PSY EXAM 1

Dr. Pestis is in the lab measuring the voltage changes in neurons during an action potential. Before she begins, she checks to make sure the resting potential is normal. She should measure the voltage as ____ mV.

-70

What does a "minimalist" favor with regard to animal research?

Animal research is permissible but should be held to a minimum.

Which type of glial cell wraps around the presynaptic terminals of a group of functionally related axons?

Astrocytes

Phil is doing a dissection of a pig spinal cord in his physiology class. His assignment is to dissect and then sketch a picture of the gray matter. What will he be drawing a picture of in his lab notebook?

Cell bodies in the spinal cord

Aaron has been having seizures. His doctor wanted to perform a(n) _____ (where electrodes would be placed on the scalp) to get a better idea of what was going on.

EEG

__ refers to bursts of release of neurotransmitter from the presynaptic neuron

Exocytosis

Stimulant drugs, including amphetamine and cocaine, decrease reuptake and prolong the effects of various neurotransmitters. Which of the following is not one of those neurotransmitters?

GABA

Pho is doing a dissection of a sheep brain in her physiology class. Her assignment is to dissect and then sketch pictures of the oligodendrocytes doing their job. What will she be drawing pictures of in her lab notebook?

Glial cells that have myelinated axons in the brain

Aimee is trying to memorize the anatomical directions for her physiology quiz so she is associating her body parts with the various terms. Which of the following should she remember to be ventrally located?

Her stomach and the underside of her chin

An ontogenetic explanation focuses on which of the following?

How a behavior develops

Of the following, which one is an example of an evolutionary explanation (as opposed to a functional explanation)?

Humans have a (tiny) tailbone because our ancient monkey-like ancestors had a tail.

____ is thought to help control appetite by decreasing it.

Leptin

Which of the following classic researchers is credited with demonstrating the existence of chemical synapses?

Loewi

What technique measures the faint magnetic fields generated by brain activity?

MEG

Veda is in the lab and wants to do some imaging of participants memorizing picture cards. Because she doesn't have access to an fMRI machine, what is the next best technique she could use to get information about brain activity during the card task?

PET scan

Maricella has suffered a severe blow to the caudate (or rear) section of her head. As a result, the striate cortex has suffered extensive damage. Which symptom is she most likely to experience from this injury?

Problems with her visual processing

____ guide the migration of neurons and their axons and dendrites during embryonic development.

Radial glia

In the periphery of the body, ____ build the myelin sheaths that surround and insulate certain vertebrate axons.

Schwann cells

An impulse traveling through a synapse in the spinal cord is ______ than one traveling a similar distance along an uninterrupted axon

Slower

The summation of graded potentials from different locations is

Spatial summarization

What is meant by "monism"?

The idea that the mind is made of the same substance as the rest of the universe

Of the following, which is a reason favoring the use of animals in biological psychology research aimed at solving human problems? Answer

The nervous system of nonhuman animals resembles that of humans in many ways.

Phrenology (relating skull anatomy to behavior) is invalid for many reasons. Which of the following is NOT one of those reasons?

They based conclusions on large numbers of people with similar bumps on the skull

Can neuroimaging methods be used to read your thoughts?

Yes, at a level that is reliably greater than chance

Epinephrine and norepinephrine are produced in the ____.

adrenal medulla

The ______ law states that the amplitude and velocity of an action potential are independent of the intensity of the stimulus that initiated, provided that the stimulus reaches _____.

all-or-none; threshold

In which neurotransmitter category does GABA belong?

amino acids

A(n)____ conveys an impulse toward other neurons, an organ, or a muscle.

axon

Local neurons lack ____.

axons

What structure(s) is/are implicated in movement disorders like Parkinson's and Huntington's?

basal ganglia

Patterns of brain activity in response to the same stimulus tend to ____.

be consistent across individuals and cultures

Neuropeptides are characterized by ____.

being released mostly from dendrites

The question of how various brain areas combine to produce integrated behavior and experience is referred to as the ____.

binding problem

You are able to read, think about, and answer this question correctly mainly because of the combined abilities of the _____.

cerebral cortex

Cerebrospinal fluid is produced by cells called the ____.

choroid plexus

Dr. Cachelin's lab studies drug use by looking at the cerebrospinal fluid in rats. They access the CSF because it is secreted within the ventricles of the brain via the _____.

choroid plexus

Maryanne and Felix are studying action potentials in class. During one lab session, they were exploring the difference in distribution of ions across the neuron membrane (which is called the ____).

concentration gradient

A depolarization is the ____ of the negative charge within the neuron.

decrease

A motor neuron, with its soma in the spinal cord, receives excitation through its ____.

dendrites

Alicia is studying for a quiz on the parts of the neuron. She is having trouble remembering that the part(s) of the neuron that receive(s) the incoming message is/are called _____, which are considered part of the postsynaptic side of the neuron.

dendrites

Check My Work The surfaces of ____ are lined with synaptic receptors that receive information from other neurons.

dendrites

Tommy is addicted to smoking cigarettes and says he really enjoys smoking. Smoking cigarettes feels rewarding in part because it triggers the release of ____.

dopamine

Cecil has just finished eating a large turkey dinner. He is feeling full and happy. Shortly, he should have a spike in _____ due to the large amount of ____ in the turkey.

dopamine; tyrosine

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

dorsal root ganglia

Mr. Garcia has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. As it progresses, the ____ cell(s) lining his brain's blood vessels will shrink, and harmful chemicals will enter the brain.

