Question 1

Mrs. Fine is highly interested in learning about the emotions of her fourth graders. Which of the following journal articles would be a good fit for her interests?

Accepted Answer

"The Amazing Amygdala" is the most relevant choice as the amygdala is a key area in the brain responsible for processing emotions. The other articles focus on different areas of the brain and do not specifically address emotions.

Question 2

The somatic nervous system processes information between the central nervous system and one's

Accepted Answer

The somatic nervous system is responsible for processing information between the central nervous system and the body's skin, muscles, and joints. It is also called the voluntary nervous system because it controls voluntary movements. The somatic nervous system does not control internal organs or glands. It does not process information from the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, which are handled by the sensory systems.

Question 3

Jonas has experienced a relatively severe right hemisphere stroke. As a result, he has been diagnosed with hemineglect, meaning he is unable to notice any touch on the left side of his body. The location of the stroke is most likely within the ________ lobes.

Accepted Answer

Hemineglect is a condition where a person is unable to attend to stimuli on one side of the body or space, usually the left side following a right hemisphere stroke. The parietal lobe is responsible for receiving and processing sensory information from the body, so damage to this area can result in the sensory neglect of one side of the body.

Question 4

Miranda is working in a laboratory and comes across a rat that is grossly overweight and seems unable to stop eating. The researcher tells Miranda that the rat has a brain lesion. Which part of the forebrain most likely has the lesion?

Accepted Answer

The hypothalamus is responsible for regulating hunger and satiety. Lesions in this area can result in uncontrolled eating and obesity. The other options listed do not directly relate to feeding behavior.

Question 5

A post office receives lots of incoming mail, organizes it, and then sends it out to various locations. Which part of the brain is a lot like a post office?

Accepted Answer

The thalamus acts like a post office in the brain by receiving sensory information from various parts of the body and then sending it out to the appropriate areas of the cortex for processing.

Question 6

The part of the brain that is responsible for the sense of touch and for picturing the layout of spaces in the environment is the ________ lobes.

Accepted Answer

The parietal lobes are responsible for processing somatosensory information, which includes touch and body position sense. They also play a role in spatial awareness and spatial memory, allowing individuals to picture the layout of spaces in their environment. The frontal, temporal, and occipital lobes serve other functions such as motor control, language comprehension, and visual processing respectively.

Question 7

Brad has experienced a relatively severe left hemisphere stroke. As a result, he is unable to move his right arm and has a great deal of difficulty with planning and attention. The stroke most likely caused damage to the ________ lobes.

Accepted Answer

The frontal lobes are responsible for motor function and planning, while the parietal lobes are involved in processing sensory information and spatial awareness. Damage to these areas can result in symptoms such as difficulty with movement and attention. The fact that Brad is unable to move his right arm and has difficulty with planning and attention suggests that both the frontal and parietal lobes were likely affected by the stroke.

Question 8

Visual information is primarily processed in the ________ lobes of the cerebral cortex.

Accepted Answer

The occipital lobes are responsible for processing visual information from the eyes. The parietal lobes process information related to touch, proprioception, and spatial awareness, the temporal lobes process auditory information and are involved in memory and emotion, and the frontal lobes are involved in higher cognitive functions such as decision-making, planning, and problem-solving.

Question 9

Mario is highly afraid of spiders. Which part of the brain would be activated if he were to enter a room that had a lot of spiders?

Accepted Answer

The amygdala is responsible for processing emotions, particularly fear and anxiety. When Mario sees the spiders, his amygdala would be activated and trigger the fear response. The hypothalamus is more responsible for regulating bodily functions, the hippocampus is associated with memory, and the thalamus is involved in sensory processing.

Question 10

The somatic nervous system allows

Accepted Answer

The somatic nervous system is responsible for voluntary movement of the body's muscles and joints.

Question 11

Samantha recently became blind and is learning to use her fingers to read in braille. The part of her brain that will be activated by touching the bumps on the page as she reads the braille is the ________ lobes.

