Deck 13: Regulating Brain States

Question 1

Which of the following is an example of covert spatial attention

A) Turning your head when you hear a loud crash
B) Being startled awake by a loud thunk in your house
C) Keeping your head facing forward while driving but still paying attention to the conversation you have with a passenger in the car
D) Diverting your attention back and forth form a powerpoint slide to the lecturer giving the presentation
E) none of the above

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Specifically focusing on the lyrics of a song on the radio is a form of ___________attention, while noticing a high falsetto more poignantly than the rest of the members of a musical chorus is a form of____________attention.

A) voluntary, voluntary
B) involuntary, involuntary
C) voluntary, involuntary
D) involuntary, voluntary

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Why is our innate ability to notice salient stimuli more acutely than background stimuli beneficial?

A) it helps us to learn tasks more easily
B) it alerts us of potential benefits and threats
C) it allows us to focus more acutely on voluntary stimuli
D) it is not necessarily beneficial, it is actually detrimental to our ability to focus

Answer 3

B

Question 4

What sort of search are you performing when you identify the green heart in the image above?

A) serial search
B) parallel search
C) salient search
D) all of the above

Question 5

Someone with a deficit in ______________may experience an inability to quickly identify multiple stimuli arranged in sequence.

Question 6

Which of the following is a possible ordering of the projections from the retina to the higher ordered visual processing centers?

A) lateral geniculate nucleus of thalamus $\rightarrow$ V1 $\rightarrow$ middle temporal area $\rightarrow$ V4 $\rightarrow$ inferior temporal cortex
B) lateral geniculate nucleus of thalamus $\rightarrow$ V1 $\rightarrow$ V2 $\rightarrow$ V3 $\rightarrow$ V4 $\rightarrow$ inferior temporal cortex
C) lateral geniculate nucleus of thalamus $\rightarrow$ V1 $\rightarrow$ V3 $\rightarrow$ middle temporal area $\rightarrow$ posterior parietal cortex
D) lateral geniculate nucleus of thalamus $\rightarrow$ V1 $\rightarrow$ V4 $\rightarrow$ inferior temporal cortex
E) all of the above

Question 7

Refer to figure 13.2, In the text if in Helmholtz's experiment the small whole through which light was shown was moved around every time the flash of light entered the box, would the subject still be able to identify letters in a region of the box he focused his attention on? Why or why not?

Question 8

Which of the following statements about salient stimuli is not true?

A) salient stimuli is computed serially
B) stimulus salience is computed by neurons with a small receptive field
C) salient stimuli usually differ from background stimuli in several characteristics
D) salient stimulus is likely computed by neurons receiving several forms of stimulus feature input

Question 9

The superior colliculus has been shown to be involved in the involuntary attention of salient stimulus. Which of the evidence listed below supports this?

A) it receives topographical inputs from the retina and multiple cortex regions
B) it is highly important for targeted head and eye movements
C) it receives both somatosenory and auditory inputs
D) all of the above

Question 10

In order to specifically identify if electrical stimulation of the superior colliculus could improve covert attention, all of the following had to be achieved in the experimental setup, except.

A) the stimulus was below the threshold necessary to induce an eye saccade
B) the monkeys' eyes needed to stay on the fixation point
C) the movement of the dots in the periphery had to be less than 10% in the same direction
D) all other stimuli, such as sounds, had to be kept to a minimum and constant
E) the monkey's had to be awake

Question 11

Explain in your own words the difference between overt and covert stimulus and give an example of each. How does inhibition of return add to these mechanisms of attention?

Question 12

Which statement is the best description of a saliency map?

A) The most noticeable parts of a visual scene are always determined based on the brightness in that particular field of view.
B) All parts of a visual scene are analyzed at compared for their features such as color, intensity, and orientation. These stimuli are compared and the noticeable features are where the attention is drawn using a competitive algorithm.
C) All parts of a visual scene are analyzed at compared for their features such as color, intensity, and orientation. These stimuli are compared and the noticeable features are where the attention is drawn using a non-competitive algorithm.
D) Saliency maps are constructed based on the frequency a visual stimuli is perceived. Saliency maps get more detailed as stimuli are repeatedly observed.

Question 13

Lesions in the _____________have been shown to cause problems with spatial attention. This is likely due to the high interconnectivity between this region and the superior colliculus and visual cortical areas.

