Deck 6: Evolution of the Brain and Behavior

Question 1

Which statement regarding Darwinian evolution is false?

A) Some of the variation among individuals is inherited.
B) Morphological changes that occur during an individual's lifetime are passed on to the next generation.
C) Individuals of a given generation are not identical.
D) Not all the offspring of a given generation survive to reproduce.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

The study of the inheritance of traits is called

A) mutation.
B) convergence.
C) naturalism.
D) genetics.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Morphology refers to

A) changing of the body or a body part.
B) the function of a body part.
C) the structure and form of a body or body part.
D) the plasticity of body parts.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Hugo de Vries first described the process of _______, based on his studies of _______.

A) adaptation; pea plants
B) hybridization; primroses
C) inheritance; pea plants
D) mutation; primroses

Question 5

Drosophila have been important for the study of genetics because of their _______ and their giant _______.

A) short generation time; chromosomes
B) easy care; axons
C) short generation time; axons
D) unique behaviors; chromosomes

Question 6

The existence of similar bones in the forelimbs of seals, bats, and humans is an example of

A) taxonomy.
B) homology.
C) analogy.
D) tautology.

Question 7

Refer to the figure.
The similarity among the dark colored bones in the figure is known as

A) analogy.
B) homology.
C) convergency.
D) directional selection.

Question 8

Which technique can be used as a kind of "molecular clock" to help determine how long ago a species diverged from a common ancestor?

A) Relative size of the hippocampus
B) Rate of expansion of the neocortex
C) Convergent evolution
D) Comparison of DNA samples

Question 9

The main subdivision of an order is a

A) phylum.
B) class.
C) genus.
D) family.

Question 10

The streamlined body forms of the tuna and the dolphin provide an example of

A) analogy.
B) homology.
C) homoplasy.
D) tautology.

Question 11

The similarities between the legs of insects and those of humans provide an example of

A) analogy.
B) homology.
C) homoplasy.
D) tautology.

Question 12

The current system that is used for classifying animals was originated by

A) Carolus Linnaeus.
B) Alfred Russel Wallace.
C) Charles Darwin.
D) Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck.

Question 13

Domestic dogs are classified into about

A) four genera.
B) two orders.
C) one species.
D) 400 species.

Question 14

The main subdivision of a phylum is a(n)

A) order.
B) family.
C) class.
D) kingdom.

Question 15

Which of the following lists is arranged from most inclusive to most specific?

A) Phylum, class, family, genus
B) Family, phylum, class, genus
C) Phylum, family, order, genus
D) Class, order, genus, family

Question 16

The field of study that involves the classification of animals into groups is called

A) taxonomy.
B) analogy.
C) phylogeny.
D) homology.

Question 17

Which species is currently believed to be the most closely related to humans based on DNA analysis?

A) Siamang gibbon
B) Gorilla
C) Bonobo
D) Orangutan

Question 18

Refer to the figure.
What kind of selection is illustrated in the graph?

A) Distractible selection
B) Directional selection
C) Disruptive selection
D) Stabilizing selection

Question 19

A population subject to natural selection exhibits a decrease in variation in hair color. What kind of selection did the population experience?

A) Constructive selection
B) Directional selection
C) Disruptive selection
D) Stabilizing selection

Question 20

Among mammals, species that eat leaves and grasses tend to have brains that are _______ than those of species that eat fruit or insects.

A) larger
B) less efficient
C) more metabolically costly
D) smaller

Question 21

Which class has the greatest number of species?

A) Mammals
B) Birds
C) Reptiles
D) Insects

Question 22

A diffuse network of neurons, without ganglia, is seen in the nervous system of

A) shrews.
B) sea anemones.
C) mollusks.
D) bacteria.

Question 23

Which statement regarding reasons for comparing species in the study of evolution is false?

A) Comparing species reveals the process of linear descent, from the most simple to the most complex organisms, by which evolution created humans.
B) Comparing two or more carefully chosen species leads to a much deeper understanding of evolutionary processes.
C) Understanding how simpler animals form and store memories can help explain memory mechanisms in highly complex animals, including humans.
D) Studying species that have highly specialized abilities, which may be less obvious in other organisms, may uncover evolutionary relationships with other species.

Question 24

Why is it believed that the storage of food for later use is an example of convergent evolution across species of birds?

A) The hippocampus is enlarged in food-storing birds.
B) Families of birds that store food are no more closely related to other food-storing families than they are to families of birds that do not store food.
C) Some species that store food do not have enlarged hippocampi.
D) Spatial memory is not important to species that do not store food.

Question 25

In the platypus, which hunts primarily in murky water at night, the brain region most associated with _______ is very large compared to that of diurnal species.

A) vision
B) hearing
C) touch
D) chemical perception

Question 26

Which statement about the rat brain is false?

A) The cortex lacks convolutions.
B) It lacks a corpus callosum.
C) Compared to the human cerebral hemispheres, rat cerebral hemispheres make up a smaller proportion of total brain size.
D) Compared to humans, rats have larger olfactory bulbs relative to overall brain size.

