NEU 201 Past Exam Questions

Jana is searching for the genetic cause of Alzheimer’s disease. Her research suggests that Alzheimer’s patients are more likely to have the APOE4 gene than normal patients. This is an example of a(n) __________________ study.

a) Case

b) Pseudoscientific

c) Experimental

d) Observational/Quasi-experimental

d) Observational/Quasi-experimental

Anjali begins reporting issues with her hearing and memory. Which lobe might be damaged?

a) Parietal
b) Occipital
c) Temporal

d) Frontal

c) Temporal

Which of the following are NOT part of the brain stem?

a) Myenlencephalon

b) Mesencephalon

c) Telencephalon

d) Metencephalon

c) Telencephalon

Which fragile layer of the meninges directly contacts the brain?

a) Pia mater
b) Circle of Willis

c) Dura mater

d) Arachnoid mater

a) Pia mater

Your peer, Rami is a little nervous about today’s test. His pupils begin to dilate, he begins to breath more rapidly, and his heart rate increases. Which nervous system is responsible for this response?

a) Somatic nervous system

b) Sympathetic nervous system

c) Enteric nervous system

d) Parasympathetic nervous system

b) Sympathetic nervous system

Guillan-Barré syndrome primarily affects myelin within the peripheral nervous system. Which area will likely remain unaffected?

a) Somatic system

b) Autonomic system

c) Spinal cord

d) Enteric nervous system

c) Spinal cord

Where does the neuron receive the information?

dendrites

Where does the neuron integrate presynaptic signals?

nucleus in the cell body

Which glia produces cerebrospinal fluid?

ependymal cells

Which glia acts as the immune system and destroys dead cells?

microglial

Which glia form myelin sheaths in the PNS?

Schwann cells

Which glia interact with synapses?

astrocytes

Which glia form myelin sheaths in the CNS?

oligodendrocytes

Which of the following statements about action potentials is FALSE?

a) G occurs at -55mV

b) Can travel in both directions

c) Is an all-or-nothing response

d) Involved a depolarization of the axon

b) Can travel in both directions

Which of the following statements INCORRECTLY describes how the resting potential is maintained?

a) Large anions that remain within the intracellular space

b) The impermeable cell membrane

c) A large concentration of K+ outside of the cell

d) Sodium/Potassium pumps push the ions against their chemical gradients

c) A large concentration of K+ outside of the cell

Multiple EPSPs can be added together through __________ and ____________ summation.

temporal; spatial

When myelin covers a neuron’s axon it makes it look like the color ________. However, the disease Multiple Sclerosis causes the destruction of myelin, making these neurons now appear the color _______.

white; gray

_______ synapses are characterized by a small gap between two neurons, while __________ synapses directly connect the cells.

Chemical; electrical

How does myelin speed the propagation of action potentials?

a) Insulates and increases the resistance of the membrane

b) Physically blocking K leak channels

c) Preventing the action potential from traveling backwards

d) A and B

e) A and C

f) B and C

d) A and B

Jaylon is testing the effects of Ca2+ and adds a chemical that prevents any further Ca2+ from entering or leaving a neuron. What would be the biggest change that we expect to see?

a) A disruption of the resting membrane potential

b) No changes in neuronal functioning

c) No action potential

d) No release of neurotransmitters

d) No release of neurotransmitters

Which neurotransmitter is involved in learning?

Dopamine

Which neurotransmitter is the most common excitatory neurotransmitter?

Glutamate

Which neurotransmitter is involved in the sleep/wake cycle?

Serotonin

Which neurotransmitter is involved in arousal and vigiliance?

Norepinephrine

Which neurotransmitter is the most common inhibitory neurotransmitter?

GABA

Which neurotransmitter communicates with muscle cells?

Acetylcholine

Candice wants to study how people make moral judgements. Their primary hypothesis is that morally good judgements will be processed much faster in the brain relative to morally bad choices. What would be a good tool for their study?

a) EEG

b) Optogenetics

c) Electrophysiology

d) CT

a) EEG

Which of the following statements is NOT true of fMRI?

a) Is a direct measure of brain activity.

b) Uses magnets to study the brain.

c) Has a low temporal resolution.

d) Subjects must be safely screened to avoid all metal.

a) Is a direct measure of brain activity.

Weijun has implanted channelrhodopsin into a mouses’s dopaminergic neurons and can activate them with a laser. What is the name of this method?

Optogenetics

Describe the movements of Na+ and K+ ions across the depolarization, repolarization, and hyper-polarization phases of action potential.

Provide 3 pros and 3 cons to both animal and human subjects.

