Test Bank Answers Open Questions Martin Chapter 30

Chapter 30: Open Questions

Test Bank

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 01

1. What can you infer from studies that show that when subjects are surgically treated for epilepsy, and are shown visual images, cells in the medial temporal lobe and hippocampus fire?

Feedback: Subhead: Object Recognition and Memory Formation

Bloom’s Level: 6. Creating

a. The visual cortex sends impulses to the medial temporal lobe.

b. Impulses are sent directly from the eyes to the medial temporal lobe.

c. The visual cortex is the first central structure to receive images.

d. The medial temporal lobe mediates images between the eyes and the visual cortex.

e. The medial temporal lobe and hippocampus send impulses to the visual cortex.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 02

2. When the patient was shown a picture of someone they recognized, a single hippocampal neuron fired

Feedback: Subhead: Object Recognition and Memory Formation

Bloom’s Level: 1. Remembering

a. immediately

b. at a high intensity

c. at a high intensity, but in an on-and-off again fashion

d. only once, and then stopped

e. at a low intensity

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 03

3. Concept cells are a specialized type of neuron in the

Feedback: Subhead: Object Recognition and Memory Formation

Bloom’s Level: 2. Understanding

a. entorhinal cortex.

b. visual cortex.

c. retina.

d. parietal cortex.

e. hippocampus.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 04

4. If you are recording from a single concept cell to which you show eight images of the actor, Sean Connery (SC) mixed in with other images of relatively neutral stimuli (NS). Among such stimuli, are also four images of another famous actor, Patrick Stewart (PS). Total number of images shown is 100. In terms of the number of action potential spikes fired, how would the concept cell respond?

Feedback: Subhead: Object Recognition and Memory Formation

Bloom’s Level: 6. Creating

a. SC > PS > NS

b. SC > PS = NS

c. SC = PS > NS

d. SC = PS = NS

e. SC < PS = NS

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 05

5. Suppose you record from a single concept cell to which you show images of a famous person (or maybe a not-so-famous person, such as your sibling). And then, suppose you display a series of images of the same person, but with each successive image, the face has been increasingly altered to the point that the face on the final image no longer bears any resemblance to the original face. In terms of action potential spike firing, how would the concept cell respond?

Feedback: Subhead: Object Recognition and Memory Formation

Bloom’s Level: 6. Creating

a. The cell would continue to fire at the same intensity until the face images become too dissimilar and firing would abruptly stop; i.e., a threshold will be reached.

b. The cell would continue to fire at the same intensity until the face images become too dissimilar and firing would abruptly decline, but not stop.

c. The cell would continue to fire at the same intensity in response to all face images shown.

d. The cell would significantly decrease firing intensity in response to the first significant alteration of the face.

e. The cell would gradually decrease firing intensity as the resemblance to the original image decreases.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 06

6. When a neuron is said to “respond vigorously with a burst of action potentials,” this means that the action potentials

Feedback: Subhead: Object Recognition and Memory Formation

Bloom’s Level: 3. Applying

a. all have large amplitude.

b. all fire at high frequency.

c. all fire at high frequency but interspersed with event-related potentials.

d. all fire at high frequency, but only briefly.

e. burst fire in an on-and-off fashion.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 07

7. When a hippocampal neuron responds not only to one famous face from, say, a movie, but to all other famous faces from that same movie, this provides a common _______ for recognition.

Feedback: Subhead: Object Recognition and Memory Formation

Bloom’s Level: 2. Understanding

a. concept, such as the field of “acting”

b. category, such as “movie stars”

c. stimulus, such as “faces”

d. context, such as that particular movie

e. theme, such as “science fiction movies” or “crime drama”

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 08

8. What group of cells are responsible for remembering and recognizing faces?

Feedback: Subhead: Object Recognition and Memory Formation

Bloom’s Level: 1. Remembering

a. Medial temporal lobe

b. Visual cortex 1

c. Visual cortex 2

d. Parahippocampal place area

e. Fusiform face area

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 09

9. To study the cellular basis of consciousness, what kind of technologies would most likely enable evaluation of the activities of several cells simultaneously?

