Deck 11: The Auditory Brain and Sound Localization

Question 1

The cone of confusion is ______.

A)the area on the side of the head opposite from the source of a sound in which the loudness of a sound is less because of blocked sound waves
B)a shell-like structure located adjacent to the medial superior olives
C)a region of positions in space in which sounds create the same interaural time and interaural level differences
D)a neurological condition that occurs when the parabelt and belt regions are damaged

Answer 1

C

Question 2

A process whereby animals emit sounds and then use comparisons of the emitted sounds and their returning echoes to sense the world around them is known as ______.

A)auditory scene analysis
B)shadow response
C)high frequency analysis
D)biosonar

Answer 2

D

Question 3

In a forest, Lilla hears a bird chirping, leaves rustling in the wind, and the rippling of a stream.By doing this, Lilla is using ______.

A)auditory scene analysis
B)the cone of confusion
C)the acoustic shadow
D)auditory perception theory

Answer 3

A

Question 4

What is the term for the situation in which frequencies present in the environment resemble the possible pattern of a fundamental frequency and higher harmonics?

A)spectral segregation
B)the cone of confusion
C)harmonic coherence
D)acoustic asymmetry

Question 5

What is the term for the area of the auditory cortex, consisting of the primary auditory cortex, the rostral core, and the rostrotemporal core?

A)the superior olivary complex
B)the parabelt region
C)the belt parkway
D)the auditory core region

Question 6

The time interval between when a sound enters one ear and when it enters the other ear is known as the ______.

A)interaural time difference
B)auditory core response time
C)olivary response
D)cochlear core response

Question 7

What is the name of the structure in the thalamus that receives auditory input from the inferior colliculus and sends output to the auditory cortex?

A)the superior olive
B)the inferior olive
C)the trapezoid body
D)the medial geniculate nucleus

Question 8

The "what" and "where" system start in what region of auditory cortex?

A)the posterior parietal auditory region
B)the parabelt region
C)the inferior colliculus
D)the auditory core region

Question 9

The area on the side of the head opposite from the source of a sound hears less loudness because of blocked sound waves.This area is called the ______.

A)acoustic shadow
B)cone of confusion
C)cone of auditory consternation
D)harmonic overload region

Question 10

A spectral shape cue is ______.

A)a source of information about the shape of the cochlea
B)a pattern in the harmonics that indicates speech rather than other sound signals
C)the band of frequencies necessary to stimulate the eighth cranial nerve
D)the change in a sound's frequency envelope created by the pinnae

Question 11

A person hears a whistling sound and a rhythmic thumping sound coming from the same point in space and infers that a train must be coming through.This process is known as ______ segregation.

A)temporal
B)spatial
C)spectral
D)acoustic

Question 12

A structure in the brain stem that receives input from inner hair cells is known as the ______.

A)inferior colliculus
B)superior colliculus
C)cochlear nucleus
D)inferotemporal cortex

Question 13

The fibers in the eighth cranial nerve show ______ coding.

A)frequency
B)spatial
C)amplitude
D)harmonic

Question 14

Li hears various frequencies that overlap in harmonic structure and groups them together as the sound created by an electric guitar being played.By doing this, Li is using ______ segregation.

A)temporal
B)spatial
C)spectral
D)acoustic

Question 15

Neurons within a region in the brain are organized according to the different frequencies to which they respond.This is known as ______.

A)frequency adjustment
B)tonotopic organization
C)inverse frequency tuning
D)wavelength priority

Question 16

Which of the following accurately describes the pathway for auditory information?

A)The medial geniculate nucleus projects to the inferior colliculus, which projects to the auditory cortex.
B)The inferior colliculus projects to the medial geniculate nucleus, which projects to the auditory cortex.
C)The auditory cortex projects to the inferior colliculus, which projects to the medial geniculate nucleus.
D)The auditory cortex projects to the medial geniculate nucleus, which projects to the inferior colliculus.

Question 17

Matt hears the clicking noise of buttons in a cylinder and the whirring of a fan at the same time.He groups these sounds together into the dryer sound.By doing this, Matt is using ______.

A)acoustic discrimination
B)temporal segregation
C)cochlear scene analysis
D)cochlear discrimination

Question 18

High frequency sounds show a greater decrease in ______ as a function of distance relative to low-frequency sounds.