Question 14

The cued spatial attention experiments using monkeys represented in figures 13.7 and 13.8 In the text have yielded some important results in our understanding of the strength and speed of neurons involved in covert attention. In your own words, summarize the experimental setup and findings of these experiments.

Question 15

Which statement best describes how frontal eye field (FEF) activity and covert voluntary attention?

A) FEF neuron activity is solely dependent on premotor activity when a stimulus is in their receptive field
B) FEF neuron activity decreases as covert attention is directed to a stimulus in their receptive field
C) FEF neuron activity increases as covert attention is directed to a stimulus in their receptive field
D) FEF neuron activity is unchanged as covert attention is directed to a stimulus in their receptive field

Question 16

The amplitude of an EEG of a drowsy individual is _________(than) an individual that is behaviorally aroused.

A) the same as
B) higher
C) lower
D) slower
E) faster

Question 17

Based on the biosynthetic pathway of catecholamines presented in figure 13.12, In the text which of the following would result in an increase in norepineprine?

A) inhibition of tyrosine hydroxylase
B) increase in available dopamine
C) a genetic mutation in the gene for dopamine beta-hydroxylase
D) depletion of the amino acid L-tyrosine
E) all of the above

Question 18

Projections from the_______________, located near that fourth ventral, that are important for the arousal system include the cerebellum, thalamus, neocortex, and brainstem.

Question 19

In which of the following situations would you expect neurons of the locus coeruleus to increase their firing based on the findings from animal experiments?

A) accidentally shocking yourself on an electrical outlet
B) being unexpectedly startled by a loud noise
C) receiving a bonus after reaching a certain goal at work
D) after a systemic injection of adrenaline
E) all of the above

Question 20

In the cortical EEG reading above, what would you expect the activity of a neuron simultaneously recorded in the locus coeruleus to be at the areas indicated by the red horizontal bar?

A) a corresponding decrease in locus coeruleus firing
B) a corresponding increase in locus coeruleus firing
C) no change in locus coeruleus firing

Question 21

Which of the following could be a possible symptom of a person suffering a stroke that killed a significant number of neurons in the locus coeruleus?

A) a decreased ability to respond to sensory stimuli from the cortex
B) an exaggerated response to weak stimuli from the thalamus
C) a decreased ability to respond to strong stimuli with a lot of weaker, background stimuli present
D) all of the above

Question 22

How do adrenergic receptors in prefrontal cortex neurons respond to norepinephrine?

A) they are excited by α-1 receptor activation and inhibited by α-2 activation
B) they are excited by α-2 receptor activation and inhibited by α-1 activation
C) they only express α-1 receptors that are inhibited by norephinephrine
D) they are inhibited at low levels of norepinephrine and excited as more norepinephrine is released.
E) all of the above

Question 23

All of the following stimuli would likely increase firing and adrenaline release by the locus coeruleus?

A) hearing a gun-shot
B) stepping on a shard of glass
C) earning a bonus for working over-time
D) unexpectedly being fired at work
E) all of the above

Question 24

Lesions in the locus coeruleus would likely result in a ___________of the brain's overall arousal system.

Question 25

Someone with hemispatial neglect might experience which of the following symptoms?

A) inability to move the right side of their body
B) difficulty driving a vehicle because of severe risk of collisions with oncoming traffic
C) a complete lack of dopamine resulting in severe depression
D) attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Question 26

Explain in your own words how the locus coeruleus neurons cause us to panic under stressful stimuli and make decisions we would not make if the stimuli were not present.

Question 27

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a misleading name for this neurological disorder because

A) the parts of the brain associated with attention show no overt changes
B) ability to direct attention is not actually affected
C) attention is actually increased in most cases
D) hyperactivity is not part of this disorder
E) none of the above

Question 28

Which of the below statements is false regarding attention and behavioral arousal?

A) voluntary spatial attention causes neurons to respond more strongly to a preferred stimuli
B) directed spatial attention is never involuntary
C) behavioral arousal improves perception in a general way
D) attention improves perception in a selective, specific way

Question 29

The intracellular rhythm of thalamocorcial neurons is partially explained due the usage of ______________ions, which are ___________than action potentials regulated by sodium ion influx for depolarization.

