Term Test 3

1) The conversion of testosterone to di-hydrotestosterone (DHT) is important for the

development of which of the following structures?
Seminal vesicle
Testes
Penis
Ovary

2) Which of the following statements is correct regarding sexual differentiation?

The fetus still has a bi-potential gonad at 24 weeks gestation.

The fetus has differentiated into male or female gonads by 4 weeks gestation.
The major sex differentiation factor is found on the X-chromosome.
Mutations on the SRY gene can lead to common female-like structures.

3) Cortical neurons fire about ___ action potentials per second on average.
40
6
1
0.15

4) A neural problem with swallowing most likely involves damage or malfunction in

the:

spinal cord.
brain stem.
thalamus.
limbic system.

5) Which of the following is true regarding the onset of puberty?

In general, population-wide, XY individuals experience it earlier than XX individuals

It involves increased release of GnRH
It involves decreased release of LH
It is not at all influenced by any environmental factors

6) Signals travel from the spinal cord to the brain mainly in the
dorsal horns.
ventral horns.
white matter.
propriospinal tracts.

7) In the retina, many photoreceptors may contact a single bipolar cell. This
many-to-one arrangement is an example of
labeled lines.
population coding.
frequency coding.
convergence.
8) To discriminate between a bird’s singing and a flashing light, the brain uses mainly

population coding.
convergence of sensory neurons.
frequency coding.
labeled lines.

9) Sensory systems use

phasic neurons to signal modality.

lateral inhibition to detect contrast.
tonic neurons to detect motion.
labeled lines to signal intensity.

10) A 50-year-old man has trouble reading the newspaper but not traffic signs. His
vision of the newspaper could be improved by making his

lenses rounder.
corneas flatter.
eyeballs shorter (in the front-to-back direction).
pupils more dilated.

11) If someone has good vision but then takes a drug that keeps their ciliary muscles
in a contracted state, they will have
presbyopia.
hyperopia.
difficulty focusing on distant objects.
difficulty focusing on nearby objects.

12) Vision is blurry underwater mainly because the

The refractive index of the cornea decreases.

The cornea is much higher than that of water.
Water is much higher than that of the cornea.
Water is similar to that of the cornea.

13) Consider an off-center bipolar cell in the retina. The whole center of its receptive
field is in light, but a large part of the surround is in darkness. This cell’s activity will
be

close to baseline.
below baseline.
above baseline.
different in different parts of its field.

14) If someone’s vision is improved by glasses containing concave lenses then their
visual problem (when they are not wearing the glasses) is likely
trouble seeing small objects close up.
a focal point behind the retina.
a focal point in front of the retina.
presbyopia.

15) If a retinal ganglion cell receives a lot of convergence from upstream neurons then
that cell probably

has its receptive field in the retinal periphery.

gets its input mainly from cones rather than rods.
is used mainly for detailed vision.
is unlikely to respond to faint objects in dim light.

16) If the transmission of action potentials were blocked in the optic tract on the right
side, then vision would be impaired in the

right eye but not the left eye.

left eye but not the right eye.
right visual hemifield of both eyes.
left visual hemifield of both eyes.

17) Arrange these cells in the order of preferred wavelength (i.e. the wavelength of
light for which the absorbance curve of their visual pigment peaks), from shortest
wavelength to longest.

blue cone, rod, green cone

green cone, blue cone, rod
rod, blue cone, red cone
rod, red cone, blue cone

18) If a man has Daltonism then it is most likely that his ___ also has it.

son
sister
father
daughter’s son

19) A damaged malleus in one ear will cause

sensorineural hearing loss.

central hearing loss.
presbycusis.
difficulty locating sound sources.

20) A patient has impaired hearing in one ear. His Rinne test is normal but his Weber
test is not. His problem is most likely in his
hair cells.
eardrum.
ossicles.
middle ear.

21) If someone with normal color vision has depolarized green cones and
hyperpolarized red and blue cones, they will see

purple.
green.
red.
white.

22) A drug that blocks axonal conduction is injected into the white matter on the right
side of your spinal cord, between the dorsal and ventral horns. This treatment will
interfere most directly with axons of ___ sensory neurons for ____.

primary, temperature
primary, vibration
secondary, nociception
secondary, contact

23) ___ are short-lived neurons.

Taste receptor cells

Primary sensory neurons of the gustatory system
Olfactory receptor cells
Cells of the olfactory bulb

24) Suppose you take a drug that inactivates the sugar-sensing receptor cells in your
taste buds and causes the bitter-sensing cells to be activated by sugars (but doesn’t
change those latter cells’ sensitivities to any other chemicals). Based on the principle
of labeled lines, you would expect that bitter melon will now taste ___ to you and
caramel will have ___.

bitter, a bitter taste

sweet, a bitter taste
bitter, no taste
sweet, no taste

25) Individual neurons in your spinal cord may fire in response to inputs from nerve
endings in both the skin and the intestines. A result of this arrangement can be

lateral inhibition.
referred pain.
slow pain.
fast pain.