The temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex is the primary target for which kind of sensory
information?
a. somatosensory, including touch
b. the simplest aspects of vision
c. gustatory
d. auditory
When neuropeptide Y inhibits the paraventricular nucleus, it:
a. leads to extreme undereating.
b. produces extreme overeating.
c. depletes fat stores.
d. interferes with digestion.
Membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord are called:
a. CSF.
b. ventricles.
c. meninges.
d. hydrocephali.
A Golgi tendon organ responds to:
a. increases in muscle tension.
b. decreases in muscle tension.
c. increases in muscle spindles.
d. decreases in muscle spindles.
Which of the following factors seems to be particularly important for branching of
neurons during brain development?
a. Physical activity
b. Playing logic games
c. Having good teachers
d. Having a sterile environment
Taking melatonin pills in the late evening:
a. phase-advances the biological clock.
b. phase-delays the biological clock.
c. increases sleepiness.
d. has no noticeable effects.
Ruffini’s endings are:
a. elaborate neuron endings for touch.
b. simple, bare neuron endings.
c. bare endings surrounded by non-neural cells.
d. important components of the blood.
Suppose both the father and the mother are “heterozygous” for the gene that controls
ability to curl the tongue lengthwise, and this gene is dominant. What can we predict
about their children?
a. All will be heterozygous for the ability to curl.
b. All will be homozygous for the ability to curl.
c. All will be homozygous for the inability to curl.
d. They may be homozygous or heterozygous for ability to curl, or homozygous for
inability.
Lashley found that when he removed parts of the brain:
a. only the removal of frontal lobe tissue disrupted performance.
b. only the removal of parietal lobe tissue disrupted performance.
c. the amount of tissue removed was more important than its location.
d. he found no loss of memories at all.
Young adults deprived of a night’s sleep show deficits on ____ tasks.
a. verbal
b. sensory
c. memory
d. motor
The ascending portion of the reticular formation sends outputs to:
a. the raphe system.
b. the cerebellum.
c. much of the cerebral cortex.
d. motor areas of the spinal cord.
Deaf children who do not learn any language by the time they enter school:
a. can still learn English, but not sign language.
b. can still learn sign language, but not English.
c. will never develop much skill at any language.
d. can master any language at any time.
Purkinje cells are:
a. proprioceptors.
b. flat cells in sequential planes.
c. nuclei in the central cerebellum.
d. axons parallel to one another.
Vigorous use of fast-twitch fibers results in fatigue because the process is:
a. aerobic.
b. anaerobic.
c. anabolic.
d. abolic.
Which of the following is characterized by extreme physiological arousal?
a. locked-in syndrome
b. pure autonomic failure
c. panic attack
d. prosopagnosia
A person with Broca’s aphasia:
a. has lost total knowledge of grammar.
b. has lost total knowledge of use of verbs.
c. recognizes that something is wrong with grammatically incorrect sentences.
d. insists that his or her utterances are grammatically correct and that other people are
wrong.
What is the best way to objectively determine if someone is asleep?
a. Monitor breathing rates.
b. Measure muscle tension.
c. Monitor brain waves.
d. Use self-report measures.
If a jet of water is repeatedly squirted at the gills of an Aplysia, ____ occurs.
a. sensitization
b. habituation
c. operant conditioning
d. classical conditioning
Someone who investigates how the functioning of the brain and other organs influences
behavior is called a:
a. sociobiologist.
b. neuropsychologist.
c. behavioral neuroscientist.
d. comparative psychologist.
Ionotropic effects:
a. depolarize the postsynaptic membrane.
b. hyperpolarize the postsynaptic membrane.
c. may depolarize or hyperpolarize the postsynaptic membrane.
d. enhance the reabsorption of neurotransmitters.
What is the most unusual thing about the neurotransmitter nitric oxide (NO)?
a. It is found only in sensory neurons.
b. It is both excitatory and inhibitory.
c. It is normally a poisonous gas.
d. It is also known as “laughing gas.”
Any estimate of the heritability of a particular trait is specific to:
a. a given population.
b. the parents.
c. the trait.
d. the strength of the trait.
A greater amount of branching on dendrites allows them to:
a. manufacture more mitochondria.
b. have a larger surface area available for receiving information from other neurons.
c. increase their membrane permeability.
d. lower their resting potential.
Damage to the optic nerve after it had crossed in the optic chiasm would result in the
loss of vision in the:
a. contralateral eye.
b. ipsilateral eye.
c. contralateral visual field.
d. ipsilateral visual field.
Which of the following methods is dependent upon injecting a radioactive chemical
into the blood to measure blood flow?
a. fMRI
b. PET
c. CAT
d. magnetic stimulation
Which of the following are the most likely side effects of tricyclic antidepressants?
a. increased reaction to eating cheese
b. nausea and headaches
c. drowsiness and dry mouth
d. cramping and diarrhea
A variety of studies indicate that anxiety is increased by the transmitters ____ and ____.
a. alprazolam, orexin
b. cholecystokinin, orexin
c. orexin, diazepam
d. alprazolam, cholecystokinin
Superior colliculus is to ____ as inferior colliculus is to ____.
a. vision; hearing
b. taste; smell
c. vision; touch
d. touch; hearing
What are the two parts of the central nervous system?
a. autonomic nervous system and somatic nervous system
b. cerebrum and cerebellum
c. sympathetic division and parasympathetic division
d. brain and spinal cord
If some of the axons innervating a given cell are destroyed or if they become inactive,
what compensatory process takes place in the remaining presynaptic cells?
a. activation of previously silent synapses
b. removal of toxins
c. denervation supersensitivity
d. collateral sprouting
A neuropsychologist ____.
a. has an M.D. and specializes in the treatment of brain damage
b. conducts research on animal behavior (similar to an ethologist)
c. is more often a teacher than a practitioner
d. tests the abilities and disabilities of brain-damaged people
Units of heredity that maintain their structural identity from one generation to another
are:
a. enzymes.
b. mutations.
c. nucleic acids.
d. genes.
Auditory information is sent to the:
a. ipsilateral hemisphere only.
b. contralateral hemisphere only.
c. ipsilateral and contralateral hemispheres equally.
d. contralateral hemisphere more than the ipsilateral hemisphere.