Exam 2: The Biological Basis of Behavior

Chemical substances called hormones are released into your bloodstream by the endocrine glands.

The period after firing in which a neuron is returning to its normal polarized state and will fire again only if the incoming message is extremely powerful is the ________ period.

The branch of the autonomic nervous system that prepares the body for quick action in an emergency is the ________ division.

________ plays a critical role as a transmitter where neurons meet skeletal muscles.

Violence is greatest among males between the ages of ________.

The cerebral cortex accounts for about ________ percent of the weight of the human brain.

After his last class, Carlos went out to his car to get some books to return to the library. He found that during the day someone had badly smashed his rear bumper. He was furious and began pounding on the hood and shouting obscenities. What area of the brain was guiding his behavior?

The notion that human language is primarily controlled by the left hemisphere was first set forth by ________.

Macroelectrode techniques are used to ________.

Split-brain patients who are shown objects in such a way that the visual information goes only to the right hemisphere of the brain ________.

The part of the brain containing the medulla, the pons, and the cerebellum is the ________.

Which of the following is true of neural impulses in a single neuron?

Adult brains are not capable of neurogenesis.

The part of the brain that sends "alert" messages to the higher brain structures is the ________.

When sodium ions flow into a neuron and depolarize it, they create ________.

When a neural impulse crosses the synaptic space, it does so ________.

A "split-brain" patient is asked to stare at a spot on a screen. When a picture of an object is shown to the right of the spot, the patient can ________.

In many important psychological characteristics, a number of genes make a small contribution to the trait in question. This process is known as ________.

Research studies carried out on children adopted at birth by parents not related to them to determine the relative influence of heredity and environment on human behavior are called ________ studies.

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