A) potassium, faster
B) chloride, slower
C) sodium, higher
D) calcium, slower

Question 30

Which of the following offer supporting evidence that rhythmically active cortical and thalamic neurons fire in synchrony?

A) Exposing the connections between adjacent neurons in the cortex to lidocaine desynchronizes their activity.
B) There are several gap junctions between reticular thalamic neurons.
C) the activity cortical and thalamic neurons are only capable of causing small and transient oscillations in EEGs.
D) more than 1 of the above
E) all of the above

Question 31

Explain in your own words why it is so difficult to wake people from a deep sleep.

Question 32

Design an experiment that you could specifically activate or inhibit a thalamocortical neuron and measure the resulting activity of this neuron.

Question 33

How is activity in the dorsal thalamus get regulated to cause someone to rouse from sleep?

A) acetylcholine release from the paribrachial neurons depolarizes postsynaptic neurons and they start producing calcium spikes
B) GABA release from the paribrachial neurons depolarizes postsynaptic neurons and they stop producing calcium spikes
C) acetylcholine release from the paribrachial neurons depolarizes postsynaptic neurons and they stop producing calcium spikes
D) GABA release from the paribrachial neurons hyperpolarizes postsynaptic neurons and they stop producing calcium spikes

Question 34

Match the following neurotransmitters with their role in arousal from sleep:
-_____released by the posterior hypothalamus and cause behavioral arousal

A) glutamate
B) acetylcholine
C) histamine
D) hypocretin.

Question 35

Match the following neurotransmitters with their role in arousal from sleep:
-_____released from parabrachial neurons to excite the basal forebrain, thalamus, and locus coeruleus

A) glutamate
B) acetylcholine
C) histamine
D) hypocretin.

Question 36

Match the following neurotransmitters with their role in arousal from sleep:
-_____released throughout the lateral hypothalamus and cause behavioral arousal

A) glutamate
B) acetylcholine
C) histamine
D) hypocretin.

Question 37

Match the following neurotransmitters with their role in arousal from sleep:
-_____released by the basal forebrain neurons that extend projections throughout the cortex and reduce the tendency of neocortical neurons to fire rhythmically

A) glutamate
B) acetylcholine
C) histamine
D) hypocretin.

Question 38

Which is pharmacologically more easy to induce, the sleeping or waking state and why?

Question 39

Which of the following could be a reasonable treatment for a person suffering narcolepsy?

A) routine use of anti-histamines
B) taking a hypocretin analogue
C) taking an antagonist to acetylcholine receptors
D) surgical lesion of the parabrachial nuclei
E) all of the above

Question 40

Lesions in the ____________tend to cause insomnia, while lesions of the ___________tend to cause increased sleep.

A) parabrachial nuclei, neocortex
B) hypothalamus, cholinergic basal forebrain
C) locus coeruleus, thalamus
D) ventrolateral preoptic area, tuberomamillary neurons

Question 41

In the circuitry shown below where green is excitatory and red is inhibitory, would you expect the following to be in a sleeping or awake animal?
Locus Coeruleus $\rightarrow$ Ventrolateral Preoptic Area $\rightarrow$ Tubomammillary $\rightarrow$ Neocortex

A) sleeping
B) awake

Question 42

Caffeine is an effective stimulant that helps to keep you in an alert, waking state because

A) it is a potent adenosine receptor antagonist
B) it is a potent adenosine receptor agonist
C) it stimulates glutamate release
D) it blocks GABA receptors

Question 43

Which of the following statements about sleep is false?

A) it might be possible to misread some of the EEG waveforms of a sleeping person for one that is awake and active
B) neurotransmitter regulation and release is an important feature of staying asleep
C) while sleeping, most of the brain is less active than while one is awake
D) sleep is a homogenous brain state recognized by on characteristic EEG waveform

Question 44

Neuronal death in the _______________might result in a very difficult time awaking from a sleeping state due to prologued thalamic neuron oscillation and rhythmic firing of neocortial neurons.

Question 45

Which of the following statements best summarizes the 5 stages and progression of sleep?

