Deck 29: The Senses

Question 1

The receptor potential is the

A) membrane potential produced when a neurotransmitter molecule binds to its receptor.
B) membrane potential produced in the receptor cell by sensory transduction.
C) electrical signal produced by an action potential.
D) membrane potential produced at a muscle cell.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Fish that quickly and accurately sense the location of a nearby motionless fish in cloudy water are probably using

A) electromagnetic receptors.
B) photoreceptors.
C) chemoreceptors.
D) pain receptors.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Which list has structures that are involved only in the sense of hearing?

A) middle ear bones, semicircular canals, basilar membrane
B) eardrum, utricle, organ of Corti
C) oval window, cochlea, aqueous humor
D) oval window, basilar membrane, organ of Corti

Answer 3

D

Question 4

The nervous system determines the pitch of a tone by

A) the region of the basilar membrane that is vibrating most vigorously.
B) the peak amplitude of basilar membrane displacement.
C) sites along the basilar membrane where vibrations are longest.
D) the frequency of oval window vibration.

Question 5

The semicircular canals

A) are arranged in three perpendicular planes.
B) contain a thin basilar membrane.
C) are lined by long rows of hair cells along their entire length.
D) transmit vibrations from the oval window to the saccule.

Question 6

Suppose you have three water baths in front of you. The temperature of the one on the left is 22°C (cold), the one in the middle is 25°C (room temperature), and the one on the right is 44°C (warm). At the same time, you place the index finger of your right hand into the warm water bath and the index finger of your left hand into the cold water bath, and you leave them there for 2 minutes. After 2 minutes, why would you no longer feel a difference in temperature between the two water baths?

A) The sensory receptors in your index fingers speed up the conversion of the stimulus (water) to a chemical signal.
B) The sensory receptors in your index fingers diminish the conversion of the stimulus (water) to an electrical signal.
C) The sensory receptors in your index fingers become less sensitive over time as they are stimulated repeatedly.
D) Receptor potentials in the sensory receptors in your index fingers start off weak and then become stronger.

Question 7

The hair cells in the utricle detect

A) subsonic sound vibrations.
B) volume and pitch of sounds.
C) differences in air pressure waves.
D) position of the head with respect to gravity.

Question 8

Which list correctly orders the structures within the ear as they transfer a sound wave during hearing?

A) eardrum, hammer, anvil, stirrup, oval window, auditory canal
B) eardrum, stirrup, hammer, anvil, oval window, auditory canal
C) auditory canal, eardrum, hammer, anvil, stirrup, oval window
D) auditory canal, eardrum, stirrup, hammer, anvil, oval window

Question 9

In which part of the ear is the organ of Corti located?

A) pinna
B) inner ear
C) middle ear
D) Eustachian tube

Question 10

Which class of sensory receptors responds to stimuli such as touch, pressure, stretching, and sound?

A) thermoreceptors
B) mechanoreceptors
C) electromagnetic receptors
D) chemoreceptors

Question 11

You exercised to the point that you were breathing heavily. Your heavy breathing was the result of ________ relaying information about the amount of O2 in your blood to the medulla, which ultimately resulted in your increased rate of breathing.

A) mechanoreceptors
B) electromagnetic receptors
C) chemoreceptors
D) thermoreceptors

Question 12

In stimulus detection, sensory receptor cells convert a stimulus into a(n)

A) neurotransmitter.
B) enzyme.
C) electric signal.
D) astigmatism.

Question 13

Sensory transduction occurs in the

A) cerebral cortex of the brain.
B) stimulus of the environment.
C) spinal cord of the nervous system.
D) plasma membrane of sensory cells.

Question 14

Which receptor transduces when it changes shape and its plasma membrane becomes more permeable to sodium or potassium ions?

A) pain receptor
B) thermoreceptor
C) mechanoreceptor
D) chemoreceptor

Question 15

Which option incorrectly pairs a class of sensory receptor with one of the stimuli it detects?

A) electromagnetic receptors-light
B) chemoreceptors-molecular structure
C) mechanoreceptors-sound
D) thermoreceptors-touch

Question 16

What is an example of sensory adaptation of receptors?

