Question 1

The technique of electrical stimulation was first discovered by:

Accepted Answer

Luigi Galvani is credited with the discovery of bioelectricity in the 18th century, which laid the foundation for the technique of electrical stimulation.

Question 2

In 1874, the physician Roberts Bartholow directly stimulated a _____ brain with electricity.

Accepted Answer

Roberts Bartholow conducted an experiment in 1874 where he directly stimulated a human brain with electricity, which was a controversial and pioneering procedure at the time.

Question 3

To measure the voltage across the cell membrane, you would normally:

Accepted Answer

To measure the voltage across the cell membrane, one electrode is placed inside the axon and another on the outer surface to measure the voltage difference across the membrane.

Question 4

Recording from single neurons was made possible by the invention of:

Accepted Answer

The oscilloscope and the microelectrode are essential tools for recording electrical activity from single neurons, allowing for precise measurement and visualization of neuronal signals.

Question 5

Nineteenth-century scientists Fritsch and Hitzig discovered that electrical stimulation of the neocortex leads to:

Accepted Answer

Fritsch and Hitzig discovered that electrical stimulation of specific areas of the neocortex in dogs caused movements, indicating the brain's role in controlling motor functions.

Question 6

The volt is a unit of:

Accepted Answer

The volt is the unit of electrical potential, which measures the potential energy per unit charge.

Question 7

René Descartes believed that _____ carried signals through the nervous system.

Accepted Answer

René Descartes believed that cerebrospinal fluid carried signals through the nervous system, as part of his theory of animal spirits.

Question 8

Erica is an 18-year-old in her first year of university. One day while she was watching a video in class, Erica started to hear what she thought was music playing. Suddenly, she began shaking in her seat and fell to the floor. After the incident ended, one of her classmates helped her to the campus medical center, where she was later diagnosed as having:

Accepted Answer

Erica's symptoms of hearing music, shaking, and falling suggest a seizure, which is characteristic of epilepsy.

Question 9

Electricity is a flow of electrons from a body that contains a higher charge (more electrons) to a body that has a lower charge (fewer electrons). The body containing the higher electrical charge is called a:

Accepted Answer

The body with a higher electrical charge, meaning more electrons, is called the negative pole. Electrons flow from the negative pole to the positive pole.

Question 10

Microelectrodes can:

Accepted Answer

Microelectrodes can indeed be made from glass or wire and can have a very fine tip, as small as 0.001 millimeter, making all the provided statements correct.

Question 11

Because the giant axons of the squid are nearly _____ in diameter, they were used to record electrical activity in neurons for the first time.

Accepted Answer

The giant axons of the squid are approximately 1 millimeter in diameter, which made them large enough to be used in early experiments to record electrical activity in neurons.

Question 12

How does a squid benefit from having unusually large axons?

Accepted Answer

The answer of How does a squid benefit from having...

Question 13

Which of the following treatments is (are) used to help reduce epilepsy?

Accepted Answer

All the listed treatments, including medication, deep brain stimulation, and a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet (ketogenic diet), are used to help manage and reduce epilepsy.

Question 14

_____ is a neurological disorder that is linked to periods of excessive neural synchrony.

Accepted Answer

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by recurrent seizures, which are episodes of excessive and abnormal neural activity in the brain.

Question 15

Neurons in most animals, including humans, are approximately _____ micrometers in diameter.

Accepted Answer

Neurons in most animals, including humans, typically range from 1 to 20 micrometers in diameter.

Question 16

An electroencephalogram, or EEG, can theoretically be recorded by:

Accepted Answer

An EEG measures the voltage fluctuations resulting from ionic current flows within the neurons of the brain, so it is recorded using a voltmeter.

Question 17

The patch technique involves:

Accepted Answer

The patch technique, specifically patch-clamp, involves placing the tip of a microelectrode on a cell membrane and applying suction to form a tight seal, allowing for the recording of ion channel activity.

Question 18

When Richard Caton first measured fluctuations on a voltmeter from electrodes placed on the scalp of a human subject, he was recording what we now call:

Accepted Answer

Richard Caton's measurements of electrical activity from the scalp were the early recordings of what we now refer to as an electroencephalogram (EEG), which captures the electrical activity of the brain.

Question 19

_____ won the Nobel Prize in 1963 for being the first to describe the electrical activity of neurons.

Accepted Answer

Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1963 for their work on the ionic mechanisms involved in the excitation and inhibition in the peripheral and central portions of the nerve cell membrane, which described the electrical activity of neurons.

Question 20

The speed of information flow in a nerve was first measured by:

Accepted Answer

Hermann von Helmholtz was the first to measure the speed of nerve conduction in the mid-19th century.

Quiz 4: How Do Neurons Use Electrical Signals to Transmit Information