SEAT NUMBER: ……….… ROOM:..……………….

FAMILY NAME:………….....………………………….
This question paper must be returned.
OTHER NAMES:……..…….…………………..……..
Candidates are not permitted to remove any part
of it from the examination room.
STUDENT NUMBER:…..…….………..……………..

FORMAL EXAMINATION PERIOD: SESSION 1, JUNE 2019

Unit Code: COGS100

Unit Name: Cognitive and Brain Sciences

Duration of Exam 2 hours (nil reading time)

(including reading time if applicable):

Total No. of Questions: 60 Multiple Choice & 5 Short Answer

Total No. of Pages 18

(including this cover sheet):

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS:

• Students are required to follow directions given by the Final Examination Supervisor and must refrain from communicating in any way with another student once they have entered
the final examination venue.
• Students may not write or mark the exam materials in any way during reading time.
• Students may only access authorised materials during this examination. A list of authorised material is available on this cover sheet.
• All watches must be removed and placed at the top of the exam desk and must remain there for the duration of the exam. All alarms, notifications and alerts must be switched off.
• Students are not permitted to leave the exam room during the first hour (excluding reading time) and during the last 15 minutes of the examination.
• If it is alleged you have breached these rules at any time during the examination, the matter may be reported to a University Discipline Committee for determination.

EXAMINATION INSTRUCTIONS:

SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS (40 POINTS)

Please select 5 questions from the list of 10 questions and answer in the exam booklet. Answers
should be approximately 2-4 sentences long. Identify the question number before each answer.
Each short answer question is worth 8 pts.

Answer the multiple choice section on the answer sheet provided.

AIDS AND MATERIALS PERMITTED/NOT PERMITTED:

Dictionaries: No dictionaries permitted
Calculators: No calculators permitted
Other: Closed book – No notes or textbooks permitted
COGS100 FINAL EXAM: S1 2019

PART 1. MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

Mark your answer for every question on the multiple choice answer sheet. Answers
provided on this Question sheet will NOT count. Each multiple choice question is
worth 1 point.

1. The correct terminology and ordering for axis labels A, B, C, D for the figure above are:
a. Superior, posterior, inferior, anterior
b. Superior, anterior, inferior, posterior
c. Anterior, posterior, inferior, superior
d. Inferior, posterior, anterior, superior
e. None of the above

2. The image above shows ______ sections of the human brain.

a. Coronal
b. Frontal
c. Sagittal
d. Horizontal
e. None of the above

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COGS100 FINAL EXAM: S1 2019

3. The image above shows ______ sections of the human brain.

a. coronal
b. frontal
c. sagittal
d. axial
e. None of the above

4. The correct terminology and ordering for labels A, B, C, D for the figure above are:
a. Parietal lobe, occipital lobe, temporal lobe, frontal lobe
b. Frontal lobe, temporal lobe, occipital lobe, parietal lobe
c. Parietal lobe, occipital lobe, frontal lobe, temporal lobe
d. Frontal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe, temporal lobe
e. None of the above

5. Label 1 identifies the:

a. Lateral (or Slyvian) fissure
b. Central sulcus
c. Precentral gyrus
d. Intraparietal sulcus
e. Insula

6. Label 2 identifies the:

a. Lateral (or Slyvian) fissure
b. Central sulcus
c. Precentral gyrus
d. Intraparietal sulcus
e. Insula

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COGS100 FINAL EXAM: S1 2019

7. Typically, neurons firing action potentials encode a signal’s intensity by

a. changing the size of their action potentials.
b. changing the frequency of their action potentials.
c. firing at precise moments so as to signal different sized signals.
d. sending signals of different sizes down different axonal branches.
e. All of the above

8. The different electrical signals occurring in nerve cells are caused by _______ the cell
membrane.
a. positive charges bound to the inner and outer faces of
b. negative charges bound to the inner and outer faces of
c. movements of charged proteins within the plane of
d. movement of ions across
e. patterns of electrical eddy currents inside

9. The correct terminology and ordering for labels A, B, C, D, are:

a. Rising Phase, Overshoot Phase, Falling Phase, Undershoot Phase
b. Upward Phase, Activation, Downward Phase, Resting potential
c. Rising Phase, Falling Phase, Overshoot Phase, Undershoot Phase
d. Overshoot, Rising, Undershoot, Resting
e. Activation, Calibration, Deactivation, Resting

10. Which of the following statements about myelination is true?

a. Myelin sheaths are created by glial cells.
b. Myelin serves to decrease velocity of the action potential.
c. Multiple layers of closely opposed neuronal membranes wrap the axon and
serve as an electrical insulator.
d. Myelin is present at the nodes of Ranvier.
e. Sodium and potassium channels are absent at the nodes of Ranvier.