A)loudness
B)pitch
C)hertz
D)reverberation

Question 19

Through headphones, you hear a large grouping of frequencies simultaneously.Even though there are only two sound sources-the speakers for your left and right ears-you can distinguish the sound of the clarinet from the sound of the guitar and the sound of drums.What factor most influences this process?

A)harmonic coherence
B)spatial segregation
C)binaural coding
D)temporal segregation

Question 20

One of the functions of the medial superior olive is to ______.

A)determine discrepancies between harmonics in the sound signal
B)detect interaural time differences
C)determine the loudness of the sound signal
D)determine the size of a target

Question 21

An area within primary auditory cortex responds best to tones of 1000 Hz.An area adjacent to that region responds best to tones of 1005 Hz.Which principles does this observation best illustrate?

A)auditory scene analysis
B)tonotopic organization
C)Doppler shifts
D)the Helmholtz-Hertz principle of frequency discrimination

Question 22

The distance of a predator, such as a bat or dolphin, from its potential target, determined by timing an echo's return, is known as ______.

A)predator interface
B)the Doppler coefficient
C)target range
D)rate of approach

Question 23

What is the difference between CF-FM calls and CF calls in bats?

A)CF-FM calls involve long calls at a single frequency; FM calls involve a modulation of frequencies.
B)CF-FM calls involve a modulation of frequencies; FM calls use a single signal at a high frequency.
C)CF-FM calls require a loud initial call followed by a decrease in amplitude; FM calls use only a single amplitude.
D)CF-FM calls involve a series of calls at different amplitudes spaced out in a rhythmic pattern; FM calls use a single signal at a low amplitude.

Question 24

When harmonics of a common fundamental frequency are presented simultaneously but from different spatial sources, we hear ______.

A)two sound streams that do not overlap
B)one auditory stream despite the spatial differences
C)an illusion that there are two fundamental frequencies
D)two auditory streams separate from grouped frequencies

Question 25

The medial geniculate nucleus is found in the ______.

A)cerebral cortex
B)thalamus
C)brainstem
D)eighth cranial nerve

Question 26

Because high frequency sounds decline rapidly in terms of loudness, a bat compensates by ______.

A)switching to low frequency sounds when a target is near
B)alternating between loud and soft calls
C)relying on the Doppler effect to produce accurate calls
D)producing really loud calls

Question 27

Po-Yu hears someone shout to his left.The structure in his brain stem that plays a role in telling Po-Yu the direction of this sound is known as the ______.

A)parabelt region
B)posterior parietal area
C)trapezoid body
D)zonules of Zin

Question 28

Which of the following would a bat be tracking if it received a big echo?

A)a mosquito
B)an owl
C)a moth
D)a bee

Question 29

From the superior olive, the next synapse in the ascending pathway of auditory information is the ______.

A)trapezoid body
B)medial geniculate nucleus
C)inferior colliculus
D)superior olive

Question 30

High-frequency sonar enables bats to hunt for ______.

A)insects
B)eagles
C)geese
D)people

Question 31

Bat calls approach 140 dB, and dolphin calls may exceed 200 dB.What happens when human beings are in close proximity to these very loud calls?

A)Human beings can damage their ears because of the high amplitude of the sounds.
B)Human beings remain unaware of the calls because the frequencies being used are out of the human range of hearing.
C)Human beings sense pain, but their hearing is not damaged because the calls are so short.
D)Human being contract their tensor tympani muscles to dampen the sounds.

Question 32

Which of the following is an accurate statement about the hearing of infants?

A)Infants will respond similarly to sounds they heard in utero and sounds they did not.
B)Infants have higher thresholds across the frequency range than young adults.
C)Infants by the age of one month are tuned to separate the sources of sounds in any auditory input.
D)Two-day-old infants can recognize the voices of their own mothers relative to the voices of other mothers.

Question 33

Patient RS has damage to his primary auditory cortex, but there is no damage to his cochlea or auditory nerve.What problems might this patient have?

A)Intact frequency discrimination and detection threshold, but a deficit in discriminating differences in individual voices.
B)There would be no deficits as the belt and parabelt regions are undamaged.
C)There would be severe deficits in speech recognition, but music perception would continue unimpaired.
D)The patient would have deficits in discriminating frequencies and might report no hearing at all.

Question 34

A bat can determine whether an object is to the left or the right of the bat's location by ______.

