Questions and Answers of Developmental Psychology

How do the effects of stress mimic the effects of illness?
How does prolonged stress damage the hippocampus?
If someone were unable to produce cytokines, what would be the consequences?
How does cortisol help the body deal with a stressful event?a. It maintains the salt in the blood and therefore maintains blood volume.b. It lowers body temperature.c. It activates the
How do the functions of the HPA axis compare to those of the sympathetic nervous system?a. The sympathetic nervous system readies the body for brief, vigorous action, and the HPA axis controls
Why do nearly all infections produce similar symptoms, such as fever, sleepiness, and loss of energy?a. Every infection damages the body’s ability to maintain body temperature and overall
What are the effects of stress on the immune system?a. All stressful experiences impair the immune system.b. Brief stress activates the immune system, but prolonged stress weakens it.c. Brief stress
Prolonged stress is known to damage which brain area?a. The visual cortexb. The hippocampusc. The cerebellumd. The corpus callosum
Thompson found a localized engram, whereas Lashley did not. What key differences in procedures or assumptions were probably responsible for their different results?
What evidence indicates that the red nucleus is necessary for performance of a conditioned response but not for learning the response?
How do epinephrine and cortisol enhance memory storage?
What is a way to test working memory in both humans and nonhumans?
Which types of memory were most impaired in H. M. and people with similar types of amnesia?
Which types of memory were least impaired in H. M. and people with similar types of amnesia?
What type of memory do the radial maze and the Morris water maze test?
According to the context hypothesis, why does hippocampal damage impair recent memories more than distant memories?
On what kind of question is someone with Korsakoff’s syndrome most likely to confabulate?
Which type of memory is generally least impaired for people with Alzheimer’s disease?
When you first learned to drive a car, you had to carefully think about everything you did. After much practice, your movements became smooth and automatic. What does this observation imply about the
The basal ganglia and the prefrontal cortex contribute to learning a response based on rewards and punishments. How do these areas differ?
What evidence led Lashley to draw his conclusions of equipotentiality and mass action?a. Learning depends on changes at synapses using all types of neurotransmitters.b. Electrical stimulation of the
What happened when Thompson temporarily inactivated the lateral interpositus nucleus of a rabbit’s cerebellum during learning?a. The rabbit showed no responses during training but showed evidence
What happened when Thompson temporarily inactivated the red nucleus during learning?a. The rabbit showed no responses during training but showed evidence of learning as soon as the red nucleus
Which of the following is an example of why the original idea of short-term and long-term memory is no longer considered adequate?a. Memory consolidation depends on more than just the time necessary
During visual working memory, which brain area synchronizes its activity with that of other areas of the cerebral cortex?a. Red nucleusb. Hypothalamusc. Substantia nigrad. Prefrontal cortex
Anterograde amnesia is loss of memory for ________, whereas retrograde amnesia is loss of memory for ________.a. personal experiences . . . factual informationb. factual information . . . personal
Research on amnesia suggests what explanation for the usefulness of episodic memory?a. Episodic memories keep the brain active so it can store more useful memories.b. Episodic memories give us
Suppose a rat is in a radial maze in which six arms have food once per day, and two other arms never have food. What kind of mistake does a rat with hippocampal damage make?a. It enters the two arms
When researchers implanted electrodes into a person’s hippocampus, they found cells sensitive to what?a. Colorb. Temperaturec. Locationd. Rhyming
The basal ganglia are primarily responsible for which type of learning?a. Gradually learning habits, based on immediate feedbackb. Acquiring and storing episodic memoriesc. Memories that people can
Which of the following would probably prevent most cases of Korsakoff ’s syndrome?a. Increase the availability of free exercise facilitiesb. Decrease the prevalence of particulate matter in air
What is the relation of genetics to Alzheimer’s disease?a. Identified genes have a strong effect on early-onset Alzheimer’s disease and a weaker effect on lateonset disease.b. Identified genes
Which brain area records the expected gains and losses associated with possible actions?a. Anterior temporal cortexb. Amygdalac. Parietal cortexd. Ventral prefrontal cortex
How does the orbitofrontal cortex contribute to decision making?a. It responds to the average value of each response over a long period of time.b. It responds to how a reward compares to other
How can a Hebbian synapse account for the basic phenomena of classical conditioning?
