Brain & Behavior Final Exam

Which of the following is most clearly under the control of a circadian rhythm in most animals?​
a. ​storage of body fat
b. ​migration
​c. sleep
​d. mating

c. sleep

Suppose you fell into a cave and lost your watch. Without any time cues, your circadian rhythm would ____.
​a. cease to exist
​b. increase dramatically over time
​c. remain relatively stable
​d. decrease over time

​c. remain relatively stable

Which statement is TRUE with regard to the duration of a self-generated sleep/activity cycle?​
a. ​It is unreliable in most species, and dependably close to 24 hours only in primates.
​b. It is longer if the organism is normally active in the dark.
​c. It rarely varies from one individual to another, if at all.
​d. It is highly consistent in a given individual in a given environment.

d. It is highly consistent in a given individual in a given environment.

What is the principal zeitgeber for land animals?​
a. ​the tides
​b. light
​c. barometric pressure
​d. temperature

​b. light

The PER and TIM proteins accumulate during the day until they cause sleepiness. What prevents them from continuing to accumulate at night?​
​a. The high levels of melatonin present at night react with the proteins to disable them.
​b. The proteins are unstable at the lower body temperatures that are typical at night.
​c. Metabolic rates increase at night, so proteins are digested faster than they can be synthesized.
​d. When the proteins reach a high level, they turn off the genes that produce them.

d. When the proteins reach a high level, they turn off the genes that produce them.

For a normal person, about how long does a cycle of sleep (from stage 1 to stage 4 and back again) last?​
​a. 90 minutes
​b. 10 minutes
​c. 4 hours
​d. 7 hours

​a. 90 minutes

Cells in the basal forebrain increase arousal and wakefulness by releasing ____.​
​a. serotonin
​b. dopamine
​c. norepinephrine
​d. acetylcholine

​d. acetylcholine

What is narcolepsy?​
a. ​the inability to breathe while sleeping
​b. sudden periods of sleepiness during the day
​c. sleepwalking
​d. involuntary movements of the limbs while sleeping

​b. sudden periods of sleepiness during the day

When people were forced to smile by clenching a pen between their teeth, how did they rate a cartoon they were reading?​
​a. not as funny as when they were holding a pen between their lips
​b. as frightening
​c. funnier than if they were not forced to smile
​d. just as funny as when they were frowning

​c. funnier than if they were not forced to smile

The amygdala is part of the ____.​
a. ​pyramidal system
​b. parasympathetic nervous system
​c. limbic system
​d. sympathetic nervous system

​c. limbic system

When faced with moral dilemmas involving killing one person to save five others, ____.​
a. ​people with the weakest somatic arousal are the least likely to make the "logical" decision to kill one and save five others
​b. people with the strongest autonomic arousal are the least likely to make the "logical" decision to kill one and save five others
​c. people with the strongest somatic arousal are the least likely to make the "logical" decision to kill one and save five others
​d. people with the weakest autonomic arousal are the least likely to make the "logical" decision to kill one and save five others

​b. people with the strongest autonomic arousal are the least likely to make the "logical" decision to kill one and save five others

Which effect is likely to result from damage to the amygdala?​
​a. a normal startle response, but an absence of learned fears
​b. an enhanced startle response and an enhanced response to learned fears
​c. lack of a startle response
​d. a fear response to any novel stimulus

​a. a normal startle response, but an absence of learned fears

Stress activates two systems. One is the ____.​
a. ​HPA axis, which becomes increasingly important with prolonged stressors
​b. autonomic nervous system which secretes the hormone ACTH
​c. autonomic nervous system which secretes the hormone cortisol
​d. HPA axis, which reacts more quickly than the other

a. ​HPA axis, which becomes increasingly important with prolonged stressors

Which hormone is released by the adrenal gland during stress?​
a. ​NPY
​b. CRH
​c. cortisol
​d. ACTH

