Chapter 3: Biopsychology T/F

A recent study cited in your text found that women are more talkative than men.

False

A typical estimate of how many neurons the human brain contains is about 100,000.

False

After split-brain surgery, patients are unable to walk or to care for the physical needs of everyday life.

False

Androgens are feminizing hormones that bring about physical change in females at puberty.

False

Glutamate functions as the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain.

False

If a surgeon applied electrical currents to a part of your brain and nothing appeared to happened, that would indicate brain damage.

False

If your amygdala were damaged you would probably become exceedingly clumsy and uncoordinated.

False

In individuals with multiple sclerosis, dense buildup of myelin on the axon cause erratic nerve signals leading to loss of sensation and lack of coordination.

False

Magnetic resonance imaging is a method for analyzing biochemical activity in the brain, using injections of a glucose-like substance containing a radioactive element.

False

Motor nerves carry messages from special receptors in the skin, from muscles, and from sense organs to the spinal cord.

False

Neurons greatly outnumber glial cells.

False

Neurons in the central nervous system can neither reproduce nor regenerate in adults.

False

Pruning and increases in synaptic density are confined to childhood.

False

Spinal reflexes are automatic and cannot be influenced by thoughts and emotions.

False

The action potential is a chemical substance that alters the activity of a receiving neuron.

False

The autonomic nervous system controls skeletal muscles.

False

The fluctuating levels of estrogen and progesterone make many women emotional before menstruation.

False

The last split-brain operation was performed in 1981.

False

The neural circuits responsible for our sense of self are well known.

False

The parasympathetic nervous system acts like an accelerator on a car, mobilizing the body for action and for an output of energy.

False

The part of the brain at the top of the spinal cord is called the hippocampus.

False

The peripheral nervous system is a collection of neurons and supportive tissue running from the base of the brain down the center of the back.

False

The pons is a structure in the core of the brain stem that arouses the cortex and screens incoming information.

False

The spinal cord cannot produce behaviors unless it has been helped by the brain.

False

The sympathetic nervous system tends to slow things down and keep them running smoothly in order to conserve the body's energy.

False

The temporal lobes are at the top of the brain.

False

A functional MRI can capture brain changes many times a second as a person performs a task.

True

After critical periods have passed, learning slows and may even become irreversible.

True

Another name for neuron is nerve cell.

True

Axons commonly divide at the end into branches called axon terminals.

True

Brain scans tell us where things happen in the brain but they do not tell us how or why they happen.

True

Broca's area, which is involved in speech production, is located in the left frontal lobe in most people.

True

Each brain hemisphere receives information from the eyes about the opposite side of the visual field.

True

Endorphins have effects similar to natural opiates.

True

Erection in men is a spinal reflex that can be initiated by erotic thoughts.

True

Hanging down from the hypothalamus is a cherry-sized endocrine gland called the pituitary gland.

True

Harmful effects can occur when neurotransmitter levels are too high or too low.

True

Hormones are chemical substances secreted by glands that affect the functioning of organs.

True

If your cerebellum were damaged, you would probably become exceedingly clumsy and uncoordinated.

True

In a normal brain, the two hemispheres communicate with one another across the corpus callosum.

True

In the giraffe, a neuron that runs from the spinal cord down the animal's hind leg may be 9 feet long.

True

It has been proposed that the sense of a unified self occurs because a verbal module in the brain is constantly coming up with theories to explain the actions, moods, and thoughts of the other modules.

True

Localization of function refers to the specialization of particular brain areas for particular functions.

True

Melatonin helps to regulate daily biological rhythms and promotes sleep.

True

Melatonin is secreted by the pineal gland.

True

Neurotransmitters exist in the brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, and certain glands.

True

One purpose of the myelin sheath is to prevent signals in adjacent cells from interfering with each other.

True

People with Alzheimer's disease lose brain cells responsible for producing acetylcholine.

True

Reflexes above the neck, such as sneezing or blinking, involve the lower part of the brain rather than the spinal cord.

True

Sensory nerves put us in touch with both the outside world and with the activities within our own bodies.

True

Synaptic vesicles are tiny sacs in the tip of the axon terminals.

True

The brain stem's two main structures are the medulla and the pons.

True

The central nervous system is the portion of the nervous system consisting of the brain and spinal cord.

True

The difference between boys and girls in math scores is shrinking and in some studies is approaching zero.

True

The frontal lobes govern the ability to do a series of tasks in the proper sequence and to stop doing them at the proper time.

True

The hippocampus is involved in the storage of new information into memory.

True

The largest part of the brain is the cauliflower-like cerebrum.

True

The lesion method of studying the brain involves the observation of an animal after sections of its brain have been damaged or removed.

True

The medulla is responsible for breathing and heart rate.

True

The motor cortex is located in the frontal lobes.

True

The occipital lobes contain the visual cortex, where visual signals are processed.

True

The right side of the brain is superior to the left in problems requiring spatial visual ability and in facial recognition.

True

The sad story of Phineas Gage indicated that the frontal lobes have something to do with personality.

True

The somatic nervous system is sometimes called the skeletal nervous system.

True

The thalamus is a brain structure that relays sensory messages to the cerebral cortex.

True

Transcranial magnetic stimulation uses a powerful magnetic field produced by a wire coil placed on a person's head in order to temporarily stimulate or inactivate neural circuits.

True

When a nerve cell is stimulated, there is a sudden, momentary inflow of positively charged sodium ions across the cell's membrane, followed by an outflow of positively charged potassium ions.

True

When an individual's pupils constrict, heart beat slows, and digestion is activated, then the parasympathetic nervous system has become active.

True

When we are born, most of our synapses are not yet formed.

True

Without the reticular activating system we could not be alert.

True