Phantom Limb-ic
Damage to this medial temporal lobe structure prevents the consolidation of immediate recall into long-term memory.
What is the hippocampus (or hippocampal formation)?
Because the lateral corticospinal tract crosses over at this specific anatomical landmark in the medulla, the right brain controls the left side of the body.
What is the pyramidal decussation?
This conscious relay pathway carries the sensations of fast pain, temperature, and crude touch.
What is the spinothalamic tract?
In an animal with a linear nervous system, this anatomical term refers to the direction pointing toward the belly or the earth.
What is ventral?
A stroke in this artery, which supplies the medial aspect of the frontal lobe, will primarily impair the motor function of the lower extremities.
What is the Anterior Cerebral Artery (ACA)?
This almond-shaped structure in the medial temporal lobe mediates the emotional and behavioral aspects of pain, such as fear.
What is the amygdala?
This specific sign of a lower motor neuron lesion involves the random depolarization of muscle cells due to a lack of input, visually appearing as small twitches under the skin.
What are fasciculations?
A lesion superior to the decussation in the medulla will result in a contralateral loss of these three specific modalities carried by the DCML.
What are discriminative touch, conscious proprioception, and vibration?
This fatty substance wraps around axons in the CNS, provided by oligodendrocytes, to speed up signal transmission via saltatory conduction.
What is the myelin sheath?
Because it supplies the lateral aspect of the cortex, a stroke affecting this major artery heavily impacts the motor function of the face and hands.
What is the Middle Cerebral Artery (MCA)?
This bundle of white matter arcs over the thalamus, connecting the hippocampal formation to the hypothalamus and septal nuclei.
What is the fornix?
This lateral motor system originates in the red nucleus of the midbrain and is responsible for the fine motor control of the contralateral limbs.
What is the rubrospinal tract?
This divergent medial nociceptive pathway is responsible for altering your arousal and interfering with your sleep when you step on a sharp object in the middle of the night.
What is the spinoreticular tract?
Damage to this large heteromodal association cortex can cause disinhibited behaviors, urinary incontinence, and a shuffling, "magnetic gait."
What is the prefrontal association cortex?
Following a stroke, a patient may exhibit this specific clinical term for weakness—or partial paralysis—affecting one entire side of their body, including the face, arm, and leg.
What is hemiparesis?
Patients with epileptic seizures arising from the limbic structures may experience this specific phenomenon, believing they smell fresh-baked cookies when none exist.
What are olfactory hallucinations?
This medial motor tract originates in the superior colliculus and functions to coordinate head and eye movements.
What is the tectospinal tract?
This high-fidelity, non-conscious relay pathway transmits proprioceptive information specifically from the lower limb and trunk directly to the cerebellum.
What is the posterior spinocerebellar tract?
The mnemonic "PAD" helps recall the order of the meninges surrounding the brain from the innermost layer to the outermost layer, standing for these three layers.
What are the Pia mater, Arachnoid mater, and Dura mater?
An acute stroke causing an upper motor neuron lesion initially presents with these two clinical signs being decreased, though they typically increase later on.
What are reflexes and muscle tone?
While not one of the four major lobes, this hidden fifth lobe processes crude touch and pleasurable skin-to-skin contact.
What is the insular cortex (or insula)?
This is the major "Golden Rule" exception seen on the motor homunculus, where these body parts are mapped medially rather than laterally.
What are the lower extremities (or legs/feet)?
Fast pain information from the face travels down to the lower medulla to synapse before crossing the midline via this specific cranial nerve.
What is the trigeminal nerve (CN V)?
According to neuroscientists' orientation rules, when located above the midbrain-diencephalic junction, this specific directional term replaces "posterior."
What is caudal?
A stroke interrupting blood flow above this specific cross-over point in the medulla will result in contralateral motor loss, whereas a lesion below it results in ipsilateral motor loss.
What is the pyramidal decussation?