psych exam 3

Dr. Paivio studies the ways in which the endocrine system and the nervous system are similar. What might he conclude?

Both systems secrete molecules that activate receptors elsewhere.

Which part of the brain is involved in language production?

Broca's area

Which statement does NOT describe a means by which drugs affect the nervous system?

Drugs damage and degrade neurotransmitters.

Jaquan suffers from epilepsy because of too much glutamate. His doctor may prescribe a drug containing _____ because this type of neurotransmitter inhibits information transmission.

GABA

_____ is a major excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain, while _____ is a primary inhibitory neurotransmitter

Glutamate; GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid)

How has sensory adaptation helped humans to survive?

Ignoring unchanging stimuli frees the attention to detect changes in the environment.

How does the spinal reflex involving pain reduce damage or injury?

It allows a response without waiting for information to get to the brain or for the brain to send a message for muscles to react.

Which statement accurately describes the oval window?

It is the drum-like membrane that marks the boundary to the inner ear.

perception

It is the process by which information about sensory stimuli is organized, interpreted, and transformed into something meaningful.

What happens first when a sound wave reaches the ear?

It sweeps down the auditory canal to the eardrum, which separates the outer ear from the middle ear.

_____ is the system for sensing the position and movement of our individual body parts

Proprioception

High levels of dopamine have been linked to:

Schizophrenia

There is a dance event going on with students attending from two different elementary schools. Students from one school are wearing purple shirts and students from the other school are wearing silver shirts. Imagine that the students in the purple represent potassium ions and the students in silver represent sodium ions, while the gymnasium represents the neuron. If their distribution is similar to what occurs during the resting potential for a neuron, which students would be more highly concentrated inside the building?

The students in the purple shirts would be more highly concentrated.

Which statement BEST characterizes neurons?

They are the building blocks of the brain, spinal cord, and nerves.

Why is it important that olfactory receptor neurons can regenerate?

Without continual replenishment of these neurons, the sense of smell would be minimal.

L-Dopa is a drug given to individuals with Parkinson's disease. This drug helps with the symptoms of the disease because it is a(n) _____ for dopamine.

agonist

The _____ differentiates whether an action potential occurs or does not occur.

all-or-none law

Steven has to be extra cautious about the expiration dates on foods because he has a condition known as _____, which is the inability to smell.

anosmia

Where is the visual cortex located?

back of brain

Antagonists are drugs that act to:

block the action of a neurotransmitter

According to gate-control theory, pain is reduced by the:

brain signals closing pathways in the spinal cord.

Waseem is learning about color perception. He has noticed that the intensity of colors varies quite a bit, and many of his favorite colors are dim. This _____ of a color depends on wave height, or amplitude.

brightness

During the action potential, potassium channels are _____ and sodium channels are _____.

closed; open

_____ are electronic devices that help people who are hearing impaired.

cochlear implants

Hue

commonly called COLOR, which is determined by the wavelength of light reflecting off an object

Timbre corresponds to differences in the _____ of sound waves

complexity

Sensory receptors

convert(s) different forms of physical energy detected by the senses into electrical impulses that are transmitted via neurons to the brain.

First used by South American Indians for hunting, _____ was briefly used in surgeries because of its acetylcholine-blocking properties.

curare

The correct order of the structures of the motor neuron is:

dendrites, cell body, axon, and terminal branches of the axon.

Alzheimer's disease is associated with

deterioration of acetylcholine-producing neurons.

Dr. Torres studies the fight-or-flight response. Her focus is on the _____, which is involved in the response to imminent danger. It releases stress hormones, such as norepinephrine, which prompt the physiological changes associated with crises.

endocrine system

Jamal fell during basketball practice and twisted his knee. After walking on it for a minute he continued with practice. The next day an MRI showed some tendon damage, but he felt very little pain. It is likely that his reduced perception of pain was due to the release of:

endorphins

Naturally occurring, opiate-like neurotransmitters linked to pain control are called:

endorphins

Harold has significant trouble seeing fine details of objects or a scene after recent damage to his:

fovea

Agosto is a goaltender for his university's soccer team. His team is playing for the conference championship and he is very nervous. He notices that the pain in his right leg from a slight muscle pull has increased as he worries about the match. When the match begins and his team scores two goals in the first three minutes of the match, the pain seems to subside along with his anxiety about the match. Agosto's experience is BEST explained by the _____ plus his positive emotional state.

gate-control theory

The three bones in the middle ear are the:

hammer, anvil, stirrup

Tyler has been diagnosed with a disease that involves deterioration of the myelin sheath. As the disease progresses, he begins to have trouble with his coordination. This is caused by:

his neurons communicating slowly and inefficiently.

A boss tells an employee some disturbing news. This is followed by a meeting that distracts the employee from the disturbing news. After the meeting, the employee has a vague feeling that something is not quite right, but cannot pinpoint what it is. It is likely a reaction to the continued effect of:

hormones

The messages of the endocrine system are delivered by

hormones

In terms of our sensory experience of light, wavelength is to _____ as wave intensity is to _____.

hue; brightness

Research has shown that when repeatedly exposed to a specialized class of odors, a person becomes more sensitive to and able to discriminate among these odors. There is evidence that this is due to:

increased activation in the olfactory cortex

The cochlea and semicircular canals make up the:

inner ear

Glutamate

involved in information transmission in the brain.

