Neuroscience
Which neurotransmitter acts like the brain's main brake?
A. Dopamine
B. Glutamate
C. Serotonin
D. GABA
D. GABA
GABA is the brain's major inhibitory neurotransmitter. It acts like a brake, reducing neural activity.
When light enters your eyes, specialized cells convert it into electrical signals that your brain can process. What is this process called?
A. Sensory adaptation
B. Perceptual constancy
C. Accommodation
D. Transduction
D. Transduction
Transduction is the process of converting physical stimulus energy, such as light or sound, into neural signals.
During which stage of sleep do most vivid dreams occur, while the body's major muscles are temporarily paralyzed?
A. NREM Stage 1
B. REM sleep
C. NREM Stage 2
D. Deep NREM sleep
B. REM sleep
REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep is associated with vivid dreaming and temporary muscle paralysis, which helps prevent us from physically acting out our dreams.
Which of the following is the smallest unit of language that carries meaning?
A. Phoneme
B. Syntax
C. Morpheme
D. Grammar
C. Morpheme
A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of language. For example, un- and happy are two morphemes in the word unhappy.
A patient experiences a brain injury and has difficulty processing visual information, even though their eyes are functioning normally. Which brain lobe is most likely damaged?
A. Frontal lobe
B. Temporal lobe
C. Parietal lobe
D. Occipital lobe
D. Occipital lobe
The occipital lobe, located at the back of the brain, is primarily responsible for processing visual information.
Which brain structure is especially important for forming new memories?
A. Amygdala
B. Thalamus
C. Hippocampus
D. Medulla
C. Hippocampus
The hippocampus plays a key role in forming new memories.
You're listening to music and gradually increase the volume. What is the smallest change in volume you can detect called?
A. Absolute threshold
B. Difference threshold
C. Sensory adaptation
D. Signal detection
B. Difference threshold
The difference threshold, also called the just noticeable difference (JND), is the smallest detectable difference between two stimuli.
You're having a conversation with a friend in a crowded restaurant. Although you're focused on your friend, you suddenly notice someone at another table mention your name. Which phenomenon best explains this?
A. Sensory adaptation
B. Selective attention
C. Cocktail party effect
D. Perceptual constancy
C. Cocktail party effect
Personally meaningful information, such as hearing your own name, can capture your attention even when you're focused on something else.
A young child says, “I goed to the park yesterday,” instead of “I went to the park.” Which language-development phenomenon does this illustrate?
A. Telegraphic speech
B. Fast mapping
C. Babbling
D. Overgeneralization
D. Overgeneralization
Overgeneralization occurs when children apply a grammatical rule too broadly, such as adding -ed to an irregular verb.
During a hearing test, a researcher gradually increases the volume of a very faint sound. The participant can detect it on 50% of the trials.
What does this measurement represent?
A. Difference threshold
B. Absolute threshold
C. Sensory adaptation
D. Weber's law
B. Absolute threshold
The absolute threshold is the minimum intensity of a stimulus that a person can detect 50% of the time.
You're walking alone at night when you suddenly hear a loud noise. Your heart starts racing. Which division of the nervous system is responsible for this reaction?
A. Parasympathetic nervous system
B. Central nervous system
C. Somatic nervous system
D. Sympathetic nervous system
D. Sympathetic nervous system
Activates the body's fight-or-flight response, increasing heart rate and preparing the body to respond to danger.
You feel your phone vibrate in your pocket, but when you check it, there is no notification. According to signal detection theory, what type of response is this?
A. A hit
B. A miss
C. A false alarm
D. A correct rejection
C. A false alarm
A false alarm occurs when someone reports detecting a signal even though no signal was present.
A sleep researcher records a person's brain activity and observes slow, high-amplitude delta waves. What does this indicate?
A. The person is experiencing REM sleep.
B. The person is awake but relaxed.
C. The person is entering the first stage of sleep.
D. The person is in deep NREM sleep.
D. The person is in deep NREM sleep.
Delta waves are slow, high-amplitude brain waves associated with deep sleep (NREM Stage 3).
After a stroke, a patient can speak fluently and produce complete sentences, but their words often make little sense. They also have difficulty understanding what others say. Which brain area is most likely damaged?
A. Broca's area
B. Motor cortex
C. Wernicke's area
D. Occipital lobe
C. Wernicke's area
Damage to Wernicke's area can cause fluent but meaningless speech and difficulty understanding language, a condition known as Wernicke's aphasia.
A person wakes up in the middle of the night and can see their surroundings but cannot move their arms, legs, or speak for several seconds.
What is this experience called?
