USAHS NEURO ALL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
SURE A+
✔✔Temporal lobe function - ✔✔Auditory processing, memory encoding, Wernicke's
area for language comprehension.
✔✔Parietal lobe function - ✔✔Spatial awareness, body schema, sensory integration,
calculation, writing.
✔✔Frontal lobe function - ✔✔Motor planning (via PMC/M1), expressive language
(Broca's), personality, judgment.
✔✔Occipital lobe function - ✔✔Visual processing, V1 (calcarine cortex).
✔✔Broca vs Wernicke distinction - ✔✔Broca = nonfluent, effortful speech, good
comprehension. Wernicke = fluent but empty speech, poor comprehension.
✔✔Conduction aphasia - ✔✔Damage to arcuate fasciculus; fluent speech but impaired
repetition; relatively preserved comprehension.
✔✔Dopamine role - ✔✔Motivation, reward, motor initiation; crucial in basal ganglia
circuits.
✔✔Serotonin role - ✔✔Modulates mood, appetite, sleep, pain inhibition (raphespinal
tract).
✔✔Acetylcholine role - ✔✔Attention, memory encoding, NMJ activation,
parasympathetic activity.
✔✔Norepinephrine role - ✔✔Arousal, alertness, stress response; locus coeruleus origin.
, ✔✔GABA role - ✔✔Major inhibitory neurotransmitter; involved in basal ganglia "No-Go"
pathway.
✔✔Glutamate role - ✔✔Major excitatory neurotransmitter; cortex → striatum signaling.
✔✔Cerebellar lesion vs Basal ganglia lesion - ✔✔Cerebellum = coordination deficits
(ataxia). BG = movement initiation deficits (bradykinesia, rigidity, tremor).
✔✔Peripheral vs Central vertigo - ✔✔Peripheral = intense vertigo, fatigable nystagmus.
Central = persistent nystagmus, neurological signs.
✔✔UMN vs LMN lesion - ✔✔UMN → spasticity + hyperreflexia; LMN → flaccidity +
fasciculations.
✔✔Radiculopathy vs peripheral neuropathy - ✔✔Radiculopathy = dermatomal pattern;
neuropathy = stocking-glove bilateral pattern.
✔✔Alternating hemiplegia - ✔✔Ipsilateral cranial nerve palsy + contralateral body
weakness → hallmark of brainstem lesion.
✔✔Dysarthria-clumsy hand syndrome - ✔✔Lacunar infarct of pons; dysarthria +
contralateral hand weakness/clumsiness.
✔✔DCML function - ✔✔Vibration, fine touch, joint position; crosses in medulla.
✔✔Spinothalamic function - ✔✔Pain, temperature, crude touch; crosses at spinal level.
✔✔Corticospinal function - ✔✔Voluntary motor control; lateral tract handles distal limb
control.
✔✔Spinocerebellar tract - ✔✔Unconscious proprioception; important for walking and
coordination.
✔✔Hemineglect - ✔✔Inattention to one side of space (often L neglect from R parietal
lesion); different from visual field loss.
✔✔Somatagnosia - ✔✔Impaired awareness of one's own body parts.
✔✔Anosognosia - ✔✔Lack of awareness/denial of deficits; common after R hemisphere
stroke.
✔✔Apraxia definition - ✔✔Impairment in motor planning despite intact strength and
comprehension; usually parietal lobe damage.
SURE A+
✔✔Temporal lobe function - ✔✔Auditory processing, memory encoding, Wernicke's
area for language comprehension.
✔✔Parietal lobe function - ✔✔Spatial awareness, body schema, sensory integration,
calculation, writing.
✔✔Frontal lobe function - ✔✔Motor planning (via PMC/M1), expressive language
(Broca's), personality, judgment.
✔✔Occipital lobe function - ✔✔Visual processing, V1 (calcarine cortex).
✔✔Broca vs Wernicke distinction - ✔✔Broca = nonfluent, effortful speech, good
comprehension. Wernicke = fluent but empty speech, poor comprehension.
✔✔Conduction aphasia - ✔✔Damage to arcuate fasciculus; fluent speech but impaired
repetition; relatively preserved comprehension.
✔✔Dopamine role - ✔✔Motivation, reward, motor initiation; crucial in basal ganglia
circuits.
✔✔Serotonin role - ✔✔Modulates mood, appetite, sleep, pain inhibition (raphespinal
tract).
✔✔Acetylcholine role - ✔✔Attention, memory encoding, NMJ activation,
parasympathetic activity.
✔✔Norepinephrine role - ✔✔Arousal, alertness, stress response; locus coeruleus origin.
, ✔✔GABA role - ✔✔Major inhibitory neurotransmitter; involved in basal ganglia "No-Go"
pathway.
✔✔Glutamate role - ✔✔Major excitatory neurotransmitter; cortex → striatum signaling.
✔✔Cerebellar lesion vs Basal ganglia lesion - ✔✔Cerebellum = coordination deficits
(ataxia). BG = movement initiation deficits (bradykinesia, rigidity, tremor).
✔✔Peripheral vs Central vertigo - ✔✔Peripheral = intense vertigo, fatigable nystagmus.
Central = persistent nystagmus, neurological signs.
✔✔UMN vs LMN lesion - ✔✔UMN → spasticity + hyperreflexia; LMN → flaccidity +
fasciculations.
✔✔Radiculopathy vs peripheral neuropathy - ✔✔Radiculopathy = dermatomal pattern;
neuropathy = stocking-glove bilateral pattern.
✔✔Alternating hemiplegia - ✔✔Ipsilateral cranial nerve palsy + contralateral body
weakness → hallmark of brainstem lesion.
✔✔Dysarthria-clumsy hand syndrome - ✔✔Lacunar infarct of pons; dysarthria +
contralateral hand weakness/clumsiness.
✔✔DCML function - ✔✔Vibration, fine touch, joint position; crosses in medulla.
✔✔Spinothalamic function - ✔✔Pain, temperature, crude touch; crosses at spinal level.
✔✔Corticospinal function - ✔✔Voluntary motor control; lateral tract handles distal limb
control.
✔✔Spinocerebellar tract - ✔✔Unconscious proprioception; important for walking and
coordination.
✔✔Hemineglect - ✔✔Inattention to one side of space (often L neglect from R parietal
lesion); different from visual field loss.
✔✔Somatagnosia - ✔✔Impaired awareness of one's own body parts.
✔✔Anosognosia - ✔✔Lack of awareness/denial of deficits; common after R hemisphere
stroke.
✔✔Apraxia definition - ✔✔Impairment in motor planning despite intact strength and
comprehension; usually parietal lobe damage.