When serotonin blocks potassium channels on the presynaptic terminal, what is the effect on transmission?
Before LTP: In the normal state, what is the effect of glutamate at the AMPA receptors? At the NMDA receptors?
During the formation of LTP, when a burst of intense stimulation releases much more glutamate than usual at two or more incoming axons, what is the effect of the glutamate at the AMPA receptors? At
After the neuron has gone through LTP, what is now the effect of glutamate at the AMPA receptors? At the NMDA receptors?
Researchers have found several ways of improving memory in rodents, including genetic modification. Why do we not apply these methods to humans?
If a synapse has already developed LTP once, should it be easier or more difficult to get it to develop LTP again? Why?
Dopamine facilitates activity at many AMPA synapses (Tye et al., 2010). How might this fact help explain how methylphenidate (Ritalin) improves learning?
Suppose axon A weakly excites cell C, and axon B strongly excites it. If these are Hebbian synapses, under what circumstance will axon A’s synapse be strengthened?a. Whenever axon A’s synapse is
Why is Aplysia an appealing animal for studies of the physiology of learning?a. Its axon is thicker than that of mammals and therefore easier to study.b. Unlike mammals, it uses only one
What is meant by the “specificity” of LTP?a. LTP occurs in certain parts of the brain and not others.b. LTP occurs only at the synapses that have been activated.c. Nearly simultaneous stimulation
What is the difference between AMPA receptors and NMDA receptors?a. They respond to different neurotransmitters.b. AMPA receptors are excitatory, and NMDA receptors are inhibitory.c. AMPA receptors
During the formation of LTP, which ions enter at the NMDA receptors?a. Calcium and magnesiumb. Iron and magnesiumc. Sodium and potassiumd. Calcium and sodium
What does CaMKII do?a. It displaces magnesium and therefore permits glutamate to open calcium channels.b. It releases a protein that alters the expression of several genes.c. It diffuses from one
At this point, what type of drug or chemical is most clearly shown to improve memory without unacceptable side effects?a. Drugs that enhance LTPb. Ginkgo bilobac. Caffeine and other stimulantsd. The
The left hemisphere of the brain is connected to the right eye in guinea pigs. In humans, the left hemisphere is connected to the left half of each retina. Explain the reason for this species
In humans, the left half of the retina receives visual information from the _________ side of the visual field and sends its axons to the _________ hemisphere of the brain.
What can a split-brain person do that other people cannot do?
Can a split-brain person name an object after feeling it with the right hand? With the left hand? Explain.
Which hemisphere is dominant for the following in most people: speech, emotional inflection of speech, interpreting other people’s emotional expressions, spatial relationships?
What behavioral evidence indicates that the corpus callosum is immature in 3-year-olds?
In humans, light from the right visual field strikes the _____ half of each retina, which sends its axons to the _____ hemisphere of the brain.a. left . . . leftb. left . . . rightc. right . . .
At the human optic chiasm, which axons cross to the opposite hemisphere?a. Those from the nasal (inside) half of each retina.b. Those from the temporal (outside) half of each retina.c. Those from the
Under what circumstances, if any, can a split-brain person name an object?a. After feeling it with the left handb. After feeling it with the right handc. Only after feeling it with both handsd. Under
After a split-brain person sees something in the left visual field, how can he or she identify the object, if at all?a. By describing it in wordsb. By pointing to it with the left handc. By pointing
When the right hemisphere reacts to something it sees, causing a behavior that the left hemisphere can feel, how does the left hemisphere react?a. It expresses surprise.b. It pretends the action did
Of the following, which can people with left-hemisphere damage do better than the average for other people?a. Understand and describe a short story.b. Learn to speak a foreign language.c. Calculate
At what age do anatomical differences emerge between the left and right hemispheres?a. In infancyb. When a child starts learning to talkc. In early adolescenced. In early adulthood
In one study, 3-year-old children were asked to feel fabrics and say whether they were the same or different. What evidence indicated that the corpus callosum was immature in these children?a. They
What are three likely explanations for why bonobos made more language progress than common chimpanzees?
