Question 1

The primary gustatory cortex is located in the

Accepted Answer

The primary gustatory cortex is responsible for processing taste information and is located in the insula and operculum regions of the brain.

Question 2

Which of the following is NOT one of the basic tastes?

Accepted Answer

Acid is not considered one of the basic tastes. The basic tastes are sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami.

Question 3

Information about the left hand is processed

Accepted Answer

D

Question 4

After modeling the quick habituation found in the olfactory system, Sobel's fMRI research suggested that

Accepted Answer

The answer of After modeling the quick habituation found in...

Question 5

In which of the following brain areas might you expect an expert taster such as a chef or sommelier to have unique patterns of neural connectivity?

Accepted Answer

The orbitofrontal cortex is responsible for processing olfactory and gustatory information, as well as integrating sensory information with affective and emotional responses. As sommeliers and chefs are experts in tasting and identifying flavors, it is likely that they have unique patterns of neural connectivity in this region.

Question 6

The orbitofrontal cortex is considered a secondary cortical area for which of the following senses?

Accepted Answer

The orbitofrontal cortex is primarily associated with processing olfactory information, including the perception of smell and the ability to identify and discriminate between different odors. While it may also receive input from other sensory modalities, such as vision and audition, these are considered secondary to its olfactory function. Proprioception, or the sense of body position and movement, is primarily associated with the somatosensory cortex, which is a different cortical area.

Question 7

Information about which of the following senses does NOT pass through the thalamus on the way to the cortex?

Accepted Answer

Olfaction is the only sense that does not pass through the thalamus on its way to the cortex. Instead, olfactory information travels directly from the olfactory epithelium to the olfactory bulb, which then projects to other brain regions, including the cortex.

Question 8

Suppose you injected an anterograde tracer into taste-specific regions of the thalamus. Which of the following are you LEAST likely to find?

Accepted Answer

The salty taste pathway is less likely to show clustering and may be distributed over multiple pathways, making it the least likely to show distinct clustering compared to other taste modalities.

Question 9

All of the following are common across each sensory system, EXCEPT:

Accepted Answer

While it is true that neuronal signals are passed along specific sensory nerves, the system begins with a structure for collecting, filtering, and amplifying information from the environment, and the system contains specialized receptor cells that transduce environmental stimuli, not all system nerves terminate either monosynaptically or disynaptically in different parts of the thalamus. This is true for some sensory systems, but not all, such as the olfactory system, which projects directly to the olfactory cortex without first passing through the thalamus.

Question 10

How many types of receptors are there in the olfactory epithelium?

Accepted Answer

There are more than five types of receptors in the olfactory epithelium. In fact, there are approximately 400 different types of receptors, each with its own specificity for certain odorants.

Question 11

Which of the following is NOT a type of corpuscle used for somatosensation?

Accepted Answer

Merkel, Meissner, and Pacinian corpuscles are all types of sensory nerve endings (corpuscles) that are involved in somatosensation, while Calvert is not a type of corpuscle used for somatosensation.

Question 12

Peng and colleagues manipulated the behavior of mice by activating differential regions of the gustatory cortex. Based on their findings, which of the following scenarios is MOST plausible if translated to human behavior?

Accepted Answer

Peng and colleagues' study suggests that the gustatory cortex in mice controls their preference for taste with specific regions responsible for different tastes. Therefore, it is plausible that humans may also have regions in their gustatory cortex that control their preference for certain tastes. Alena's behavior of preferring to drink coffee at her favorite dessert bar, even if she isn't eating dessert, suggests that she may have a preference for the taste of coffee in that particular location.

Question 13

Of the following choices, the strongest evidence for a link between the sense of smell and the triggering of memories is the observation that

Accepted Answer

The direct connectivity between the olfactory cortex and the limbic cortex, which is responsible for emotional processing and memory formation, provides strong evidence for a link between the sense of smell and the triggering of memories.

Question 14

Neurons in the olfactory bulb demonstrate an extensive amount of convergence and divergence. This means that neurons in this system

Accepted Answer

Convergence and divergence refer to the way neurons in the olfactory bulb project to and receive input from a large number of other neurons, allowing for the integration and distribution of olfactory information across the brain.

Question 15

The orbitofrontal cortex is an integration area for which two senses?

Accepted Answer

The orbitofrontal cortex is an area in the brain that is responsible for integrating olfaction (sense of smell) and gustation (sense of taste).

Question 16

The primary olfactory cortex is located at the junction of the ________ and ________ lobes.

Accepted Answer

The primary olfactory cortex is located at the junction of the frontal and temporal lobes.

Question 17

The basic taste umami is experienced when eating foods rich in

Accepted Answer

The basic taste umami is mostly experienced when eating foods containing high levels of glutamate, which is an amino acid found in protein-rich foods like meat, fish, and soy. Therefore, option B, protein, is the correct choice.

Question 18

Which area of the body has the greatest amount of representation in the human primary somatosensory cortex?

Accepted Answer

The hands have the greatest amount of representation in the human primary somatosensory cortex. This is known as the sensory homunculus, where each part of the body is represented on a specific area of the somatosensory cortex depending on the amount of sensitivity and movement associated with it. The hands have the highest representation because of their fine motor skills and high sensitivity to touch.

Question 19

Sobel and colleagues (Gelstein et al., 2011) asked male participants to rate pictures of women's faces in terms of sexual attraction. While rating the photos, they instructed the participants to sniff either tears from "donor women" or an odorless saline solution. Which of the following best summarizes the findings of this study?

Accepted Answer

Participants rated faces as less sexually attractive when sniffing tears compared to when they were sniffing the saline solution, suggesting that chemical signals in tears may have a modulatory effect on sexual attraction.

Question 20

Which of the following is a documented asymmetry in the olfactory system?

Accepted Answer

The nasal cycle is a documented phenomenon where the nasal passage in one nostril becomes larger than in the other nostril, and this alternates every few hours due to the swelling and shrinking of the nasal conchae. This is a natural process and is part of the body's normal physiological function.

Quiz 5: Sensation and Perception