​c. cortisol

The classical illness behaviors such as fever, sleepiness, and lack of appetite are caused by ____.​
​a. antibody production
b. ​the immune system's production of cytokines
​c. decreased brain activity
​d. toxins released by pathogens

b. ​the immune system's production of cytokines

Most tranquilizers reduce anxiety by ____.​
a. ​increasing GABA
​b. decreasing GABA
​c. blocking dopamine
​d. increasing CCK

a. ​increasing GABA

Pavlov presented a sound followed by meat in his experiments. Gradually the sound came to elicit salivation. The salivation to the sound in this experiment was the ____.
a. conditioned response​
b. conditioned stimulus​
c. unconditioned response​
​d. unconditioned stimulus

a. conditioned response​

The patient H.M. suffered severe memory disorders following a surgical operation that removed the ____.
a. ​corpus callosum
b. hippocampus​
c. prefrontal cortex and dorsomedial thalamus​
d. lateral interpositus nucleus and hypothalamus​

b. hippocampus​

​Retrograde amnesia is to ____ as anterograde amnesia is to ____.
​a. loss of short-term memory; loss of long-term memory
​b. loss of memory for old events; inability to form new memories
​c. temporary loss of memory; permanent loss of memory
​d. inability to form new memories; loss of memory for old events

​b. loss of memory for old events; inability to form new memories

Operant conditioning is to ____ as classical conditioning is to ____.
​a. association; consequences
​b. CS; UCS
​c. reinforcement; punishment
​d. consequences; association

​d. consequences; association

In studies that paired a tone with an air puff to the cornea of rabbits, learning was found to depend on one nucleus of the ____.
a. ​cerebellum
​b. thalamus
​c. hippocampus
​d. hypothalamus

a. ​cerebellum

Which self-contradiction occurs in people who have had their corpus callosum cut?​
​a. saying they do not know the answer while pointing it out with the left hand
​b. writing with one hand but not being able to write with the other
​c. saying they are not hungry while eating
​d. suddenly changing from a manic state to depression

​a. saying they do not know the answer while pointing it out with the left hand

In the phenomenon of binocular rivalry, when one eye sees one pattern and the other eye sees another, what do you perceive?​
​a. temporary alternation between one pattern and the other
​b. one pattern superimposed on top of the other
​c. whatever the dominant eye sees
​d. a compromise that doesn't match either pattern

​a. temporary alternation between one pattern and the other

Spatial neglect occurs after damage in the ____.​
​a. anterior cortex
​b. posterior cortex
​c. right hemisphere
​d. left hemisphere

​c. right hemisphere

Which neurotransmitter has been repeatedly connected with addictive drugs?
​a. dopamine
​b. acetylcholine
​c. serotonin
​d. epinephrine

​a. dopamine

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors operate similarly to ____.​
a. ​MAOIs
​b. L-Dopa
​c. tricyclics
​d. Antabuse

​c. tricyclics

Brain differences common to schizophrenia include ____.​
a. ​a proliferation of glial cells
​b. larger than normal cerebral ventricles
​c. loss of axons between the substantia nigra and the basal ganglia
​d. a heavier forebrain

​b. larger than normal cerebral ventricles

Recent research discourages the use of antidepressant drugs, for which reason?
a. The drugs' side effects grow worse and worse after repeated use.
b. The most effective drugs are the most expensive ones.
c. Placebos produce practically the same benefits as the drugs in mild to moderate depression.
d. To get benefits, a person must find exactly the right dose to take.

c. Placebos produce practically the same benefits as the drugs in mild to moderate depression.

Someone with bipolar disorder alternates between:
a. mania and normal.
b. schizophrenia and normal.
c. mania and depression.
d. depression and dementia.

c. mania and depression.

Why is blocking dopamine synapses to relieve schizophrenic symptoms not a strong clue about the underlying problem?
a. It only works for about 2-3 weeks.
b. Schizophrenics produce too much dopamine.
c. It takes 2-3 weeks to affect a behavioral change.
d. It only works for about 10-15% of all patients.

c. It takes 2-3 weeks to affect a behavioral change.

Bipolar I disorder and bipolar II disorder differ with regard to ____.​
​a. how many relatives also have the condition
​b. whether they include full-blown manic phases
​c. how rapidly the cycles occur
​d. whether they develop suddenly at an early age or gradually at a later age

​b. whether they include full-blown manic phases

Dissociative identity disorder was previously known as ____.​
a. multiple personality disorder
​b. bipolar disorder
​c. borderline personality disorder
​d. schizophrenia

a. multiple personality disorder

What is true about the duration of a self-generated sleep/activity cycle?

its highly consistent in a given individual in a given environment.

Why is it easier to adjust to jet lag when you fly west compared to east?