endothelial

The primary motor cortex is in the ____ lobe of the cerebral cortex.

frontal

Nitric oxide is an example of the ____ category of neurotransmitters.

gas

The brain uses active transport to move ____ across the blood-brain barrier.

glucose

The brain's primary source of energy is ____.

glucose

Most of the brain's excitatory ionotropic synapses use the neurotransmitter ____.

glutamate

When attempting to produce an action potential in the cells in the lab, Jane measured the membrane potential to be -80mV. In this case, her cells had somehow become _____.

hyperpolarized

Following a stroke, Mr. Smith suffered damage to his ____. His doctors warned his family that he might now have alterations in motivated behaviors like hunger, thirst, and sex.

hypothalamus

A hyperpolarization is the _____of the negative charge within the neuron

increase

The temporary hyperpolarization of a membrane is a(n) ____

inhibitory postsynaptic potential

Dedra has diabetes. As such, she needs to take the hormone _____ because her ____ does not produce enough on its own.

insulin; pancreas

Logan, who has an autism spectrum disorder, is participating in brain imaging research. If Logan were shown a word related to social interaction, what would you expect to see on his brain scan?

lack of activation in the part of the brain associated with the "self"

The cerebral cortex is organized in six layers of cell bodies called ____, which are parallel to the surface of the cortex.

laminae

The ____ controls vital reflexes including breathing, heart rate, vomiting, salivation, coughing, and sneezing.

medulla

Gordon is having trouble sleeping and decides to take a supplement containing a hormone that is manufactured in the pineal. What is he most likely taking?

melatonin

Research using contemporary imaging methods have shown that people with a larger amygdala tend to have ____.

more social contacts

Brian is playing a neuroscience trivia game. He is trying to figure out which neuron has its soma in the spinal cord and receives excitation through its dendrites and conducts impulses along its axon to a muscle. What should he guess?

motor neuron

To produce an action potential, ____ must combine such that the neuron reaches threshold.

multiple EPSPs

In his studies of infant brains, Santiago Ramón y Cajal demonstrated that ____.

nerve cells remain separate rather than merging into each other

Chromosomes are contained in the cell ____.

nucleus

Primary visual cortex is located in the ____ lobe.

occipital

Dot is a cat with a huge brown spot on her dorsal side. The rest of her fur is white. Where is the spot located?

on Dot's back

Dr. Kerr's lab uses a procedure called ____ that uses light to control a small population of neurons.

optogenetics

The ____ system consists of the cranial nerves and nerves from the sacral spinal cord

parasympathetic

Dr. Chiarella's lab studies the primary somatosensory cortex, located in the ____ lobe.

parietal

The cerebral cortex has a wrinkled appearance. The _____ lobe lies between the occipital lobe and the central _____.

parietal; sulcus

In the 1800s, Franz Gall examined the skulls of people with special talents or abilities. He assumed that a bulge on the skull corresponded to an increase in brain mass behind the skull. His process of relating skull anatomy to behavior became known as _____.

phrenology

The surface of a cell is called the ____.

plasma membrane

The slightly negative electrical potential of the inside of a resting neuron relative to the outside is called a resting ____.

potential

Regarding a synapse, the ____ neuron delivers the transmission and the _____ receives

presynaptic; postsynaptic

Transmission of the action potential down an action is called ____.

propagation

Adenosine is an example of the ____ category of neurotransmitters.

purine

Charles Scott Sherrington's research involved pinching a dog's foot. After a fraction of a second, the dog would flex the pinched leg and extend the other legs. He called this event a _____.

reflex arc

Karin just burned her finger on a hot pan. What is the circuit from sensory neuron to muscle response called that transmitted the message that she should remove her finger from the pan?

reflex arc

The jumping of action potentials from node to node is referred to as ____ conduction.

saltatory

The sodium-potassium pump is effective only because of the membrane's ____.

selective permeability

Many hallucinogenic drugs are chemically similar to ____.

serotonin

Sherrington inferred the presence of a gap between neurons based on ____.

slower than predicted speed of conduction

At the peak of the action potential, ____.

sodium channels close

Consider a wiring arrangement of neurons in which the two neurons (A and B) stimulate a third neuron (X). Neither neuron A nor B can stimulate neuron X on its own, but can excite neuron X in combination. This is an example of ____.

spatial summation

What term describes periodic production of action potentials, even without synaptic input?

spontaneous firing

The ____ is a part of the brain that is very important for vision.

superior colliculus

On the Fourth of July, Charlie was startled by some loud fireworks. As such, his____ axons prepared his body for fight or flight.

sympathetic

The ____ lobe contributes to complex aspects of vision, including perception of movement and recognition of faces

temporal

he summation of graded potentials at different times is

temporal semination

What term is used for the cumulative effect of repeated stimulation over a brief period of time?

temporal summation

What procedure enables researchers to study behavior with some brain area active, then inactive, and then active again?

transcranial magnetic stimulation

Frederick is interested in using his diet to elevate his mood. His doctor suggested that he try to increase the amount of ____ in his diet, because it controls the amount of serotonin in the brain.

tryptophan

Most neurotransmitters are typically stored in ____ located in the axon terminals. When stimulated, the neurotransmitter is released via ____ into the synapse.

vesicles; exocytosis

The permeability of the proteins that allow sodium and potassium to cross a neuron's membrane depends on the ____.

voltage difference across the membrane