Exam 2: Neuroscience and Behavior

Maria heard a strange banging noise just outside her bedroom window in the middle of the night. She froze in fear, and her heart began to pound. Maria's heightened physical arousal involved the activation of which subdivision of the nervous system?

The nodes of Ranvier are:

Which brain structure exerts considerable influence over the secretion of hormones throughout the body?

The rush of euphoria that many people experience after sustained exercise, especially running or cycling, is called:

A neuroscientist might examine how damage to the hippocampus affects the ability to form new memories.

As you take this test, you do not have to focus on taking your next breath or making your heart beat. This is because the _____ is involved in the control of vital life functions, such as breathing, heart rate, and digestion.

A German neurologist named _____ identified an area on the left temporal lobe that, when damaged, disrupted the ability to understand written or spoken language.

The thyroid gland secretes the hormone melatonin, which plays an important role in the letdown of milk in nursing mothers.

Launched in 2009 by the National Institutes of Health, the _____ aims to combine brain-imaging data from hundreds of participants into a three-dimensional map of the brain's information highways.

How is the endocrine system involved in the regulation of behavior?

A neuron may have thousands of _____, but can have only one _____.

Explain what is meant by "runner's high" and discuss the role that endorphins play in this phenomenon.

Critically evaluate the following claim: "Most people use only 10 percent of their brain."

Better-educated people have more synaptic connections and less severe symptoms of Alzheimer's disease than those who are less well educated.

The brain's ability to shift functions from damaged to undamaged areas is called:

The notion of structural plasticity:

What is the hypothalamus, and what roles does it play?

Growth hormone, prolactin, and oxytocin are all secreted by:

Synaptic vesicles are tiny pouches that hold the special chemical messengers manufactured by the neuron, which are called neurotransmitters.

As your body's emergency system, the sympathetic nervous system rapidly triggers the fight-or-flight response when a threat or danger is perceived.