Exam 2: The Biological Basis of Behavior

The outer covering of the two adrenal glands that releases hormones important for dealing with stress is the adrenal ________.

When the electrical charge inside a neuron is negative in relation to the outside, the neuron is said to be in a state of ________.

The association areas are to ________ as the cerebellum is to ________.

A technique in which an X-ray photography unit rotates around a patient, moving from the top of the head to the bottom, creating a series of images that are combined by a computer to produce pictures of the inner regions of the brain is called ________.

If an incoming message is not strong enough to cause a neuron to fire, it may cause a shift in the electrical charge of just a tiny area of the neuron. This shift, which quickly fades away, is called a(n) ________.

The lobe of the brain most involved in motivation, persistence, emotional responses, character, and moral decision making is the ________ lobe.

Even left-handers tend to have their language functions controlled by the left hemisphere of the brain.

The most basic elements of heredity that control the transmission of traits are ________.

The autonomic nervous system consists of ________.

At the end of each branch of an axon, there is a tiny knob called the ________.

A teacher grading papers opens the door of the room in which she has been working and becomes aware of loud rock music coming from her son's radio. When she asks him to turn it off, he asks why she is just noticing it now when he's had it on for over 20 minutes. Which of the following psychological explanations is the least plausible explanation of what occurred after she opened the door?

The scientist who proposed the mechanism of natural selection to explain the process of evolution was ________.

Organisms or fluids attempting to enter the cell body of a neuron must first pass through the ________.

At the point where the spinal cord enters the skull, it becomes the ________.

The human brain has, on average, ________ cells.

The term "gray matter" refers to ________.

The sympathetic division carries messages to the body which tell it to prepare for an emergency.

Explain what plasticity and neurogenesis are. Briefly summarize the research regarding stem cells and the possibility of growing new neurons in the human brain.

The intricate network of folds that line the outer surface of the cerebral cortex, allowing it to fit inside the skull, are called ________.

Amniocentesis is a technique for detecting genetic defects in unborn children.