What was the first evidence reported by T. R. Elliott suggesting that synapses operate
chemically?
a. Adrenaline mimics the effects of the parasympathetic nervous system.
b. Adrenaline decreases heart rate.
c. Adrenaline produces a hormone which decreases heart rate.
d. Adrenaline mimics the effects of the sympathetic nervous system.
The sodium-potassium pump repeatedly transports three ____ ions out of the cell while
drawing two ____ ions into it.
a. calcium; potassium
b. potassium; calcium
c. potassium; sodium
d. sodium; potassium
A rat must swim through murky water to find a rest platform that is just under the
surface in the:
a. radial maze.
b. Morris search task.
c. configurable learning task.
d. delayed matching-to-sample task.
Foveal vision has:
a. better sensitivity to dim light.
b. better acuity.
c. less ability for detailed vision.
d. no ability for visual perception.
Neurons whose responses indicate a particular feature of a stimulus, such as the
presence of a bar, line, or edge are referred to as:
a. hypercomplex cells.
b. magnocellular cells.
c. feature detectors.
d. shape detectors.
Lithium is most commonly prescribed for which disorder?
a. seasonal affective disorder
b. endogenous depression
c. reactive depression
d. bipolar disorder
When glutamate massively stimulates AMPA receptors, the resulting depolarization:
a. keeps glutamate from stimulating nearby NMDA receptors.
b. keeps calcium from entering the cell.
c. enables glutamate to stimulate nearby NMDA receptors.
d. inhibits the dendrite’s responsiveness to glutamate.
After damage to the cerebellar cortex, an individual has trouble with which part of the
finger-to-nose test?
a. The initial rapid movement to the nose
b. The second step involving the hold function
c. The third step which involves the finger moving to the nose by a slow movement
d. Both the second and third steps
What area of the brain seems to be a key area for learned fears?
a. occipital cortex
b. somatosensory cortex
c. corpus callosum
d. amygdala
Investigators have found that individuals who suffer prefrontal cortex damage:
a. often make bad decisions.
b. become more logical than usual in their reasoning.
c. become excessively inhibited in their dealings with others.
d. perform poorly on IQ tests.
An iodine deficiency in the diet can lead to an inadequate production of thyroid
hormones. What is the result if this occurs in an infant or developing fetus?
a. Down’s syndrome
b. mental retardation
c. Tourette’s syndrome
d. accelerated body growth
What disease is related to the destruction of myelin sheaths?
a. multiple sclerosis
b. cystic fibrosis
c. myasthenia gravis
d. Parkinson’s disease
The regular use of tranquilizers can result in insomnia.
When asked to identify different emotional expressions, people with Urbach-Wiethe
disease had the most difficulty identifying:
a. surprise.
b. anger.
c. fear.
d. joy.
Among adult humans, those who sleep ____ or more hours per night have the highest
percentage of REM sleep.
a. 9
b. 5
c. 8
d. 10
____ are specialized junctions between neurons.
a. Nodes of Ranvier
b. Synapses
c. Dendrites
d. Spines
A human’s body temperature over the course of 24 hours is usually highest:
a. about the time of awakening.
b. mid-morning.
c. mid to late afternoon.
d. in the middle of the night.
A couple of paths from the hypothalamus release histamine, thereby:
a. increasing arousal.
b. initiating sleep.
c. shifting sleep from REM to NREM.
d. slowing the circadian rhythm.
Prior to the work of Santiago Ramon y Cajal, what did many investigators believe?
a. Nerves conducted impulses at the speed of light.
b. Transmission across a synapse was just as fast as transmission along an axon.
c. The tip of an axon physically merged with the next neuron.
d. All neurons were of similar size and shape.
Depolarization is to ____ as hyperpolarization is to ____.
a. excitation; inhibition
b. inhibition; excitation
c. increasing the threshold; decreasing the threshold
d. decreasing the threshold; increasing the threshold
If you were advising the make-up artist for a movie involving a character with a facial
disfigurement, where would you suggest the disfigurement be located for the maximum
emotional impact on the audience?
a. the upper part of the face
b. the lower part of the face
c. the right side of the face (viewer’s left)
d. the left side of the face (viewer’s right)
A single gene has been identified that accounts for all cases of schizophrenia.
Suppose a finger is amputated. The part of the cerebral cortex that used to respond to
that finger will:
a. degenerate and die.
b. remain alive but forever inactive.
c. be active at times when the individual would have used that finger.
d. become responsive to other fingers or part of the palm.
Ultimately, the purpose of having a brain is to:
a. control movement.
b. solve logical problems.
c. control hormone release.
d. comprehend language.
The immediate cause of Parkinson’s disease is the:
a. net increase in the excitatory output from the globus pallidus.
b. gradual, progressive death of neurons in the substantia nigra.
c. immediate, mass death of neurons releasing acetylcholine.
d. accumulation of amyloid-beta in neurons.
Which of the following patterns of post-synaptic excitation will most likely result in an
action potential?
a. rapid sequence of EPSPs
b. rapid sequence of IPSPs
c. large number of simultaneous IPSPs
d. large number of simultaneous IPSPs and EPSPs
Which of the following is TRUE about sleepwalking?
a. It occurs mostly in adults.
b. It is most common early in the night.
c. It occurs during REM.
d. It is dangerous to awaken a sleepwalker.
If someone with extreme obesity fails to respond to other treatments an option is ____
in which part of the stomach is removed or sewed off so that food cannot enter.
a. fen-phen
b. sibutramine
c. gastric bypass surgery
d. orlistat
The large bundle of axons connecting the two hemispheres of the brain is called the:
a. corpus callosum.
b. limbic system.
c. midbrain.
d. thalamus.
Estradiol normally found in the bloodstream of a female rat fetus neither masculinizes
nor feminizes its development because it is:
a. chemically converted to testosterone.
b. bound to alpha-fetoprotein.
c. dissolved in the fat supplies of the fetus.
d. not effective on cells even if it did enter them.
Which of the following is true for nerve deafness?
a. It is usually temporary.
b. It often can be corrected by surgery.
c. It will involve a normal cochlea and auditory nerve.
d. It can result from damage to the cochlea.
Describe the different causes and mechanisms of osmotic thirst.
Organizing effects of hormones usually occur early in development.
An efferent axon carries information away from a structure.
A person with prosopagnosia cannot recognize voices.
Briefly describe the structure of the blood-brain barrier and why it is important.
Depression is more common in men than women.
Men are more likely to experience color vision deficiency than women.
Long term use of antidepressants increases the proliferation of new neurons in the:
A hippocampus.
B suprachiasmatic nucleus.
C superior colliculus.
D hypothalamus.
Describe the different causes and mechanisms of osmotic and hypovolemic thirst.
Answer:
Answers will vary.
Describe how phantom limb sensations that seemingly come from a missing hand might
occur when the face is touched.
People with cerebellar damage are faster at shifting their attention to a particular visual
location.
Exercise may account for some of the neural benefits that come from rearing rats in an
enriched environment.
Drugs that reduce testosterone levels in males will most likely reduce their sexual
behavior.
The right hemisphere seems to be more responsive to emotional stimuli than the left
hemisphere.
Set points can change over time.
The difference in voltage in a resting neuron is called the resting potential.
Metabotropic synapses use a large variety of transmitters.