Question 27

Which statement about the brains of rats, elephants, apes, and humans is true?

A) They all share the same structures except for the temporal cortex.
B) Only the primates have hippocampi.
C) The medulla is the largest in humans.
D) They have all the same basic structures.

Question 28

Which technique is a recognized method for estimating brain size in ancestral species?

A) DNA analysis
B) Endocasts
C) Comparing modern-day salamander brains to modern-day mammal brains
D) Homoplasy

Question 29

The brain volume of fossils is studied by means of

A) PET scans.
B) radioimmunoassay.
C) endocasts.
D) None of the above

Question 30

In a series of mammalian brains arranged by encephalization factor from small to large, the region that increases most is the

A) hippocampus.
B) medulla.
C) neocortex.
D) cerebellum.

Question 31

All mammals have a neocortex that features _______ layers.

A) three
B) four
C) six
D) eight

Question 32

Which class displays the most similarity to the ancestral vertebrates?

A) Amphibians
B) Birds
C) Lampreys
D) Reptiles

Question 33

Which vertebrate was first, in evolutionary terms, to exhibit relatively large cerebral hemispheres?

A) Humans
B) Reptiles
C) Amphibians
D) Birds

Question 34

Refer to the figure.
Which statement regarding comparisons among brains can be concluded from the figure?

A) Ancestral vertebrates did not have cerebral hemispheres.
B) The evolution of larger brains in sharks is linked to the development of larger brains in mammals.
C) Both birds and teleost fishes have relatively small olfactory bulbs because they evolved from a common ancestor.
D) The relatively large cerebellum of birds and mammals evolved independently.

Question 35

On a graph in which brain weight is related to body weight using log scales, the line that best describes the relationship in mammals has a slope of about

A) 0.5.
B) 0.6.
C) 0.7.
D) 0.8.

Question 36

Refer to the figure.
Which location on the graph is most likely to represent orangutans?

A) I
B) II
C) III
D) IV

Question 37

Relative to body size, which organism has the smallest brain?

A) Bird
B) Shrew
C) Reptile
D) Lamprey

Question 38

In terms of brain weight as a percentage of body weight, which animal ranks highest?

A) Elephant
B) Chimpanzee
C) Mouse
D) Sheep

Question 39

According to the fossil evidence, the weight of the Tyrannosaurus rex brain was probably

A) appropriate for a reptile of that size.
B) lighter than one would predict from the body weight.
C) similar to that of a walnut.
D) appropriate for a lamprey of that size.

Question 40

The encephalization factor is lowest for which of the following species?

A) Chimpanzees
B) Elephants
C) Sheep
D) Mice

Question 41

Refer to the table.
$\begin{array}{|l|c|c|c|c|}\hline &\text { Rhesus } & \text { Baboon } & \text { Chimpanzee } & \text { Gorilla } \\&\text { monkey }\\\hline \text { Brain weight }(g) & 180 & 140 & 440 & 406 \\\hline \text { Body weight }(g) & 6,800 & 30,000 & 52,000 & 207,000 \\\hline\end{array}$ Based on the data in the table, which species has the greatest encephalization factor?

A) Rhesus monkey
B) Baboon
C) Chimpanzee
D) Gorilla

Question 42

The greater the encephalization factor of a species,

A) the greater the weight of its brain.
B) the higher its value above the diagonal on a plot of brain weight versus body weight.
C) the greater its ratio of brain weight to body weight.
D) None of the above

Question 43

The encephalization factor is designated by the letter

A) k.
B) b.
C) e.
D) r.

Question 44

Hominin hands reached the form found in modern humans during the time of

A) Ardipithecus.
B) Australopithecus.
C) Homo habilis.
D) Homo erectus.

Question 45

The human brain accounts for _______% of the metabolic budget at rest.

A) 2
B) greater than 2
C) less than 2
D) 10

Question 46

If fossils of the following species were discovered and dated, which would be the most recent?

A) Australopithecus
B) Ardipithecus
C) Homo habilis
D) Homo erectus

Question 47

Which hominin emerged first in the course of evolution?

A) Homo habilis
B) Australopithecus
C) Homo sapiens
D) Homo erectus

Question 48

The brain of the modern chimpanzee is about the same size as the brain of

A) Australopithecus.
B) Homo habilis.
C) Homo erectus.
D) Homo sapiens.

Question 49

Which trait was the first to evolve into the form that most resembles its form in modern humans?

A) Hands
B) Teeth
C) Cerebral volume
D) Bipedal gait

Question 50

Because brain expansion and technological progress were not well correlated in early hominins, it has been suggested that brain expansion may be attributable to

A) sexual selection.
B) natural selection.
C) the evolution of language.
D) innovative food seeking behaviors.

Question 51

Since Homo sapiens first appeared, its brain size appears to have

A) increased rapidly.
B) increased primarily in the neocortex.
C) declined in the olfactory bulbs.
D) reached a plateau.

