Deck 4: Hemispheric Specialization

Question 1

Which of the following is NOT true of the Wada test?

A)It entails the injection of amobarbital.
B)It can be used to determine which hemisphere is language dominant.
C)It determines the extent to which the corpus callosum has been resected.
D)It is used before elective surgery for the treatment of epilepsy.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

After patient W.J. had his corpus collosum severed, he participated in a series of tasks. One of these tasks demonstrated that the specializations of each hemisphere were different. This task permitted him to use ____________, and consequently __________________________________.

A)his left hand; he was able to press a button when a light flashed on the right side of the screen
B)his right hand; he could not arrange colored blocks to match a simple pattern
C)both hands; he was able to press a button when a light flashed on either side of the screen
D)both hands; his two hands were working in opposition while he arranged colored blocks

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Which of the following people would be most likely to receive the split-brain procedure?

A)a person with amnesia
B)a person with schizophrenia
C)a person with aphasia
D)a person with epilepsy

Answer 3

D

Question 4

What are homotopic brain areas?

A)regions of the cortex that are organized according to spatial maps of the environment
B)areas in corresponding locations in the two cerebral hemispheres
C)areas in the brain that are organized according to spatial and auditory frequency
D)regions of the cortex found within the same cerebral hemisphere

Question 5

Which of the following, if any, describes a proposed function of the corpus callosum?

A)to guide migrating neurons in the prenatal brain to destinations in the opposite hemisphere
B)to allow each hemisphere to inhibit the activity of the other
C)to provide structural support for the dorsal and medial portions of the cerebral cortex
D)None of the answer options describes a proposed function of the corpus callosum.

Question 6

On which basis you know about the neurophysiological and microanatomical differences between the right and left hemispheres, choose the option here that correctly lists the properties of cortical tissue samples taken from the left hemisphere.

A)relatively greater high-order dendritic branching, relatively dense packing of cortical columns
B)relatively less high-order dendritic branching, relatively dense packing of cortical columns
C)relatively greater high-order dendritic branching, relatively loose packing of cortical columns
D)relatively less high-order dendritic branching, relatively loose packing of cortical columns

Question 7

Assessment of the visual processing carried out by each hemisphere in split-brain patients usually involves the brief simultaneous presentation of different stimuli to each visual field while the participant fixates on a central point in space. Why is it necessary to ensure that stimulus presentation is brief?

A)If the stimuli were presented over longer intervals, information would be transferred between the hemispheres through the corpus callosum.
B)Brief presentation prevents participants from focusing attention on the stimuli.
C)The short presentation time is necessary to prevent eye movements, which would redirect information across the visual fields.
D)Increasing the presentation time increases task difficulty for split-brain patients.

Question 8

Which of the following is NOT an anatomical or physiological difference between the cerebral hemispheres?

A)The planum temporale is larger on the left side.
B)The Sylvian or lateral fissure is steeper on the left side.
C)Parts of the thalamus are larger on the left side.
D)Left-hemisphere neurons tend to have more high-order dendritic branching than right-hemisphere neurons.

Question 9

One issue in the study of laterality has been to determine whether children with developmental language disabilities show different patterns of hemispheric asymmetry relative to control populations. MRI studies of dyslexic children have found that

A)the left planum temporale tends to be larger than the right planum temporale in this group.
B)the right planum temporale tends to be larger than the left planum temporale in this group.
C)the left and right planum temporale tend to be symmetrical in this group.
D)their brains are indistinguishable from the brains of control participants with regard to hemispheric asymmetry.

Question 10

Examination of cerebral organization in the left and right hemispheres indicates that

A)there are obvious anatomical differences between the hemispheres but no obvious functional differences.
B)there are obvious functional differences between the hemispheres but no obvious anatomical differences.
C)the two hemispheres are more different from one another in function than they are similar.
D)the two hemispheres are more similar to one another in function than they are different.

Question 11

Which of the following is a methodological issue that arises in studies investigating cerebral laterality in split-brain patients?

A)Due to their epilepsy, these people may not have had normal brain organization before surgery.
B)The size of the corpus callosum and the effects of severing it are too variable.
C)Sectioning the corpus callosum causes severe behavioral side effects that make research participation difficult.
D)Each person's physiological response to the surgery is different and creates new patterns of brain organization during recovery.

Question 12

A small object, such as a key, is placed in the right hand of a split-brain patient who has her eyes closed. Assuming that this person has left-hemisphere language dominance, which of the following best describes her ability to report information about the object based on how it feels?

