Question

1. A woman sustains a spinal cord injury in a car accident and loses the ability to move her fingers and her hand. The injury most likely damaged which region of her spinal cord?
a) Lateral ventral horn b) Lateral dorsal horn c) Medial ventral horn d) Medial dorsal horn e) Lateral column

2. Which of the following body areas listed has the greatest area of motor cortex devoted to it?
a) Neck b) Lips c) Wrist d) Knee

3. Describe the symptoms of Huntington’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, and what this tells us about basal ganglia function.

Answer 1

Question 1.

A. Lateral ventral horn.

Question 2.

B. Lips.

Question 3.

● Symptoms of Huntington's disease

-Involuntary Jerking
-Rapid twitching of face, tongue, and limbs
-Difficulty speaking
-Difficulty swallowing
-Dementia and personality changes.

● Physical symptoms of Parkinson's disease

Loss of neurons in the brainstem, most significantly pigmented dopamine neurons in the midbrain

Symptoms do not manifest until 80-90% of the nigrostriatal dopamine projection has deteriorated.

● function of the basal ganglia

To provide a mechanism for the selection of adaptive motor programs for planning and initiating movement

Includes the suppression of competing behaviors that are less advantageous, the expression of learned behaviors (motor memory), and the facilitation of cognitive actions