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COGS100 FINAL EXAM: S1 2019

11. Animal toxins have been discovered that

a. block sodium channels.
b. prolong the open state of sodium channels.
c. alter the voltage-dependence of sodium channels.
d. block potassium channels.
e. All of the above

12. Action potentials are generated

a. at most subthreshold voltages.
b. only when the cell reaches the threshold potential.
c. only when the membrane potential exceeds threshold by 5 to 10 millivolts.
d. intermittently, but usually when the membrane potential exceeds threshold.
e. only after all of the sodium channels are open.

13. Which of the following explains the unidirectional propagation of action potentials?
a. The voltage dependence of the sodium channels
b. The voltage dependence of the potassium channels
c. The presence of a refractory period at a location where an action potential has
just passed
d. Sufficient “leakiness” of the axons, such that backward propagation of action
potentials is prevented
e. The polarized orientation of microtubules within the axon

14. The capability of a nerve terminal to rapidly and dramatically produce very large
changes in calcium levels is most dependent on the
a. presence of calcium-selective ion channels.
b. enormous gradient of calcium across the membrane.
c. fact that calcium is a positively charged ion.
d. fact that calcium is a divalent cation.
e. All of the above are essential for producing large, rapid concentration changes.

15. The iris

a. is responsible for the refraction of light onto the retina.
b. regulates the amount of light entering the eye.
c. applies tension to the lens.
d. contains the pigment epithelial cells that nourish photoreceptors.
e. covers the cornea, shielding it from harmful UV rays.

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COGS100 FINAL EXAM: S1 2019

16. Which of the following statements about the distributions of rods and cones is true?
a. Because cones carry three different color channels, there are three times as
many cones as rods.
b. Rods outnumber cones by 100 to 1, which explains the greater sensitivity of
rods in low light.
c. Rods are evenly distributed across the entire retina.
d. The density of cones is 200-fold higher in the fovea than in the most eccentric
retinal regions.
e. The density of rods is highest in the fovea.

17. The above figure depicts how the pathways from the two eyes:
a. are initially mixed in LGN.
b. remain segregated in separate layers in LGN.
c. remain segregated in separate layers in striate cortex.
d. remain segregated in separate layers in the Optic chiasm.
e. are initially mixed in the Optic chiasm.

18. The correct terminology and ordering for labels A, B, C, D are:

a. Optic nerve, Optic chiasm, Lateral geniculate nucleus, Optic Radiation
b. Retina, Optic nerve, Striate Cortex, V1,
c. Optic synapse, Optic chiasm, Lateral geniculate nucleus, Optic Radiation
d. Retina, Optic synapse, Optic chiasm, Lateral geniculate nucleus
e. None of the above

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COGS100 FINAL EXAM: S1 2019

19. Which of the following correctly matches rods and cones with their properties?
a. Rods: high spatial resolution; cones: color vision
b. Rods: high sensitivity to light; cones: high spatial resolution
c. Rods: color vision; cones: low spatial resolution
d. Rods: high sensitivity to light; cones: low spatial resolution
e. Rods: low sensitivity to light; cones: color vision

20. The fovea

a. covers approximately 40 percent of the retina.
b. lies at the center of the optic disk.
c. lies at the center of the macula lutea.
d. is synonymous with “fundus.”
e. is the only part of the retina that contains xanthophyll.

21. Which of the following represents the most direct pathway for the transmission of visual
information from the eye to the brain?
a. Photoreceptor → bipolar cell → ganglion cell → brain
b. Horizontal cell → bipolar cell → ganglion cell → brain
c. Photoreceptor → bipolar cell → amacrine cell → brain
d. Photoreceptor → horizontal cell → ganglion cell → brain
e. Photoreceptor → bipolar cell → amacrine cell → ganglion cell → brain

22. The correct terminology and ordering for labels A, B, C in the above figure are:
a. Triocular portion, Binocular portion, Monocular portion
b. Macula, Binocular portion, Monocular portion
c. Macula, Triocula portion, Monocula portion
d. Centre portion, Surround portion, Outer portion
e. None of the above

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COGS100 FINAL EXAM: S1 2019

23. Which of the following statements about the conveyance of luminance signals by
bipolar cells is false?
a. Bipolar cells do not have direct contacts with horizontal cells and so are
unaffected by horizontal cell activity.
b. Off-bipolar cells hyperpolarize in response to light.
c. On-bipolar cells depolarize in response to light.
d. Glutamate causes off-bipolars cells to depolarize.
e. Glutamate causes on-bipolars cells to hyperpolarize.

