Deck 7: Psychosocial Stress

Question 1

Which of the following is not one of the measures of specific cell-mediated immunity

A) T-cell counts in the peripheral circulation
B) mitogen induced proliferation
C) delayed-type hypersensitivity
D) cytokine profiles that favor Th2 responses

Answer 1

cytokine profiles that favor Th2 responses

Question 2

Stress damages hippocampal neurons when

A) inhibitory activity is high, cortisol is low and NGF is high
B) excitatory activity is high, cortisol is high and BDNF is low
C) inhibitory activity is high, cortisol is high and BDNF is high
D) excitatory activity is low, cortisol is high and NGF is low

Answer 2

excitatory activity is high, cortisol is high and BDNF is low

Question 3

In humans the cortisol response to laboratory stress depends on

A) exposure to social evaluation
B) menstrual cycle phase
C) nutritional status
D) all of the above

Answer 3

all of the above

Question 4

Psychosocial stress reaches all the way inside immune cells and causes

A) acute suppression of innate immunity
B) activation of Th1 responses relative to Th2 responses
C) acute enhancement of both innate an adaptive responses
D) activation of cell-mediated responses relative to innate responses

Question 5

Which of the following is not increased by acute stress

A) growth hormone
B) gonadotrophin-releasing hormone
C) prolactin
D) both a and c

Question 6

Animals studies have relied on the expression of c-fos in the central nervous system to determine structures that are activated in response to stress and found that

A) only subcortical structures are involved
B) the hippocampus but not the septal area are involved
C) the response of the PVN depends on the type of challenge
D) the locus coeruleus and the raphe are not involved

Question 7

Peripheral neural responses in response to stress are mediated by

A) neuropeptides
B) neurotransmitters
C) both a and b
D) terminals containing either neurotransmitters or neuropeptides

Question 8

Laboratory studies of psychosocial stress have many advantages except

A) retain real life impact
B) representative sampling
C) random assignment
D) both a and b

Question 9

Which of the following is false

A) activation of the pituitary-adrenal axis is synonimous with stress
B) stress effects are not closely related to the level of cortisol
C) cortisol levels increase in responses to confronting novel danger
D) cortisol levels continue to increase with repeated exposure to danger

Question 10

Life event studies are an example of psychosocial stress research. They are

A) experimental in nature
B) based on random assignment
C) correlational
D) well controlled

Question 11

Individual attributes or personality characteristics

A) are most often assessed using self-report questionnaires
B) can be ignored in stress research without loss of information
C) do not interact with contextual change
D) both a and c

Question 12

Chronic stress has been consistently found to be associated with

A) low levels of proinflammatory molecules
B) more rapid wound healing
C) increased neutrophil counts
D) low white blood cell counts

Question 13

Stress effects on antigen specific humoral immunity have shown

A) reduced B lymphocyte numbers in the peripheral circulation
B) increased serum IgA
C) increased specific antibody titers to latent variables
D) all of the above

Question 14

Studies of primates living in the wild have found that cortisol levels are

A) higher in dominant animals
B) do not change with social rank
C) decreased by social grooming
D) highest in the most aggressive high ranking animals

Question 15

Clear evidence of diminished humoral immunity in response to stress comes from

A) lymphocyte proliferation studies
B) cytokine studies
C) vaccination stuies
D) social support studies

Question 16

The Trier Social Stress Test

A) asks open-ended questions about one's history of social stress
B) requires that one prepare a five minute presentation
C) involves going up to strangers and asking for directions
D) provides a list of social situations and asks for ratings of stressfullness

Question 17

Natural Killer (NK) cells in the peripheral circulation

A) increase in response to acute laboratory stress
B) increase in response to chronic stress
C) become more cytotoxic during a period of exams
D) become less cytotoxic when individuals anticipate pain

Question 18

The distinction between physical and psychosocial stress

A) proves that all stress is not physical
B) separates forms of stress into two levels of importance
C) recognizes that different brain pathways are involved
D) shows that some forms of stress do not affect the body

Question 19

Evidence that psychosocial stress can influence endocrine, neural, and immune activities is necessary in order to show

A) how health could be affected
B) how the mental operates around the physical
C) that the effects are unidirectional
D) which system is dominant

Question 20

Central nervous system processing of stressful situations

A) does not involve higher cortical structures
B) appears to be lateralized
C) shows left sided control over sympathetic activity
D) both a and b

Question 21

Traumatic stress early in life is associated with

A) elevated levels of C-reactive protein
B) elevated levels of TNF-α in the absence of chronic stress
C) both a and b
D) none of the above

Question 22

Stress has been found to affect the Th1/Th2 balance by

A) increasing IL-4 and decreasing IL-2
B) increasing INF-γ and decresing IL-10
C) increasing IL-10 and decreasing INF-γ
D) both a and c

Question 23

Space flight has been found to

A) increase mitogen induced T-cell proliferation
B) decrease mitogen induced T-cell proliferation
C) have no effect on mitogen induced T-cell proliferation
D) increase mitogen induced T-cell production

Question 24

A significant limitation of stress-immune research with humans is

A) the inability to measure cell-mediated responses
B) reliance on immune cells collected from peripheral circulation
C) the interactive nature of immune responses
D) lack of quantitative indicators

Question 25

The response to acute psychosocial stress must be diverse because

A) it begins in the brain
B) it entails both endocrine and neural responses
C) the population must retain the ability to cope with the unforseen
D) the population must remain unique