A patient enters the emergency room and needs medication as quickly as possible. How should the medical team administer this drug?
a) Make the patient inhale it

b) Apply it as a patch to absorb through the skin

c) Make the patient swallow a pill

d) Inject it into their bloodstream

d) Inject it into their bloodstream

Which statement below is true about antagonists?

a) Antagonists bind at the allosteric site

b) Adding an antagonist to an agonist results in a rightward shift of the dose-response curve

c) Antagonists cause a partial activation of receptors

d) A & B

e) A & C

f) B & C

b) Adding an antagonist to an agonist results in a rightward shift of the dose-response curve

Destroying the ventral tegmental area would cause changes in which functions?

a) Reward sensations

b) Aversion

c) Impulse control

d) A & B

e) A & C

f) B & C

e) A & C

Is Narcan an agonist, antagonist or allosteric modulator?

Antagonist

Is Morphine an agonist, antagonist or allosteric modulator?

Agonist

Is Benzodiazepine an agonist, antagonist or allosteric modulator?

Allosteric modulator

Is Nicotine an agonist, antagonist or allosteric modulator?

Agonist

Which of the following drugs does NOT directly interact with receptors?

a) Cannabis

b) Psychedelics

c) Cocaine

d) Opioids

c) Cocaine

The incentive sensitization theory emphasizes the power of drug wanting over drug liking. What would be an example of this?

a) Jane Doe drinks heavily every night, just like her parents and grandparents

b) Taking cocaine causes a rush of dopamine and pleasure for John Doe

c) Heroin causes Jessica Doe to feel an indescribable sense of euphoria

d) Jim Doe looks forward to every one of his cigarette breaks at work

d) Jim Doe looks forward to every one of his cigarette breaks at work

Jamal is running a study investigating the relationship between sleep and declarative memory. Right now, he is waiting for a sleeping participants to reach NREM3. What type of EEG activity should he look for?

a) Low-frequency/delta band activity

b) Alpha band activity

c) Theta band activity

d) Beta band activity

a) Low-frequency/delta band activity

What is NOT true about melatonin?

a) Increases in melatonin signal the body to prepare for sleep

b) Caffeine acts as an antagonist for melatonin

c) It is produced in the pineal gland

d) Its production increases as daylight decreases

b) Caffeine acts as an antagonist for melatonin

What is NOT true about the circadian rhythm?

a) It relies on a biological, internal clock

b) It cannot be changed from external cues

c) It is linked to many biological functions, not just sleep

d) It is roughly 24 hours

b) It cannot be changed from external cues

Colman mutates Drosophila so that its PER degrades in the daylight while TIM is unchanged. What would happen?

a) There would be no change in how the timeless & period genes are transcribed during the day and night

b) TIM would accumulate during the day

c) TIM would still enter the nucleus during the day and repress transcription of the timeless & period genes

d) Transcription of the timeless and peroid genes would peak during the night

a) There would be no change in how the timeless & period genes are transcribed during the day and night

Von Economo found that the brain region called the ___________ plays a key role in the normal sleep/wake cycle. For example, the anterior region contains the _____________, known as the body’s “master clock” for the circadian rhythm. Conversely, the posterior region contains the tuberomammillary nucleus, which produces the pro-wakefulness chemical __________-

hypothalamus; suprachiasmatic nucleus; histamine

Cataplexy is associated with what sleep disorder?

a) Sleep apnea

b) Insomnia

c) Periodic limb movement disorder

d) Narcolepsy

d) Narcolepsy

A mouse is genetically mutates so that all photoreceptors now have low convergence. What type of change would we expect from this mutation?

a) There will be lower visual acuity in scotopic vision.

b) There will be lower visual acuity in photopic vision.

c) There will be worse detection of light in scotopic vision.

d) There will be worse detection of light in photopic vision.

c) There will be worse detection of light in scotopic vision.

Arrange the flow of visual information from the earliest to latest point in processing.
a) Primary visual cortex

b) LGN

c) Retina

d) V2

e) Optic chiasm

Step 1: Retina

Step 2: Optic chiasm

Step 3: LGN

Step 4: Primary visual cortex

Step 5: V2

Dr. Andrew Sellinger discovers a new brain disease that degrades a patient’s thalamus, but no other region. Which perceptual modality should be unaffected?

a) Visual

b) Vestibular

c) Olfactory

d) Gustatory

e) Auditory

c) Olfactory

Liaba cannot recognize faces or everyday objects but reaches for and grasps them accurately. Fadi recognizes objects normally but reaches clumsily and misjudges their location. Which pathway is likely damaged in each person?

a) Liaba: ventral pathway; Fadi: dorsal pathway

b) Liaba: dorsal pathway; Fadi: ventral pathway

c) Both: vental pathway

d) Both: dorsal pathway

a) Liaba: ventral pathway; Fadi: dorsal pathway

Which statement about auditory hair cells is FALSE?

a) Inner hair cells are sensitive to different frequencies based