chapter 3 biology psychology Flashcards
A ________ is a fluid-filled space between two neurons through which neurotransmitters travel. It is in this area where messages are transmitted chemically.
synapse
The ________ is the central region of the neuron that manufactures new cell components.
cell body
The peripheral nervous system consists of the _______ and the ______ nervous systems.
autonomic; somatic
true or false The genomes of individual humans are far more identical to each other than they are different.
true
The pituitary hormone that aids milk flow in nursing mothers and that plays an essential function in both maternal and romantic love is ________.
oxytocin
What are two primary roles of glial cells?
providing structural and nutritional support to neurons
The main excitatory neurotransmitter in the nervous system that plays a role in the relay of sensory information and learning is
glutamate
What event affecting the brain can cause the one hand to refuse to cooperate with the other, as in the case of the man whose left hand turned off the television and hit his family members?
split-brain surgery
_________ are slender threads inside of a cell’s nucleus that carry genes.
chromsomes
The concept of “goggle therapy” suggests that it is possible to treat _________ by wearing special sunglasses that flip up on one side or the other to allow extra light to reach the left or right hemisphere of the brain.
mood disorders and anger
what is the response of the stomach, created by the sympathetic nervous system, that is active during the fight or flight response?
slowing of digestion
Which of the following is NOT part of the limbic system?
medulla
Owantu let out an ear-piercing scream when he became frightened. He was unable to stimulate those neurons for a brief time after their firing because of the
absolute refractory period
One particular confound for the use of an adoption study of heritability is the phenomenon of _________ placement, in which a child is placed in a home that is similar to the home of the biological parents.
selective
What is the name for that part of the brain stem connecting the cortex to the cerebellum?
Pons
If the heritability of a particular trait is found to be 60 percent, then by definition the other 40 percent is due to
differences in the individuals enviroment
An area of damage in the brain is called a(n)
lesion
true or false Our phenotype is the product of our genetics and our environment.
true
true or false If a trait has evolved because it confers a fitness advantage, it means that is the best version of the trait to have in any possible environment.
false
Stan has been extremely afraid of cats since he was scratched as a 5-year-old. Whenever he sees a cat, he remembers the time he was scratched across his face and starts to feel afraid. If a cat comes towards him, he often runs away immediately as he is afraid of being scratched again. Stan’s behaviors and recollection of this trauma is a result of the ____________ in the limbic system.
amygdala
An auto accident rendered Chris’s nervous system unable to send messages for him to breathe, so he is on a respirator. Which brain structure was damaged in the accident?
medulla
If research finds that those who drive taxicabs have enlarged areas of their hippocampi, you may be tempted to believe that driving a cab and engaging in such visuospatial activities each day causes the hippocampus areas to grow. This may or may not be the case, and this riddle demonstrates the principle of
correlation vs. causation
The main excitatory neurotransmitter in the nervous system that plays a role in the relay of sensory information and learning is
glutamate
The ________ is the central region of the neuron that manufactures new cell components.
cell body
A Phenotype is
our set of observable traits
The knoblike structures at the far end of the axon are called________.
axon terminals
Of the following functions, which is NOT controlled by the temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex?
processing visual images
Lucia has suffered an injury to one of the major structures of her limbic system. One of her symptoms is that she cannot seem to remember the layout of her own house. It is as if her mental map of the rooms, furniture, and other parts of her home have been scrambled up. It is most likely that the structure impacted by Lucia’s injury is the
hippocampus
Mobombi had completed about a quarter of the distance in the marathon in which he was a participant. Suddenly, he stumbled and fell. Despite feeling a sharp pain initially, he got up and continued to run until he completed the race. Upon crossing the finish line he fell down writhing in pain. When checked out, it was discovered that Mobombi had broken his leg. He was able to run the remainder of the marathon relatively pain free due to the release of
endorphins
________ refers to an organism’s capacity to pass their genes on to the next generation of their species.
fitness
Which of the following imaging technologies reconstructs multiple x-rays to create a three-dimensional model of the brain?
computed tomography (CT)
The consumption of alcohol as well as the ingestion of antianxiety drugs both work to increase the activity of ________, which is an inhibitory neurotransmitter.
GABA
One particular confound for the use of an adoption study of heritability is the phenomenon of _________ placement, in which a child is placed in a home that is similar to the home of the biological parents.
selective
Broca’s area, named for French surgeon Paul Broca, is a region of the ________ and plays a key role in language production.
prefrontal cortex
Isabella is putting mustard on her hot dog. She realizes she has put too much and sucks up some of it back into the squeeze bottle. This process is similar to
reuptake
The part of the brain dedicated to emotion is the
limbic system
Your teacher asks you to describe the sequence of parts of a neuron that the impulse travels during neural conduction. Which of the following sequences will you offer?
dendrites, soma, axon, axon terminal
There are approximately ________ neurons in your brain alone.
85 billion
After a head injury a person reports that she is unable to see, although her eyes are uninjured. A doctor would suspect an injury in the ______ lobe.
occipital
Jack suffered a brain injury as a result of hitting his head while waterskiing. One of the problems that developed was that Jack could not pronounce certain words correctly for a long period of time until he had extensive speech therapy. Now Jack can speak as he did before his accident. This is an example of the brain’s ______, which allowed the structure and function of Jack’s brain cells to change to adjust to the trauma.
plasticity
What is the function of the myelin sheath?
to speed up the neural transmission
The functioning of the human brain depends upon cross-talk among ________.
nuerons
What do we call the state of a neuron when there are no neurotransmitters acting on it?
resting potential
The basic difference between male and female comes down to chromosomes. Females have an XX pair and males have
an XY pair
The area housed inside of the cortex and located at the very back of the brain is called the ________. It contains the midbrain, pons, and medulla.
brainstem
_________ are structures inside of a cell’s nucleus that carry genes.
chromosomes
Which of the following statements is true?
Few if any complex psychological functions are likely to be confined to a single brain area.
Your friend, Sheila, says she is definitely a right-brained person because she excels in her language and art classes but performs miserably in her math classes. You tell her
there is no scientific evidence for this type of hemispheric asymmetry for complex tasks, and actually the two hemispheres function together.
Which endocrine gland controls all of the other glands in the body?
pituitary gland
the process by which neurotransmitters are sucked back into the synaptic vesicles
Reuptake
Hormones are chemicals that are secreted and go directly into ________.
bloodstream
_________ are slender threads inside of a cell’s nucleus that carry genes.
chromosomes
Sometimes a person’s corpus callosum is split, which separates the two hemispheres completely. This is done to
control epilepsy
One theory of infantile autism suggests that ________ may be the cause of the disorder.
inadequate pruning