11APPsych U2 Practice Test

The tremors of Parkinson's disease result from the death of nerve cells that produce the neurotransmitter

dopamine

Deaf people who use sign language typically:

process language in their left cerebral hemisphere

Neurons communicate across the synapse by means of neurotransmitters, which bind to special proteins on the postsynaptic membrane like a key fitting into a lock. In this analogy, the neurotransmitter is the key and the ______________ is the lock.

receptor

A simple, automatic, inborn response to a sensory stimulus is called a:

reflex

Which of the following is reduced during a fight-or-flight reaction

digestion

The part of the brainstem that controls heartbeat and breathing is called the

medulla

Information is carried from the central nervous system to the body's tissues by:

motor neurons.

Your friend is taking her first psychology class. She comes to you saying, "I don't understand why we are studying the brain; I thought this was a psychology class." Because of your background in psychology, your best response should be:

"Everything psychological is simultaneously biological."

At rest, the charge inside a neuron is approximately______ millivolts

-70

Alzheimer's disease is most closely linked to the deterioration of neurons that produce:

acetylcholine

The part of a neuron that transmits neural messages to other neurons or to muscles or glands is called the

axon

Juan had his corpus callosum severed to prevent whole-brain seizures. He sits in front of a screen and stares at a dot in the middle, while simple visual stimuli are flashed briefly to the left and right of the dot. Juan would

be able to name stimuli on the right, but not on the left.

The ovaries in females and the testes in males are part of the:

endocrine system.

A brief electrical charge that travels down the axon of a neuron is called the

Action potential

An individual was admitted to the hospital after experiencing a mild tingling on the right side of the face and a sudden inability to speak. Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a doctor would likely find

An abnormality in the brain tissue of the left hemisphere

The brain scan that is essentially a series of Xrays is the

CAT scan

Difficulty in typing smoothly on a keyboard would most likely result from damage to the

Cerebellum

An undersupply of the major inhibitory neurotransmitter known as ________ is linked to seizures

GABA

Mary participates in an exercise program because she experiences an increase in energy and feelings of well-being at the end of each exercise session. The best explanation for Mary's perseverance in the program is that exercise

Increases her level of endorphins

Alfred the brain was in a car accident, and the doctor suspects that Alfred may have suffered structural damage. Which of the following tests would be the most appropriate to find out whether there is structural damage

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

In order to identify which of Lucy's brain areas was most active when she talked, neuroscientists gave her a temporarily radioactive form of glucose and a(n):

PET scan

Significant damage to which of the following parts of the brain will most likely cause a person to fall into a deep-coma from which the person will be unable to awaken

Reticular formation

Ben was enjoying a walk in the woods on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. As he went around a curve, he noticed a bear walking toward him. Immediately his pupils, he began to perspire, and his heart accelerated. These changes are most closely related to the function of the

Sympathetic nervous system

What hormone seems to be most closely linked with aggressive behavior

Testosterone

The "little brain" attached to the rear of the brainstem is called the:

cerebellum

Trisha is gradually developing an impairment in her ability to perform finely coordinated movements, such as cutting a clove of garlic into very small pieces. Doctors will probably discover a problem in her

cerebellum

In transmitting sensory information to the brain, an electrical signal travels from the ________ of a single neuron.

dendrites to the cell body to the axon

At puberty, the hypothalamus secretes gonadotropin-releasing hormones (GnRH), causing the secretion of gonadotropins by the pituitary gland. These hormones cause the ovaries to produce estrogen and testes to produce testosterone. As the levels of these hormones rise, they shut down the release of GnRH and the gonadotropins. This example illustrates the

feedback systems connecting the brain and endocrine systems

While babysitting one night, you receive a phone call from someone who says, in a really weird voice, "I am coming to get you! I am coming to get you!" Just then the lights in the house flicker out! As you are alone, your heart starts beating faster, you begin to perspire, and you are covered in goose bumps. You have just experienced the

fight-or-flight syndrome.

Which of the following is the component of the limbic system that plays an essential role in the formation of new memories

hippocampus

Surgical destruction of brain tissue is called a(n):

lesion

Over which of the following functions does the right hemisphere of the brain have the most control

logical reasoning

A football quarterback can simultaneously make calculations of receiver distances, player movements, and gravitational forces. This best illustrates the activity of multiple:

neural networks.

After confronting an emergency situation, which part of the nervous system returns the body to homeostasis

parasympathetic

The two major divisions of the nervous system are the central and the ________ nervous systems.

peripheral

The two major divisions of the nervous system are the

peripheral and central nervous systems.

The _____ gland is called the "master gland" because of its influence upon the endocrine system.

pituitary

At the age of 22, Mrs. LaBlanc was less than 4 feet tall. Her short stature was probably influenced by the lack of a growth hormone produced by the

pituitary gland

The capacity of one brain area to take over the functions of another damaged brain area is known as brain

plasticity

Mitch tripped and fell near the campfire. When he reflexively drew back his hand, which had touched a hot coal, the signal sent throughout his nervous system went from his hand to his

spinal cord, then to his brain, then back to his hand

The endocrine system glands are distinguished from the other glands in that they secrete

substances directly into the blood steam.

When Mr. Valdez thought his 1-year-old daughter had fallen down the stairs, his heartbeat accelerated, his blood pressure rose, and he began to perspire heavily. Mr. Valdez's state of arousal was activated by his ________ nervous system.

sympathetic

The minimum level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse is called the

threshold

The corpus callosum is a wide band of axon fibers that:

transmits information between the cerebral hemispheres.

The surgical removal of a large tumor from Dane's occipital lobe resulted in extensive loss of brain tissue. Dane is most likely to suffer some loss of:

visual perception