Week 3 Quiz

In the hot-stove signal trace, your fingertip touches a hot pan handle. Which part of the sensory neuron in your fingertip receives the incoming signal first?

Select one.

• The axon
• The dendrites
• The terminal buttons
• The myelin sheath

In the hot-stove signal trace, compare touching a warm pan handle with touching a much hotter one. Once threshold is reached, what changes in the fingertip neuron?

Select one.

• Each action potential becomes larger
• The resting potential rises above zero
• The neuron fires more action potentials each second
• The neuron fires without reaching threshold

Before the touch in the hot-stove signal trace, the fingertip neuron rests at about −70 mV, which means the inside of the cell is negative compared with the outside.

True or false.

• True
• False

After a neurotransmitter crosses the synapse and affects the receiving cell, what does reuptake do?

Select one.

• It returns leftover neurotransmitter to the sending neuron and clears the gap
• It carries the electrical impulse down the length of the axon
• It wraps the axon in a fatty layer so the impulse travels faster
• It releases fresh neurotransmitter from the dendrites of the next cell

Select every neurotransmitter description that matches the functions this course associates with it.

Select every option that applies.

• Dopamine is associated with reward and movement
• Serotonin is associated with mood and sleep
• GABA is the main excitatory transmitter
• Acetylcholine is associated with muscle action
• Endorphins are associated with forming new memories

A supplement ad says, "Low serotonin causes sadness." Most evidence linking the chemical to mood is correlational. Which rewrite fits that evidence best?

Select one.

• Low serotonin proves sadness, since the two were measured together in the same people
• Sadness causes low serotonin, so serotonin plays no part in how people feel
• Serotonin causes sleep rather than mood, so the ad has the wrong chemical
• Serotonin is associated with mood, and ongoing stress could affect both of them

In the hot-stove signal trace, your heart speeds up right after the touch and slows again a few minutes later. Which divisions of the autonomic nervous system act, in that order?

Select one.

• Parasympathetic, then sympathetic
• Sympathetic, then parasympathetic
• Somatic, then autonomic
• Central, then peripheral

In the hot-stove signal trace, which lobe registers the touch and where on your body it happened?

Select one.

• The frontal lobe
• The temporal lobe
• The occipital lobe
• The parietal lobe

Because the brain can rewire itself through neuroplasticity, most people use only about 10 percent of their brains.

True or false.

• True
• False

Scoville and Milner (1957) described H.M., who could not form new declarative memories after surgery removed much of both hippocampi. What can this case support?

Select one.

• It is a case study that suggests a role for the hippocampus but cannot by itself fit everyone
• It is an experiment with random assignment that proves the hippocampus causes all memory
• It is a correlational study that shows the hippocampus and memory have no link at all
• It is a survey of many people that proves every brain stores old memories in the hippocampus