Deck 13: Hemispheric Asymmetry, language, and Intelligence

Question 1

The fiber pathway connecting the right and left medial thalamus in animals and some people is the 

A)anterior commissure. 
B)massa intermedia. 
C)corpus callosum. 
D)hippocampal commissure.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

In cases of Rasmussen's syndrome,the complete removal of the cortex of one hemisphere during childhood:​ 

A)saves the child's life at the expense of intelligence and mobility. 
B)has been discontinued due to its poor record of reducing seizures. 
C)demonstrates that we only need about 10 percent of our brain for normal functioning. 
D)significantly reduces seizures while producing relatively mild side effects.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

The two temporal lobes are connected by the 

A)anterior commissure. 
B)massa intermedia. 
C)corpus callosum. 
D)hippocampal commissure.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

The largest fiber pathway linking the two cerebral hemispheres is the 

A)anterior commissure. 
B)massa intermedia. 
C)corpus callosum. 
D)hippocampal commissure.

Question 5

The split brain operation saves the life of the patient,but usually results in major deficits,such as the loss of language abilities.

Question 6

Split-brain operations are most commonly used to treat 

A)epilepsy. 
B)schizophrenia. 
C)bipolar disorder. 
D)autism spectrum disorder.

Question 7

Lateralization occurs in species other than human beings,suggesting that it provides some advantages for survival.

Question 8

Those suffering from Wernicke's aphasia are usually unaware of their symptoms,and thus experience no distress over the condition.

Question 9

Fiber pathways connecting the two hemispheres are known as 

A)tracts. 
B)commissures. 
C) ganglia.​ 
D)decussations.

Question 10

Paul Thompson and his colleagues found low correlations between the amount of gray matter in the frontal lobes and language areas of identical twins.

Question 11

Dyslexia is strongly influenced by genetics.

Question 12

Split-brain operations are used to treat seizures because 

A)seizures require coordinated activity in both hemispheres. 
B)seizures still occur, but only half the body is involved. 
C)electrical disturbances confined to one hemisphere may not reach threshold for observable clinical symptoms. 
D)there are no other available treatments.

Question 13

American Sign Language (ASL),which uses movement and vision instead of sound,is represented in completely different parts of the brain than verbal languages.

Question 14

All left-handed people process language in the right hemisphere,and all right-handed people process language in the left hemisphere.

Question 15

The discrepancy between measured intelligence and verbal ability in individuals with Williams syndrome illustrates the existence of multiple types of intelligence.

Question 16

Lateralization refers to the​ 

A)localization of a function to one hemisphere or the other in the brain. 
B)localization of a function to one of the lobes of the brain. 
C)tendency for important functions to be localized in areas away from the midline of the brain. 
D)tendency for both the human brain and body to be quite symmetrical.

Question 17

In his work to assist 16 patients suffering from uncontrollable seizures associated with epilepsy,how many of the commissures did Joseph Bogen severe in these patients? 

A)1 
B)2 
C)3 
D)all 4

Question 18

Split-brain operations 

A)are not successful in treating epilepsy. 
B)improve the frequency of seizures, but not the severity. 
C)improve the severity of seizures, but not the frequency. 
D)improve both the severity and frequency of seizures.

Question 19

A significant mutation in the FOXP2 gene associated with language abilities occurred prior to the branching of species leading to modern chimpanzees and humans.

Question 20

Autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia share some common genetic underpinnings.

Question 21

You know your friend Ramon has just had a split-brain surgery to treat his uncontrollable epileptic seizures.When Ramon returns to school,it is likely that he will 

A)have trouble verbalizing his feelings. 
B)no longer be a star athlete as his coordination will have been affected. 
C)almost be the same, but his grades will probably drop a bit. 
D)have only very subtle changes that show up in follow-up tests of cognitive functioning.

Question 22

Logical,sequential information is processed 

A)more effectively in the right hemisphere in most people. 
B)more effectively in the left hemisphere in most people. 
C)with equal effectiveness in both hemispheres in most people. 
D)more effectively in the right hemisphere in about half of all people, and more effectively in the left hemisphere in the other half.

