What is activated by the reticular formation?
a. the spinal cord
b. only those portions of the cerebral cortex involved in processing sensory information
c. only subcortical structures in the brain stem and midbrain
d. wide regions of the entire cerebral cortex
Axons release ____ at junctions with skeletal muscles.
a. many different neurotransmitters
b. dopamine
c. norepinephrine
d. acetylcholine
What area of the brain is largely responsible for detecting osmotic pressure?
a. substantia nigra
b. red nucleus
c. ventromedial hypothalamus
d. OVLT and subfornical organ
What effect do opiate drugs have on dopamine?
a. They increase the synthesis of dopamine.
b. They directly increase the release of dopamine.
c. They indirectly increase the release of dopamine by blocking transmitters that
normally block dopamine.
d. They mimic dopamine.
Children with ____ were found to have less activity in the brain areas believed to
contain mirror neurons.
a. MS
b. polio
c. autism
d. ADHD
When a dog is bred for a particular trait, this is called:
a. artificial selection.
b. evolution.
c. natural selection.
d. group selection.
What happens if people are put in an environment that is constantly dark?
a. It does not affect them in any way.
b. They complain that they cannot sleep.
c. They complain that they have difficulty waking up.
d. They follow a cycle closer to 28 hours than to 24 hours.
Internal organs are to ____ as movement of the body is to ____.
a. smooth muscles; rough muscles
b. smooth muscles; striated muscles
c. striated muscles; skeletal muscles
d. antagonistic muscles; skeletal muscles
After damaging input to the hippocampus, collateral sprouting is associated with
improvements in:
a. memory.
b. taste.
c. vision.
d. hearing.
In the typical split-brain person, the left hand is to ____ as the right hand is to ____.
a. picking up objects; pointing at objects
b. pointing at objects; picking up objects
c. writing word; drawing objects
d. drawing objects; writing words
Cells in the basal forebrain increase arousal and wakefulness by releasing:
a. norepinephrine.
b. acetylcholine.
c. dopamine.
d. serotonin.
If you cut the optic nerve of a newt, what happens?
a. The fibers grow back and attach to random targets, so they see a scrambled picture.
b. The fibers grow back and attach to their original targets, resulting in normal vision.
c. The newt remains blind, since neurons do not regenerate.
d. The fibers attach to multiple targets, resulting in blurry vision.
The causes of epilepsy:
a. include genetics, trauma, and infections.
b. are limited to infections of the brain.
c. are limited to genetic abnormalities.
d. are limited to emotional stress.
Charles S. Sherrington was the first to infer the properties of which of the following?
a. synapses
b. the refractory period
c. the sodium-potassium pump
d. dendrites and axons
For a majority of humans, one part of the ____ cortex is larger on the ____ side of the
brain than on the opposite side.
a. temporal; right
b. temporal; left
c. occipital; right
d. occipital; left
The vestibular organ consists of:
a. only otolith organs.
b. only semicircular canals.
c. otolith organs and semicircular canals.
d. the cochlea and an otolith organ.
Cells in the preoptic area of the hypothalamus monitor which temperatures?
a. internal organs
b. their own and the skin
c. differences between the arteries and veins
d. differences between internal organs and the skin
After cutting each of the individual tracts that enter the medulla and spinal cord,
depriving the brain of almost all sensory input, an animal:
a. continues to have periods of wakefulness and sleep.
b. stops sleeping.
c. goes into a coma.
d. enters a prolonged state of sleep.
When an action potential reaches the end of an axon, the depolarization causes what
ionic movement in the presynaptic cell?
a. sodium out of the cell
b. lithium out of the cell
c. iron into the cell
d. calcium into the cell
Some researchers found that the ____ was slightly larger in heterosexual than
homosexual men.
a. amount of testosterone in the blood.
b. amount of estradiol in the blood.
c. size of one nucleus of the hypothalamus.
d. size of one nucleus of the medulla.
The frequency theory of pitch perception works well for ____ frequencies, while the
place theory works well for perception of ____ frequencies.
a. low; low
b. high; low
c. high; high
d. low; high
Parts of the hypothalamus can generate a cyclic pattern of hormone release in:
a. females only.
b. males only.
c. females and males.
d. females during childhood and males during adolescence.
What is one of the best treatments for seasonal affective disorder?
a. bright light
b. electroconvulsive shock therapy
c. adrenal hormones
d. dietary changes
Which muscle is “antagonistic” to a flexor muscle in the right arm?
a. a flexor muscle in the right arm
b. an extensor muscle in the left arm
c. an extensor muscle in the right arm
d. another flexor muscle in the right arm
Inner-ear deafness, results from damage to the pinna.
The general function of working memory is to:
a. hold information until it has time to get to long-term storage.
b. store memories of life events permanently.
c. attend to and operate on current information.
d. store information related to repetitious motor movements.
Someone with Broca’s aphasia has the greatest difficulty:
a. understanding spoken language.
b. understanding written language.
c. remembering the names of objects.
d. speaking.
One limiting factor in the ability of damaged axons to regenerate in the brain and spinal
cord is that:
a. they don’t have any myelin to guide them.
b. they regenerate only one to two millimeters.
c. growing dendrites compete with growing axons.
d. there are no muscles in the brain and spinal cord to guide the growth.
Which of the following is TRUE about genetic drift?
a. It occurs more often in large populations.
b. It occurs when species move to a new location.
c. It takes thousands of years to happen.
d. It occurs more often in small populations.
The view of the brain from below is called the ____ view.
a. anterior
b. linear
c. ventral
d. dorsal