Exam 1

When a membrane is at rest, what attracts potassium ions to the inside of the cell?

An electrical gradient

In what direction does a local neuron transmit information?

Equally well in any direction

What ordinarily prevents extensor muscles from contracting at the same time as flexor muscles?

Inhibitory synapses in the spinal cord

How does the method of transcranial magnetic stimulation of brain areas differ from magnetic inactivation?

Brain activation results from mild, brief magnetic stimulation.

Glutamate opens sodium gates, enabling sodium ions to enter the postsynaptic cell. What type of effect is this?

Ionotropic

Where would you find the dorsal root ganglia?

Outside, but near, the spinal cord

A normal, healthy animal never contracts the flexor muscles and the extensor muscles of the same leg at the same time. Why not?

When the interneuron sends excitatory messages to one, inhibitory messages go to the other.

Which of the following cranial nerves does not play a role in taste and control of the tongue and throat movements?

XI

Riva is unable to eat eggs, milk, and peanuts. She might have altered levels of _____ as a result.

acetylcholine

The spinal cord communicates with ____.

all sense organs and muscles in the human body

Sex-limited genes are found on ____.

any autosomal chromosomes

The mechanism of fetal alcohol syndrome probably relates to ____.

apoptosis

Dendrites ____.

are branching fibers that get narrower near their ends

A drug that blocks the sodium gates of a neuron's membrane will ____

block the action potential

A drug will prevent an action potential if it ____.

blocks the movement of sodium across the membrane

Group selection works well as an explanation for human behavior because humans ____.

can expel uncooperative individuals from groups

A metabotropic synapse, by way of its second messenger, ____.

can influence activity in much or all of the postsynaptic cell

Water, oxygen, and ____ freely flow across a cell membrane.

carbon dioxide

Dopamine and norepinephrine are classified as ____.

catecholamines

Neuropeptides are synthesized in the ____.

cell body

After maturity, the apoptotic mechanisms become ____.

dormant

The cell bodies of sensory neurons that are in clusters of neurons outside the spinal cord are called ____.

dorsal root ganglia

The primary feature of a neuron that prevents the action potential from traveling back from where it just passed is the ____.

efractory period

Depolarization is to ____ as hyperpolarization is to ____.

excitation; inhibition

The ventricles, central canal, and subarachnoid space are all ____.

filled with cerebrospinal fluid

Individuals afflicted with PKU need to avoid ____.

foods high in phenylalanine

Professor Nuno explained to her class that glucose is so important to the brain because ______.

glucose is unique and can cross the blood-brain barrier to be used by neurons

If the prefrontal cortex is damaged, an individual may ____.

have difficulty remembering where s/he just placed the keys

In response to nervous system injury, neurotrophins ____.

increase regrowth of damaged axons

Many dendrites contain short outgrowths called spines that _____.

increase the surface area available for synapses

The large-scale integration problem is the difficulty of ____.

knowing how the areas of your brain work together to create a combined perception

Sophia is not feeling well and has been coughing and sneezing all day. These actions are controlled by her _____.

medulla

The hippocampus plays a major role in ____.

memory

Raylene is studying for an exam on neurotransmission. She wrote in her notes that one difference between ionotropic and metabotropic effects is that _____.

metabotropic effects are slower and longer lasting

Professor Pholman is lecturing about the reflex arc. He tells his students that _____ in the ______ help coordinate contraction of certain muscles and relaxation of others.

motor neurons; peripheral nervous system

Although the primary visual cortex is in the ____ lobe, the ____ lobe helps process information about movement and the recognition of faces.

occipital; temporal

What type of glial cells myelinate axons in the brain and spinal cord?

oligodendrocytes

A continuing sensation of an amputated body part is called ____.

phantom limb

The ability of the brain to change its anatomy over time, within limits, is known as ____.

plasticity

Professor Michaels is explaining to his students that, when the neuron is at rest, ______ is mostly responsible for the movement of potassium ions out of the cell.

potassium's concentration gradient

The effect of a neurotransmitter on a postsynaptic neuron is determined by the ____.

receptors on the postsynaptic membrane

Closed head injury results in damage partially because of ____.

rotational forces that push the brain against the inside of the skull

Herb is watching a documentary on Dr. Loewi. He learned that neuroscientists first understood that synapses use chemicals to communicate because Dr. Loewi _____.

stimulated a frog's heart that was in a fluid bath and then used just the fluid to simulate a second heart

Bonita is learning to speak and process language. She is likely to have increased activity in her _____.

temporal lobe

Proteins called ____ bind DNA into a shape that is more like string wound around a ball.

the X chromosome

Jasmine is in her physiology lab practicing labeling a neuron. When she gets to the nodes of Ranvier, she will be labeling ______.

the gaps in the myelin sheath along the axon

Prefrontal lobotomies were conducted in the United States in an attempt to ____.

treat severe psychiatric disorders

Chemicals in the amphibian tectum guide the growth of axons from the retina to their correct location in the tectum by ____.

using a chemical gradient

The two basic kinds of cells in the nervous system are _____.

neurons and glia

Which statement is TRUE about laminae in the cerebral cortex?

The laminae vary in thickness in different areas.

The results of several studies of facial expressions in people who were born blind suggest ____.

a major role for genetics as well as environment in the control of facial expressions

Professor Peach is lecturing in her class about glial cells. She will tell her class that glial cells ______.

are not as well studied as neurons but have been shown to perform many important functions in the nervous system.

Humans may have been able to evolve such big brains without sacrificing other functions because of ____.

diet

The primary method for disposal of peptide neurotransmitters is ____.

diffusion

A neuron excretes neurotransmitters through its membrane by a process called ____.

exocytosis

When a vertebrate animal contracts the flexor muscles of a leg, it relaxes the extensor muscles of the same leg. Sherrington considered this evidence for the existence of ____.

inhibitory messages

The concept that neurons refine their many connections based on which ones are most successful is known as ____.

neural Darwinism

Santiago Ramon y Cajal demonstrated that ____.

neurons are separate from one another

Sympathetic ganglia ____.

are closely linked and often act as a single system