Chapter 3 Practice Test

Chapter 3 Practice Test

Multiple Choice

Identify the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.

____1.Opiate drugs occupy the same receptor sites as

a. / dopamine.
b. / serotonin.
c. / endorphins.
d. / epinephrine.
e. / acetylcholine.

____2.A brain lesion refers to ______of brain tissue.

a. / development
b. / electrical stimulation
c. / destruction
d. / radioactive bombardment
e. / X-ray photography

____3.With regard to the process of neural transmission, a refractory period refers to a time interval in which

a. / am individual reflexively withdraws from a pain stimulus.
b. / an electrical charge travels from a sensory neuron to a motor neuron.
c. / a neuron fires more rapidly than usual.
d. / dendrites transmit more electrical signals to axons.
e. / positively charged ions are pumped back outside a neural membrane.

____4.Mandy came home late. As she reached to turn on the kitchen light, her hand brushed against something unexpected. Her adrenal glands, as a part of the “fight-or-flight” response, released epinephrine and norepinephrine, which increased her heart rate and blood pressure. Even after she realized it was just the curtain, her excited feelings lingered. This example illustrates

a. / how the myelin sheath insulates and increases the speed of neural messages.
b. / the all-or-none response in neural firing.
c. / that endocrine messages tend to outlast the effects of neural messages.
d. / how chemicals can amplify or block a neurotransmitter's activity.
e. / that a resting axon has gates that block positive sodium ions.

____5.Which brain structure receives information from all the senses except smell?

a. / thalamus
b. / medulla.
c. / amygdala
d. / hippocampus
e. / pons

____6.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

a. / pain sensations.
b. / speaking ability.
c. / language comprehension.
d. / visual perception.
e. / muscular coordination.

____7.Which region of the brain will a fMRI show as active when a person is looking at a photo?

a. / occipital lobes
b. / association areas
c. / frontal lobes
d. / parietal lobes
e. / temporal lobes

____8.Which brain structure relays information from the eyes to the visual cortex?

a. / hippocampus
b. / amygdala
c. / cerebellum
d. / thalamus
e. / medulla

____9.Prozac, a drug commonly prescribed to treat depression, prevents the sending neuron from taking in excess serotonin. Which process does this drug prevent from taking place?

a. / reuptake
b. / depolarization
c. / the all-or-none response
d. / an action potential
e. / a refractory period

____10.Which kind of psychological researcher would be most interested in the research question, “Do people who lose most of their cerebral cortex in an accident still exhibit signs of consciousness?”

a. / behaviorist
b. / social-cultural researcher
c. / biopsychosocial researcher
d. / developmental psychologist
e. / cognitive neuroscientist

____11.Brittla frequents only the most expensive clubs in an effort to attract a desirable mate. According to evolutionary psychologists, Brittla's behavior is a product of

a. / behaviorism.
b. / her upbringing.
c. / social pressure.
d. / mutation.
e. / genetic predispositions.

____12.Evolutionary psychologists are most likely to emphasize that human adaptiveness to a variety of different environments has contributed to human

a. / reproductive success.
b. / behavior correlations.
c. / naturalistic observation.
d. / genetic mutations.
e. / prenatal development.

____13.People can simultaneously process many aspects of sensory information such as color, shape, and size. This best illustrates the functioning of multiple

a. / dendrites.
b. / endorphins.
c. / ACh agonists.
d. / ACh antagonists.
e. / neural networks.

____14.Direct stimulation of the motor cortex would be most likely to result in

a. / movement of the mouth and lips.
b. / feelings of anger.
c. / acceleration of heartbeat.
d. / intense pain.
e. / a sensation of being touched on the arm.

____15.Our lips are more sensitive than our knees to sensations of touch due to which of the following?

a. / A larger area of the sensory cortex is associated with our lips.
b. / The medulla routes impulses from the lips directly to our brainstem.
c. / Our lips are directly connected to the sensory cortex, but our knees are not.
d. / The dendrites connected to the lips are especially sensitive.
e. / More neurotransmitters are released when the lips are touched.

____16.Which endocrine gland regulates body growth?

a. / adrenal
b. / thyroid
c. / pituitary
d. / parathyroid
e. / pancreas

____17.Schizophrenia is most closely linked with excess receptor activity for the neurotransmitter

a. / GABA.
b. / epinephrine.
c. / dopamine.
d. / acetylcholine.
e. / serotonin.

____18.The study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior and personality traits is known as

a. / behavior genetics.
b. / natural selection.
c. / evolutionary psychology.
d. / molecular genetics.
e. / genome research.

____19.Neural networks refer to

a. / the branching extensions of a neuron.
b. / junctions between sending and receiving neurons.
c. / neural cables containing many axons.
d. / interconnected clusters of neurons in the central nervous system.
e. / neurons that connect the central nervous system to the rest of the body.