24. Which of the following statements about center-surround receptive fields in the retina is
false?
a. Cells that are inhibited by light in their center are excited by light in their
surround.
b. Cells that are excited by light in their center are inhibited by light in their
surround.
c. The surround portion of the receptive field is typically an annulus (or doughnut-
shaped ring) that surrounds the circular center.
d. The spatial extent to which a cell can be influenced by light never extends
beyond the physical extent of its dendritic field.
e. The best stimulus for an on-center cell is light in its center and darkness in its
surround.

25. The patellar tendon (knee-jerk) reflex is

a. mediated by Golgi tendon organs.
b. a monosynaptic reflex arc mediated by Ia afferents.
c. a polysynaptic reflex arc that integrates the input from groups Ia, Ib, and II
afferents.
d. mediated by collaterals of somatosensory afferents.
e. a volitional response to the impending impact of an object (i.e., the physician’s
rubber hammer) directed toward the knee.

26. The condition called “fused tetanus” refers to

a. lockjaw symptoms resulting from exposure to the tetanus toxin.
b. a muscle firing pattern resulting from one’s willing a muscle to contract at
maximum velocity.
c. the response of single muscle fibers to a single action potential input.
d. a sustained maximal contraction due to intense motor unit firing.
e. an excessive contraction that results in the fusing together of muscle fibers.

27. Golgi tendon organs are most sensitive to

a. muscle tension.
b. muscle stretch.
c. absolute joint position.
d. muscle contraction frequency.
e. They are equally sensitive to all of the above

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COGS100 FINAL EXAM: S1 2019

28. _______ innervate striated muscle fibers, and _______ innervate specialized fibers
called _______.
a. γ motor neurons; α motor neurons; muscle spindles
b. α motor neurons; γ motor neurons; muscle spindles
c. α motor neurons; γ motor neurons; extrafusal muscle fibers
d. γ motor neurons; α motor neurons; intrafusal muscle fibers
e. α motor neurons; γ motor neurons; extrafusal muscle fibers

29. According to the size principle, in which order are motor units recruited in response to
increasing synaptic input?
a. fast fatigable (FF), fast fatigue-resistant (FR), slow (S)
b. S, FF, FR
c. FR, FF, S
d. S, FR, FF
e. FR, S, FF

30. Where are lower motor neurons located in the above figure?
a. A
b. B
c. C
d. D
e. E

31. As motor unit size increases, which property of the α motor neuron decreases?
a. Excitability
b. Cell body size
c. Dendritic complexity
d. Axonal diameter
e. Number of axonal branches

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COGS100 FINAL EXAM: S1 2019

32. The brain areas labelled A and B, respectively, in the above figure are the:
a. primary motor cortex and premotor cortex.
b. premotor cortex and somatosensory cortex.
c. premotor cortex and primary motor cortex.
d. primary motor cortex and somatosensory cortex.
e. somatosensory cortex and primary motor cortex.

33. Which of the following best characterises the features that uniquely identify the primary
motor cortex (M1) from other motor areas?
a. Layer V of M1 contains large-diameter pyramidal Betz cells
b. Low intensity electrical stimulation of M1 neurons elicits movements
c. Somatotopic organization of M1
d. a and b
e. a, b, and c

34. Which of the following body parts listed has the greatest area of primary motor cortex
devoted to it?
a. Neck
b. Hand
c. Shoulder
d. Knee
e. Brow

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COGS100 FINAL EXAM: S1 2019

35. Which evidence suggests that upper motor neurons in the primary cortex have a
preferred direction?
a. Spike-triggered averaging indicates that a single upper motor neuron activates a
muscle field.
b. Stimulation of the primary motor cortex can elicit movements in different areas of
the body.
c. Firing rates of upper motor neurons change prior to movements involving small
forces.
d. Mapping of the primary motor cortex indicates that many body regions overlap.
e. The firing rate of a particular upper motor neuron is highest when the hand
moves from left to right.

36. The peripheral muscle group that an upper motor neuron projects to is the
a. muscle field.
b. motor unit.
c. muscle spindle.
d. corticospinal tract.
e. None of the above

37. What percentage of pyramidal tract fibers decussate to form the lateral corticospinal
tract?
a. 10%
b. 25%
c. 50%
d. 90%
e. 100%

38. Which of the following set of statements about the corticobulbar tract is true?
a. It originates in the primary motor cortex, terminates in the spinal cord, and is
involved in controlling facial and neck muscles.
b. It originates in the primary motor cortex, terminates in the spinal cord, and is
involved in controlling proximal and distal limb muscles.
c. It originates in the primary motor cortex, terminates in the brainstem, and is
involved in controlling facial and neck muscles.
d. It originates in the primary motor cortex, terminates in the brainstem, and is
involved in controlling proximal and distal limb muscles.
e. None of the above.

