Question 1

Increased maternal attention during the first week of a rat pup's life modified a specific hippocampal glucocorticoid receptor gene promoter by altering DNA methylation.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False  True

Question 2

Certain glial cells known as ___________ will help developing neurons to their destinations.

Accepted Answer

A)   microglia
B)   astrocytes
C)   radial cells
D)   oligodendrocytes C

Question 3

The __________ regulates somatosensory input necessary for choreographing specific play responses.

Accepted Answer

A)   area postrema
B)   periaqueductal gray
C)   prefrontal cortex
D)   parafascicular area D

Question 4

Once stem cells have differentiated into progenitor cells ______________.

Accepted Answer

A)   they lose the ability to produce pluripotent (unspecialized)  cells
B)   they maintain the ability to produce pluripotent (unspecialized)  cells
C)   regain their lost ability to produce pluripotent (unspecialized)  cells
D)   None of the above options are correct.

Question 5

The ability of humans to exert cognitive control to override the impulse to orient toward new visual stimuli is referred to as __________.

Accepted Answer

A)   Top-down processing.
B)   Divided attention.
C)   Bottom-up processing.
D)   Cognitive division.

Question 6

_______ has pointed out that one distinctive feature of the human brain is its large size, despite it not being the largest mammalian brain.

Accepted Answer

A)   Ernst Haeckel
B)   Leah Krubitzer
C)   Osvaldo Cairo
D)   Michael Gazzaniga

Question 7

The evolution and development of different species' brains has been a conservative process.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 8

The two discrete areas of the adult mouse brain exhibiting adult neurogenesis are the ______ and ____.

Accepted Answer

A)   dorsal horn of spinal cord; ventral roots of spinal cord
B)   prefrontal cortex; cerebellum
C)   lateral hypothalamus; ventral hypothalamus.
D)   subgranular zone of the dentate gyrus in the hippocampus; subventricular zone of the lateral ventricle

Question 9

It may take as long as ________ for a new neuron to reach their final mature physical form within hippocampal neural circuitry.

Accepted Answer

A)   four to eight weeks
B)   one to two weeks
C)   four months
D)   a year

Question 10

The conservative nature of brain and body evolution was reinforced by the drawings of the German zoologist ___________.

Accepted Answer

A)   William James.
B)   Ernst Haeckel.
C)   Lennart Heimer.
D)   Charles Darwin.

Question 11

The neurofibrillary tangles found in brains diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease consist of what?

Accepted Answer

A)   Plaques.
B)   β-amyloid protein.
C)   Myelin.
D)   Knotted threads of tau (τ)  protein.

Question 12

What finding best describes the key differences between the brachyuric (BTBR) and normal mouse strain that suggests it might not be a useful animal model to understand autism spectrum disorder (ASD)?

Accepted Answer

A)   BTBR mice lack a corpus callosum, whereas ASD patients do not.
B)   BTBR mice show a deficit in social interaction.
C)   BTBR mice demonstrate repetitive self-grooming.
D)   BTBR mice show delayed approaches to mouse peers.

Question 13

Restructuring of the neuron's existing cytoskeleton occurs in response to various neural adaptations that accompany ________.

Accepted Answer

A)   aging.
B)   Alzheimer's disease.
C)   strokes.
D)   learning in different contexts.

Question 14

It may take as long as ________ for a new neuron to become synaptically integrated into mature hippocampal neural circuitry.

Accepted Answer

A)   four to eight weeks
B)   one to two weeks
C)   four months
D)   a year

Question 15

________ promotes the maturation of neurons has also been implicated in disorders such as depression.

Accepted Answer

The answer of ________ promotes the maturation of neurons has...

Question 16

Important environmental events such as stressful experiences leave an imprint that is passed on to subsequent generations along with the DNA code.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 17

What observation suggests why the human brain seems to have the have the most advanced cognitive abilities compared to other mammals?

Accepted Answer

A)   Humans have the largest brain of any known mammal.
B)   Human brains have the lowest number of glia cells of any known mammal.
C)   Human brains have the largest ventricles of any known mammal.
D)   Human cerebral cortex contains the most neurons of any known mammal.

Question 18

Compared to adults, the adolescent brain may have a ________ ventral striatum and ________ prefrontal cortex and amygdala?

Accepted Answer

A)   underactive, hyperactive
B)   hyperactive, hyperactive
C)   underactive, underactive
D)   hyperactive, underactive

Question 19

________ is a procedure where animals are surgically bound so that the blood supply is shared between them.

Accepted Answer

A)   Parabiosis
B)   Transfusion
C)   Dialysis
D)   Consanguination

Question 20

________ refers to a mechanism in which genes can be modified by the addition of a methyl chemical compound to the cytosine nucleotide base in DNA.

Accepted Answer

A)   Apoptosis.
B)   Mutation.
C)   RNA demethylation.
D)   DNA methylation.

Exam 5: Evolving Brains: Neural Development, Neuroplasticity, and Recovery of Function