Bio lab test 1

Question 1

When is an XY scattergraph used?

Answer 1

When both sets of data are numerical in nature and on a contiuous scale

Question 2

How is the shit on a scattergraph worded?

Answer 2

Plot variable 1 vs variable 2 (x axis)

Question 3

Tell me about ATP

Answer 3

Oxygen is used in the biochemical reactions to generate ATP, a process called aerobic metabolism. When animals exercise, considerable ATP is used during muscle contraction. Consequently, there will be a corresponding increase in O2 consumption by the body as cells work to replenish their ATP stores.

Question 4

What does a plethysmograph do?

Answer 4

Records the pulses of blood moving in the arteries.

Question 5

What does depolarization of the myocardial cells in the ventricle do?

Answer 5

Depolarization of the myocardial cells in the ventricle causes the ventricles to contract and force blood into the major arteries of the circulatory system in a pulsatile manner.

Question 6

What do peripheral thermoreceptors do?

Answer 6

Maintain homeostasis. They are activated by change in temperature. They send signals to the hypothalamus which causes a physiological change that includes an alteration in blood flow.

Question 7

How does the hypothalamus change blood flow?

Answer 7

By altering the diameter of arteries (vasoconstriction or vasodilation).

Question 8

Vasoconstriction

Answer 8

When arteries located in peripheral tissues undergo vasoconstriction, there is less blood supplied to the tissue and a decrease in peripheral blood flow in observed.

Question 9

Vasodilation

Answer 9

Vasodilation results in an increase in peripheral blood flow and an increase in the amount of blood supplied to those tissues.

Question 10

When is a column graph appropriate?

Answer 10

When the independent variables are non-numerical categories such as treatment group. The y-axis will have a numerical scale. A column graph can allow you to show more than one series of data in the graph (ie data for each sex).

Question 11

Why does the time to the period of maximum response to temperature change differ in each individual?

Answer 11

Body shape and size. This is due to the fact that big animals generally have larger body masses which result in more heat being produced. The greater amount of heat results from there being more cells. A normal byproduct of metabolism in cells is heat production. Subsequently, the more cells an animal has, the more internal heat it will produce. In addition, larger animals usually have a smaller surface area relative to their body mass and, therefore, are comparatively inefficient at radiating their body heat off into the surrounding environment. This is the reason that relatively less surface area results in relatively less heat being lost from animals. A corollary of Bergmann’s rule stated that a linear shaped mammal will lose heat to the environment faster than a more compact one of similar size. The boxes below illustrate this fact. Note that the long, narrow box has the same volume but greater surface area. It is comparable to a tall, slender animal.

Question 12

What is a neuron?

Answer 12

A sensory receptor that detects stimulus/change in the external or internal environments and send the sensory information to the CNS.

Question 13

What is nervous system integration?

Answer 13

The generation of a motor output based on the sum of the sensory inputs. Much of this is done by reflex arcs

Question 14

What is a reflex arc?

Answer 14

A reflex arc is a neural pathway that controls an reflex action. It is the nerve pathway involved in a reflex action including at its simplest a sensory nerve and a motor nerve with a synapse between (ie involuntary blink, knee-jerk reflex). Sensory info ascends to higher centres, but the brain is not required to do the work.

Question 15

Patellar reflex:

Answer 15

Neuronal circuitry is confined to the spinal cord.

Question 16

Tell me about more complex reflexes.

Answer 16

More complex reflexes would require more interneurons and more than one population of motor neurons. As more neurons and synapses are involved, there is a longer delay between stimulus and response.

Question 17

Learning can also be used for what?

Answer 17

Modifying motor outputs.

Question 18

Why do animals with larger brains have an advantage?

Answer 18

They are able to learn more quickly and generate more complex responses. This is primarily due to the presence of more interneurons and neuronal connections which allow for more complex patterns of integration.

Question 19

What is reaction time?

Answer 19

The time from the start of a signal to the response.

Question 20

What factors affect reaction time?

Answer 20

Signal complexity, duration, and strength.

Question 21

Explain how which system is stimulated effects reaction time.

Answer 21

First, there are differences in afferent conduction times between sensory systems. Second, some sensory systems can change instantly while others change more slowly. Third, certain sensory systems are more sensitive.

Question 22

What are reactions?

Answer 22

. Reactions are voluntary responses that can be modified through learning.

Question 23

What is visual motor learning?

Answer 23

The process of increasing the accuracy, speed and coordination of tasks involving eye-hand coordination the more often we perform them.

Question 24

Why is visual motor learning one of the most important adaptive processes that our bodies possess?

Answer 24

It allows us to modify our behaviours in response to new and changing visual environments and to improve our performance on tasks that we do repeatedly.

