Exam 4: The Brain and Nervous System

The only sense that completely bypasses the thalamus in the brain is touch.

Glutamate functions as the:

New research suggests that glial cells make up around _______________ of the brain's cells.

Which structure acts as the sensory relay station of the brain and is involved in routing incoming sensory messages to higher areas in charge of vision, sound, or touch?

The sympathetic nervous system enables the body to conserve and store its energy.

During infancy, synapses proliferate at a slower rate than they do in adulthood.

Which of the following structures is part of the brain stem?

The reason why particular odors, such as the smell of gardenias, often rekindle memories of important personal experiences might be because:

Melatonin is secreted by the pituitary gland.

Researchers took photographs of different faces, cut them down the middle vertically, and pasted different halves together to form composite faces. The reconstructed photographs were flashed quickly to split-brain patients. It was found that the split-brain patients would:

Neuroscientists have found that _______________ can kill the new neurons that have been produced through neurogenesis.

One purpose of the _______________ is to speed up the conduction of neural impulses.

Reggie suffered brain damage in a car accident. As a result, he can no longer breathe on his own and needs the help of a respirator. Which structure was most likely damaged?

After a serious head injury, Tom faced difficulty in doing a series of tasks in the proper sequence. It is most likely that Tom's _______________ was injured.

Libby's physician refers her to a medical center in order to have the biochemical activity in her brain analyzed. She is given an injection of a glucose-like substance containing a radioactive element and her brain is then scanned. The technique being used is called:

Activation of the sympathetic nervous system pushes up the body's heart rate and blood pressure.

_______________ is an approach used only with animals to study the brain.

The spinal cord acts as a bridge between the brain and the parts of the body below the neck.

Which of the following is a hormone?

_______________ is a recording of neural activity detected by electrodes for studying the brain.