Feedback: Subhead: Consciousness

Bloom’s Level: 6. Creating

a. fMRI

b. PET

c. Electroencephalography

d. Laser-scanning microscopy using fluorescent staining

e. Patch-clamp single cell recording

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 10

10. Ultimately, the most thorough understanding of how tangible neural firing patterns are translated into intangible, abstract thought or consciousness is to understand the brain at the

Feedback: Subhead: Consciousness

Bloom’s Level: 6. Creating

a. organismal level.

b. organ level.

c. cellular level.

d. molecular level.

e. atomic and subatomic levels.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 11

11. What is one of the principle ways in which astrocytes hinder the regeneration of injured axons?

Feedback: Subhead: Development and Regeneration

Bloom’s Level: 1. Remembering

a. Preventing the blood-brain-barrier form re-forming completely

b. Forming glial scar tissue

c. Releasing too many cytokines

d. Failing to adequately buffer the extracellular space from too much potassium

e. Failing to adequately re-uptake excess neurotransmitters back into neurons

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 12

12. What is one advantage of using neural stem cells for repairing injured neuronal axons?

Feedback: Subhead: Development and Regeneration

Bloom’s Level: 3. Applying

a. They can yet be any kind of neural cell.

b. They are relatively inexpensive.

c. They are technically easy to acquire and use.

d. They are relatively easy to maintain in the lab.

e. They are among the youngest type of cells, meaning that they still can easily adapt to their new environment.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 13

13. Which class of molecules would be a good candidate to aid in the regeneration of injured axons?

Feedback: Subhead: Development and Regeneration

Bloom’s Level: 6. Creating

a. Cations, such as sodium, potassium, and calcium

b. Anions, such as chloride and phosphate

c. Lipids, such as fatty acids

d. Growth factors, such as nerve growth factor

e. Nucleotides

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 14

14. The proteome is much more complicated than the genome, not only because of RNA splicing, proteolytic processing, post-translational modifications, conformational variants, and other protein variants that the authors mention, but also because of

Feedback: Subhead: Genetic Approaches to Understanding the Nervous System

Bloom’s Level: 6. Creating

a. how proteins are degraded.

b. what happens to proteins after they are degraded.

c. how the raw materials (i.e., amino acids) are reused.

d. how proteins are carried around the cell(s) or body.

e. when proteins are expressed, and whether it is constitutively or in response to some signal.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 15

15. In biology, one of the most common ways to determine the function of something is to

Feedback: Subhead: Genetic Approaches to Understanding the Nervous System

Bloom’s Level: 6. Creating

a. purify it.

b. isolate it.

c. remove it or prevent it from working.

d. add more of it.

e. change it only a little so that it is still functioning, but only partially so.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 16

16. If an ion channel is composed of five different sub-units, and no RNA splicing or any other kind of processing occurs, how many different genes are required to express this channel?

Feedback: Subhead: Genetic Approaches to Understanding the Nervous System

Bloom’s Level: 3. Applying

a. 10

b. 8

c. 5

d. 1

e. Not enough information given

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 17

17. If an ion channel is composed of five different sub-units, and assume no RNA splicing or any other kind of processing occurs, how many different genes are required to express and target this channel to its proper location within the cell?

Feedback: Subhead: Genetic Approaches to Understanding the Nervous System

Bloom’s Level: 3. Applying

a. 10

b. 8

c. 5

d. 1

e. Not enough information given.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 18

18. One of the main obstacles in treating monogenic diseases using gene therapy is that a single gene

Feedback: Subhead: Genetic Approaches to Understanding the Nervous System

Bloom’s Level: 5. Evaluating

a. may have several functions in the cell.

b. may express different variants of a protein at different times.

c. must first be cloned.

d. may express a protein that must be proteolytically processed to its active form.

e. may have several overlapping functions.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 19

19. Because baby-boomers are currently approaching retirement age, making the elderly population nearly double every 10 years, what is one disease whose cure, management, or slowing of its progress is particularly urgent?

Feedback: Subhead: Genetic Approaches to Understanding the Nervous System

Bloom’s Level: 3. Applying

a. Huntington’s disease

b. Parkinson’s disease

c. Alzheimer’s disease

d. Diabetes

e. Spongiform encephalopathy

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 20

20. None of the cells in the retina proper are myelinated. One type of these cells, however, does transition from a nonmyelinated state to a myelinated one. Which cells are these?

Feedback: Subhead: Sensory and Motor Integration

Bloom’s Level: 1. Remembering

a. Photoreceptor cells

b. Amacrine cells

c. Bipolar cells

d. Horizontal cells

e. Ganglion cells

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 21

21. What is one major obstacle that using the transcriptome (single-cell transcriptomics) would present in classifying neurons?