The pupil:

is a black hole in the center of the iris in bright light, it constricts and in dim lighting, it widens

Light travels through the human eye via:

light waves passing through the cornea, pupil, and lens.

Rods are:

light-sensitive but not color-sensitive

Every time Sidi smells a particular type of shampoo, she immediately has a distinct memory of how she used to feel when her mother would hold her on her lap to read to her as a child. Sidi has the part of her brain known as the _____ to thank for this experience.

limbic system

The slow pain messages travel along pathways projecting to the:

limbic system

Sound wave vibrations are transmitted by three tiny bones located in the:

middle ear

The neurons that carry outgoing information from the brain and spinal cord to the body's muscles and glands are the _____ neurons.

motor

When you blink your eyes, thousands of _____ fire.

motor neurons

Information from the peripheral nervous system is carried to the central nervous system by neural "cables" called:

nerves

volley principle

neurons can work together so that their combined firing can exceed 1,000 times per second

Which chemical messenger is BOTH a neurotransmitter and a hormone?

norepinephrine

_____ and _____ are both kinds of gonads.

ovaries; testes

In nursing mothers, nerve impulses from sensory receptors in the skin are sent to the hypothalamus, which signals the release of _____ that produces the "let-down" reflex, causing stored milk to begin flowing.

oxytocin

As a result of the absence of _____ in the _____ of the eye, we have a tiny hole, known as a "blind spot," in our field of vision.

photoreceptors; optic disk

The _____ gland secretes many different hormones, some of which regulate other glands.

pituitary

After a small section of his basilar membrane was damaged, Josko experienced a noticeable loss of hearing for high-pitched sounds only. Josko's hearing loss is BEST explained by _____theory.

place

The sense of touch includes the basic sensations of:

pressurea and temperature

All of a person's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors spring from neurons, which:

process information and produce output.

Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter involved in:

producing muscle contractions, learning, and memory.

The central nervous system:

receives and processes sensory information and sends commands to other systems

The trichromatic theory is based on which set of colors?

red, blue, and green

Which lights can be combined to form all visible colors?

red, blue, and green

Humans perceive the longest visible wavelengths as the color _____ and the shortest visible waves as _____.

red; blue

interneurons

responsible for communicating information from one neuron to the next

Which factor has been related to the presence of too little GABA?

seizures

_____ convey information to the brain from specialized receptor cells in the sense organs.

sensory neurons

The cells responsible for carrying neural impulses for each sense to the brain are known as:

sensory receptors

Although it weighs only about six pounds, the heaviest sense organ in the body is the:

skin

Tito was hit in the arm with a baseball. After the initial sting of the impact, he began to feel pain that was more like a dull ache, not necessarily in the specific region where the impact occurred. Tito's _____ was(were) involved in this perception of dull, aching pain.

slow pain system

Nina was almost hit by a bus. However, she is okay and her parasympathetic system is responding accordingly. It is:

slowing her heart rate and activating her digestion.

If a neuron was compared with a prison, the _____ could be compared with the prisoners when the neuron is at the resting potential.

sodium ions

The relationship between the ions _____ and _____ in and around the axon is what activates polarization or depolarization of the neuron.

sodium; potassium

Picking up a cup of coffee from a table is possible because of the:

somatic nervous system

lens do what?

specialize in focusing incoming light

Lens do the following:

stiffen with age, impairing the ability to focus on close objects; changes shape to adjust to images near and far

The minimum level of stimulation required to activate a particular neuron is called the _____threshold. Please choose the correct answer from the following choices, and then select the submit answer button. Answer choices

stimulus

Receptor cells for taste are found in the _____ on the tongue, on the roof of the mouth, and lining the cheeks

taste buds

In response to an exam question, Leilani accurately draws a picture of a neuron and indicates the sequence of events that are typically involved when a neuron communicates. She notes that information is carried from:

the dendrites to the cell body and then along the axon to the axon terminals and the synapse.

_____ is(are) made up of myelinated neurons and is(are) responsible for conveying information about discomfort in the skin and muscles.

the fast pain system

Taylor has always had perfect vision, until recently. She noticed around the time of her 60th birthday that she was having difficulty threading her needles. This form of farsightedness, known as presbyopia, is the result of:

the lens becoming brittle and inflexible

Professor Jimenez studies _____, the small, unmyelinated neurons that convey information about pain throughout the body.

the slow pain system

As a physical stimulus, sound is:

the vibration of air or some other medium.

Georgia has made herself a salad. She realizes after the first bite that it doesn't have much flavor. With regard to the role of her taste receptors in this experience, it can be said that:

they are just one aspect of her experience of the flavor

What happens to the hair cells when the fluid in the cochlea moves?

they bend in response to the motion

The ability to see fine details is called:

visual acuity

Where are feature detectors located?

visual cortex