A) distinguishing between different colors
B) ignoring the shoes on your feet
C) thinking about what you would do with a million dollars
D) detecting sound and light simultaneously

Question 17

The cochlea is

A) a coiled structure found in the inner ear.
B) part of the organ of Corti.
C) involved in the maintenance of body temperature.
D) part of the middle ear.

Question 18

Which statement best describes the basis of sensory adaptation?

A) A continuously stimulated sensory receptor triggers fewer action potentials, so stimuli sent to the brain decrease and awareness of the stimuli is diminished.
B) The nerve fiber synapsed with a sensory receptor gradually returns to its baseline level of firing despite continued neurotransmitter stimulation.
C) The spinal cord interneurons that receive a prolonged stimulus gradually come to ignore it.
D) The thalamic centers that receive a prolonged stimulus gradually come to ignore it.

Question 19

Which type of sensory receptors becomes more sensitive when damaged tissues produce prostaglandins?

A) deep pressure receptors
B) photoreceptors
C) pain receptors
D) temperature receptors

Question 20

You arrive at your office and are startled by the sounds of building construction outside your window. As you settle into your work for the day, you forget about the construction noises. When a visitor comes to your office later that day, the first thing she comments on is how disruptive the construction noise must be to your concentration. You realize that you have not even noticed it for over an hour. This is due to

A) sensory transduction.
B) sensory adaptation.
C) action potential firing.

Question 21

Which statement regarding compound eyes is true?

A) They have one light-focusing lens.
B) They are poor motion detectors.
C) They can provide excellent color vision.
D) They can perceive only visible light.

Question 22

Information from the light receptors undergo its first level of neural processing in the

A) retina.
B) optic nerve.
C) primary visual cortex.
D) hippocampus.

Question 23

A person who has blurred vision caused by a misshapen lens or cornea has

A) myopia.
B) astigmatism.
C) presbyopia.
D) hyperopia.

Question 24

Presbyopia develops with age because the

A) lens becomes less elastic and so gradually loses its ability to focus on nearby objects.
B) eyeball lengthens and so gradually loses its ability to focus on objects that are far away.
C) lens becomes more elastic and so gradually loses its ability to focus on nearby objects.
D) eyeball lengthens and so gradually loses its ability to focus on nearby objects.

Question 25

Which list correctly orders the structures through which light must pass on its way to the retina of the human eye?

A) pupil, cornea, aqueous humor, lens
B) lens, aqueous humor, pupil, cornea
C) cornea, aqueous humor, pupil, lens
D) cornea, pupil, aqueous humor, lens

Question 26

Which component of the human eye forms the iris?

A) sclera
B) choroid
C) retina
D) pupil

Question 27

The eyes of a planarian provide

A) three-dimensional images, but in black and white.
B) two-dimensional images.
C) a higher degree of resolution than human eyes.
D) information about light intensity and direction.

Question 28

If you are in an airplane encountering turbulence and you start feeling sick to your stomach, would closing your eyes help? Why?

A) Yes. It will calm you by allowing the sensory information from your chemoreceptors to properly readjust.
B) Yes. It will eliminate the conflict between information from your inner ears and information from your eyes.
C) No. It will intensify the feeling of falling by eliminating the sight of the cabin.
D) No. It will focus your attention on the nausea.

Question 29

Visual information is carried from the retina to the brain via

A) the optic nerve.
B) rhodopsin.
C) photopsins.
D) the blind spot.

Question 30

You are driving at night and decide to pass a slow-moving car. You notice that although you can see the car, you can't tell what color it is. This is due to

A) the poor ability of cones to function in low light.
B) the poor ability of rods to function in low light.
C) a reduced ability to focus in low light situations.
D) the constriction of your pupil in low light situations, which reduces color vision.

Question 31

Honeybees are able to discriminate between different flowers using

A) color vision.
B) a single lens.
C) eye cups.
D) basilar membranes.

Question 32

One of the evolutionary advantages of having two eyes is that

A) two lenses provide greater magnification.
B) overlapping fields of view provide uninterrupted images.
C) there are more sensory neurons for greater action potentials.
D) the blind spot is eliminated.

