Researchers have found that the amino acid glycine:
a. competes with the effects of glutamate and, therefore, blocks those synapses.
b. can be converted into dopamine or serotonin in different brain areas.
c. increases the effectiveness of other antipsychotic drugs.
d. directly stimulates nicotinic-type acetylcholine synapses.
The concordance rate for schizophrenia is around ____ percent for monozygotic twins.
a. 0
b. 10
c. 50
d. 90
A contraction of equal force in antagonist muscles of the arm would result in ____ of
the arm.
a. flexion
b. extension
c. no movement
d. rotation
What difficulty does someone with prosopagnosia have?
a. focusing on colored objects
b. seeing items located in the left visual field
c. recognizing faces
d. processing information from more than one sensory modality at a time
According to Chalmers, knowing why and how brain activity is associated with
consciousness is the:
a. mentalistic debate.
b. hard problem.
c. easy problem.
d. problem of other minds.
Which of the following is NOT a common characteristic of schizophrenia?
a. deterioration of everyday functioning
b. delusions
c. impaired understanding of abstract concepts
d. alternation between one personality and another
Because of possible exposure to the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, some studies suggest
that people who own a ____ are more likely to have children who become
schizophrenic.
a. rat
b. snake
c. cat
d. dog
Leptin directly activates receptors in the part of the hypothalamus known as the:
a. paraventricular nucleus.
b. ventromedial hypothalamus.
c. arcuate nucleus.
d. lateral preoptic area.
The concept that neurons refine their many connections based on which ones are most
successful is known as:
a. natural selection.
b. evolution.
c. survival of the fittest.
d. neural Darwinism.
Damage to the corpus callosum (or to one hemisphere) results in clear evidence of :
a. hemispherectomy.
b. lateralization.
c. polarization.
d. symmetry.
Comparisons between which two responses are helpful in locating the source of a
sound?
a. the base and the apex of the basilar membrane
b. the middle ear and the inner ear
c. the left ear and the right ear
d. the start of the sound and the end of the sound
Someone with bipolar disorder alternates between:
a. schizophrenia and normal.
b. mania and normal.
c. depression and dementia.
d. mania and depression.
With regard to sleep and arousal, the locus coeruleus is:
a. very active during sleep.
b. active when the pontomesencephalon is not.
c. almost completely inactive during sleep.
d. instrumental in waking us up.
Loewi demonstrated that synapses operate by the release of chemicals. He did this by:
a. applying adrenaline directly to the heart muscle.
b. collecting fluid from a stimulated frog’s heart, transferring it to another frog’s heart,
and measuring that heart rate.
c. measuring the speed of a dog’s reflexes while the dog was under the influence of
various drugs.
d. applying an extract of marijuana in eye drops and discovering that it dilated the
pupils.
Which of the following is TRUE about the spontaneous firing rates of neurons?
a. EPSPs increase the frequency.
b. EPSPs decrease the frequency.
c. IPSPs increase the frequency.
d. One EPSP equals the effect of two IPSPs.
A section of the somatosensory cortex ordinarily responds to the third finger of the left
hand. If that finger is amputated, to what will the cells in this part of the cortex
respond?
a. Nothing
b. The second and fourth fingers and part of the palm
c. The third finger of the right hand
d. The entire left hand and the entire right hand
What kind of drug alleviates schizophrenia with little risk of producing tardive
dyskinesia?
a. neuroleptics
b. atypical antipsychotics
c. monoamine oxidase inhibitors
d. lithium
According to the activation-synthesis hypothesis of dreams, a dream represents the
brain’s effort to:
a. thinking that takes place under unusual conditions
b. make sense of sparse and distorted information
c. predict the future
d. bring up past events
People with damage in parts of ____ speak in a monotone voice.
a. both hemispheres
b. the left hemisphere.
c. the right hemisphere.
d. neither hemisphere.
What is perceived when all types of cones are simultaneously and equally active?
a. red
b. green
c. white
d. yellow
Why are the withdrawal effects of marijuana usually less intense than other drugs?
a. Marijuana affects only the brain stem.
b. Marijuana leaves the body slowly.
c. Marijuana affects only presynaptic neurons.
d. The body compensates by producing more dopamine.
The thalamus can be thought of as a(n):
a. relay center
b. ganglia
c. modulation center
d. emotion center
Research indicates that the red nucleus is necessary for:
a. the learning of a conditioned response.
b. the performance of a conditioned response.
c. the learning AND performance of a conditioned response.
d. suppression of the conditioned response.
After eating salty pretzels, the salty potato chips will taste less salty because of:
a. cross-adaptation.
b. adaptation.
c. umami.
d. amiloride.
Nerve growth factor (NGF):
a. promotes the survival and growth of the axon.
b. is a fuel metabolized by neurons.
c. promotes programmed cell death.
d. is a hormone first released at puberty.
While light is striking a visual receptor, light begins also to strike the receptor next to it.
What effect will this additional light have on the response of the first cell?
a. excitation
b. inhibition
c. no effect
d. first inhibition, then excitation
The sensitive period for human genital formation is approximately:
a. the first three weeks of gestation.
b. the third and fourth months of gestation.
c. the last trimester of gestation.
d. shortly after birth.
A person with left hemispheric dominance for language is asked to tap her index finger
as fast as possible for one minute. What difference, if any, would it make if she were
talking during the task?
a. Talking would decrease tapping in the right hand more than in the left hand.
b. Talking would decrease tapping in the left hand more than in the right hand.
c. Talking would decrease tapping in both hands equally.
d. Talking typically would not affect the tapping rate of either hand.
Which of the following problems is most likely to result in an increased ability to
identify the emotional expression of people viewing pleasant and unpleasant pictures?
a. locked in syndrome
b. damage to the left hemisphere
c. panic disorder
d. damage to the right hemisphere
Nature’s “default setting” is to make every mammal’s external anatomy:
a. male.
b. female.
c. intermediate between male and female.
d. fully both male and female.
Hydrocephalus is usually associated with:
a. a lack of nutrition.
b. an obstruction of the flow of CSF.
c. an excess of hormones.
d. a constriction of the skull bones.