Suppose you fell into a cave and lost your watch. Without any time cues, your circadian
rhythm would:
a. increase dramatically over time.
b. cease to exist.
c. decrease over time.
d. remain relatively stable.
The autonomic nervous system is divided into two parts; the ____ nervous system
(which prepares the body for emergency action), and the ____ nervous system (which
calms the body).
a. sympathetic; parasympathetic
b. parasympathetic; sympathetic
c. somatic; craniosacral
d. craniosacral; somatic
“Fen-Phen”, an appetite suppressant drug, acts by ____ serotonin, norepinephrine, and
dopamine.
a. stimulating release of
b. blocking reuptake of
c. blocking receptors for
d. breaking down
Breeding some animals selectively because they possess some desirable characteristic is
called:
a. evolution.
b. natural selection.
c. artificial selection.
d. artificial insemination.
Consuming too much salt will trigger ____ thirst. Bleeding or heavy sweating will
trigger ____ thirst.
a. sympathetic, parasympathetic
b. parasympathetic, sympathetic
c. osmotic, hypovolemic
d. hypovolemic, osmotic
What is the shape of the receptive field to which a simple cell in the primary visual
cortex responds?
a. circle of a particular radius
b. circle with a hole in the middle
c. bar in a particular orientation
d. bar of a particular length
As compared to a person with Broca’s aphasia, a person with Wernicke’s aphasia can:
a. remember the names of objects.
b. understand written language.
c. understand spoken language.
d. speak fluently and rapidly.
Within the primary auditory cortex, most cells respond selectively to a particular:
a. loudness.
b. rhythm.
c. frequency.
d. word.
Which of the following is an example of a genetically controlled condition that can be
minimized by following a particular diet?
a. Down syndrome
b. Color-blindness
c. Epilepsy
d. Phenylketonuria (PKU)
After a stroke, cells in the penumbra:
a. are the first to die.
b. help to remove dead or dying cells in the area of damage.
c. quickly become more active, compensating for the area of damage.
d. may die days or weeks after a stroke.
Whether or not a transplanted immature neuron adopts the properties of neurons in the
new location or retains at least some properties of neurons from where it was taken
from depends largely on how much the transplanted neuron has:
a. myelinated.
b. proliferated.
c. migrated.
d. differentiated.
By altering ____, the SCN produces circadian rhythms.
a. blood pressure
b. action potential velocity
c. the production of proteins
d. axon myelination
At the peak of the action potential, the electrical gradient of potassium:
a. is the same as during the resting potential.
b. pulls sodium into the cell.
c. pushes potassium out of the cell.
d. pulls potassium into the cell.
Diabetes insipidus literally means “passing without taste” because the urine is produced
in such large quantities that it is tasteless. This disease is most likely caused by a
problem with the production or release of:
a. renin.
b. vasopressin.
c. angiotensinogen.
d. prostaglandins.
Structures formed from degenerating axons and dendrites are referred to as:
a. tau proteins.
b. amyloid beta proteins.
c. confabulations.
d. plaques.
The probability of sleep apnea is increased among which group of people?
a. College students during finals week
b. Those who are addicted to tranquilizers
c. Overweight men
d. People who work on swing shifts
The effectiveness and side-effects of a drug vary from one person to the next. One
reason for this is that:
a. most drugs are chemically unstable, resulting in unpredictable effects.
b. most drugs interact with the diet to produce variable effects.
c. each drug tends to affect more than one kind of synapse.
d. drugs will break down neurotransmitters into different component parts in different
people.
Suppose “A” is a dominant gene and “a” is a recessive gene. One parent has genes Aa
and the other parent has genes aa. What genes will the children probably have?
a. All will be AA.
b. All will be aa.
c. Three-fourths will be Aa, one-fourth aa.
d. Half will be Aa, half aa.
Astigmatism refers to the:
a. sensitive period for development of vision.
b. ability to see horizontal and vertical lines.
c. asymmetric curvature of eyes.
d. inability to detect motion.
Which of the following drugs most closely imitates the positive and negative symptoms
of schizophrenia?
a. Prozac
b. PCP
c. cocaine
d. amphetamine
Lashley trained rats on a variety of mazes, then made deep cuts in their cortexes. He
found that the cuts produced:
a. a temporary impairment.
b. a permanent impairment.
c. day-to-day fluctuations in performance.
d. little apparent effect.
Blood and urine levels of which chemicals are related to a history of violent suicide
attempts?
a. high amount of serotonin turnover
b. low amount of serotonin turnover
c. high levels of L-dopa
d. low levels of L-dopa
What is the name given to a cluster of neurons outside the CNS?
a. Lamina
b. Column
c. Tract
d. Ganglion
After a loud noise, information travels from the medulla to the ____, and then to the
neck muscles.
a. pons
b. caudate nucleus
c. cochlear nucleus
d. hypothalamus
The lateral geniculate nucleus is part of the:
a. cerebral cortex
b. superior colliculus
c. inferior colliculus
d. thalamus
Light enters the eye through an opening in the center of the iris called the:
a. retina.
b. cornea.
c. pupil.
d. macula.
Huntington’s disease may also affect orexin-containing neurons in the hypothalamus,
leading to symptoms similar to:
a. sleep apnea.
b. periodic limb movement disorder.
c. REM behavior disorder.
d. narcolepsy.
Which of the following is more likely to be present in people with dyslexia?
a. weak eye muscles
b. larger than normal corpus callosum
c. stuttering
d. bilateral symmetry in the cortex
In addition to having difficulty recognizing faces, people with prosopagnosia may have
difficulty:
a. reading.
b. with all types of memory.
c. recognizing colors.
d. recognizing different kinds of plants and animals.
Knowing that it is appropriate to tackle people on the football field, but not in the
classroom, is dependent on functioning of the:
a. prefrontal cortex.
b. occipital cortex.
c. amygdala.
d. somatosensory cortex.
What do the EEG waves look like when brain activity is “desynchronized”?
a. long, slow waves of large amplitude
b. short, rapid waves of large amplitude
c. regular alternation between waves of large amplitude and waves of small amplitude
d. irregular waves with low amplitude
According to the retinex theory, we perceive color by:
a. the relative activity of three kinds of cones.
b. contrasting the activity in one area of the visual field with that of the others.
c. a red vs. green system and a yellow vs. blue system.
d. detecting the velocity of action potentials from the eye.
People born without a corpus callosum are ____ people who have it cut later in life
a. more common than
b. almost similar
c. the same as
d. not like
Follicle-stimulating hormone is released by the:
a. pineal gland.
b. anterior pituitary.
c. thyroid.
d. ovum.