Question 23

In Gazzaniga's experiment with split-brain patients in which the word "HE" appeared to the left of a fixation point and the word "ART" appeared to the right,how did participants respond when asked what they had seen? 

A)They said, "ART." 
B)They said, "HE." 
C)They said, "HEART." 
D)They were unable to respond, since they could no longer read.

Question 24

Although the split-brain patients studied by Sperry and Gazzaniga were all right-handed,they showed superior performance when using the left hand to 

A)draw a three-dimensional figure. 
B)copy words they saw. 
C)copy words they heard. 
D)identify objects by touch.

Question 25

Which of the following processes is not lateralized? 

A)language 
B)motor control in the left side of the body 
C)sensation of the right visual field 
D)blood pressure in the torso

Question 26

Lateralization of function is found in 

A)humans only. 
B)humans and other primates. 
C)all mammals. 
D)many animals, including birds.

Question 27

Since her auto accident,Maria seems to have problems interacting with people.In fact,she sometimes doesn't seem to understand when people are angry or upset.She also never seems to be able to "get" jokes in spite of the fact that she is very intelligent.Given what you've learned in this chapter,what would you suggest might be going on with her? 

A)She may have an injury affecting her right hemisphere, which makes it difficult for her to understand other people's emotions. 
B)Her language function is now localized to her right hemisphere. 
C)She may have an injury affecting her left hemisphere, which makes her unable to understand other people. 
D)She may have damage to her cerebellum, which makes her unable to interpret emotions.

Question 28

Michael damaged areas of his right hemisphere in a serious automobile accident.Which of the following types of information processing are likely to cause him problems in the future? 

A)logical, sequential processing 
B)emotional, intuitive processing 
C)complex language 
D)identifying objects in the right half of the visual field

Question 29

see Figure 13.2

The structure indicated by the number 2 in this illustration is the 

A)corpus callosum. 
B)massa intermedia. 
C)anterior commissure. 
D)hippocampal commissure.

Question 30

Visual information about an object located to the right of center in the visual field is processed by 

A)both hemispheres equally. 
B)the left cerebral hemisphere. 
C)the right cerebral hemisphere. 
D)the left cerebral hemisphere in the majority of human participants, but in either the right hemisphere or both hemispheres in others.

Question 31

When split-brain patients viewed the word "stand" in the left visual field,they 

A)remained seated, although they knew they had seen the word "stand." 
B)remained seated and were unaware of seeing the word "stand." 
C)stood up and said that they were carrying out the instruction they had seen. 
D)stood up and said they needed to stretch.

Question 32

Ashley suddenly experienced problems with processing spatial and emotional information.Her physicians suspected that she may have an abnormality in her 

A)corpus callosum. 
B)massa intermedia. 
C)right hemisphere. 
D)left hemisphere.

Question 33

In Gazzaniga's experiment with split-brain patients in which the word "HE" appeared to the left of a fixation point and the word "ART" appeared to the right,how did participants respond when asked to point with the left hand to what they had seen? 

A)They pointed to "ART." 
B)They pointed to "HE." 
C)They pointed to "HEART." 
D)They were unable to respond, since they could no longer read.

Question 34

Andrew underwent a Wada test prior to brain surgery.When his right hemisphere was anesthetized,he was unable to speak.How would Andrew's physicians most likely interpret this result? 

A)They must have made a mistake, because language functions are supposed to be managed by the left hemisphere. 
B)Andrew must have had a hemispherectomy for Rasmussen's syndrome many years ago. 
C)Andrew is one of a minority of people whose language is managed by the right hemisphere. 
D)Andrew must be bilingual. It is likely that he will still be able to speak in his other language.

Question 35

Split-brain patients who viewed the image of a spoon in the left visual field 

A)were unable to select the object correctly with their left hands, but were able to say what they had seen. 
B)were unable to select the object correctly with their right hands, but were able to say what they had seen. 
C)selected the object correctly with their left hands, but were unable to say what they had seen. 
D)selected the object correctly with their right hands, but were unable to say what they had seen.