A) light sleep (stage 1), intermediate sleep (stages 2-3), deep sleep (stage 4), paradoxical sleep or REM (stage 5)
B) deep sleep (stage 1), intermediate sleep (stages 2-3), paradoxical sleep or REM (stage 5), awake
C) deep sleep (stage 1), intermediate sleep (stages 2-3), paradoxical sleep or REM (stage 5), stages 3-1
D) light sleep (stage 1), intermediate sleep (stages 2-3), deep sleep (stage 4), stages 3-1, paradoxical sleep or REM (stage 5)

Question 46

During the rhythmic ativity of sleep, thalamocortical neuron activity __________thalamoreticular neuron activity, that in turn, __________thalamocortical activity.

A) activate, inhibits
B) inhibits, activates
C) activates, activates
D) inhibits, inhibits

Question 47

A term often used when euthanizing pets is that you put the pet "to sleep." A typical cocktail for euthanasia of animals is a barbituate followed by a drug to induce cardiac arrest. Explain how this statement partially true.

Question 48

Which of the following contributes to the controversy surround lethal injections for the death penalty?

A) without an EEG recording during the process, it is impossible to verify that anesthesia is full effective during the entire process
B) some state governments are starting to create their own "secret cocktail" of lethal injection that has not been verified as humane
C) use of the pancuronium fully paralyzes the inmate and prevents them from communicating pain
D) it is possible that the cause of death via suffocation could proceed severe cardiac arrest
E) all of the above

Question 49

The rapid eye movements of REM sleep are caused by activation of the cholinergic ____________neurons that are also active when you are awake.

Question 50

Why do we not physically act out our dreams during REM sleep?

Question 51

Someone that suffers a severe stroke impairing the neurons in their subcoeruleus region neurons might experience which of the following symptoms?

A) an inability to enter REM sleep
B) frequent sleep-walking events
C) insomnia
D) very active sleep where they are moving significantly

Question 52

In the circuitry shown below where green is excitatory and red is inhibitory, would you expect the following to be in a a slow-wave or REM sleep state?
Ventrolateral Periaqueductal Gray $\rightarrow$ Subcoeruleus $\rightarrow$ intermediary neurons $\rightarrow$ skeletal motor neurons

A) slow-wave
B) REM

Question 53

The feeling of "sleep paralysis" is caused by caused by the hyperpolarization of skeletal muscle neurons in a state called___________.

Question 54

Which of the following species are capable of living without ever entering slow-wave sleep?

A) humans
B) birds
C) mice
D) dolphins
E) none of the above

Question 55

Explain in your own words the short and long-term effects of repeated, prolonged sleep deprivation.

Question 56

The olfactory cortex is much smaller than the visual or somatosensory cortex in humans. Does this fact support that the neurons are not topographically organized, why or why not?

Question 57

Evidence for the detoxification of metabolites in the cerebrospinal fluid during sleep is evidenced by increase in the ________, the space between brain cells.

Question 58

Which of the following is the best explanation for why we need a generalized arousal response instead of only less energertically-costly, attention-focused responses?

A) we need the ability to respond to stimuli that we are unfamiliar or unprepared for
B) we are incapable of learning attention-focused responses quick enough
C) we are at the mercy of only one type of response to excitatory neurotransmitters
D) our ability to discriminate between distinct stimuli is not very evolved

Question 59

Which of the following has not been observed in sleep-deprived individuals?

A) problems with memory
B) weight loss
C) irritability
D) heightened senses

Question 60

Design an experiment using mice in which you could specifically determine which brain regions decrease their oxygen and glucose utilization to the greatest degree during sleep.

Question 61

Match the following as being associated being
-____ increased oxygen and glucose consumption by the brain

A) awake
B) asleep.

Question 62

Match the following as being associated being
-____ looping, slow eye saccades

A) awake
B) asleep.

Question 63

Match the following as being associated being
-____ high neuronal firing in the vl-PAG

A) awake
B) asleep.

Question 64

Match the following as being associated being
-____ high neuronal firing in the TuMA

A) awake
B) asleep.

Question 65

Match the following as being associated being
-____ a faster flow of CSF through the ventricles

A) awake
B) asleep.

Question 66

Refer to figure 13.26, In the text why did the experimenters need to include a "yolk control" in this experiment?

A) to control for exercise causing weight loss
B) to control for food intake causing weight loss
C) to control for aversion to water causing weight loss
D) to control for the age of the mouse causing weight loss

Question 67

What might be the hallmark features of a drug specifically designed to increase attention?