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COGS100 FINAL EXAM: S1 2019

39. Betz cells account for what percentage of descending projections to lower motor
neurons in the spinal cord:
a. 100%
b. 95%
c. 50%
d. 5%
e. 0%

40. Which of the following statements about the spinal cord is false?
a. The gray matter (neuronal cell bodies) of the spinal cord is divided into dorsal
and ventral horns.
b. Lower motor neurons in the ventral horn are arranged somatotopically.
c. There is an orderly relationship between the location of lower motor neuron
pools in the dorsal horn and the muscles they activate.
d. Medial portions of the ventral horn contain lower motor neuron pools that contact
proximal muscles of the limbs.
e. Lateral portions of the ventral horn contain lower motor neuron pools that
contact the distal muscles of the limbs.

41. Which statement about directional tuning and population coding by primary motor
cortical neurons (M1) is true?
a. The precision of directional reaching movements equals the precision of
directional tuning of individual M1 neurons.
b. Most M1 neurons have two or three distinct preferred directions separated by
intervening ranges of non-preferred directions.
c. The vector summation of the responses of an entire population of individual M1
neurons (the population vector) indicates movement direction.
d. Individual primary motor cortical neurons are narrowly tuned to a very small
range of possible reach directions.
e. Primary motor cortical neurons do not encode direction.

42. Which of the following statements about the premotor cortex is false?
a. Premotor neurons show elevated responses during a delay period in which a
reach is being prepared but not yet executed.
b. Low intensity microstimulation at individual electrode locations in premotor
cortex produces robust muscle activations.
c. Premotor neurons help control movement indirectly through axons projecting to
primary motor cortex.
d. Premotor neurons help control movement directly through axons that form part
of the corticobulbar and corticospinal tracts.
e. Mirror neurons are found in the ventrolateral portion of the premotor cortex.

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COGS100 FINAL EXAM: S1 2019

43. In an anticipatory postural response of a standing person about to tug on a handle, the
early response of leg muscles (such as the gastrocnemius) that precedes the actual
tug is an example of
a. feedforward motor control.
b. feedback motor control.
c. equilibrium-point motor control.
d. a “winner take all” motor coding strategy.
e. sparse population coding.

44. What is the function of tiny saccades and drift during visual perception?
a. To move the retinal stimulus to cones of different wavelengths to get full
color perception
b. To focus on the entirety of a scene
c. To avoid focusing on retinal blood vessels
d. To move the retinal stimulus away from the blind spot of the eye
e. To change the retinal stimulus during fixation, preventing retinal adaptation

45. Damage to the medial rectus muscle would lead to dysfunction in which motor
response?
a. Abduction of the eye
b. Elevation of the eye
c. Depression of the eye
d. Adduction of the eye
e. Intorsion of the eye

46. When shaking one’s head back and forth while looking straight ahead at a stationary
object, the mechanism that maintains the focal image at a roughly constant location on
the retina is called
a. retinal stabilization.
b. the vestibulo-ocular reflex.
c. the oculomotor reflex.
d. smooth pursuit.
e. the optokinetic reflex.

47. The frontal eye fields influence horizontal eye movement by innervating the
a. superior colliculus only.
b. paramedian pontine reticular formation (PPRF) only.
c. oculomotor nuclei only.
d. superior colliculus and the paramedian pontine reticular formation (PPRF).
e. oculomotor nuclei and the paramedian pontine reticular formation (PPRF).

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COGS100 FINAL EXAM: S1 2019

48. Which statement regarding neurons in the superior colliculus is most accurate?
a. Visual information activates neurons in the deep layers of the superior colliculus.
b. Visual neurons synapse on a large number of motor neurons, and one motor
neuron is innervated by many visual neurons.
c. Activation of visual neurons always results in activation of the corresponding
motor neurons.
d. Visual neurons respond to a specific region of visual space and synapse on
motor neurons that move the eye to that same region.
e. All layers of the superior colliculus have a homunculus-like somatosensory map.