A)computing the Doppler effect on amplitude differences
B)a comparison of the returning echo to its two ears
C)using differential signals at different frequencies
D)comparing the CF component to the FM component

Question 35

A bat is calling at 56,000 Hz, but the echo returning is coming back at 56,005 Hz.Based on what you know about bat biosonar, which of the following statements is TRUE?

A)The bat is approaching a target.
B)The bat is following a relatively large target.
C)The bat is using a CF-FM call.
D)The bat is staying the same distance from the target.

Question 36

To determine the rate of approach, a bat or dolphin must compute ______.

A)the relative size of the object in comparison to the size of the bat or dolphin
B)the target range of the bat or dolphin itself
C)the difference in frequency between the outgoing call and the incoming echo
D)the length of the incoming echo

Question 37

In addition to the primary auditory cortex, which two regions make up the auditory core region?

A)the belt and parabelt regions
B)the cochlear nucleus and the trapezoid body
C)the rostral core and the rostrotemporal core
D)the medial olive and the superior colliculus

Question 38

The azimuth refers to ______.

A)the left-right or side-to-side aspect of sound localization
B)a region of the brainstem involved in auditory spatial location
C)a cluster in the thalamus that relays auditory information
D)the translation of harmonic resonances into spatial frequencies

Question 39

If a sound source is approaching you, it will sound slightly higher in frequency to you than it would to an object moving along with it.Similarly, if a sound source is receding from you, it will sound slightly lower in frequency to you than it would to an object moving along with it.This phenomenon is called the ______.

A)rate of approach effect
B)biosonar shift
C)Gelb effect
D)Doppler shift

Question 40

Conrad hears a noise and determines that it is a human voice.To do this, he uses the ______ system in audition.

A)"what"
B)"where"
C)"who"
D)"how"

Question 41

Explain spatial segregation and give an example.

Question 42

What qualities does a concert hall with good acoustics have? How do architects achieve these qualities?

Question 43

Anna hears several sounds coming from the same location, and her brain groups them together.This is an example of spectral segregation.

Question 44

Cells in the primary auditory cortex show tonotopic organization.

Question 45

The study of how physical spaces affect the way sounds are reflected in a room is called ______.

A)acoustical response
B)acoustical reverberation
C)architectural acoustics
D)architectural reverberation

Question 46

The cochlear nucleus is a structure in the brain stem that receives input from inner hair cells.

Question 47

Explain spectral segregation and give an example.

Question 48

Biosonar systems work best when the sounds emitted by the animals are of very low frequency.

Question 49

Bats and dolphins use Doppler shifts to determine the relative size of the object to themselves.

Question 50

The cone of confusion is a region of positions in space in which different sounds create the same interaural time and interaural level differences.

Question 51

In a room about 30 yards long and 20 yards wide, one pair of people is sitting at one end, another pair is sitting in the middle, and the third pair is sitting at the opposite end.When they are all talking, the two people in each pair have a difficult time hearing each other, even though they are sitting not more than two feet apart.This situation is most likely caused by ______.

A)a short reverberation time
B)a long reverberation time
C)a short interaural level difference
D)a long interaural level difference

Question 52

The medial geniculate nucleus is a structure in the brainstem that receives auditory input from the lateral geniculate nucleus and sends output to the superior olive.

Question 53

The Symphony Hall in Boston has excellent acoustics.Considering this, the hall probably ______.

A)reduces the reverberation of higher frequencies
B)has a reverberation time of six seconds
C)reduces the reverberation of lower frequencies
D)has a reverberation time of ten seconds

Question 54

Reverberation time represents the difference between the onset of direct sound and the first onset of indirect sound.

Question 55

SELECT ALL THAT APPLY.What functions have been demonstrated for bat biosonar?
a.Bats use biosonar to hunt insects.
b.Bats use biosonar to determine the weather.
c.Bats use biosonar to avoid obstacles such as other bats in tight spaces.
d.Bats use biosonar to identify their offspring.

Question 56

Like the visual system, the auditory system appears to have both a "what" and "where" system.

Question 57

The difference in loudness and frequency distribution between the two ears is known as ______.

A)interaural level differences
B)binaural loudness distributions
C)the trapezoid of confusion
D)the amplitude-frequency tradeoff

Question 58

Give an example of how bats use biosonar to determine the size and distance of targets.

Question 59

Describe the various parts of the cochlear nucleus and the function of each part.

Question 60

The parabelt area is anatomically located in the superior olive.