____20.Many genes respond to environmental conditions, reacting to different environmental contexts in different ways. This characteristic of genes is called what?

a. / self-regulation
b. / genotype
c. / heritability
d. / chromosomes
e. / evolution

____21.Two plants are grown under the same environmental conditions, including the same soil conditions and the same amount of light and water, but one grows to 2 feet tall and the other is 1 foot tall. In this case, the heritability would be closest to

a. / 5 percent.
b. / 95 percent.
c. / 25 percent.
d. / 50 percent.
e. / 80 percent.

____22.The reproductive advantage enjoyed by organisms best suited to a particular environment is known as

a. / nurture.
b. / behavior genetics.
c. / self-regulation.
d. / natural selection.
e. / heritability.

____23.Males in their ______are most likely to be sexually attracted to women who are several years older rather than several years younger than themselves.

a. / fifties.
b. / thirties.
c. / forties.
d. / teens.
e. / twenties.

____24.Neurotransmitters are released from vesicles located on knoblike terminals at the end of the

a. / cell body.
b. / myelin sheath.
c. / axon.
d. / dendrites.
e. / synapse.

____25.Molecules that are similar enough to a neurotransmitter to bind to its receptor sites on a dendrite and block that neurotransmitter's effects are called what?

a. / antagonists
b. / endocrines
c. / action potentials
d. / endorphins
e. / agonists

____26.Ellen volunteers during her AP psychology class to try to balance a yardstick on her two fingers. While her eyes are open, she finds the task quite easy. However, when she closes her eyes, she finds the same task almost impossible. Which brain region relies on visual information in coordinating our voluntary movements?

a. / cerebellum
b. / hypothalamus
c. / reticular formation
d. / amygdala
e. / thalamus

____27.Recent brain research contradicts previously held beliefs, indicating that new neurons are actually formed in the brain. What is this process called?

a. / reuptake
b. / plasticity
c. / reticular formation
d. / myelin cells
e. / neurogenesis

____28.According to opinion polls, how do scientists and nonscientists react differently to the idea of evolution?

a. / Most “hard” scientists, like physicists and chemists, think that evolutionary theory is unnecessarily complex, and most nonscientists agree.
b. / Scientists are mostly (66%) agreed that evolution is a valid theory, and most nonscientists believe evolution describes the natural world well.
c. / There is widespread consensus among scientists that evolution is scientific fact, but half of U.S. adults do not believe in evolution.
d. / Scientists and most nonscientists agree that evolutionary theory describes animal development well, but not human development.
e. / Belief in evolutionary theory is split along religious lines among scientists and nonscientists.

____29.Which part of your brain receives information that you are moving your legs?

a. / amygdala
b. / sensory cortex
c. / hypothalamus
d. / motor cortex
e. / Broca's area

____30.The capacity of one brain area to take over the functions of another damaged brain area is known as brain

a. / tomography.
b. / aphasia.
c. / phrenology.
d. / hemispherectomy.
e. / plasticity.

____31.Teaching a patient to regain the use of an impaired limb by limiting his or her use of the good limb is called

a. / constraint-induced therapy.
b. / cognitive neuroscience.
c. / neural prosthetics.
d. / phrenology.
e. / functioning magnetic resonance imaging.

____32.Research into dual processing provides partial evidence for levels of consciousness similar to the levels first described by which psychologist?

a. / Edward Titchener
b. / Wilhelm Wundt
c. / B. F. Skinner
d. / Sigmund Freud
e. / Mary Calkins

____33.The process of anticipating that you will be punished for misbehaving takes place within the

a. / sensory cortex.
b. / reticular formation.
c. / limbic system.
d. / sympathetic nervous system.
e. / association areas.

____34.The biochemical units of heredity that make up the chromosomes are called

a. / neurotransmitters.
b. / molecular genetics.
c. / genomes.
d. / genes.
e. / heredity.

____35.Professor Archibald suggests that men are more likely than women to initiate recreational sex because this has historically served to be a more successful reproductive strategy for men than for women. The professor's suggestion best illustrates a(n) ______theory.

a. / Freudian
b. / cognitive
c. / social learning
d. / behaviorist
e. / evolutionary

____36.The thin surface layer of interconnected neural cells that covers the cerebrum is called the

a. / cerebral cortex.
b. / cerebellum.
c. / sensory cortex.
d. / reticular formation.
e. / corpus callosum.

____37.As you are reading this question, the cells in your eyes are firing in response to the light coming from this paper. Which type of neuron is carrying this message to the brain?

a. / efferent
b. / presynaptic
c. / sensory
d. / interneuron
e. / motor

____38.Severing a cat's reticular formation from higher brain regions causes the cat to

a. / become violently aggressive.
b. / lapse into a coma.
c. / experience convulsive seizures.
d. / become sexually preoccupied.
e. / cower in fear.

____39.One function of the glial cells is to

a. / mimic the effects of neurotransmitters.
b. / stimulate the production of hormones.
c. / provide nutrients to interneurons.
d. / control the muscle movements involved in speech.
e. / control heartbeat and breathing.

____40.Which brain area is primarily involved with controlling speech?

a. / sensory cortex
b. / hypothalamus
c. / association areas
d. / angular gyrus
e. / Broca's area