Feedback: Subhead: Sensory and Motor Integration

Bloom’s Level: 3. Applying

a. The transcriptome of any cell is dynamic—it changes constantly, depending on the demands of the cell and any point in time, as well as on the type of mRNA being classified (e.g., spliced? processed?)

b. Technology for this practice is still not advanced enough.

c. The RNA-Seq database applies only to neurons of the same overall function, such as all cortical neurons or all hippocampal neurons or all cerebellar neurons.

d. mRNA is too unstable and difficult to work with successfully.

e. This technology is fraught with logistical problems, such as corroborating the same results from different labs.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 22

22. In the peripheral nervous system, the fact that most neurons are unmyelinated suggests, from a teleological perspective, that they do not need to be myelinated. This greatly decreases the burden of having to produce so many more

Feedback: Subhead: Sensory and Motor Integration

Bloom’s Level: 3. Applying

a. astrocytes.

b. oligodendrocytes.

c. Schwann cells.

d. bipolar cells.

e. motor neurons.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 23

23. The _______ in the brain is most affected rhythmically by the rhythms of other structures.

Feedback: Subhead: Rhythmicity

Bloom’s Level: 3. Applying

a. retina

b. hippocampus

c. visual cortex

d. thalamus

e. cerebellum

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 24

24. Sleep can be considered an altered state of consciousness; not unconsciousness. Moreover, it is well known that sleep is needed to consolidate learning and memories. Studying the rhythmicity of the _______, therefore, will likely yield the most useful information about why we need to sleep.

Feedback: Subhead: Rhythmicity

Bloom’s Level: 6. Creating

a. respiratory centers in the medulla

b. suprachiasmatic nucleus in the hypothalamus

c. hippocampus and association cortices

d. spinal cord

e. visual cortex

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 25

25. The signal derived in fMRI is based on neurons’

Feedback: Subhead: Input from Clinical Neurology to Studies in the Brain

Bloom’s Level: 3. Applying

a. age.

b. metabolic activity.

c. electrical activity.

d. neurotransmitter activity.

e. amount of gray matter vs. white matter.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 26

26. Intense thought devoted to planning your next vacation should show greater blood flow in the _______, as revealed by fMRI.

Feedback: Subhead: Input from Clinical Neurology to Studies in the Brain

Bloom’s Level: 3. Applying

a. prefrontal cortex

b. hippocampus

c. cerebral cortex

d. cerebellum

e. visual cortex

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 27

27. Arguably, some of the most significant early (and current) discoveries about how the brain works has been because of

Feedback: Subhead: Input from Clinical Neurology to Studies in the Brain

Bloom’s Level: 1. Remembering

a. neuroscientists.

b. neurologists.

c. technological advances.

d. patients.

e. educational advances that have trained more neurologists and other physicians.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 28

28. Some of the most profound scientific breakthroughs in the understanding of disease occurred because of

Feedback: Subhead: Input from Basic Neuroscience to Neurology

Bloom’s Level: 1. Remembering

a. a well-formulated research plan to understand and overcome the disease.

b. virtually unlimited funding of programs designed to conquer the disease.

c. directly building on the results of the research immediately preceding it.

d. the collaboration and corroboration of many different disciplines.

e. unintentional events or outcomes.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 29

29. The beginning and hallmark of wisdom is embodied in the statement,

Feedback: Subhead: Conclusions

Bloom’s Level: 5. Evaluating

a. “Correlation does not imply causation” (source is controversial).

b. “Imagination is more important than knowledge” (A. Einstein).

c. “Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood” (M. Curie).

d. “I don’t know.”

e. “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants” (I. Newton).

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 30

30. Propose one kind of experiment that might be done to corroborate and support the single-neuron monitoring experiment done in a hippocampal neuron when participants were presented with a visual stimulus.

Feedback: Recordings could be made from several neurons in the same discrete area at the same time. This would confirm the idea that several tens of thousands at least are responsible for this ability.

Subhead: Object Recognition and Memory Formation

Bloom’s Level: 6. Creating

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 31

31. In Figure 30.1, beside the red bars that represent the neuron’s response to Pamela Anderson’s face at five spikes or higher, that same neuron also responded with four spikes to four other stimuli. Hypothesize what these other stimuli might have been.

