Nervous System Rutgers Sample Questions

The division of the autonomic nervous system decreases heart rate to return the body to ordinary, restful conditions

Parasympathetic

When performing a dissection, you notice that some of the nerves of the thoracic section of the spinal cord have ganglia that are located very close to the spinal cord. Some run laterally along the vertebral column. Many of the postganglionic fibers extend from these "chain" ganglia over to their effector organs. You are observing nerves of what division?

Sympathetic

A person with a degenerative disorder begins to experience problems with inappropriate vasodilation of the blood vessels. The efferent nerves of this division controlling contraction of the blood vessels are being affected

Sympathetic

The function of the association area in the frontal lobe is:

a. to send impulses to the arms and legs for muscle movement

b. higher intellectual processes, such as reasoning and judgment

c. control of the motor aspects of speech

d. to help interpret sensory information and understand speech

b. higher intellectual processes, such as reasoning and judgment

A soldier suffers a brain injury, and becomes unable to speak. The damage is likely in:

a. Broca's area

b. the hippocampus

c. the brainstem

d. the basal nuclei

a. Broca's area

The corticospinal tracts control:

a. sweat glands

b. posture

c. voluntary muscle movements

d. spinal reflexes

c. voluntary muscle movements

Spinal nerve injury may result from:

a. fracture of vertebrae, dislocations, or birth injuries

b. too little dopamine in the basal ganglia

c. excess acetylcholine in synapses

d. a drug overdose

a. fracture of vertebrae, dislocations, or birth injuries

Which of the following are descending tracts in the spinal cord?

a. Spinothalamic

b. Spinocerebellar

c. Fasciculus Gracilis

d. Rubrospinal

d. Rubrospinal

The brain waves most closely associated with mental activity are:

a. alpha waves

b. beta waves

c. theta waves

d. delta waves

b. beta waves

The pattern of gray matter in the spinal cord is divided into:

a. horns

b. funiculi

c. meninges

d. roots of spinal nerves

a. horns

Brain waves during sleep are ______________ waves

a. alpha

b. beta

c. theta

d. delta

d. delta

If the gray matter of the spinal cord were to begin degenerating, which of the following structures would be breaking down?

a. Interneurons

b. Cerebrospinal Fluid

c. Axons

d. Myelin

a. Interneurons

Melinda has Parkinson's Disease. Her movements are slowing and she has difficulty initiating voluntary muscular actions. The region that is affected in her brain is the:

a. frontal lobe

d. parietal lobe

c. basal ganglia

d. amygdala

c. basal ganglia

The spinal cord has:

a. no nourishment from, nor interaction with CSF

b. a core of white matter surrounded by gray matter

c. a core of gray matter surrounded by white matter

d. spinal nerves that control olfaction

c. a core of gray matter surrounded by white matter

If the left corticospinal tract is severed in the neck near the first cervical vertebra:

a. muscles in the right arm and leg are paralyzed

b. muscles in the left arm and leg are paralyzed

c. pain impulses from the right side are blocked

d. pain impulses from the left side are blocked

b. muscles in the left arm and leg are paralyzed

After a particularly bad forearm break, a person loses motor function and feeling in their 4th and 5th phalanges, along with the side of the hand directly above these fingers. Which nerve(s) has/have been damaged?

a. the musculocutaneous nerves

b. the ulnar nerve

c. the axillary nerve

d. the obturator nerves

b. the ulnar nerve

If the right lateral spinothalamic tract is severed:

a. muscles on the left side are paralyzed

b. muscles on the right side are paralyzed

c. pain impulses from the left side are blocked

d. pain impulses from the right side are blocked

c. pain impulses from the left side are blocked

T/F: The brain has about one hundred million neurons

False

The simplest level of CNS function is the:

a. ability to talk

b. ability to work

c. spinal reflex

d. cerebral reflex

c. spinal reflex

All reflexes:

a. have association neurons

b. have a reflex arc

c. have interneurons

d. occur in the spinal cord

b. have a reflex arc

T/F: The conjunctiva is a layer of tissue that lines the inner surface of the eyelids and covers most of the anterior surface of the eye

True

T/F: The utricle and saccule contain the sensory receptors associated with the sense of dynamic equilibrium

False

Pain that feels like it is coming from a part other than the part being stimulated is called ____________ pain

referred

T/F: The stapes transmits vibrations to the round window of the inner ear

False

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo is a condition where debris enters the semicircular canal of the ear and moves the crista ampullaris, resulting in a lingering feeling of spinning or dizzying movement. The sensation occurs after slight movements of the head and persists after actual movement has stopped. The disorder is affecting _______________ equilibrium

dynamic

T/F: Referred pain occurs when the brain projects the sensation back to the original source in the body from which the pain originated

False

Taste receptors are:

a. found only on the tongue

b. unable to divide

c. modified connective tissue cells

d. modified epithelial cells

d. modified epithelial cells

T/F: When all three sets of cones are stimulated, a person senses white light

True

A young man is cleaning his ear by sliding a cotton swab into the external acoustic meatus as far as he can. He is met with some resistance and, thinking the swab has hit earwax, he pushes harder. He feels a sharp, extreme pain. After the initial shock, he notices that all he can hear from that ear is a constant ringing and nothing else. What damage has he most likely done to the ear?

a. he pushed and damaged the stapes

b. he has broken the skin of the external acoustic meatus and the blood is causing the ringing

c. he has pushed and torn the tympanic membrane

d. he has pushed and torn the oval window

c. he has pushed and torn the tympanic membrane

T/F: When the radial muscles of the iris contract, the diameter of the pupil decreases

False

As a result of the tympanic reflex:

a. the bridge of auditory ossicles becomes less rigid

b. vibrations are transmitted more effectively to the inner ear

c. the malleus is pulled toward the eardrum

d. vibrations are transmitted less effectively to the inner ear

d. vibrations are transmitted less effectively to the inner ear

T/F: Tears contain an enzyme that reduces the risk of eye infection

True

You are carrying a box when your friend suddenly places another heavy box on top of it. Your muscles respond by immediately __________ because __________ sense the rapid muscle lengthening and cause a reflex response

a. contracting; muscle spindles

b. relaxing; muscle spindles

c. completely relaxing; Golgi tendon organs

d. contracting; Golgi tendon organs

a. contracting; muscle spindles

T/F: The auditory ossicles are in the inner ear

False

The range of human hearing is about:

a. 2,000-3,000 vibrations per second

b. 2,000-200,000 vibrations per second

c. 20-20,000 vibrations per second

d. 2-2,000 vibrations per second

c. 20-20,000 vibrations per second

Light is refracted when it passes

between:

a. media of the same optical density

b. into glass at a right angle.

c. between media of different optical densities at a right angle.

d. between media of different optical densities at an oblique angle

d. between media of different optical densities at an oblique angle

T/F: In hyperopia, the eyeball is too short and the focal point is in front of the retina

False

Retinitis pigmentosa is a disorder in which the photoreceptors of the retina slowly degenerate. At the onset, a person suffering from retinitis pigmentosa loses the ability to see in dim light and grayscale. Of the two types of photoreceptors in the eye, the __________ must be degrading first

rods

The hearing receptors are most closely associated with the:

a. ampulla.

b. spiral organ

c. utricle

d. saccule

b. spinal organ

T/F: The optic disc is medial to the fovea centralis and is the site from which nerve fibers from the retina leave the eye and become part of the optic nerve

True