

Question 10

In cases of 'utilisation behaviour', the individual is

A) often unconscious of their behaviour and unable to control it
B) often conscious of their behaviour but unable to control it
C) often unconscious of their behaviour but able to control it
D) often conscious of their behaviour and able to control it

Question 11

In terms of both the site of damage and their behavioural symptoms, frontal patients are

A) heterogenous
B) homogenous
C) both a and b
D) neither a nor b

Question 12

The term 'executive functions' describes meta-abilities necessary for

A) appropriate social functioning and long-term memory consolidation
B) appropriate social functioning and everyday problem-solving
C) appropriate social functioning and complex problem-solving
D) appropriate social functioning and language production

Question 13

The frontal lobes constitute approximately how much of each cerebral hemisphere?

A) one quarter
B) half
C) one third
D) two thirds

Question 14

Why are there differences in the way frontal lobe lesions effect different individuals?

A) because the frontal lobes are isolated and unique
B) because some people are less reliant on frontal lobe function than others
C) because the frontal lobes can easily be compensated for by other brain regions
D) because the frontal lobes are complex and connected to most brain areas

Question 15

What caused the damage to Phineas Gage's frontal lobes

A) an explosion caused him to fall and fracture his skull
B) a lead weight penetrated his skull
C) a tamping iron penetrated his skull
D) he hit his head in a train crash and fractured his skull

Question 16

Following Phineas Gage's accident, he was no longer

A) reliable, considerate or good at social skills
B) cheerful, funny and able to concentrate
C) smart, confident and good at learning
D) able to store new memories

Question 17

The term 'moria' was used by Jastrowitz (1888) to describe

A) an extreme type of panic among patients
B) an unusual tendency for patients to be unreliable
C) the effect of frontal lobe damage on problem-solving
D) an oddly cheerful agitation among patients

Question 18

What was the outcome of frontal lobe damage for the accountant described by Eslinger and Damasio (1985)?

A) poor life organisation and decision-making
B) poor IQ and mathematical skills
C) poor memory and face recognition
D) poor concentration and task perseverance

Question 19

The effect of deficits known as 'frontal lobe syndrome' is now often refered to as

A) executive dysfunction
B) dysexecutive syndrome
C) executive syndrome
D) both a and b

Question 20

Burgess et al. (2009) suggest that understanding in this area is hampered by

A) the fact that frontal patients display a range of different symptoms and conclusions therefore cannot be generalised
B) the fact that current tests cannot distinguish between specific executive functions
C) the structural complexity of the frontal lobes, and our limited understanding of their function
D) the need for far more research to assess the validity of planning tasks