What evidence argues against the hypothesis that language evolution depended simply on the overall evolution of brain and intelligence?
Describe tasks that people with Williams syndrome do poorly and those that they do well.
What is the strongest evidence in favor of a sensitive period for language learning?
What kind of word are Broca’s patients least likely to use?
What kind of word do Broca’s patients have the most trouble understanding?
Describe the speech production of people with Wernicke’s aphasia.
Describe the speech comprehension of people with Wernicke’s aphasia.
In what way do musical compositions vary depending on the language spoken by the composer?
Why is dyslexia identified more frequently in children speaking English than in those speaking many other languages?
Most people with Broca’s aphasia suffer from partial paralysis on the right side of the body. Most people with Wernicke’s aphasia do not. Why?
In a syndrome called word blindness, a person loses the ability to read (even single letters), although the person can still see and speak. What is a possible neurological explanation? That is, can
What is meant by the “productivity” aspect of human language?a. The ability to convert a communication into actionb. The ability to repeat something after hearing someone else say itc. The
If human language did not evolve from other primates’ vocalizations, what else is a likely hypothesis?a. Language evolved from nothing at all.b. Language evolved from dancing.c. Language evolved
What is the status of the hypothesis that language evolved as a by-product of overall intelligence?a. It is supported by findings that total brain mass correlates highly with language ability.b. It
If a child is bilingual from infancy, how are the two languages represented in the brain?a. The left hemisphere controls one language, and the right hemisphere controls the other language.b. The left
Which of the following is characteristic of Broca’s aphasia?a. Difficulty forming new long-term memories, especially episodic memoriesb. Inability to describe anything seen in the left visual field
Which of the following is most damaged in Broca’s aphasia?a. The ability to control the muscles of the jaw and tongueb. The ability to hear the difference between one word and anotherc. The ability
Which of the following is characteristic of Wernicke’s aphasia?a. Difficulty forming new long-term memories, especially episodic memoriesb. Inability to describe anything seen in the left visual
Which of the following activities strongly activates Broca’s area?a. Folk dancingb. Driving a carc. Competitive swimmingd. Sight-reading music
Which of the following is most seriously impaired in most people with dyslexia?a. Visionb. Ability to hear soundsc. Ability to remember sequences of soundsd. Motivation
Why do nearly all scientists and philosophers reject the idea of dualism?
What is meant by the “hard problem”?
In the experiment by Dehaene et al., how were the conscious and unconscious stimuli similar? How were they different?
In this experiment, how did the brain’s responses differ to the conscious and unconscious stimuli?
How could someone use fMRI to determine which of two patterns in binocular rivalry is conscious at a given moment?
If someone is aware of the stimulus on the right in a case of binocular rivalry, what evidence indicates that the brain is also processing the stimulus on the left?
As people lost consciousness under anesthesia and later regained it, what changed most strikingly in the brain?
In what way does the phi phenomenon imply that a new stimulus sometimes changes consciousness of what went before it?
What brain response was related to people’s ability to resist distraction from an irrelevant red square among the green squares and circle?
What is the evidence that spatial neglect is a problem in attention, not just sensation?
What are several procedures that increase attention to the left side in a person with spatial neglect?
Could a computer be conscious? What evidence, if any, would convince you that it was conscious?
The operational definition of consciousness applies only to people willing and able to report that they are conscious of some events and not others. Research using this definition has determined
Which of the following best states the identity position regarding mind and brain?a. The physical world could not exist unless some mind were aware of it.b. Mental activity causes brain activity.c.
What is “hard” about the “hard problem”?a. To solve it, we would need to conduct extremely expensive research.b. The research to solve this problem would raise difficult ethical issues.c. The
Which of the following questions, if any, can current research methods answer?a. Why does consciousness exist at all?b. What behaviors become possible because of consciousness that we could not do

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