chapter 2 study set – Flashcards
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Blindness could result from damage to which cortex and lobe of the brain?
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visual cortex in the occipital lobe
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Paralysis of the left arm might be explained by a problem in the
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motor cortex in the frontal lobe in the right hemisphere
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Deafness can result from damage to the inner ear or damage to what area of the brain?
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connections between the auditory nerve and the auditory cortex in the temporal lobe
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According to the theory of evolution, why might we call some parts of the brain the old brain and some parts the new brain?
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The old brain developed first according to evolution
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which chemicals pass across the synaptic gap and increase the possibility the next neuron in the chain will fire?
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Excitatory neurotransmitters
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You eat some bad sushi and feel that you are slowly losing control over your muscles. The bacteria you ingested from the bad sushi most likely interferes with the use of
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acetylcholine
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The three major categories researches use to organize the entire brain are the
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hindbrain, midbrain, and forebrain
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A spinal reflex differs from a normal sensory and motor reaction in that
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in a spinal reflex, the spine moves the muscles in response as soon as the sensory information reaches the spin while the impulse must reach the brain before a response.
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Antidepressant drugs like Prozac are often used to treat mood disorders. According to what you know about their functions, which neurotransmitter do these types of drugs try to affect?
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serotonin
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which sentence most likely describes neural transmission?
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An electric charge is created in the neuron, the charge travels down the cell, and the chemicals are released that cross the synapse to the next cell.
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Dr. Dahab, a brain researcher, is investigating the connection between certain environmental stimuli and brain processes. which types of brain scans is he most likely to use?
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PET and EEG
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Split-Brain patients are unable to
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speak about information received exclusively in their right hemisphere.
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when brain researchers refer to brain plasticity, they are talking about
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new connections forming in the brain to take over the damaged sections
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Mr. Spam is a 39-year old male who has been brought into your neurology clinic by his wife. she has become increasingly alarmed by her husband's behavior over the last four months. you recommend a CAT scan to look for tumors in the brain. Which two parts of the brain would you predict are being affected by the tumors? symptoms include: vastly increased appetite, body temperature fluctuations, decreased sexual desire, jerky movements, poor balance when walking and standing, inability to throw objects, and exaggerated efforts to coordinate movemtns in a task
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hypothalamus and cerebellum
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In most people, which one of the following is a specific function of the left hemisphere that is typically not controlled by the right hemisphere?
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producing speech
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parts of the neuron
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Our body's neural system is built from billions of nerve cells, or neurons -the extensions of a neuron that receive messages from other neurons are the dendrites -the extension of a neuron that transmits info to other neurons is the axon -some of the extensions are insulated by a layer of fatty cells called the myelin sheath, which helps speed the neuron's impulses
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hypothalamus function
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contains reward centers
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lesion function
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tissue destruction
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EEG function
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amplified recording of the brain waves
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fMRI function
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technique that uses radio waves and magnetic fields to show brain function
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reticular formation function
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helps control arousal
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MRI function
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technique that uses radio waves and magnetic fields to image brain anatomy
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thalamus function
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serves as sensory switchboard
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corpus callosum function
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links the celebral hemispheres
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cerebellum function
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enables coordinated movement
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amygdala function
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influences rage and fear
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medulla function
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regulates breathing and heartbeat
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right hemisphere function
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specializes in spatial relations
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brainstem function
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oldest part of the brain
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glial cells function
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brain cells that provide nutrients and insulating myelin
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aphasia function
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language disorder
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plasticity function
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brain's capacity for modification
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broca's area function
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controls speech production
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wernicke's area function
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the brain's capacity for modification
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limbic system function
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regulates emotion
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association areas function
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brain areas involved in higher mental functions
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left hemisphere function
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specializes in rationalizing reactions
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angular gyrus function
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translates writing into speech
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Brainstem
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includes pons and medulla, is the brain's basement and the oldest, innermost region
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medulla
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where the spinal cord enters the skull and swells slightly.
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pons
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sits above the medulla and helps coordinate movements
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reticular formation
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inside the brainstem, between your ears, finger-shaped network of neurons that extends from the spinal cord right up to the thalamus. controls arousal
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thalamus
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atop the brainstem, brain's sensory switchboard, a joined pair of egg-shaped structures
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cerebellum
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"the little brain" attached to the rear of the brainstem; its functions include processing sensory input and coordinating movement output and balance
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the limbic system
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brain's older parts and its cerebral hemisheres. includes: hypothalamus, pituitary gland, amygdala, and hippocampus
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hippocampus
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processes memory
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amygdala
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influences aggression and fear, tip of hippocampus
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pituitary gland
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regulates growth and controls other endocrine glands
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hypothalamus
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just below the thalamus, monitors blood chemistry and takes orders from other parts of the brain. including sex in the celebral cortex. also controls the master gland
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celebral cortex
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intricate covering of the interconnected neural cells that, like bark on tree, forms a thin surface layer on your cerebral hemispheres. ultimate control and information processing center
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frontal lobes
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staring at the front of your brain going around over the top. involved in speaking and muscle movements and in making plans and judgements
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parietal lobes
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behind your forehead. receives sensory input for touch and body position.