A)She will be able to name and describe it verbally.
B)She will not be able to name it verbally.
C)She will be able to write out the object's name using her left hand.
D)She will not be able to direct focused attention to the object.

Question 13

The posterior and anterior commissures are NOT thick enough for which of the following?

A)to serve as an alternative interhemispheric route for the corpus callosum
B)to provide connections between the temporal lobes
C)to provide limited connectivity between the hemispheres
D)to provide connectivity for basic light reflexes

Question 14

One difficulty in interpreting the correlation between asymmetry in the planum temporale and language function that has recently arisen is that

A)the extent of the anatomical differences between the left and right hemispheres may have been overestimated by the techniques used to identify this region.
B)it has been found that the planum temporale is an area of great plasticity that changes in size throughout development.
C)newer studies indicate that the planum temporale is involved not in language function but rather in vision.
D)current studies suggest that fewer people than previously thought have left-hemisphere language dominance.

Question 15

The main mass of fibers that carries signals from the cortex in one cerebral hemisphere to the other is called the

A)anterior commissure.
B)corpus callosum.
C)arcuate fasciculus.
D)planum temporale.

Question 16

Split-brain research is associated with which of the following?

A)lobotomy
B)callosotomy
C)hemispherectomy
D)craniectomy

Question 17

Visual information that is presented briefly to the ________ visual field is processed first by the left half of each retina and then by the ________ hemisphere of the brain.

A)right; right
B)right; left
C)left; right
D)left; left

Question 18

The following is a sample stimulus shown briefly to a split-brain patient who has the typical pattern of language dominance. If you ask her to name the object she sees, what will her answer probably be?

A)"Square"
B)"Circle"
C)"Square and circle"
D)"Nothing"

Question 19

Dr. Joseph Bogen severed the corpus callosum of patient W.J. in order to relieve which symptom(s)?

A)seizures
B)cold sweats
C)dizziness
D)memory loss

Question 20

An anatomical difference between the cerebral hemispheres that may be related to language lateralization is the enlargement of the ________ in the left hemisphere.

A)hippocampus
B)cingulate gyrus
C)planum temporale
D)primary visual pathway

Question 21

If a split-brain patient with the typical pattern of language dominance is shown an object briefly in her left visual field, she will be able to indicate what she saw successfully if she is asked to

A)speak its name.
B)point to the object using her left hand.
C)point to the object using her right hand.
D)verbally describe, rather than name, the object.

Question 22

In an experiment with patients, a group of researchers used nonlinguistic hierarchical shape stimuli such as the example here. How did the results differ from those obtained with hierarchical letter stimuli?

A)The results were the same regardless of whether letter stimuli or shape stimuli were used.
B)Neither patient group showed any local impairment when shape stimuli were used instead of letters.
C)Neither patient group showed any global impairment when shape stimuli were used instead of letters.
D)Neither patient group showed global or local impairment when shape stimuli were used instead of letters.

Question 23

Based on what you have learned about laterality, which of the following statements is most accurate?

A)People utilize the right hemisphere for visual spatial tasks.
B)People utilize the left hemisphere for language.
C)Both hemispheres play a role in most tasks in all people, working in concert with each other.
D)The hemispheres are functionally identical.

Question 24

Robertson and colleagues (1988) investigated possible asymmetries in the processing of hierarchical figures by people who had suffered unilateral brain injuries. They found that patients with injuries to the left hemisphere had difficulty in identifying ________ elements, and patients with injuries to the right hemisphere had difficulty in identifying ________ elements.

A)the global; the local
B)the local; the global
C)the local; both local and global
D)both local and global; the global

Question 25

Theory of mind is to the interpreter as the _______________ is to the _______________.

A)subconscious; conscious
B)conscious; subconscious
C)right hemisphere; left hemisphere
D)left hemisphere; right hemisphere

Question 26

One of the hallmarks of humans is our ability to draw causal inferences. In the textbook this is termed________

A)the visionary.
B)the clairvoyant.
C)the interpreter.
D)the predicter.

Question 27

When presented with lateralized local-global stimuli to control, participants generally

A)identify local targets more quickly by the right hemisphere than the left hemisphere.
B)identify global targets more quickly by the right hemisphere than the left hemisphere.
C)identify local targets more quickly when a stimulus is presented in the left visual field rather than the right visual field.
D)identify both global and local targets more quickly when stimuli are presented in the right visual field rather than the left visual field.

Question 28

Lesions of the right hemisphere disrupt perception of ________ in visual stimuli and ________ in speech.