49. While driving, you quickly glance horizontally to the left without moving your head.
During that eye movement, which neuronal response is most likely occurring?
a. A decrease in firing rate in lower motor neurons in the left abducens nucleus and
right oculomotor nucleus
b. An increase in firing rate in lower motor neurons in the left abducens nucleus
and right oculomotor nucleus
c. An increase in firing rate in lower motor neurons in the right abducens nucleus
and a decrease in firing rate in lower motor neurons in the left oculomotor
nucleus
d. An increase in firing rate in lower motor neurons in the right abducens nucleus
and left oculomotor nucleus
e. An increase in firing rate in lower motor neurons in the left abducens nucleus
and a decrease in firing rate in lower motor neurons in the right oculomotor
nucleus

50. Which element of language is controlled mainly by the right hemisphere?

a. Syntax
b. Grammar
c. Prosody
d. Lexicon
e. Phonemes

51. Studies of split-brain patients have indicated that the left hemisphere has predominate
control of which function?
a. Analysis of left visual field
b. Emotional coloring of language
c. Spatial abilities
d. Writing
e. Left hand stereognosis

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COGS100 FINAL EXAM: S1 2019

52. Where is Wernicke’s area located in the figure above?

a. A
b. B
c. C
d. D
e. E

53. After a stroke, an individual has difficulty understanding speech, but can form and
speak words, albeit nonsensically. Which disorder do these symptoms implicate?
a. Conduction aphasia
b. Alexia
c. Dysarthria
d. Broca’s aphasia
e. Wernicke’s aphasia

54. A healthy patient undergoes the Wada test with injection into the right carotid artery.
He quickly begins to show language deficits. What does this data tell you about the
patient?
a. He is right-hemispheric dominant for language.
b. He has dysarthria.
c. He is right-handed.
d. He has a lesion in the right temporal lobe.
e. He has aprosodia.

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COGS100 FINAL EXAM: S1 2019

55. Which symptom is not characteristic of dyslexia?

a. Poor reading skills
b. Difficulty processing speech sounds
c. Difficulty translating visual to verbal information
d. Poor spelling skills
e. Lower than normal intelligence

56. Both lesion and functional neuroimaging studies in humans have shown that right
parietal regions are involved in
a. directing attention to the right and left hemispace.
b. directing attention to the left hemispace only.
c. directing attention to the right hemispace only.
d. identifying objects.
e. recognizing faces.

57. A major function of the temporal lobe is

a. directing attention to the body.
b. directing attention to extrapersonal space.
c. recognition and identification of stimuli.
d. planning for the future.
e. impulse control.

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COGS100 FINAL EXAM: S1 2019

58. A patient is asked to draw a house by copying the model picture shown above. Her
version is shown on the right. Which of the following disorders would you suspect the
patient has?
a. Blindsight
b. Contralateral neglect syndrome
c. Prosopagnosia
d. Visual agnosia
e. Alzheimer’s disease

59. What experimental evidence demonstrates the synesthesia phenomenon?

a. Subjects with color–taste synesthesia are better chefs.
b. Subjects with color–grapheme synesthesia score better than controls on
numerical visual search tasks.
c. Subjects with color–grapheme synesthesia learn to read at a younger age.
d. Subjects with color–grapheme synesthesia learn to read at an older age.
e. Subjects with any form of synesthesia have a higher probability of being
diagnosed with ADHD.

60. During an MRI, a subject is shown an image of a face. In which region would you
expect to see an increase in neural activity?
a. Cerebellum
b. Striatum
c. Right fusiform gyrus
d. Right posterior parietal
e. Prefrontal cortex

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COGS100 FINAL EXAM: S1 2019

PART 2. SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS

Please select 5 questions from the list below and answer in the space provided.
Answers should be approximately 2-4 sentences long. Identify the question number
before each answer.

1. What are the distinct characteristics (both function and structure) of the
magnocellular versus parvocellular streams?

2. What is meant by the statement, “Ion channels and ion pumps have complementary
functions”?

3. Compare the pros and cons of electrical versus chemical synapses.

4. The primary motor cortex “controls movements, not individual muscles”. What does
this statement mean and what evidence supports it?

5. Contrast the roles of the primary motor cortex and premotor cortex. Provide
evidence to support your answer.

6. Explain two different examples of topographic organisation in the motor system.

7. Briefly describe what visual perception would be like without eye movements.
Consider the role of eye movements in achieving foveation, preventing the
stabilization of retinal images, and carrying out smooth pursuit and vergence
movements.

8. Where are the horizontal and vertical gaze centers? How do they help the superior
colliculus translate motor goals into eye movements?

9. What symptoms are seen, and which brain region is dysfunctional, in dyslexia?

10. A patient that has recently had a stroke is diagnosed with a right parietal
association cortex lesion. What symptoms would you expect this patient to exhibit?

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