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occipital lobes
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at the back of your head. includes visual areas, which receive visual information from the opposite visual field.
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temporal lobes
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sides of your head. includes auditory areas which receive visual information primarily from the opposite ear.
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motor cortex
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an area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movements
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Broca's area
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controls speech muscles via the motor cortex
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wernicke's area
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interprets auditory code
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angular gyrus
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transforms visual representations into an auditory code
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visual cortex
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recieves written words as visual stimulation
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a biological psychologist would be more likely to study
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the chemical changes that accompany emotions
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the part of the human brain that is most like that of a fish is the
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brain stem
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you are able to pull your and quickly away from hot water before pain is felt because
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movement of the hand is a reflex that involves intervention of the spinal cord only
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in order to pinpoint the location of a tumor, a neurosurgeon electrically stimulated parts of the patient's sensory cortex. If the patient was conscious during the procedure, which of the following was probably the experienced?
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sense of having the skin touched
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if Dr. Rogers wishes to conduct an experiment on the effects of stimulating the reward centers of a rat's brain, he should insert an electrode into the
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hypothalamus
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A split-brain patient has a picture of a knife flashed to her left hemisphere and that of a fork to her right hemisphere. she will be able to:
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identify the fork using her left hand
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Several shy neurons send an inhibitory message to neighboring neuron Joni. At the same time, a larger group of party-going neurons send Joni excitatory messages. What will Joni do?
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Fire, assuming that her threshold has been reached
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Following Jayshree's near fatal car accident, her physician noticed that the pupillary reflex of her eyes were abnormal. This may indicate that jayshree's what I was damaged in the accidentV?
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Autonomic nervous system
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The axons of certain neurons are covered by a layer of fatty tissue that helps speed neural transmission. This tissue is:
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The myelin sheath
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Heartbeat, digestion. And other self regulating bodily functions are governed by the
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Autonomic nervous system
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A strong stimulus can increase the
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Number of times the neuron fires
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The pain of heroin withdrawal may be attributable to the fact that
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Under the influence of heroin the brain ceased production of endorphins
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The brain research technique that involves monitoring the brain's usage of glucose is called
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PET scan
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In a resting state, the axon is
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Polarized, with mostly positively charged ions outside and negatively charged ions inside
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Though there is no single "control center" for emotions, their regulation is primarily attributed to the brain region known as the
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Limbic system
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Which is the correct sequence in the transmission of a simple reflex?
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Sensory neuron>interneuron>motor neuron
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Damage to ___ will usually cause a person to lose the ability to comprehend the language
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Wernicke's area
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Which of the following is typically controlled by the right hemisphere?
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Perceptual tasks
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Dr. Hernandez is studying neurotransmitter abnormalities in depressed patients. She would most likely describe herself as a
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Biological psychologist
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The increasing complexity of animals behavior is accompanied by an
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Increase in the amount of association area
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Voluntary movements, such as writing with w a pencil are directed by the
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Somatic nervous system
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A neuron will generate action potentials more often when it
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Receives more excitatory than inhibitory inputs
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Which is the correct sequence kin the transmission of a neural impulse ?
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Dendrite> cell body > axon > synapse
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Chemical messengers produced by endocrine glands are called
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Hormones
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Following a head injury, a person has an ongoing difficulty to stay awake. Damage most likely occurred to the
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Reticular formation
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Based on research, which of the following seems true about the specialized functions of the right and left hemispheres
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Most complex activities emerge from the integrated activity of both hemispheres
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Cortical areas that are not primarily concerned with sensory motor or language functions are
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Called association areas
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In the brain learning occurs as experience strengthens certain connections in cell work groups called
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Neural networks
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Which of the following is typically controlled by the left hemisphere?
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Word recognition
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Which is governed by the simplest neural pathways
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Reflexes
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Parkinson's disease involves
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The death of nerve cells that produce vital neurotransmitter
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The myelin sheath that is in some neurons
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Increases the speed of neural transmission
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During an action potential, the electrical state of the axon becomes
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Depolarized
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The neurotransmitter acetylcholine is most likely to be found
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At the junction between motor neurons and muscle fibers
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The gland that regulates body growth is the
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Pituitary
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Epinephrine and norepinephrine are
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Hormones released by the adrenal gland
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Jessica experienced difficulty keeping her balance after receiving a blow to the back of her hEad. It is likely that she injured her
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Cerebellum
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Moruzzi and magoun caused a cat to lapse into a coma by severing neural connections between the cortex and the
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Reticular formation
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Research has found that the amount of representation in the motor cortex reflects the
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Degree of precise control required by each of the parts
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The effect of a drug that is an agonist is to
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Mimic a particular neurotransmitter
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The nerve fibers that enable communication between the right and left celebral hemispheres and that have been severed in split brain patients form a structure called the
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Corpus callosum
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The right hemisphere takes over what function when suffering
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Language function