Glucose enters the brain via which type of transport?
a. indirect transport
b. direct transport
c. passive transport
d. active transport
Specialized junctions between neurons are called:
a. nodes of Ranvier.
b. spines.
c. dendrites.
d. synapses.
Once within the cerebral cortex, the magnocellular pathway continues, with a ventral
branch sensitive to:
a. details of shape.
b. facial features.
c. movement.
d. brightness.
The sea dragon is a fish that looks and acts like kelp in order to attract its food. The
explanation that proposed that this is due to genetic modification that expands smaller
appendages already present in these fish’s ancestors would be the ____ explanation.
a. functional
b. evolutionary
c. otogenetic
d. biological
The presymptomatic test for Huntington’s disease enables one to predict not only who
will get the disease but also:
a. the approximate age of onset.
b. what other diseases the person will get.
c. which drugs will best alleviate the disease.
d. which symptoms will become prominent first, and which ones later.
As an option for treating Parkinson’s patients, transplantation of stem cells appears to
be:
a. the most effective technique.
b. more effective in late stages of the disease.
c. modestly effective, as with other treatments.
d. not at all effective.
What would be the likely outcome of a person who was blind at birth, and had vision
restored later in life by the removal of cataracts (clouded lenses)?
a. quick development of normal vision
b. trouble describing the shapes of objects
c. trouble identifying the location of light
d. inability to use touch and sound cues to maneuver around in a building
An impairment of eating, drinking, temperature regulation, or sexual behavior suggests
possible damage to which brain structure?
a. Midbrain
b. Hippocampus
c. Hypothalamus
d. Cerebellum
Across studies involving amygdala damage, the general conclusion seems to be that the
amygdala is important for:
a. focusing attention on emotional stimuli.
b. only the expression of emotion.
c. only the interpretation of emotion.
d. the normal startle response.
The principle that allows you to perceive an orange shirt to be the same color under
varying lighting conditions is known as:
a. trichromacy.
b. color constancy.
c. size constancy.
d. an illusion.
Most Parkinson’s patients suffer depression:
a. only during the late stages of the disease.
b. as a reaction to the muscle failure they suffer.
c. as one of the symptoms of the disease.
d. if they are under 50 years of age when the disease strikes.
When do the ventricles and the central canal of the spinal cord form?
a. shortly after birth in humans
b. just as the forebrain starts its rapid phase of growth
c. early in embryonic development
d. during the third trimester
A drug that mimics or increases the effects of a neurotransmitter is called a(n):
a. agonist.
b. antagonist.
c. stimulant.
d. protagonist.
Color vision deficiency is more common in males than in females because it is
controlled by a:
a. sex-limited gene.
b. Y-linked gene.
c. dominant X-linked gene.
d. recessive X-linked gene.
In rodents, testosterone is converted to ____ in the hypothalamus.
a. cortisol
b. androgen
c. progesterone
d. estradiol
The POA/AH monitors body temperature partly by monitoring:
a. its own temperature.
b. brain temperature.
c. heart temperature.
d. the temperature of the thalamus.
One ironic but interesting finding is that people with amnesia will improve on ____
tasks, but have no ____ memory with respect to the task.
a. procedural; explicit
b. explicit; procedural
c. declarative; implicit
d. implicit; procedural
What happens when a neurotransmitter is released by a presynaptic cell?
a. It causes calcium to rush into the presynaptic neuron.
b. It causes calcium to rush into the postsynaptic neuron.
c. The neurotransmitter passively spreads across the synaptic cleft.
d. The neurotransmitter is actively transported across the synaptic cleft.
Olfactory receptors carry their message to the:
a. cochlea.
b. NTS.
c. insular cortex.
d. olfactory bulb.
The language of children with Williams syndrome is:
a. comparable to children with other forms of mental retardation.
b. a byproduct of their intelligence.
c. comparable to that of a normal adult’s second language.
d. impossible to understand.
Negatively charged ions like ____ are mostly located outside the cell.
a. sodium
b. chloride
c. calcium
d. potassium
People with less active forms of ____ are more likely than average to report frequent
anger and aggression.
a. monoamine oxidase
b. dopamine
c. serotonin
d. tryptophan hydroxylase
Which is true when considering the role of genetics in depression?
a. Late-onset depression has higher heritability than early-onset depression.
b. Depression in males runs in families, depression in females does not.
c. Adopted children who become depressed are more likely to have depressed biological
relatives than depressed adoptive relatives.
d. Adopted children who become depressed are more likely to have depressed adoptive
relatives than depressed biological relatives.
A saccade is initiated by impulses from the:
a. spinal cord.
b. hypothalamus.
c. cerebellum.
d. hippocampus.
For a normal person, about how long does a cycle of sleep (from stage 1 to stage 4 and
back again) last?
a. 10 minutes
b. 90 minutes
c. 4 hours
d. 7 hours
If ECT is administered to the right hemisphere only:
a. depression is not alleviated as well as when administered to the left hemisphere.
b. depression is alleviated more quickly.
c. antidepressant effects occur with memory impairment.
d. antidepressant effects occur without memory impairment.
How many kinds of olfactory receptors do we have?
a. two or three
b. seven
c. twenty
d. hundreds
In the normal course of an action potential:
a. sodium channel remain open for long periods of time.
b. the concentration of sodium equalizes across the membrane.
c. sodium remains much more concentrated outside than inside the neuron.
d. subthreshold stimulation intensifies the action potential.
A split-brain patient who sees something in his left visual field can point to it with the:
a. left hand but cannot name it.
b. right hand but cannot name it.
c. left hand and can name it.
d. right hand and can name it.
Allowing only certain people to cross the street, and only at certain times, is
comparable to a neuron’s ____ with respect to ions.
a. threshold of excitation
b. all-or-none law
c. resting potential
d. selective permeability
Although slower than an action potential, synaptic transmission is still relatively fast
because:
a. the synaptic cleft is very narrow.
b. sodium ions are transported quickly.
c. neurotransmitters diffuse faster than electricity.
d. EPSPs travel faster than IPSPs.
In rodent brain cells, ____ is aromatized into ____.
a. steroid; peptide
b. peptide; steroid
c. testosterone; estradiol
d. estradiol; testosterone
A tonotopic map refers to:
a. an auditory cortex map of sounds.
b. a diagram of which kinds of sounds are most common in different parts of the world.
c. a diagram comparing the different tones to which different species are sensitive.
d. a map showing connections between the auditory cortex and the visual cortex.
The lateral tract cross over point is in the:
a. pyramids of the medulla.
b. spinal cord.
c. reticular formation.
d. vestibular nucleus.
Cortical neurons in the visual cortex of a kitten or a cat will lose the ability to respond
to stimuli in one eye if the eye is sutured shut for:
a. the first week after birth.
b. the first month of life.
c. any two month period in adult life.
d. the third and fourth months of life.