Question 52

Brain volume in the genus Homo reached its present size about _______ years ago.

A) 50,000
B) 150,000
C) 1 million
D) 3 million

Question 53

Which statement has been proposed as the reason the human brain, in terms of its size, has likely reached a plateau?

A) If the brain were larger, an adult head would be too heavy for the body to carry.
B) The size of a baby's head already puts significant strain on the mother in terms of the difficulties of childbirth.
C) Evolutionary pressures on humans have been removed because humans have already attained control over the environment.
D) None of the above

Question 54

An increase in the expression of the gene for $\beta$ -catenin in transgenic mice produces a(n)

A) smooth cortex.
B) highly folded cortex.
C) increase in the size of the frontal cortex.
D) decrease in the size of the frontal cortex.

Question 55

Which of the following would not be considered a valid question or area of inquiry in the study of evolutionary psychology?

A) Whether females have a preference for humor
B) How auditory neurons process the frequencies of human speech
C) Determining which sex is choosier for mate selection
D) Studying the ideal waist-to-hip ratio preferred by men

Question 56

Which of the following supports the idea that sexual selection for creativity may be connected to selection for larger brain size?

A) Bowerbird species that build the most elaborately decorated bowers have the largest brains.
B) Women choose men with large muscles over men who paint beautiful art.
C) Elephants have preferences for the color of paint they use when paints are provided.
D) Creativity in men is independent of brain size.

Question 57

Which gene influences the size of the cerebral cortex in humans and chimpanzees?

A) Caspase
B) Arc
C) Homer
D) ASPM

Question 58

Based on a comparison of the blood cells and liver cells of humans, chimpanzees, and rhesus monkeys, which statement is correct?

A) Humans and chimpanzees are more similar to each other than either species is to rhesus monkeys.
B) All three species are equally similar.
C) Humans show no more similarity to chimpanzees than rhesus monkeys.
D) Humans and rhesus monkeys are more similar to each other than either species is to chimpanzees.

Question 59

Which characteristic is likely the result of sexual selection in birds?

A) Brighter coloring in males than in females of a species
B) High complexity of mating songs in males of some bird species
C) Greater size of males than females in many species
D) All of the above

Question 60

The tail of the male peacock is _______; therefore; it must confer some _______ advantage.

A) beautiful; economic
B) energetically costly; reproductive
C) beautiful; energetic
D) energetically costly; food gathering

Question 61

The flu virus provides an example of

A) artificial selection.
B) how rapidly evolution can occur.
C) stabilizing selection.
D) human-generated selection.

Question 62

Average horn size in bighorn rams in North America has decreased by 25% in the past

A) 300 years due to natural selection related to habitat destruction.
B) 100 years due to sexual selection by female bighorn sheep that prefer rams with smaller horns.
C) 30 years due to rapid, human-generated evolution.
D) 1000 years due to human-related selection pressures.

Question 63

Differences in appearance among human populations around the world evolved

A) quickly, in less than 50,000 years, in response to their different brain sizes.
B) quickly, in less than 50,000 years, in response to different climatic conditions.
C) gradually, about 500,000 years ago, in response to their different diets.
D) gradually, about 500,000 years ago, in response to different climatic conditions.

Question 64

Which scenario would not contribute to the ongoing process of natural selection in humans?

A) Women choosing mates who earn large salaries
B) A person inheriting malaria-fighting sickle-celled red blood cells
C) The development of new drugs to treat cancer
D) A mutated virus that selectively kills people with blue eyes

Question 65

Which group of genes appears to be selected for in the recent evolution of humans?

A) Lactase, AGT, SNP
B) DRD4, Cntnap2, TAS2R38
C) CCR5, SNP, G6PD
D) CCR5, ASPM, Lactase

Question 66

Using the rate of change of DNA as a sort of "molecular clock" allows us to estimate the point in evolution at which two species _______.

Question 67

Changes in an organism's genome can occur by means of_______.

Question 68

A theoretical mechanism for the evolution of morphological differences between males and females of a species is _______.

Question 69

The evolutionary history of a group of organisms, which often is represented in the form of a family tree, is formally known as _______.

Question 70

According to the Linnaean system of classification, the main subdivision of a class is a(n) _______.

Question 71

The only extant species belonging to the family Hominidae is _______.

Question 72

The scientific field concerned with the classification of animals is known as _______.

Question 73

In various orders of birds, it has been found that the frequency of innovation in obtaining food is correlated with the size of the _______.

Question 74

The concept that different regions of the brain regulate and control different functions is called _______.

Question 75

The _______ has demonstrated the greatest increase in size in the hominin fossil record.

Question 76

As a general rule, brain size correlates with body size; the extent to which brain size deviates from this correlation is known as the _______ factor.

Question 77

It appears that the first hominins to use tools were _______.

Question 78

Among primates, brain cortex size can be correlated with the size of _______.

Question 79

The theory of evolution by natural selection can be distilled down to four observations and an inference. What are they?

Question 80

Summarize the major historical steps in the discovery of mechanisms of inheritance.