Question 36

A possible benefit of lateralization is 

A)improvement in divided attention abilities. 
B)faster communication between the two hemispheres. 
C)"backup" in the event of brain damage. 
D)increased diversity among a population.

Question 37

Emotional,intuitive information is processed 

A)more effectively in the right hemisphere in most people. 
B)more effectively in the left hemisphere in most people. 
C)with equal in both hemispheres in most people. 
D)more effectively in the right hemisphere in about half of all people, and more effectively in the left hemisphere in the other half.

Question 38

Split-brain operations like Bogen's produce 

A)no changes in personality, intelligence, or speech. 
B)changes in personality, but none in intelligence or speech. 
C)changes in intelligence, but none in personality or speech. 
D)changes in personality, intelligence, and speech.

Question 39

The Wada test provides information about 

A)the severity and frequency of seizures following a split brain operation. 
B)the localization of language to one hemisphere or the other. 
C)a person's level of exposure to prenatal androgens. 
D)a child's level of risk for verbal learning disabilities.

Question 40

Jill's epilepsy is not responding to medication and is causing life-threatening symptoms.Her doctor has suggested surgery.One of the first steps in preparation for her surgery will be _________,to determine where her language center is located.

A)a Wada test 
B)a positron emission tomography (PET) scan 
C)functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) 
D)a computerized tomography (CT) scan

Question 41

During a visuospatial task, 

A)males and females showed very similar patterns of right hemisphere activation. 
B)males were more likely to activate both hemispheres than females. 
C)females were more likely to activate both hemispheres than males. 
D)males and females showed very similar patterns of left hemisphere activation.

Question 42

The percentage of left handers in a human society is correlated with its 

A)average level of education. 
B)age distribution. 
C)tendency to be multilingual. 
D)homicide rate.

Question 43

The majority of left-handed people 

A)lateralize language function to the right hemisphere. 
B)use the two hemispheres equally for language. 
C)lateralize language function to the left hemisphere. 
D)switch back and forth between the left and right hemispheres while processing language.

Question 44

Sandra has always been good at multitasking.She seems to be able to keep track of several things going on at once.Researchers studying multitasking would likely suggest that Sandra's 

A)brain function is less lateralized than those who cannot multitask as well. 
B)brain function is more lateralized than those who cannot multitask as well. 
C)verbal skills are in her right hemisphere. 
D)verbal skills are in her left hemisphere.

Question 45

According to research by Springer and Deutsch on handedness,artistic talent,and occupational choice,handedness 

A)is a strong predictor of occupational choice, but not artistic talent. 
B)is a strong predictor of artistic talent, but not occupational choice. 
C)is a strong predictor of both artistic talent and occupational choice. 
D)fails to predict either artistic talent or occupational choice.

Question 46

Which of the following statistical facts provides support for a role of prenatal androgen levels in lateralization? 

A)lower rates of verbal learning disabilities among males 
B)higher rates of immune disorders among females 
C)lower rates of left-handedness among males exposed prenatally to ultrasound 
D)higher rates of left-handedness among males

Question 47

For most people,which part(s)of the brain contribute(s)to the interpretation of prosody? 

A)the left hemisphere only. 
B)the right hemisphere only. 
C)the right hemisphere and the left orbitofrontal cortex. 
D)the right hemisphere and both the right and left orbitofrontal cortices.

Question 48

An area of the brain that appears to be structurally different in musicians with perfect pitch is 

A)the planum temporale. 
B)the prefrontal cortex. 
C)the primary auditory cortex. 
D)the corpus callosum.

Question 49

Research on the lateralization of musical skills 

A)demonstrates conclusively that musical skills are lateralized to the right hemisphere in most people. 
B)demonstrates conclusively that musical skills are lateralized to the left hemisphere in most people. 
C)has produced mixed results, leading to an ongoing debate about the extent to which musical skills are lateralized. 
D)supports the idea that musical skills are equally divided between the two hemispheres.