Question 25

What are statistics?

Answer 25

Important methods for analyzing and interpreting data. . The ability to determine whether any individual result lies within the normal range is critical for comprehending scientific data.

Question 26

What does SEM quantify?

Answer 26

The standard error of the mean (SEM) (i.e., of using the sample mean as a method of estimating the population mean) is the standard deviation of those sample means over all possible samples (of a given size) drawn from the population. The SEM indicates how precisely the calculated mean clusters around the mean of the entire population. A smaller SEM signifies a smaller amount of variation in the population as a whole. Another way to quickly assess your data is to look at the SEM calculated for two groups of data. The data will likely be statistically significant if there is no overlap in the SEM between the two groups. In other words, the data is being influenced by more than just random variation in a population. In physiology, this non-random influence will most likely be due to a specific treatment or some other population variable we are studying.

Question 27

What does the confidence interval represent? What does it mean?

Answer 27

A 95% confidence interval represents the range of values that you can expect to contain the true mean of the population 19 times out of 20 (i.e. 95% of the time). . Scientists use this test to determine if the differences they observe in their data are statistically significant (e.g. the result would not be observed 95% of the time) or just due to random variation in a population (e.g. the result would be observed 95% of the time). If the data you obtain lies within the 95% confidence interval calculated for class data, your data will not likely be statistically different from the population as a whole.

Question 28

Why do prism goggles cause difficulty in the ability to throw accurately?

Answer 28

The goggles cause a shift in the visual field, so the environment appears shifted in space.

Question 29

How did we know visual motor learning occured while wearing prism goggles?

Answer 29

The subject learned to throw accurately while wearing goggles and the throws were off to one side after the goggles were removed.

Question 30

Tell me about prisms.

Answer 30

A prism is commonly a wedge-shaped piece of glass or other similar translucent material. In addition to breaking light into its component colours, a prism bends the path of light passing through it. Because light travels more slowly through glass than through air, it is bent when it passes from the air to the glass and again from the glass to the air. The amount that light is bent is based on the index of refraction of the materials through which it passes. For this experiment, all you will need to know is that when light passes through a prism, the path of the light is always bent toward the base (thick end) of the prism. Because of this, a person viewing the world through prisms sees that the world is “shifted” in space. In this experiment, the prisms placed in the goggles shift the visual environment in a horizontal direction. Thus, individuals wearing prism goggles will have to look left or right (depending on how the prisms are mounted) in order to see a target directly in front of them.

Question 31

What is horizontal displacement?

Answer 31

. This value is obtained by measuring the shortest distance between the mark on the paper and the vertical line. This value quantifies how far to the right or left the throw landed from the target. If the mark is to the right of the vertical line, make it positive. If the mark is to the left, make it negative.

Question 32

What are the major differences between a reaction and a reflex?

Answer 32

The difference between a reflex and a reaction is that a reflex is an involuntary response to stimuli, while a reaction is a voluntary, intentional response that requires thought. Reaction is voluntary while reflex is involuntary. Reactions can be modified through learning. Reaction takes place through sensory nerves that bring back message from the brain to the motor nerve whereas sensory nerves bypass brain and go up to CNS only in the case of reflex. This is why reflex is faster than reaction. A reflex is an involuntary response to an external stimulus, usually to protect the body. A reflex is much faster than a reaction. A reaction is a voluntary response to an external stimulus, and can be trained to become faster through regular practice. An example of a reflex is when the tendon below the kneecap is gently tapped. This causes the leg to kick slightly forward. This reflex is involuntary. An example of a reaction is a hockey goalie catching a hockey puck. This reaction is voluntary.

Question 33

What are mechanoreceptors?

Answer 33

Specialized sensory nerve cells that respond to touch, pressure, sound, movement and stretch. Mechanoreceptors can detect both external and internal stimuli.

Question 34

What are external stimuli?

Answer 34

External stimuli include vibrations or touches that are created by wind, sound, water, or those that are transmitted through the substrate.

Question 35

What are proprioreceptors?

Answer 35

The internal mechanoreceptors that function to provide information about muscle position, contraction, movement as well as leg positioning in space.

Question 36

Each mechanoreceptor is associated with what?

Answer 36

A mechanorecptor neuron. When a mechanical force (e.g. movement) stimulates a mechanoreceptor, an action potential is triggered in the mechanoreceptor neuron that travels to higher ganglion for processing.

Question 37

What are some cockroach mechanoreceptors?

Answer 37

Setae, hair plates, campaniform sensilla, and chordotonal organs.

Question 38

What are setae?

Answer 38

Short hairs.

Question 39

What are hair plates?