West-East: Phase delay
East-West: Phase-advance
(easier to stay up late than go to bed early)

It is dangerous to wake a sleepwalker.
True or False

False

What is sleep paralysis?

inability to move while being somewhat conscious.
-the pons remain in REM sleep

Hippocampus Dependent memory

DECLARATIVE (facts and events)

Hippocampus independent memory

PROCEDURAL (emotional memories)

Acute stress

Demands and pressures of the recent past and near future

Chronic stress

constant and persistent over time

Stress response

activates
1.Sympathetic nervous system
2. HPA Axis

what does HPA axis stand for?

hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis

Cortisol Type 1 Receptors

MR: mineralcorticoid
mainly in hippocampus

Cortisol Type 2 receptors

GR: glucocorticoid

What would happen to the stressed medical students with the cold virus exposure if they were Adrenalectomized (removal of adrenal glands) before the viral exposure?

Stressed students just as likely to get a cold as unstressed students.

Why is the hippocampus so vulnerable to stress?

Hippocampus has many MR receptors, so its sensitive to glucocorticoid signaling and metabolic activity.

What is the AMYGDALA known as?

Fear center

8 basic emotions

joy/sadness
affection/disgust
anger/fear
expectation/surprise

James-Lange Theory

Event
Appraisal (cognitive)
Action (behavioral)
Emotional feeling

According to the James-Lange theory of emotion...

I am happy because I am smiling.

Lateralization of emotions

Left Hemisphere: positive
Right Hemisphere: negative
-the right hemisphere is more involved in emotional experiences.

Karl Lashley believed in the "engram": A physical presentation of the learned memory. How did he search for it?

he cut into brains of living animals until one cut abolished the new memory.

What did Lashley find?

he found that learning doesn't depend on a single area of the cortex.

What is part of the declarative memory?

Episodic, sematic, and procedural memory

Episodic memory

Ability to recall single personal events

Sematic Memory

Non-personal facts

Procedural Memory

ability to develop motor skills (remembering or learning how to do things)

Explicit Memory

deliberate recall of information that one recognizes as a memory

Implicit Memory

The influence of recent experiences on behavior without realizing one is using a memory.

Anterograde Amnesia

Inability to form new memories after brain damage

retrograde amnesia

loss of old memories after brain damage

hippocampus (memory)

The more consolidated a memory becomes, the less it depends on the hippocampus

Place cells

principal hippocampal cells that respond when an animal is in a particular location
(spatial navigation)

Grid cells

Form a map of our surroundings
(spatial navigation)

After an accident, a patient can't remember names or new people/places, but he can remember his friends from before. What brain area is damaged?

Hippocampus

What type of events are more easily remembered?

emotionally arousing events

What is LTP's role in memory storage?

LTP/NMDA are required for establishment of memory, not maintenance.

What neurotransmitter is needed to activate NMDA receptors?

Glutamate

what is the long-term memory test number?

19041558

Endogenous control

Top-down: Intentional

Exogenous control

Bottom-up: stimulus induced

Default Mode Network

when brain is not actively attending to an attention-demanding task.

what is consciousness?

Awareness of ourselves and our environment

Why can people with blindsight still guess visual clues correctly?

some optical axons remain, but information doesn't reach consciousness.

What is a mental disorder?

any disorder that has its origin in the brain.

What is one criteria that must be met for you to be diagnosed with a generalized anxiety disorder?

Worry occurs more often than not for at least 6 months

Anxiety meds

Barbiturates (sedation & anesthesia)
Benzodiazepines (GABA agonist)

What is the cause of Parkinson's disease?

loss of dopaminergic neurons in substantia nigra.

What percentage of Alzheimer's disease cases are early onset?

1%

What can you conclude from such a profound sex difference in the prevalence of depression?

Gonadal hormones may play a role in the etiology of depression.

What's the difference between clinical and statistical significance?

statistical significance lets you know if an effect is real or due to chance.

What can we learn from the time delay of a drug's effect?

The acute mechanism of action may have nothing to do with the actual improvement we see later on.

What is Schizophrenia?

loss of contact with reality including delusions and hallucinations.

What were antipsychotics called?

tranquilizers

why do we have a blood-brain barrier?

to keep viruses and bacteria out.
neurons don't regenerate

which of the following drugs would be a GABA agonist?

-alcohol
-anti-anxiety drugs
-a drug that inhibits the breakdown of GABA

what is true about neurogenesis?

adult neurogenesis continues into old age.

how do drugs work?

they act by changing neurotransmission.

Drug Action Pathway

supply
release
reception
termination

what is our most important sense?

vision

what is a blind spot?

the point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a "blind" spot because no receptor cells are located there.
- the brain makes stuff up

what is color?

a creation of the brain

why do we have a brain?

Movement

what is the role of acetylcholine in muscle contraction?

it always contracts the muscle