Feedback: Human faces, perhaps those that resemble Anderson’s face. Because each face a spatial geometry to it that makes us recognize a stimulus as being a face, as opposed to anything else, this neuron probably received input from the fusiform face area, whose neurons would fire only minimally (one spike) when presented with other types of visual stimuli (e.g., picture of a cup).

Subhead: Object Recognition and Memory Formation

Bloom’s Level: 5. Evaluating

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 32

32. Explain how concept cells function.

Feedback: Concept cells are highly selective for a particular stimulus but will respond to any variation of that stimulus. Thus, the example given in the text, Figure 30.1, that concept cell was presented with nearly 90 different visual stimuli. It fired the most when presented with photos of Pamela Anderson, regardless of how her likeness was changed; it even responded to her name, because her name fulfilled the criteria of the Pamela Anderson concept of what the cell recognized as the actress.

Subhead: Object Recognition and Memory Formation

Bloom’s Level: 2. Understanding

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 33

33. Given that a neuron can have as many as 50,000 dendrites and spines, all of which are potential synaptic inputs from neighboring neurons, and that neurons can be either activated, resting or inhibited (3 different discrete states), how many possible combinations are there to predict whether a fusiform face neuron is active?

Feedback: Each synapse is comprised of two neurons at three states is 3² = 9 states. Then, say, 50,000 inputs x 9 states = 450,000 combinations.

Subhead: Object Recognition and Memory Formation

Bloom’s Level: 4. Analyzing

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 34

34. In the context of conscious control, when we speak of a neuronal discharge pattern in a discrete ensemble of neurons, what are we referring to?

Feedback: The neurons’ activity patterns. Not all neurons in such a discrete ensemble will fire all at once nor for the same duration, nor to the same frequency (intensity). Rather, depending on how many neurons are in this cluster, their diverse and myriad discharge patterns can determine how active a cluster is prior to the subject becoming aware of a stimulus, recognizing it and then making a decision. Moreover, such output response also depends the type and number of inputs they receive, whether excitatory, inhibitory, or no input (resting).

Subhead: Consciousness

Bloom’s Level: 3. Applying

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 35

35. Memory is required for a conscious act to occur. Propose an explanation for how a memory might cause a conscious act to be implemented.

Feedback: A single and unique neuronal firing pattern will occur when a certain stimulus is presented. Such a firing pattern is which neurons within a discrete ensemble fire, are at rest, or are inhibited; such neurons will fire (or not fire) in the same way whenever that same stimulus is presented. This reliable pattern may be called recognition of the stimulus. The response or conscious act that follows reinforces this pattern. Then, when the same stimulus is presented, the same response reinforces the neuronal firing pattern.

Subhead: Consciousness

Bloom’s Level: 6. Creating

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 36

36. The authors propose that shortly after a CNS injury, astrocytes can be allowed to perform their protective function and then converted to neurons, so as to avoid the formers’ harmful effects that would hinder the healing process. What is the first thing that must be known before this kind of therapy can happen?

Feedback: The genotype of both the neuron and astrocyte. It must be known, genetically, what makes a neuron a neuron? And what makes an astrocyte an astrocyte? And which transcription factors make the difference between these two types of cells? And when are these transcription factors to be expressed? Not all transcription factors are expressed at the same time.

Subhead: Development and Regeneration

Bloom’s Level: 6. Creating

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 37

37. Of all the different types of cells in the retina, including the enormous number of each cell type (e.g., amacrine cells), propose an explanation for why only ganglion cells are myelinated, but not until part of their axons enter the optic nerve.

Feedback: Teleological questions or “Why” questions in biology are often those of pure conjecture. It is possible that the intense crowding of cells in the outer and inner nuclear layers, as well as in the ganglion layer, precludes the additional volume that myelination would require. It is also possible that because myelin is opaque, myelinated bipolar, horizontal, amacrine, and/or photoreceptor cells would refract incoming light.

Subhead: Sensory and Motor Integration

Bloom’s Level: 6. Creating.

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 30 - Question 38

38. If a left-handed man had a large right parietal lobe lesion, would he be able to draw or write with his left hand?

Feedback: No. He does not recognize the left side of the body as being his own.

Subhead: Input from Clinical Neurology to Studies in the Brain

Bloom’s Level: 3. Applying