Which feature of a neuron limits the number of action potentials it can produce per
second?
a. the threshold
b. the refractory period
c. saltatory conduction
d. the length of the axon
One approach in minimizing stroke damage in laboratory animals is the use of:
a. calcium
b. serotonin
c. cannabinoids
d. opioids
People with Williams syndrome tend to do as well as normal people on tasks that
involve:
a. copying pictures.
b. adding numbers.
c. verbal descriptions.
d. naming unfamiliar objects.
In infancy, the sea squirt has a brain until it:
a. mates.
b. stops moving.
c. eats clown fish.
d. migrates to open water.
What process occurs when axons attempt to form connections to a grafted limb in a
salamander?
a. Axons connect randomly, but only muscles “tuned” to the right message respond.
b. Axons connect randomly and muscles learn to coordinate through experience.
c. Axons find their way to corresponding muscles in the new leg.
d. A lack of nerve growth fiber leads to the degeneration of the new leg.
Olfaction also plays a subtle role in:
a. sleeping.
b. social behavior.
c. touch sensation.
d. vestibular sensation.
The classical illness behaviors such as fever, sleepiness, and lack of appetite are caused
by:
a. decreased brain activity.
b. toxins released by pathogens.
c. the immune system’s production of cytokines.
d. antibody production.
Research with deaf children suggests that it is essential to:
a. learn any language when you are young if you do not want to be forever
disadvantaged.
b. learn language through reinforcements for correct usage.
c. be able to hear language if you are to learn sign language.
d. learn spoken language before sign language.
Brain cells that are neither neurons nor glia, but which are capable of dividing and then
differentiating into neurons or glia, are called:
a. parallel fibers.
b. intrinsic cells.
c. stem cells.
d. glomeruli.
Research found that during REM sleep, activity:
a. decreased in the pons, while it increased in the limbic system.
b. increased in the pons, while it decreased in the limbic system.
c. decreased in both the pons and the limbic system.
d. increased in both the pons and the limbic system.
Dyseidetic dyslexics have the most difficulty with:
a. recognizing whole words.
b. hearing words.
c. guessing word meaning based on context.
d. sounding out words.
People with posterior parietal damage:
a. can see an object, but are unable to describe it.
b. have good hand-eye coordination only if they close one eye.
c. have difficulty accurately locating and approaching a sound.
d. will not step over an obstacle, although they can accurately describe it.
What is the mechanism that prevents or slows some chemicals from entering the brain,
while allowing others to enter?
a. a threshold
b. a blood-brain barrier
c. an endoplasmic wall
d. a differential-drug inhibitor
When do the organizing effects of sex hormones occur in rats?
a. well before birth
b. shortly before and after birth
c. during their juvenile period
d. at approximately two months of age
After a lesion to the lateral preoptic area, a rat would react to an increase in sodium
levels by:
a. drinking less and excreting highly concentrated urine.
b. drinking more and excreting a great deal of dilute urine.
c. increasing its activity level without changing the amount it drinks.
d. sweating profusely, but not drinking much.
Which major functions are controlled by the cranial nerves?
a. Activation of the sympathetic nervous system
b. Sensation and muscle control of the head
c. Skeletal muscles of the trunk
d. Skeletal muscles of the extremities
Which of the following statements about the genetic basis of schizophrenia is FALSE?
a. Monozygotic twins have a higher concordance rate than dizygotic twins.
b. Twins are more likely to resemble each other if they think they are monozygotic than
if they actually are.
c. Schizophrenia is more common in the biological relatives of an adopted
schizophrenic child than in the adoptive relatives.
d. The prevalence of schizophrenia has been declining worldwide.
The supplementary motor cortex becomes active:
a. during the second or two after a movement.
b. during the second or two prior to a movement.
c. only during a movement.
d. only after a movement.
Similar to the effects of sleep apnea, rats that are repeatedly oxygen-deprived lose
neurons throughout the cortex and hippocampus, causing impairments in:
a. learning and memory.
b. dreaming.
c. respiratory reflexes.
d. appetite.
The erections of hairs on the body, most often around arms and shoulders are called:
a. static.
b. fur.
c. goose bumps.
d. insulation.
The cerebellum contributes to the control of what function?
a. Hunger
b. Temperature
c. Olfaction
d. Movement
A patient who can name objects only after seeing them in the right visual field but can
point out objects she saw in the left visual field has probably suffered damage to:
a. Wernicke’s area.
b. Broca’s area.
c. the visual cortex in the right hemisphere.
d. the corpus callosum.
Dissociative identity disorder was previously known as:
a. multiple personality disorder
b. schizophrenia
c. borderline personality disorder
d. bipolar disorder
Research suggests that the brain abnormalities of schizophrenics develop:
a. early and progressively get worse.
b. early and then remain fairly steady.
c. late in life and progressively get worse.
d. late in life and remain fairly steady.
Which of the following effects would result from damage to the amygdala?
a. lack of a startle response
b. a normal startle response, but absence of learned fears
c. an enhanced startle response and an enhanced response to learned fears
d. a fear response to any novel stimulus
The precursor for the synthesis of serotonin is:
a. tryptophan.
b. phenylalanine.
c. monoamine.
d. norepinephrine.
Researchers have found that different species of birds differ in terms of how much they
depend on food they have stored to get through the winter. What factor is related to
depending on and finding stored food?
a. overall brain size
b. relative size of the cortex
c. relative size of the amygdala
d. relative size of the hippocampus
Psychologists in the early to mid part of the 20th century had difficulty with the notion
that wake and sleep cycles were generated from within the body because:
a. there was no scientific evidence to support this notion.
b. all species operate on the same cycle.
d. they accepted the theory that all behaviors were responses to stimuli.
Researchers have tried using drugs that block apoptosis. Results have been:
a. favorable in animals and human trials.
b. favorable in animal trials but too costly to try with humans.
c. favorable in animal trials but difficult or impractical to apply to humans.
d. unfavorable in all research trials.
In comparison to NREM dreams, REM dreams:
a. are less likely to include striking visual imagery.
b. are more likely to include complicated plots.
c. do not contain violence.
d. are almost always less than five minutes.