A. Narcolepsy
B. Sleep apnea
C. Sleep paralysis
D. Insomnia
C. Sleep paralysis
Sleep paralysis is a temporary inability to move or speak while falling asleep or waking up. It occurs when the muscle inactivity associated with REM sleep briefly continues into wakefulness.
A medication blocks dopamine from activating its receptors. This medication is an example of a(n):
A. Agonist
B. Antagonist
C. Neurotransmitter
D. Reuptake inhibitor
B. Antagonist
An antagonist blocks or reduces the action of a neurotransmitter at its receptor.
When you look down a long, straight railroad track, the two parallel rails appear to come closer together in the distance. Which depth cue explains this?
A. Linear perspective
B. Binocular disparity
C. Interposition
D. Texture gradient
A. Linear perspective
Linear perspective is a monocular depth cue in which parallel lines appear to converge as they extend into the distance.
A person takes a medication to relieve a painful headache. Because the pain goes away, they become more likely to take the medication again when they have a headache. What type of reinforcement explains this behavior?
A. Positive reinforcement
B. Negative reinforcement
C. Positive punishment
D. Negative punishment
B. Negative reinforcement
Removing an unpleasant stimulus (the headache) increases the likelihood of repeating the behavior (taking the medication).
A student is offered two choices:
Option A: Receive $50 for sure.
Option B: Have a 50% chance of receiving $100 and a 50% chance of receiving nothing.
Although both options have the same expected monetary value, the student prefers Option A. Which theory best explains this preference?
A. Prospect theory
B. Spearman's theory of intelligence
C. Representativeness heuristic
D. Activation-synthesis theory
A. Prospect theory
Prospect theory explains how people evaluate potential gains and losses. When choosing between gains, people often prefer a guaranteed reward over a risky option with the same expected value.
A person has damage to the left side of their brain and experiences difficulty moving their right hand, while their left hand functions normally.
Which principle best explains this?
A. Brain plasticity
B. Contralateral control
C. Sensory adaptation
D. Hemispheric specialization
B. Contralateral control
Each cerebral hemisphere primarily controls voluntary movements on the opposite side of the body. Therefore, damage to the left hemisphere can affect movement on the right side.
A patient has damage to the corpus callosum. Which ability is most directly affected?
A. Regulating heartbeat and breathing
B. Forming new long-term memories
C. Communicating information between the two brain hemispheres
D. Controlling the body's fight-or-flight response
C. Communicating information between the two brain hemispheres
The corpus callosum is a large bundle of nerve fibers that connects the left and right hemispheres, allowing them to exchange information.
In a brief visual experiment, you see a red circle and a blue square. When asked what you saw, you mistakenly report seeing a blue circle. What is this perceptual error called?
A. Perceptual constancy
B. Sensory adaptation
C. Selective attention
D. Illusory conjunction
D. Illusory conjunction
An illusory conjunction occurs when the brain incorrectly combines features, such as the color of one object and the shape of another.
A researcher suggests that dreams occur because the brain tries to create meaningful stories from random neural activity during sleep. Which theory best explains this idea?
A. Activation-synthesis theory
B. Wish-fulfillment theory
C. Problem-solving theory
D. Information-processing theory
A. Activation-synthesis theory
According to this theory, dreams result from the brain attempting to interpret and organize spontaneous neural activity during sleep into a meaningful experience.
Two students with similar academic abilities take the same difficult math exam. Before the exam, one student hears that people from their social group typically perform poorly in mathematics. Despite being well-prepared, the student becomes anxious and scores lower than expected.
Which psychological phenomenon best explains this result?
A. Flynn effect
B. Stereotype threat
C. Crystallized intelligence
D. Confirmation bias
B. Stereotype threat
Awareness of a negative belief about one's social group can create anxiety or pressure that interferes with performance, even when the person is capable and well-prepared.
Which option correctly matches the sensory structures responsible for transduction in vision, hearing, smell, and taste, in that order?
A. Cochlear hair cells → Rods and cones → Taste receptor cells → Olfactory receptor neurons
B. Rods and cones → Olfactory receptor neurons → Cochlear hair cells → Taste receptor cells
C. Rods and cones → Cochlear hair cells → Olfactory receptor neurons → Taste receptor cells
D. Taste receptor cells → Cochlear hair cells → Rods and cones → Olfactory receptor neurons
C. Rods and cones → Cochlear hair cells → Olfactory receptor neurons → Taste receptor cells
Vision: Rods and cones in the retina
Hearing: Hair cells in the cochlea
Smell: Olfactory receptor neurons
Taste: Taste receptor cells in taste buds