Question 33

Olfactory receptor cells are located in the

A) brain.
B) semicircular canals.
C) saccule.
D) nasal cavity.

Question 34

A person whose eyeball is shorter than normal suffers from

A) hyperopia.
B) myopia.
C) astigmatism.
D) presbyopia.

Question 35

Which statement about the focusing of light by the eyes is true?

A) Squids and many fishes change the shape of their lenses to focus light.
B) Mammals focus light when a rigid lens is moved back and forth.
C) Mammals use muscles and ligaments to change the shape of their lenses to focus light.
D) Mammalian lenses thicken when focused on distant objects.

Question 36

A person who cannot focus on distant objects has

A) hyperopia.
B) myopia.
C) astigmatism.
D) presbyopia.

Question 37

What structure is involved in the human sense of balance?

A) outer ear
B) oval window
C) utricle
D) basilar membrane

Question 38

Which statement about the humors of the eye is true?

A) The vitreous humor fills the chamber behind the lens.
B) The vitreous humor circulates throughout the eye.
C) The aqueous humor is jellylike.
D) The humors help keep the outside of the eye moist.

Question 39

Which statement regarding photoreceptors is true?

A) Rods are more sensitive to light than cones.
B) Cones are responsible for night vision.
C) Rods are found at the greatest density at the fovea, the retina's center of focus.
D) Rods contain the visual pigment called photopsin.

Question 40

If the aqueous humor circulates but does not drain properly, the likely result will be the development of

A) glaucoma.
B) myopia.
C) astigmatism.
D) hyperopia.

Question 41

After reading the paragraph below, answer the questions that follow.
A common aspect of having a cold is nose congestion ("stuffy nose"). Air is not able to flow past your olfactory receptors, so you cannot detect smells. When eating, it is olfactory receptors, and not taste receptors, that detect the smells of your food and relate those to your brain as flavors.
Suppose you are trying to convince your sick child to drink some medicine that he knows does not taste good. You tell him to hold his nose while he drinks it because that will help take the bad taste away. Does your statement have any truth to it?

A) Yes. Holding your nose allows you to detect multiple tastes at one time.
B) Yes. Holding your nose increases production of glutamate.
C) Yes. Holding your nose dulls the sensitivity of taste receptors.
D) Yes. Holding your nose has the same effect as having a congested nose.

Question 42

Which part of this figure is the retina?

A) part A
B) part B
C) part C
D) part D

Question 43

Individuals medically diagnosed with "dry eyes" experience feelings of dryness, itchiness, burning, and general irritation in their eyes. Dry eyes can be caused by a decreased production of tears by the tear-producing glands in the eyes. What treatment would help alleviate dry eyes?

A) stimulating production of aqueous humor
B) blocking the eyelid openings used to drain tears
C) stimulating production of vitreous humor

Question 44

Integration of sensory stimuli occurs in

A) highly specialized receptors such as the organ of Corti.
B) all receptors.
C) the brain.
D) the central and peripheral nervous systems.

Question 45

Chemoreceptors are organized into taste buds

A) in the upper portions of nasal passages.
B) on the tongue.
C) that are also responsible for smell.
D) with long cilia that are constantly in motion.

Question 46

Cilantro tastes soapy to some people because

A) there is genetic variation in at least one of the three types of receptors needed to perceive a nonsoapy flavor.
B) they are not an identical twin. Only identical twins detect a soapy flavor in cilantro, while all other people do not detect this soapy flavor.
C) their ancestors did not live in cultures where cilantro was a common ingredient in the cuisine.
D) they were not raised in an environment where cilantro was a common ingredient in the cuisine.

Question 47

Mechanoreceptors are not evenly spaced on your body. What part of the body might be expected to have mechanoreceptors located farther apart?

A) lip
B) fingertip
C) underside of wrist
D) abdomen

Question 48

After reading the paragraph below, answer the questions that follow.
A common aspect of having a cold is nose congestion ("stuffy nose"). Air is not able to flow past your olfactory receptors, so you cannot detect smells. When eating, it is olfactory receptors, and not taste receptors, that detect the smells of your food and relate those to your brain as flavors.
Suppose you have a bag of assorted flavors of candy. You close your eyes, hold your nose, pull out a piece of candy, and eat it. Then you try to describe the candy's flavor. How accurate do you think your prediction will be?

