Exam 2: Neuroscience and Behavior

Acetylcholine is:

The forebrain structure called the hippocampus plays a critical role in the ability to form new memories.

As you are walking in a crowded hallway, someone calls your name. Almost instantly, you sense that the person is on your left. Your brain's ability to detect the direction of a sound is initially processed in the:

Phrenology helped introduce the idea of brain _____, while split-brain research demonstrated the principle of brain _____.

Juliana began taking violin lessons as a young child. As a teenager, she participated in a research study in which MRI scans of teenagers who had played the violin for several years were compared to MRI scans of other teenagers who had never played a musical instrument. The MRI scans of the teenage violinists showed that brain regions devoted to control of the fine muscles of the hands and fingers were larger in the teenage musicians than in the others. This example illustrates the important phenomenon of:

Functional plasticity:

Researchers found that the female hippocampus tends to be larger than the male hippocampus, and according to the Critical Thinking box "'His' and 'Her' Brains?" they concluded that this difference accounted for female superiority on memory tests.

Studies with split-brain patients have demonstrated that the corpus callosum serves no particular purpose in the brain.

In combination, the structures of the hindbrain and the midbrain are referred to as the brainstem.

Franz Gall, a German physician and anatomist, invented the psycograph machine in the early 1900s to improve the accuracy of phrenology measurements.

Which of the following statements about glial cells is TRUE?

According to the In Focus box in Chapter 2, _____ is a degenerative brain disease that can only be diagnosed after death.

One way in which drugs can prolong the effects of a neurotransmitter is through blocking the reuptake of the neurotransmitter by the sending neuron.

The autonomic nervous system is comprised of two different branches called the _____ and _____ nervous systems.

Which of the following is one of the phenomena mentioned in the text that is associated with increased endorphin levels?

Although Franz Gall and the phrenologists were wrong about the significance of bumps on the skull, they were correct about the idea that different psychological functions are localized in different brain areas.

Experience has little or no effect on brain functioning or brain structures.

The signals for voluntary muscle movements originate in a band of tissue called the _____, which is located on the _____ lobe.

Following her stroke, Fernando's grandmother could understand what she read or what was being said to her. However, she had great difficulty speaking. Based on these observations, Fernando suspected that his grandmother's stroke had produced damage in:

Like other people afflicted with _____, actor Michael J. Fox takes a medication that increases _____ levels to help control symptoms of the disease.