Accepted Answer

The parietal lobes are responsible for processing touch and sensory information. This includes the sense of touch in the fingertips, which is necessary for reading braille. The frontal lobes are responsible for higher-level thinking and decision-making, the temporal lobes are responsible for processing auditory information, and the occipital lobes are responsible for processing visual information.

Question 12

Sumeeta recently fell down the stairs, injuring her right arm. As a result, her thumb, index, and middle fingers began to numb. The part of the nervous system that may be responsible for this numbness is the ________ nervous system.

Accepted Answer

The somatic nervous system is responsible for the voluntary movements of skeletal muscles and sensation from the skin, including touch, temperature, and pain. In this case, the numbness of the fingers is a sensory response resulting from the injury to the arm, which is innervated by the somatic nervous system. The central nervous system includes the brain and spinal cord, which may be involved in processing and transmitting the signals related to the numbness, but it is not directly responsible for it. The autonomic nervous system controls the involuntary functions, such as heart rate, digestion, and breathing, which are not affected in this case. The parasympathetic nervous system is a part of the autonomic nervous system that functions to conserve energy and promote a state of rest and digestion, also not relevant in this situation.

Question 13

Drs. Gazzaniga and Sperry conducted a series of studies testing the abilities of epilepsy patients who had undergone a split-brain procedure, where the left hemisphere was disconnected from the right. How were the brains of epilepsy patients modified during the split-brain procedure?

Accepted Answer

During the split-brain procedure, the connection between the right and left hemispheres of the brain is severed by cutting the corpus callosum, which is a thick band of nerve fibers that connects the two hemispheres. This procedure is often done on epilepsy patients to prevent seizures from spreading from one hemisphere to the other.

Question 14

The thalamus receives nearly all sensory information before relaying it to the cortex. What is the one sensation that is the exception to this rule?

Accepted Answer

The olfactory bulb, rather than the thalamus, directly receives sensory information about smell. Therefore, smell is the exception to the rule that the thalamus receives nearly all sensory information before relaying it to the cortex.

Question 15

The somatic nervous system is NOT responsible for processing information about

Accepted Answer

The somatic nervous system is responsible for processing sensory information related to touch, temperature, pain, and proprioception (the sense of body position and movement), but it is not responsible for processing emotions like feeling sad.

Question 16

Information travels from our sensory receptors to the ________ in the brain, which relays it to the cortex.

Accepted Answer

The thalamus is a relay station in the brain that receives sensory information from different parts of the body and routes it to the appropriate areas in the cortex for processing. The hippocampus is involved in memory formation, the hypothalamus regulates hormones and homeostasis, and the cerebellum is responsible for motor coordination and balance.

Question 17

The brain structure that connects the two hemispheres of the cerebral cortex is called the

Accepted Answer

The structure that connects the two hemispheres of the cerebral cortex is the corpus callosum.

Question 18

Dolores has severe epilepsy and must undergo a procedure to disconnect the left hemisphere of her brain from the right to prevent the epilepsy from spreading. During this procedure, doctors will surgically cut the fibers that connect the two hemispheres of the brain, which are called the

Accepted Answer

The fibers that connect the two hemispheres of the brain are called the corpus callosum.

Question 19

A child gets a severe blow to the head from an accident. Although her eyes are still fully functional, she can no longer see. Based on this information, her doctor determines that the brain area most likely damaged in the accident is the ________ lobes.

Accepted Answer

The occipital lobes are the primary visual processing centers in the brain, so damage to these lobes would result in vision loss even if the eyes themselves are still functioning properly.

Question 20

Auditory information is processed in the ________ lobes of the cerebral cortex.

Accepted Answer

Auditory information is processed in the temporal lobes of the cerebral cortex. The temporal lobes are located on the sides of the brain, just above the ears, and are responsible for processing sensory information such as sound, language, and memory.

Quiz 2: The Role of Biology in Psychology