A) very accurate, because your taste receptors can detect multiple tastes at one time
B) not very accurate, because you cannot fully experience the flavor of the candy
C) not very accurate, because the production of glutamate will be decreased
D) very accurate, because holding your nose heightens sensitivity of your taste receptors

Question 49

If you were observing two elephants separated by a distance of 4 miles, could the sensory receptors of your ear receive signals passing between them?

A) Yes. Human ears have sound reception over the same range of frequencies as elephants.
B) Yes. The organ of Corti in humans is more highly evolved than the comparable organ in elephants.
C) No. Elephants have a much wider range of high-frequency hearing.
D) No. Human ears cannot hear sounds with frequencies below 20 Hz.

Question 50

After reading the paragraph below, answer the questions that follow.
Myopia can be corrected with artificial lenses or surgery and is generally regarded as a benign disorder. However, as myopia is also associated with more severe conditions such as cataracts and glaucoma, a change in the prevalence of myopia (proportion of the population with myopia) may be a public health concern. The graph shows the change in the prevalence of myopia in three major ethnic groups in Singapore at three points in time.
Source: Adapted from Morgan, I.G., Ohno-Matsui, K., and Saw, S. M. (2012). Myopia. Lancet, 379: 1739-1748.
What anatomical changes do you expect to accompany the change in prevalence of myopia?

A) a greater proportion of the population with longer-than-normal eyeballs
B) a greater proportion of the population with difficulty focusing on close objects
C) a greater proportion of the population with misshapen corneas
D) a greater proportion of the population with abnormally high pressure in their eyes

Question 51

A molecule that is detected by our sense of smell first binds to

A) specific receptor proteins on the cilia of receptor cells located in the epithelium of the upper nasal cavity.
B) hairs that extend beyond the mucous layer and line the upper and lower nasal cavities.
C) special mechanoreceptor cells located in the epithelium of the lower nasal cavity.
D) special receptor proteins located at the surface of thermoreceptor cells lining the upper nasal cavity.

Question 52

One hypothesis explaining animals' abilities to detect a magnetic field and use it to navigate is that sensory cells detect electrical fluctuations influenced by Earth's magnetic field. Which evidence, if it were true, would support this hypothesis?

A) Sensory cells of an organism known to use magnetic fields to navigate show an increase in action potential firing when in the presence of electrical fluctuations.
B) Sensory cells of an organism known to use magnetic fields to navigate show a decrease in action potential firing when in the presence of electrical fluctuations.
C) Sensory cells of an organism known to use magnetic fields to navigate show a greater density of negative ions on the outside of its plasma membrane.
D) Sensory cells of an organism known to use magnetic fields to navigate produce greater amounts of enzymes sensitive to electrical fluctuations.

Question 53

Which part of this figure is the cochlea?

A) part A
B) part B
C) part C
D) part D

Question 54

Mechanoreceptors are not evenly spaced on your body. What is an advantage of having mechanoreceptors located closer together?

A) allows for less sensitivity to potentially harmful stimuli
B) allows for a greater sensitivity to changes in temperature
C) allows for a greater sensitivity to potentially harmful stimuli
D) allows for less sensitivity to changes in temperature

Question 55

After reading the paragraphs below, answer the questions that follow.
Bats and marine mammals are well-known examples of animals that produce high-frequency sound waves beyond the range of human hearing. The high-frequency waves are used for echolocation, the process of emitting high-frequency sound waves and using both the time it takes for the waves to bounce back to the caller and the direction from which the waves return to the caller to locate distant objects. Research has shown that bats can send and receive sounds as high as 100,000 Hertz (Hz).
On the other hand, some mammals, such as elephants and whales, produce extremely low-frequency sounds. For example, elephant calls range from 5 to 50 Hz. Low-frequency sounds have long wavelengths, which means they are less likely to be distorted or interrupted by features in the environment. In favorable weather conditions, low-frequency sound waves can be transmitted over several kilometers.
What advantageous ability does the extended hearing range of elephants provide?