A)global structure; prosody
B)global structure; formants
C)local structure; prosody
D)local structure; formants

Question 29

The word superiority effect can be documented

A)in only the left hemisphere because this effect stems from the auditory lexicon.
B)in both hemispheres because this effect stems from the auditory lexicon.
C)in only the left hemisphere because this effect stems from the visual lexicon.
D)in both hemispheres because this effect stems from the visual lexicon.

Question 30

If you section all of the corpus callosum EXCEPT the splenial region, information about inputs to the

A)left and right ears will be successfully integrated.
B)left and right hands will be successfully integrated.
C)left and right visual field will be successfully integrated.
D)left hand and the right visual field will be successfully integrated.

Question 31

A general function that is associated with right-hemisphere activity in most people is

A)language production and comprehension.
B)comprehension and memory for meaningful gestures.
C)the word superiority effect.
D)visuospatial processing.

Question 32

Here are a hierarchical letter figure and a copy of this stimulus drawn by a person with a unilateral brain injury. Where is the most probable location of this injury?

A)the right dorsolateral frontal lobe
B)the left temporoparietal cortex
C)the right fusiform gyrus
D)the right occipital lobe

Question 33

One advantage to studying cerebral laterality from an information-processing perspective rather than a task-based perspective is that the information-processing approach

A)is a less parsimonious approach to describing laterality effects.
B)focuses on how each hemisphere works independently of the other.
C)emphasizes that the two hemispheres may work in concert to perform a task.
D)minimizes the role of evolution in hemispheric specialization.

Question 34

To which of the following aspects of language does the right hemisphere seem to make the smallest contribution, if any?

A)generative syntax
B)the mental lexicon
C)emotional prosody
D)spontaneous facial expressions

Question 35

Split-brain patients are asked to detect targets that appear briefly on a computer screen. On some trials, the targets are preceded by cues that correctly indicate their upcoming location. The detection advantage produced by the cues

A)occurs only if the cue and subsequent target are shown in the same visual field.
B)occurs only if the cue and subsequent target appear in the left visual field.
C)occurs only if the cue and subsequent target appear in the right visual field.
D)occurs regardless of which visual field contains the cue and target.

Question 36

Based on the work of Navon (1977), which of the following types of stimuli would probably produce the shortest reaction times if participants were required to detect the presence of an "L" in the figure?

A)L LL L LL L
B)FFF F F
C)LLL L L
D)All reaction times would be roughly the same.

Question 37

Although there is a general consensus that the right hemisphere is superior on some tasks that require visuospatial processing, such as the block design task, the findings on this topic are also somewhat inconsistent. One explanation for this inconsistency is that the block design task

A)involves many cognitive operations, and not all of them may be lateralized to the right hemisphere.
B)has many verbal components that may emphasize left- rather than right-hemisphere function.
C)requires fine motor coordination, which is regulated by the right hemisphere.
D)is too simple a task to demonstrate strong laterality effects.

Question 38

The phenomenon of global precedence described by Navon (1977) is that when hierarchically structured stimuli are presented,

A)global shapes are extracted before local shapes.
B)local shapes are easier for the visual system to extract than global shapes.
C)global shapes take longer to process than local shapes.
D)local shapes can interfere with the perception of global shapes.

Question 39

The term _______________________ refers to the idea that a complex perceptual stimulus can be described on multiple levels of detail.

A)dichotomania
B)hierarchical structure
C)generative assembling device
D)heterotopic mapping

Question 40

Studies of the production of facial expressions suggest that although ________ can generate spontaneous facial expressions, ________ can generate voluntary facial expressions.

A)only the left hemisphere; both hemispheres
B)only the right hemisphere; both hemispheres
C)both hemispheres; only the left hemisphere
D)both hemispheres; only the right hemisphere

Question 41

When participants in a dichotic listening task with word stimuli are asked afterward to report as many items as possible, they consistently produce the words that were presented to the right ear much more frequently than the words that were presented to the left ear. This phenomenon is called

A)binaural integration.
B)the word superiority effect.
C)the right-ear advantage.
D)the frequency hypothesis.

Question 42

There appear to be two mental lexicons, one in each hemisphere.

Question 43

In neurologically intact people, we can restrict information to only the left hemisphere by presenting it visually in the right visual field.

Question 44

Which of the following statements best describes the correlation between handedness and hemisphere dominance for language function in humans?