Answer 39

Clusters of hairs that bend when adjoining surfaces of the cuticle contact each other in movement.

Question 40

What are campaniform sensilla?

Answer 40

Dome-like structures which are distorted with the movement of the spines that protrude from the surface of the sensilla or with movements of the leg.

Question 41

What are chordotonal organs?

Answer 41

Structures under the cuticle which change in length when the joint that the organ spans is extended or flexed.

Question 42

How are action potentials travel in the cockroach leg?

Answer 42

In the cockroach, the neuronal axons associated with the receptors on the tibia travel through a large sensory nerve that passes through the cockroach’s femur.

Question 43

What are stretch receptors?

Answer 43

Stretch receptors (such as chordotonal organs) are used to detect the position of the leg as the cockroach moves. The stretch receptor synapses with interneurons in the cockroach’s central nervous system (CNS) and forms part of a complex neural reflex pathway that helps to coordinate cockroach movement. As the leg is moved from a neutral position, the sensory neuron increases the rate at which it generates APs. This change in firing rate (action potentials/second) is used within the cockroach’s CNS to monitor leg position.

Question 44

What does the change in firing rate (action potentials/second) mean to the cockroach CNS?

Answer 44

Stimulus intensity. This change in firing rate (action potentials/second) is used within the cockroach’s CNS to monitor leg position. A high firing rate is interpreted by the CNS as a large leg movement, whereas a low firing rate is interpreted as a small leg movement.

Question 45

What is sensory receptor adaptation?

Answer 45

If a stimulus is prolonged in duration, the sensory receptor firing rate will decline over time. Sensory receptors generally differ in the speed of sensory receptor adaptation. Drop a small piece of paper on the back of the volunteer’s hand. The sensation associated with the paper initially hitting the hand should be quite noticeable but will quickly fade, perhaps to even being undetectable. Several types of stretch receptors are found in human skin; Pacinian corpuscles in particular display very rapid sensory receptor adaptation.

Question 46

What is the most common problem associated with the recording of bioelectric signals?

Answer 46

Electrical noise. It radiates through the air and comes from electrical devices in the lab room or building such as lights, power outlets, computers, monitors, and the power supplies.

Question 47

What are two sources of electrical noise?

Answer 47

Pickup and ground loops.

Question 48

How do you prevent pickup?

Answer 48

Pickup is caused by electrical radiation that produces currents in the electrodes and wires leading to the amplifiers in the recording system. The major way to reduce pickup is the use of a Faraday Cage. A Faraday cage is a grounded, screened enclosure, around the preparation and the electrodes. The enclosure separates the source of the radiation from the electrodes.

Question 49

How do you get rid of ground loops?

Answer 49

Ground loops are a troublesome source of electrical noise caused by the ground cable itself serving as an antenna for the noise radiating in the room. Using a Faraday cage to shield the preparation and the recording electrodes does not remove the electrical noise caused by ground loops. To avoid ground loops, you will use simple cables equipped with alligator clips, to connect each device directly to the common grounding point on the iWorx 214 box.

Question 50

What are the metathoracic legs, the coxa, the thorax, the trochanter, the femur and tibia, and the segmented tarsus?

Answer 50

The hind legs of the cockroach are called the metathoracic legs, and they function in moving the cockroach forward. The coxa is the upper portion of the leg, which attaches the leg to the thorax. The trochanter acts like a knee and lets the roach bend its leg. The femur and tibia resemble thigh and shin bones. The segmented tarsus acts like an ankle and foot.

Question 51

What did the cockroach experiment explore?

Answer 51

the basic characteristics of the chordotonal organs, their response to direction and intensity of leg movement. When the cockroach leg moves, flexion and extension of the tibia cause changes in the length of the chordotonal organs. The chordotonal organs span joints and have one or both ends attached to the cuticle.

Question 52

What is flexion?

Answer 52

Flexion is the bending of a limb at a joint, and will bring the tibia closer to the femur.

Question 53

What is extension?

Answer 53

Extension is the opposite of flexion, and moves the tibia farther away from the femur.

Question 54

Are action potentials from a given neuron all of the same amplitude?

Answer 54

Yes.

Question 55

Why might we see a variation in action potential amplitude recorded extracellularly?

Answer 55

Action potentials recorded extracellularly, as in this experiment, may vary greatly in amplitude. This is because an extracellular action potential recording is a recording of the voltage changes resulting from the current that travels past the recording electrodes on the outside of the nerve. The recorded action potential amplitude will vary depending on the diameter of the neuron and the distance of the electrodes from the neuron. For example, a large diameter axon will produce a larger amplitude action potential than a small diameter axon because the large diameter axon has a greater surface area than the small diameter axon. More current will leak across the greater surface area and this will result in a recorded action potential of greater amplitude. Recall from the background information that many axons are present within the cockroach leg. Therefore, if the recording electrodes are closer to one axon than another, the current recorded by an action potential in the closer neuron will be greater than that in the other axon because current dissipates over distance. These differences in action potential amplitude, allows us to discriminate different neurons from a relatively simple extracellular technique.

