LeVay’s studies indicate a correlation between a man’s sexual orientation
(homosexuality vs. heterosexuality) and the:
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.
What has been found in studies that relate male homosexuality in humans to prenatal
stressors?
a. Prenatal stress is consistently related to homosexuality in men.
b. There has been no evidence linking prenatal stress to homosexuality in men.
c. Stress during delivery is weakly related to homosexuality in men.
d. The findings are inconclusive.
A certain weak stimulus produces no reflexive response, but a rapid repetition of that
stimulus may produce such a response. What is this phenomenon called?
a. spatial summation
b. temporal summation
c. saltatory conduction
d. synaptic combination
An animal knows when to stop drinking by:
a. monitoring CCK levels.
b. how much urine is present in the bladder.
c. detecting how much water is in the stomach.
d. monitoring vasopressin levels.
The anterior pituitary is composed of ____ and the posterior pituitary is composed of
____.
a. glandular tissue; neural tissue
b. neural tissue; glandular tissue
c. neural tissue; neural tissue
d. glandular tissue; glandular tissue
If a researcher makes minor changes to the procedure of the delayed
matching-to-sample and delayed nonmatching-to-sample tasks, monkeys with
hippocampal damage:
a. perform well, regardless of the procedure.
b. perform poorly, regardless of the procedure.
c. perform differently, depending on the procedure.
d. improve temporarily, regardless of procedure, and then return to their normal level of
performance.
Humans are a partial exception to which rule?
a. Adults can all drink milk.
b. They all have a declining level of lactose tolerance as they age.
c. All children limit dairy products.
d. Milk causes stomach cramps in all humans.
____ respond to a particular feature of a stimulus.
a. Hypercomplex cells
b. Magnocellular cells
c. Feature detectors
d. Shape detectors
Damage to the ____ impairs performance on the delayed matching-to-sample and
delayed nonmatching-to-sample tasks.
a. hypothalamus
b. thalamus
c. hippocampus
d. parietal cortex
The cerebellum’s role in memories may be limited to what kind of learning or memory?
a. language learning
b. imprinting
c. classical conditioning
d. operant conditioning
The two kinds of cells in the nervous system are:
a. neurons and glia
b. dendrites and axons
c. ribosomes and lysosomes
d. neurons and axons
What is one reason for gradual behavioral recovery from brain damage?
a. Uninjured areas of the brain develop new functions to take over the ones that were
lost.
b. Glia cells are transformed into neurons.
c. Additional myelin forms on the axons that were not destroyed.
d. Postsynaptic cells deprived of input become supersensitive.
____ are a category of chemicals including adenosine and several of its derivatives.
a. Neuropeptides
b. Acetylcholine
c. Monoamines
d. Purines
The most probable reason that both cats and humans have difficulty with recognition of
objects if deprived of visual stimuli during the critical period is that:
a. neurons in the primary visual cortex die.
b. their cortical cells lack the sharply tuned receptive fields that make recognition
possible.
c. they can’t perceive color.
d. the rods and cones no longer work.
Blindsight refers to:
a. the ability to localize visual objects within an apparently blind visual field.
b. the ability to merge together information from your two eyes even though they do not
see the exact same picture.
c. improved hearing and touch in blind people.
d. the inability to see flashing light.
The pituitary gland synthesizes and releases hormones:
a. to the outside of the body.
b. to the thalamus.
c. into the bloodstream.
d. to the hypothalamus.
With long term use of antidepressants, there is increased production of brain-derived
neurotrophin factor in the:
a. hippocampus.
b. suprachiasmatic nucleus.
c. superior colliculus.
d. hypothalamus.
Which one of Sherrington’s inferences about the synapse was WRONG?
a. Transmission at a synapse is slower than transmission of impulses along an axon.
b. Transmission at the synapse is primarily an electrical process.
c. Synapses can be either excitatory or inhibitory.
d. Synapses make spatial summation and temporal summation possible.
Parkinson’s disease patients, who usually have trouble walking, can walk surprisingly
well when they:
a. have their eyes closed.
b. walk backwards.
c. count their steps.
d. are following a parade.
Which plane shows brain structures as they would be seen from the front?
a. Coronal
b. Sagittal
c. Horizontal
d. Transverse
In species like rabbits that have their eyes far to the side of the head, which of the
following is true?
a. Their left and right eyes send input only to the ipsilateral hemisphere.
b. Their left and right eyes send input only to the opposite hemisphere.
c. Both eyes send input to both hemispheres almost equally.
d. They can only see out of one eye at a time.
Patients with Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease have impairments of attention
and intellect because of inactivity or deterioration of their ____.
a. Tectum
b. Thalamus
c. Hippocampus
d. nucleus basalis
What did researchers find in Antarctic research scientists who spent a 9-month period of
social isolation in the cold and dark?
a. T cell functioning increased by about 50%
b. T cell functioning decreased by about half
c. leukocytes stopped functioning
d. an outbreak of autoimmune diseases
According to the activation-synthesis hypothesis, what do dreams reflect?
a. The brain’s attempt to make sense of spontaneous neural activity
b. Unconscious motivations and emotions
c. Experiences that have been part of the species’ evolutionary history
d. An imbalance among hormone levels
When the neuron is at rest, what is responsible for moving sodium ions out of the cell?
a. a concentration gradient
b. an electrical gradient
c. both a concentration gradient and an electrical gradient
d. the sodium-potassium pump
Damage to the cerebellum is most likely to interfere with:
a. lifting weights.
b. the ability to remember a series of events.
c. rapid movements that require timing.
d. chewing and swallowing.
Glucagon stimulates the liver to:
a. convert glucose to glycogen.
b. store glucose.
c. convert glycogen to glucose.
d. decrease blood glucose levels.
A proprioceptor is sensitive to the:
a. degree of relaxation or contraction of smooth muscle tissue.
b. position and movement of a part of the body.
c. percentage of fibers that are contracting within a muscle bundle.
d. degree of fatigue in a muscle.
The first few days of rat parental care are to ____ as later days are to ____.
a. experience; hormones
b. hormones; experience
c. females; males
d. males; females
A means of controlling sex offenders has involved reducing:
a. testosterone levels.
b. estrogen levels.
c. prolactin.
d. the alpha-fetoprotein level in their blood.
The sympathetic nervous system is to ____ as the parasympathetic nervous system is to
____.
a. fight; flight
b. emergencies; relaxation
c. assertiveness; aggressiveness
d. striated muscles; smooth muscles
Which lobe contributes to perception of movement and recognition of faces?
a. Occipital lobe
b. Parietal lobe
c. Temporal lobe
d. Frontal lobe
Tinnitus is often:
a. suffered by those with conductive deafness.
b. seen in the very young.
c. due to a phenomenon like the phantom limb.
d. due to differential loudness.
Sibutramine affects weight gain by:
a. stimulating dopamine release.
b. inhibiting dopamine release.
c. blocking reuptake of serotonin and norepinephrine.
d. inhibiting serotonin and norepinephrine.
What is the result of inhibition of the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) by the transmitter
neuropeptide Y?
a. increased meal size
b. decreased meal size
c. finicky food selection
d. cessation of drinking during meals