Damage to the left hemisphere is more likely than right hemisphere damage to impair
which ability?
a. understanding the meaning of language
b. understanding that someone is joking when they speak
c. producing facial expressions of emotion
d. understanding other people’s facial expressions
Glutamate opens sodium gates, enabling sodium ions to enter the postsynaptic cell.
What is this effect called?
a. metabotropic
b. ionotropic
c. modulatory
d. orthodromic
According to Baddeley and Hitch, a common test of working memory is the:
a. delayed response task
b. reconsolidation task
c. consolidation task
d. working memory task
The limbic system consists of structures that are believed to be important for which
kind of responses?
a. reflexes
b. fine motor control
c. spatial orientation
d. emotional
Minimalists believe that:
a. all research should be done on animals.
b. some animal research is acceptable, but not all.
c. no animal research should be conducted.
d. researchers should use only small animals.
For some axons, glial cells produce an insulating sheath that makes rapid transmission
possible. What is this process called?
a. Differentiation
b. Migration
c. Myelination
d. Proliferation
During REM sleep, the EEG shows:
a. regular, high-voltage slow waves.
b. irregular, high-voltage slow waves.
c. regular, low-voltage slow waves.
d. irregular, low-voltage fast waves.
Heightened sensitivity to a neurotransmitter after the destruction of an incoming axon is
known as:
a. axon supersensitivity
b. disuse supersensitivity
c. enervation supersensitivity
d. denervation supersensitivity
When individuals with intact brains recognize faces, activity:
a. increases in the fusiform gyrus.
b. decreases in the fusiform gyrus.
c. increases in the fovea.
d. decreases in the prefrontal cortex.
Which of the following depends on an organizing effect of hormones?
a. whether an organism develops as male or female
b. the degree of sexual activity at any time
c. the timing of migration or hibernation
d. current metabolic rate
The function of an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee is to:
a. evaluate veterinarians who provide care to laboratory animals.
b. determine whether research is merely for the benefit of humans.
c. evaluate proposed experiments to ensure that they minimize pain and discomfort.
d. provide food and water for lab animals, and keep cages clean.
Suppose we applied a drug to a neuron that caused its sodium gates to suddenly open
wide. What would happen?
a. hyperpolarization of the membrane
b. an increase in the threshold
c. an action potential
d. nothing, because potassium gates would compensate
Information from cytokines is relayed to the brain, specifically to the:
a. hypothalamus.
b. cerebellum.
c. pineal gland.
d. locus coeruleus.
One currently popular hypothesis about the binding problem is that binding depends on:
a. increased velocity of action potentials.
b. convergence of all sensory inputs onto a single central processor.
c. synchronized activity in different brain areas.
d. a special kind of activity in the pineal gland.
All of the following are antipsychotic drugs EXCEPT:
a. chlorpromazine.
b. Haldol.
c. L-Dopa.
d. Thorazine.
During the early sensitive period, immature mammals have a protein called ____,
which is not present in adults.
a. gamma-fetoprotein
b. delta-fetoprotein
c. beta-fetoprotein
d. alpha-fetoprotein
For which species does REM sleep compose the largest percentage of total sleep?
a. species that get a great deal of sleep
b. species that sleep very little
c. humans, dolphins, and others with a large brain
d. the aged members of any species
Understanding differences in intelligence as a function of early learning experiences is
an example of a(n) ____ explanation.
a. ontogenetic
b. physiological
c. functional
d. evolutionary
One study using an Etch-A-Sketch toy indicated that children younger than ____ years
respond just as fast with two hands as with one.
a. 4
b. 6
c. 8
d. 10
During binocular rivalry, what do people ordinarily perceive?
a. one eye’s view superimposed on that of the other
b. a compromise, half way between one eye’s view and that of the other
c. rapidly oscillating static images
d. alternation of one eye’s view and then the other’s
Water, oxygen and ____ most freely flow across a cell membrane.
a. calcium
b. positively charged ions
c. magnesium
d. carbon dioxide
What happens once an action potential starts?
a. It is conducted the rest of the way as an electrical current.
b. It needs additional stimulation to keep it going along the axon.
c. It increases in speed as it goes.
d. It is regenerated at other points along the axon.
A paradoxical characteristic of children with Williams syndrome is that they:
a. seem retarded during childhood but develop into normal or even bright adults.
b. can write, but cannot read what they just finished writing.
c. show a better memory after a delay than they show immediately after an event has
occurred.
d. have very large vocabularies, but cannot learn simple skills.
According to research, the human amygdala responds most strongly when people are
looking at:
a. scenes that depict or imply movement.
b. emotional expressions.
c. familiar, recognizable faces.
d. pictures than can be interpreted in more than one way.
Research on rats has demonstrated similarities between bulimia and:
a. Parkinson’s disease.
b. drug addiction.
c. bipolar disorder.
d. epilepsy.
At the elbow, the ____ brings the hand toward the shoulder.
a. extensor muscle
b. flexor muscle
c. striated muscle
d. skeletal muscle
Besides problems with balance and coordination, a person with damage to the
cerebellum would also likely have problems with:
a. reflexive changes in heart rate.
b. shifting attention between auditory and visual stimuli.
c. amnesia.
d. rational decision-making.
What is the name given to a cluster of neurons inside the CNS?
a. Lamina
b. Column
c. Nucleus
d. Ganglion
If a female rat fetus developed without any alpha-fetoprotein, her hypothalamus would:
a. fail to develop beyond its early, immature state.
b. develop like that of a normal female.
c. develop in an exaggerated female manner.
d. develop in a partly masculinized manner.
The majority of people with ____ are ____.
a. bulimia; men
b. anorexia; middle-aged men
c. bulimia; young women
d. bulimia; middle-aged women
One way that estrogen increases sexual responsiveness is by:
a. synchronizing activity between the hypothalamus of the left and right hemispheres.
b. suppressing the release of competing hormones such as testosterone.
c. decreasing the rate of overall body activity.
d. increasing the sensitivity of nerves in the pubic area.
The _____ monitors all the information about eye, head, and body positions and passes
it on to brain areas that control movement.
a. parietal lobe
b. occipital lobe
c. central sulcus
d. precentral gyrus