A)The correlation is strong, such that for language almost all right-handers have left-hemisphere dominance and almost all left-handers have right-hemisphere dominance.
B)The correlation is strong only for left-handers, whereas right-handers do not generally have a particular language-dominant hemisphere.
C)The correlation is strong only for left-handers, who almost all have right-hemisphere dominance for language, whereas right-handers do not generally have a particular language-dominant hemisphere.
D)The correlation is weak, such that almost all right-handers and at least half of left-handers exhibit left-hemisphere language dominance, regardless of handedness.

Question 45

The dichotic listening task has been used to show a left-ear advantage for remembering dichotically presented words, consistent with the idea that the left hemisphere processes language.

Question 46

When listening to a song, the right ear is to the left ear as ________ is/are to ________.

A)melodies; words
B)words; melodies
C)volume; pitch
D)pitch; volume

Question 47

In one experiment a group of pictures was presented to split-brain patients. Then a set of pictures was presented either to the left or the right hemisphere. Which of the following statements is true?

A)The left hemisphere accurately identified only the previously presented pictures.
B)The right hemisphere misidentified related pictures as being presented.
C)The left hemisphere accurately identified only the previously presented pictures, and the right hemisphere misidentified related pictures as being presented.
D)None of the answer options is correct.

Question 48

The right hemisphere is more important than the left for both the perception and production of facial expressions.

Question 49

One theory of the relationship between language and handedness suggests that both speech and dexterity are related.

Question 50

Animals and humans are shown items that have a 75/25 probability of being in one of two categories. Which participants would perform the best on this task?

A)intact humans
B)intact animals
C)right-hemisphere-damaged patients
D)Intact humans, intact animals, and right-hemisphere-damaged patients would perform equally well.

Question 51

Imagine that you are a neurologist and you have a child patient whom you suspect has agenesis of the corpus collosum (ACC). During a meeting with the child's parents, which of the following complaints are they LEAST likely to report?

A)The child has been experiencing attentional difficulties.
B)The child sometimes has trouble producing words.
C)The child has been unable to connect socially with his or her peers.
D)The child often experiences difficulties with sports that require hand-eye coordination.

Question 52

You are watching a show on TV while speaking on your cell phone to a loved one. A commercial with a couple fighting appears. Suddenly, the person says something on the phone and you get irritated. The person on the other side of the line is perplexed by your response. This is an example of

A)the interpreter.
B)left hemisphere brain activity.
C)rationalization.
D)All of the answer options are correct.

Question 53

Asymmetries in language-associated brain regions have been documented at the level of individual neurons that make up the cortical columns.

Question 54

The interpreter is a specialization of the left hemisphere.

Question 55

Many callosal projections link homotopic areas in corresponding locations in the two hemispheres.

Question 56

Studies of cerebral laterality in nonhuman species indicate that hemispheric differences

A)are found in many species, and the specific functions involved are quite similar.
B)are found in many species, but the specific functions involved often differ.
C)are typically found only in humans and other primate species, and the specific functions involved differ from species to species.
D)have been strongly documented in humans only.

Question 57

Localized specialized networks that can perform functions are called

A)areas.
B)units.
C)items.
D)modules.

Question 58

A split-brain patient is presented with instructions in their left visual field to draw a circle. The experimenter verbally asks the patient to explain why they drew a circle. Which of the following responses is the patient MOST likely to report?

A)"I was drawing a clock."
B)"I'm not sure why I drew a circle."
C)"I did not draw a circle."
D)They will not respond.

Question 59

Drawings of hierarchical figures by people with left-hemisphere lesions are likely to focus on local elements while missing global structure.

Question 60

Brain asymmetries are restricted to the cerebral cortex and are not found in subcortical structures.

Question 61

Describe how the right and left hemispheres differ in terms of the processing of melodies and words for a song.

Question 62

Damage to the right hemisphere is known to cause visual spatial function deficits. Give an example of a result from an experiment that supports this.

Question 63

The right and left hemispheres have both been called interpreters. Describe the difference.

Question 64

How do the two hemispheres differentially process the local and global elements of visual hierarchical stimuli?

Question 65

Describe how the facial expressions of right- and left-hemisphere-damaged patients differ.

Question 66

Some people suggest that the loss of visual spatial ability is due to the acquisition of language. Give an example of this from work with nonhuman primates.

Question 67

Describe a visual field experiment involving a patient who has undergone the split-brain procedure. In your answer, provide at least one example of a question this person would not be able to answer under these conditions.

Question 68

How is Brodmann area 22 specialized for the processing of auditory signals in humans?

Question 69

Describe how modularity plays a role in consciousness.

Question 70

Describe how the right and left hemispheres differ in terms of facial recognition.