End of Module 6 Quizzes

• When ancient fish evolved into land animals, why did they need to evolve the elaborate mechanisms of the middle ear and inner ear?

  To amplify sounds
• Where are the auditory receptors, known as hair cells?

  Along the basilar membrane of the cochlea
• How do we identify a low-pitched sound?

  The whole basilar membrane vibrates in synchrony with the sound frequency.
• How do we identify a high-pitched sound?

  Each frequency produces a peak response at one point along the basilar membrane.
• What is one way in which the auditory cortex is not analogous to the visual cortex?

  Damage to the primary auditory cortex does not cause deafness.
• What is meant by a “tonotopic map”?

  Each location in the auditory cortex responds to a preferred tone.
• Absolute pitch is more common among what type of people?

  People with extensive musical training beginning in early childhood.
• Why do many older people have trouble understanding speech despite using hearing aids?

  Lack of inhibitory transmission in the auditory cortex.
• The vestibular system is responsible for which of these observations about behavior?

  You can read a page better while shaking your head than while shaking the page.
• Under which of these circumstances would the semicircular canals respond most vigorously?

  When you are moving and changing speed.
• To what extent does the nervous system maintain separate representations of touch, heat, pain, and other aspects of somatic sensation?

  Different types of sensation remain separate even in the cerebral cortex
• In which of these ways do coldness receptors differ from heat receptors?

  Coldness receptors respond to a change in temperature, not to the absolute temperature.
• What does the anterior cingulate cortex contribute to both the sense of touch and the sense of pain?

  It responds to the emotional aspect of the sensation.
• Suppose you suffer a cut through the spinal cord on the left side only. For the part of the body below that cut, you will lose pain sensation on the right side of the body and touch sensation on the left side. Why?

  Pain axons cross the spinal cord at once, but touch fibers do not.
• In what way does pain relief by cannabinoids differ from pain relief by opiates?

  Cannabinoids act on the periphery, not the brain.
• Do placebos relieve pain just by relaxation? And what is the evidence?

  No. A placebo can relieve pain in one body part without affecting another.
• Why do many people suffer chronic pain long after an injury has healed?

  The brain has learned to increase its pain perception.
• What type of cell is a taste receptor?

  A modified skin cell
• Which of these observations provides evidence that we have several types of taste receptor?

  Certain chemicals can modify one taste without affecting others.
• The receptors for sweet, bitter, and umami tastes all resemble which of these?

  Metabotropic Synaptic Receptors
• Why is it possible for us to taste a wide variety of chemicals as bitter?

  We have 30 or more types of bitter receptors.
• Why are some people more sensitive than others are to low concentrations of taste or smell?

  Some people have more taste receptors or odor receptors than others do.
• How do we manage to smell a wide variety of chemicals?

  We have hundreds of types of olfactory receptors.
• When a new olfactory receptor forms to replace one that died, does it connect to the same site in the olfactory bulb as the previous receptor? If so, how?

  It finds the correct site by chemical attraction.
• The vomeronasal organ responds to what stimuli?

  Pheromones
• What is the best-documented example of an effect of pheromones on humans?

  Women who spend much time together tend to synchronize their menstrual cycles.
• What behavioral evidence indicates that synesthesia is real, and not just something that people claim to experience?

  People with synesthesia can find a 2 among 5s, or a 6 among 8s, faster than usual if they have different synesthetic colors, and slower if they have the same color.