Question 50

About 96 percent of right-handed people 

A)localize language functions to the right hemisphere. 
B)localize language functions to the left hemisphere. 
C)localize language functions to both hemispheres. 
D)switch back and forth between the left and right hemispheres while processing language.

Question 51

In dichotic listening tasks, 

A)most right-handed people will repeat the information heard by the left ear. 
B)most right-handed people will repeat the information heard by the right ear. 
C)50 percent of right-handed people will repeat the information heard by the left ear. 
D)most left-handed people will repeat the information heard by the left ear.

Question 52

Brittany,who is right-handed,always holds her cell phone up to her left ear so she can do other things with her right hand at the same time.It is most likely that Brittany 

A)is unusual for a right-hander, because she obviously must store language in her right hemisphere. 
B)will not be able to understand either the words or emotional tone of her friends as well as if she listened with her right ear instead of her left. 
C)will do a good job interpreting the emotional tone of her friends' voices, but she might miss a word or two of their conversation now and then. 
D)will do a good job of hearing all of the words her friends say, but she might misinterpret the emotional tone of their voices now and then.

Question 53

Dichotic listening tasks are based on the fact that 

A)information from each ear is processed exclusively by the ipsilateral auditory cortex. 
B)information from each ear is processed equally by both hemispheres. 
C)sounds originating from directly in front of or behind a person will be processed by the left hemisphere. 
D)information from each ear is processed more rapidly by the contralateral auditory cortex.

Question 54

Which of the following environmental factors may influence handedness? 

A)prenatal exposure to ultrasound 
B)prenatal exposure to x-rays 
C)routine childhood immunizations 
D)diet

Question 55

The brains of musicians with perfect pitch 

A)differed from nonmusicians, but not from musicians lacking perfect pitch. 
B)differed from musicians lacking perfect pitch, but not nonmusicians. 
C)were the same as nonmusicians and musicians lacking perfect pitch. 
D)differed from both nonmusicians and musicians lacking perfect pitch.

Question 56

In a dichotic listening test for which he volunteered,Justin was able to repeat the words presented to his right ear,but he did a better job evaluating the emotional tone of a word when it was presented to his left ear.It is most likely that 

A)Justin is left-handed. 
B)Justin is right-handed. 
C)Justin is ambidextrous, showing no preference for one hand over the other. 
D)no predictions about Justin's handedness can be made without further information.

Question 57

Most research on cognitive differences between males and females suggests that 

A)there are no consistent differences between male and female cognitive abilities. 
B)males have a slight advantage over females in verbal skills. 
C)females have a slight advantage over males in verbal skills. 
D)males have a slight advantage over females in musical skills.

Question 58

The term "prosody" refers to 

A)using pitch and tone to convey emotions in language. 
B)turn-taking during a conversation. 
C)perfect pitch. 
D)recognition of different grammatical structures in language.

Question 59

Left-handed people 

A)nearly always lateralize language to the right hemisphere. 
B)are less likely to lateralize language to the right hemisphere. 
C)are less likely to use both hemispheres equally for language than right-handed people. 
D)are more likely to use both hemispheres equally for language than right-handed people.

Question 60

Perception of prosody was 

A)better in patients with left hemisphere damage than patients with right hemisphere damage. 
B)better in patients with right hemisphere damage than patients with left hemisphere damage. 
C)not impaired in patients with either right or left hemisphere damage. 
D)equally impaired in patients with either right or left hemisphere damage.

Question 61

In Aitcheson's criteria for language,the fact that the word chair can be used to describe all chairs is an example of 

A)arbitrariness. 
B)duality. 
C)displacement. 
D)semanticity.

Question 62

The language deficits of the KE family may originate in: 

A)a single gene on Chromosome 7. 
B)multiple genes on Chromosome 7. 
C)a single gene on the X chromosome. 
D)multiple genes on the X chromosome.

Question 63

In addition to claims for language abilities in great apes,which other non-human animals might have language abilities? 

A)none. 
B)all mammals and some birds. 
C)dogs, cats, and other domesticated species. 
D)dogs, birds, whales, and dolphins.