A) communicating with other species with extended hearing ranges
B) locating obstacles in their migration routes
C) communicating with other elephants long distances away
D) having an advance warning to take shelter when storms are coming

Question 56

If you close your eyes, hold your hands over your eyes for a short time, and then uncover your eyes, your pupils will be

A) a darker color than normal.
B) smaller than normal.
C) larger than normal.
D) a lighter color than normal.

Question 57

Mechanoreceptors are not evenly spaced on your body. What part of the body might be expected to have mechanoreceptors located closer together?

A) eyelid
B) heel of foot
C) top side of arm
D) pad of toe

Question 58

Mechanoreceptors are not evenly spaced on your body. What is an advantage of having mechanoreceptors located farther apart?

A) allows often used parts of the human body to feel pressure more severely than areas where mechanoreceptors are closer together
B) allows often used parts of the human body to feel pressure less severely than areas where mechanoreceptors are closer together
C) allows for greater dendrite regeneration after the body has experienced excessive pressure
D) allows for a thicker epidermis than in areas where mechanoreceptors are closer together

Question 59

Vertigo is a medical term used to describe feeling dizzy, as if everything is spinning. As it can severely compromise an individual's ability to walk or stand still properly, vertigo most likely indicates a problem with the person's

A) eardrum.
B) auditory canal.
C) pinna.
D) inner ear.

Question 60

Although the model for magnetic sensory perception is incomplete, we can hypothesize how the process of magnetic perception should work, based on other types of sensory perception. Which hypothesis for magnetic perception is consistent with how other types of sensory perception work?

A) Magnetoreceptors are triggered to open or close ion channels after detecting a change in the Earth's magnetic field.
B) Changes in the flow of ion channels across the membrane of a magnetoreceptor do not affect the receptor potential.
C) When an animal is no longer moving, the sensitivity of its magnetoreceptors to the Earth's magnetic field remains high.
D) The order of steps in magnetic perception would be: transduction, transmission, processing, and reception.

Question 61

After reading the paragraph below, answer the questions that follow.
Myopia can be corrected with artificial lenses or surgery and is generally regarded as a benign disorder. However, as myopia is also associated with more severe conditions such as cataracts and glaucoma, a change in the prevalence of myopia (proportion of the population with myopia) may be a public health concern. The graph shows the change in the prevalence of myopia in three major ethnic groups in Singapore at three points in time.
Source: Adapted from Morgan, I.G., Ohno-Matsui, K., and Saw, S. M. (2012). Myopia. Lancet, 379: 1739-1748.
Public health scientists conclude that the change in myopia prevalence is a result of environmental and not genetic factors. Does the graph support this conclusion?

A) Yes. All ethnic groups have similar rapid increases in myopia prevalence over time.
B) Yes. All ethnic groups have similar rapid decreases in myopia prevalence over time.
C) No. Only some ethnic groups increased in myopia prevalence over time.
D) No. Some ethnic groups decreased in myopia prevalence over time.

Question 62

After reading the paragraph below, answer the questions that follow.
Myopia can be corrected with artificial lenses or surgery and is generally regarded as a benign disorder. However, as myopia is also associated with more severe conditions such as cataracts and glaucoma, a change in the prevalence of myopia (proportion of the population with myopia) may be a public health concern. The graph shows the change in the prevalence of myopia in three major ethnic groups in Singapore at three points in time.
Source: Adapted from Morgan, I.G., Ohno-Matsui, K., and Saw, S. M. (2012). Myopia. Lancet, 379: 1739-1748.
One hypothesis for the development of myopia is that children's eyes do not develop properly when the children are insufficiently exposed to sunlight. Compared to the past, what lifestyle changes should be observed if this hypothesis explains the change in myopia prevalence in Singapore as shown in the graph?

A) Children are now spending more time reading indoors as educational expectations become more demanding.
B) Children are now spending more time playing outside as air quality improves.
C) Children are now spending equal amounts of time reading indoors and playing outside.