Practice Midterm Exam - Weeks 1-4; Chapters 1-7

What causes potassium ions to leave the axon just after the peak of the action potential?

A continuing concentration gradient and the opening of the potassium gates

Professor Kinsley is lecturing on EPSPs and action potentials. She tells the class that _____.

EPSPs are decremental and action potentials are not

Toshia is working in the lab trying to produce an IPSP in her cultured neurons. What should she do?

Encourage chloride ions to enter the cell.

Dalton has been diagnosed with Korsakoff's syndrome. What likely caused his disorder?

He doesn't have enough thiamine probably as a result of chronic alcoholism.

Which event will increase the concentration gradient of sodium?

Increasing activity of the sodium potassium pump

What do neurons have that other cells do not?

Large, branching extensions

The cerebellum contributes to the control of what function?

Movement

Which lobe of the cerebral cortex is most important for visual information?

Occipital

The amino acid tryptophan is the precursor to which neurotransmitter?

Serotonin

​How do most biological psychologists feel regarding the use of animals in research?

They use animals only if the potential benefits to humans outweigh the costs to the animals.​

​Casey believes that there are no circumstances under which animal research is acceptable. Casey is best described as a(n) ____.

abolitionist

Leeann is studying for a test on neurotransmission. She wrote in her notes that neurotransmitters are released from the presynaptic neuron when the action potential reaches the terminal and opens ______ channels.

calcium

The major disadvantage of a blood-brain barrier is that ____.

certain required chemicals must be actively transported

Myelination in the human brain ____.

continues well into the adult years.

The medulla controls a number of reflexes through ____.

cranial nerves

The anterior pituitary is composed of ____ and the posterior pituitary is composed of ____.

glandular tissue; neural tissue

The main advantage of a neuron releasing more than one neurotransmitter is that:

it can send more complex messages

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

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

Santiago Ramon y Cajal demonstrated that ____.

neurons are separate from one another

​Which specialist is most likely to work with people with brain damage?

neuropsychologist

If Vonnie's body needed to dilate her blood vessels, it would release _____.

nitric oxide

​A(n) ____ explanation relies on activity of the brain and other organs.

physiological

Charles S. Sherrington was the first to infer the properties of ____.

synapses

Dr. Andrus studies reflexes and has demonstrated that a certain reflex doesn't occur if there is a single stimulus. He found that there needs to be _______ (several, rapidly produced stimuli) for the reflex to occur.

temporal summation

Temporal summation is to ____ as spatial summation is to ____.

time; location

​The view of the brain from below is called the ____ view.

ventral

The fluid-filled cavity of the developing neural tube becomes the ____.

ventricular system

Nettie is in the laboratory working with cultured neurons. She wants to record the voltage following the opening of the sodium channels. What does she need to do to get the sodium channels to open?

Add a solution that will result in depolarizing the membrane.

Which type of glia release chemicals that modify the activity of neighboring neurons?

Astrocytes

Which structure is likely to be damaged in Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, and other conditions that impair movement?

Basal ganglia

Dr. Benzing is working in the lab. He has been able to demonstrate that ______ increases the frequency of the spontaneous firing rate.

EPSPs

Professor Case studies how drugs of abuse change the amount of chemical that neurons release from the presynaptic terminal into the ______.

junction between neurons

Meningitis is an inflammation of the ____.

membranes surrounding the brain.

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.

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

occipital; temporal

​Following her stroke, Mrs. Hakim, who has limited use of her right arm, will likely work with a(n) ____ therapist who helps her relearn how to dress herself.

occupational

One function of the thalamus is to ____.

relay sensory information to the cerebral cortex

The basal ganglia are a related cluster of cell bodies that are lateral to the _____.

thalamus

Elane is studying for an anatomy quiz. She wrote in her notes that the central nervous system was made up of _____.

the brain and spinal cord

Professor Cook is lecturing on the importance of the myelin sheath. He told that class that _____.

the fatty nature of the myelin speeds up the action potential down the length of the axon.

Acetylcholine is the only neurotransmitter released by ____.

the parasympathetic nervous system's postganglionic axons

Professor Durrant explained to his students that the resting potential of a neuron is the ______.

total amount of negative charge inside the neuron relative to the outside

A cognitive neuroscientist is most likely to ____.​

​study scans of brain anatomy or activity to analyze and explore people's knowledge, thinking, and problem solving.

​In the context of the "three Rs" of animal research, reduction refers to minimizing ____.

​the number of animals used

As compared to dendrites, axons usually ____.

are covered with myelin

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.

COMT and MAO are ____.

enzymes that convert catecholamines into inactive chemicals

​Mapping out the relationship between shared bone structures across different species suggests that there is a(n) ____ explanation.

evolutionary

Which technique is dependent upon the release of oxygen from hemoglobin molecules?

fMRI

Danica is studying for a quiz. She writes in her notes that the _____ matter is in the center of the spinal cord and is made up of _____.

gray; mainly cell bodies and dendrites