Question 64

Savant behaviors occur 

A)only in individuals with autism spectrum disorder. 
B)in the majority of individuals with autism spectrum disorder and mental retardation. 
C)in people whose intellectual function is normally in the intellectual disability range 
D)only in people who have experienced brain damage.

Question 65

Evidence for cultural transmission of ape language is provided by 

A)Washoe's ability to sign "waterbird" while observing a swan. 
B)the ability of great apes to learn sign language from humans. 
C)Kanzi's ability to learn symbols by watching his mother's training. 
D)Kanzi's ability to respond to verbal commands.

Question 66

Herbert Terrace has argued that the use of symbols and sign language by apes differs from human language in 

A)arbitrariness and duality. 
B)spontaneous usage and structure dependence. 
C)semanticity and displacement. 
D)turn-taking and creativity.

Question 67

Early languages may have been most similar to 

A)African click languages. 
B)ancient Egyptian. 
C)ancient Chinese. 
D)Latin.

Question 68

In Aitcheson's criteria for language,the fact that we learn language through simple exposure is an example of 

A)duality. 
B)cultural transmission. 
C)spontaneous usage. 
D)displacement.

Question 69

Support for a separate "language module" in the brain comes from 

A)the universality of language in human cultures. 
B)the human ability to learn spoken language through simple exposure rather than formal instruction. 
C)observations of a disconnect between language abilities and overall intelligence. 
D)controversies regarding the language abilities of non-human primates.

Question 70

Language is found in 

A)all human cultures. 
B)most, but not all contemporary human cultures. 
C)a minority of contemporary human cultures. 
D)all contemporary human cultures, but probably did not occur in most human societies until approximately 15,000 years ago.

Question 71

Structurally,members of the KE family show 

A)larger than typical caudate nuclei. 
B)smaller than typical caudate nuclei. 
C)greater than typical hemispheric asymmetry. 
D)smaller than typical hippocampi.

Question 72

Aitchison's ten features of language include "spontaneous usage." Which of the following is the best example of this feature? 

A)Birds respond to the singing of another bird. 
B)Children learn to speak without being explicitly taught to do so. 
C)Language is used to express ideas that have never been expressed before. 
D)We learn language within our families.

Question 73

Mirror systems 

A)are found only in humans. 
B)are relevant to tool use, but not to language. 
C)result from mutations in the FOXP2 gene. 
D)might form the basis for the development of language.

Question 74

Efforts to identify the time course of the evolution of human language have been based on the 

A)divergence of hominids and great apes from a common ancestor. 
B)divergence of Homo sapiens from other species of humans. 
C)development of a neocortex in animals. 
D)timing of a critical mutation in the FOXP2 gene.

Question 75

Efforts to teach sign language to great apes have 

A)been more successful than efforts to teach spoken language. 
B)been about as successful as efforts to teach spoken language. 
C)been less successful than efforts to teach spoken language. 
D)not been successful at all.

Question 76

Kanzi,a pygmy chimpanzee,has shown evidence that he can 

A)produce spoken language as well as signs. 
B)understand some human speech. 
C)read. 
D)develop new spoken words that other chimpanzees understand.

Question 77

African tribes using click languages are genetically _________ suggesting that the languages _________.

A)distinct; developed very recently 
B)distinct; are very ancient 
C)similar; developed very recently 
D)similar; are very ancient.

Question 78

Compared with healthy controls,individuals with schizophrenia 

A)show no differences in the lateralization of language. 
B)are less likely to be ambidextrous. 
C)are more likely to lateralize language to the left hemisphere. 
D)are more likely to lateralize language to the right hemisphere or to show no hemisphere asymmetry.

Question 79

Most savant behaviors involve behaviors that are typically 

A)lateralized to the right hemisphere. 
B)lateralized to the left hemisphere. 
C)lateralized. 
D)managed by subcortical structures.

Question 80

Learning a spoken language is different from other types of learning in that 

A)the ability to learn language is closely tied to measures of intelligence. 
B)no specific instruction is necessary. 
C)there is no evidence for genetic influences on language learning. 
D)simple exposure is insufficient for learning to occur.