Question 56

What did the cockroach shit tell us about firing rate?

Answer 56

It showed us the effect that constant stimulation had on firing rate. A reduction in neural response with continued stimulation is called sensory receptor adaptation.

Question 57

What tells us if the sensory receptor is phasic or tonic?

Answer 57

The pattern of neural response allows us to classify the sensory receptor as either phasic or tonic?

Question 58

Phasic

Answer 58

If the firing rate ceases or is greatly reduced when movement of the receptor stops, even though a new position is maintained, such a response is considered to be phasic. Phasic, or rapidly adapting, responses are typically associated with changes in the intensity of a stimulus.

Question 59

Tonic

Answer 59

If action potentials continue for as long as the stimulus is maintained and slowly decline overtime, the response is termed tonic. Tonic, or slowly adapting, responses are typically associated with a prolonged stimulus.

Question 60

Phasictonic

Answer 60

If the initial response to a stimulus is a burst of action potentials, which is immediately followed by a large drop in firing rate that settles into a tonic pattern as the stimulus is maintained, the response is phasictonic.

Question 61

What is the significance of sensory receptor adaptation in the overall physiology and life of an animal? What would life be like for an animal if there were not sensory receptor adaptation?

Answer 61

Sensory receptor adaptation allows animals to be more efficient, as it means that they won’t waste time focusing on unnecessary or benign stimuli, such as a strange sound or smell or adjusting to a low light. If there was no sensory adaptation, animals would be less efficient and likely overwhelmed, as they would be constantly bombarded with every sensation with no relief. We do have some slow adapting receptors, like those for pain, which help to keep us safe and tell us to do things like stop touching a hot stove.

Question 62

What is included in a figure legend?

Answer 62

Figure legends require particular pieces of information (written in complete sentences): What kind of graph is this? What is the graph representing or illustrating? What was the experimental subject and where/how was the data obtained? What is the trend or relationship of the data? What is the physiological significance of this data?

Question 63

Figure thing for lab 1

Answer 63

A column graph showing the results of different temperature treatments on human pulse amplitude (V). A pulse plethysmograph was
placed on the human volunteer’s middle finger and the pulse was recorded at room temperature for two minutes as the control treatment
(precool). A bag of ice was placed on the forearm for three minutes while the recording continued (cool). The bag was removed and recording
continued for three minutes (rewarm). When a cold stimulus was applied, the pulse amplitude decreased, and when the stimulus was removed,
the pulse amplitude recovered to near precool levels. The cold stimulus activated thermoreceptors in the skin, stimulating the hypothalamus,
which resulted in vasoconstriction. This resulted in a decrease in pulse amplitude. When the cold stimulus was removed, signals from the
thermoreceptors to the hypothalamus ceased and caused vasodilation. This resulted in an increase in pulse amplitude.

Question 64

Figure thing for lab 2 with the cues

Answer 64

Figure 1: A clustered column graph showing reaction times (ms) to visual and auditory cues with error bars showing the standard error of the
mean. Data was collected from a human subject using an event marker. The subject first responded only to visual cues, followed by a trial
responding only to auditory cues. The collected reaction times were then compared to a class average. For both the individual student and the
class, response times were faster for auditory stimuli than visual ones. This is because the sensory receptor pathway is less complex for auditory
reaction than visual reaction. The more complex the pathway, the greater the reaction time. The 95% confidence interval for the visual and
auditory reaction times were calculated to be 564 ms and 65 ms, respectively.

Question 65

Figure thing for lab 2 with the throwing

Answer 65

Figure 2: A column graph showing the thrown horizontal displacement of several trials. For a control, the human subject threw clay balls at a
target with no goggles. After the control group, the human subject put on prism goggles that shifted the visual field horizontally 30o
to the left.
Following these trials, the goggles were removed and several more throws were recorded. The impact point of each throw was marked and
analyzed for its horizontal displacement from the centre. After the goggles were initially put on, the average displacement was to the left
(negative). For later throws with the goggles, the subject began to learn and her throws became more accurate. When the goggles were
removed, the subject was still accustomed to throwing right to correct, leading to a large displacement. During later throws without the goggles,
the subject was able to throw accurately again. These data show evidence of visual motor learning as displayed by the extreme right (positive)
displacement of the early throws after the goggles were removed. This is due to the body’s ability to adapt to changes in visual stimuli.