Consider the Lobster 2

Question 1

fine-motor

Answer 1

smaller actions, such as grasping an object between the thumb and a finger or using the lips and tongue to taste objects.

“Nor do they give you near enough napkins, considering how messy lobster is to eat, especially when you’re squeezed onto benchesalongside children of various ages and vastly different levels of fine-motor development-not to mention the people who’ve….”
“Consider the Lobster” 55

Question 2

motor skills

Answer 2

Motor skills are actions that involve the movement of muscles in the body. They are divided into two groups: gross motor skills and fine motor skills. Both types of motor skills usually develop together, because many activities depend on the coordination of gross and fine motor skills.

Question 3

gross-motor skills

Answer 3

include the larger movements of arms, legs, feet, or the entire body ( crawling , running, and jumping)

Question 4

demotic

Answer 4

adj. popular or common

“What the Maine Lobster Festival really is is a mid­level county fair with a culinary hook, and in this respect it’s not unlike Tidewater crab festivals, Midwest corn festivals, Texas chili festivals, etc., and shares with these venues the core paradox of all teeming commercial demotic events: It’s not for everyone.” David Foster Wallace, Consider the Lobster, 2004

Question 5

teem

Answer 5

v. to be full of or swarming with.

“What the Maine Lobster Festival really is is a mid­level county fair with a culinary hook, and in this respect it’s not unlike Tidewater crab festivals, Midwest corn festivals, Texas chili festivals, etc., and shares with these venues the core paradox of all teeming commercial demotic events: It’s not for everyone.” David Foster Wallace, Consider the Lobster, 2004

Question 6

nociceptor

Answer 6

A nociceptor is a sensory neuron (nerve cell) that responds to potentially damaging stimuli by sending signals to the spinal cord and brain. This process, called nociception, usually causes the perception of pain.

“Pain reception is known to be part of a much older and more primitive system of nociceptors and prostaglandins that are managed by the brain stem and thalamus.”
- David Foster Wallace, Consider the Lobster, 2004, (62)

Question 7

prostaglandins

Answer 7

any of a group of cyclic fatty acid compounds that perform a variety of hormonelike actions (as in controlling blood pressure or smooth muscle contraction)

Question 8

cortex (cerebral cortex)

Answer 8

noun ( pl. cortices |-təˌsēz| ) Anatomy
the outer layer of the cerebrum (the cerebral cortex), composed of folded gray matter and playing an important role in consciousness.

“On the other hand, it is ture that the cerebral cortex is involved in what’s variously called suffering, distress, or the emotional experience of pain-i.e., experiencing painful stimuli as unpleasant, very unpleasant, unbearable, and so on.”

Question 9

cerebrum

Answer 9

the principal and most anterior part of the brain in vertebrates, located in the front area of the skull and consisting of two hemispheres, left and right, separated by a fissure. It is responsible for the integration of complex sensory and neural functions and the initiation and coordination of voluntary activity in the body.

Question 10

anterior

Answer 10

adj. nearer the front, esp. situated in the front of the body or nearer to the head

Question 11

posterior

Answer 11

adj. further back in position; of or nearer the rear or hind end, esp. of the body or a part of it:

Question 12

hormone

Answer 12

n. a regulatory substance produced in an organism and transported in tissue fluids such as blood or sap to stimulate specific cells or tissues into action.

Question 13

brain stem

Answer 13

n. the central trunk of the mammalian brain, consisting of the medulla oblongata, pons, and midbrain, and continuing downward to form the spinal cord.

“Pain reception is known to be part of a much older and more primitive system of nociceptors and prostaglandins that are managed by the brain stem and thalamus.”
- David Foster Wallace, Consider the Lobster, 2004, (62)

Question 14

thalamus

Answer 14

either of two masses of gray matter lying between the cerebral hemispheres on either side of the third ventricle, relaying sensory information and acting as a center for pain perception.

“Pain reception is known to be part of a much older and more primitive system of nociceptors and prostaglandins that are managed by the brain stem and thalamus.”
- David Foster Wallace, Consider the Lobster, 2004, (62)