Animal Brain Quiz
Questions: 16 · 10 minutes
1. Why can an interruption of blood flow quickly disrupt brain function in a vertebrate?
Neural tissue relies mainly on stored calcium for long-term energy
Blood flow is needed only to cool the brain, not to supply fuel
Active brain tissue requires a continuing supply of oxygen and glucose
Neurons must be replaced by new blood cells every few minutes
2. An animal struggles to regulate body temperature, hunger, and thirst after a small brain injury. Which area was most likely affected?
The visual cortex
The hypothalamus
The cerebellum
The olfactory bulb
3. An octopus arm adjusts its suckers and movements using substantial local sensory processing rather than waiting for every detail to be handled by the central brain. What does this illustrate?
The arms function without receiving or processing sensory information
A distributed nervous system can perform some processing close to the limbs
The central brain has no influence over the arms
Each sucker is controlled directly by a separate endocrine gland
4. A young songbird memorizes an adult's song but later cannot hear its own voice while practicing. What is the most likely result?
It will produce the song perfectly because memorization alone controls singing
Its song will probably be less accurate because auditory feedback supports learning
It will permanently lose the physical ability to make vocal sounds
It will automatically replace the learned song with innate alarm calls
5. Which brain structure is especially important for coordinating movement, posture, and balance in vertebrates?
The amygdala
The hypothalamus
The cerebellum
The olfactory bulb
6. A fish uses self-generated electric fields to detect nearby objects in murky water. What neural adaptation would best support this ability?
Elimination of sensory processing in the brain
Conversion of the cerebellum into a light-detecting organ
Replacement of neurons with electrically conductive bone
Specialized and expanded circuits for processing electrosensory input
7. How can a dolphin continue surfacing to breathe while getting some sleep?
It stores enough oxygen to stop breathing throughout a normal night's sleep
It transfers breathing control from the brain to the spinal cord
It wakes only when carbon dioxide completely replaces oxygen in the blood
It can rest mainly one cerebral hemisphere at a time
8. After repeated practice of a skilled movement, an animal shows lasting changes in the strength and organization of relevant neural connections. What concept best describes this?
Neuroplasticity
Genetic drift
Metabolic homeostasis
Sensory adaptation
9. A bee learns to associate a particular floral odor with a sugar reward. Which insect brain structures are strongly associated with this kind of learning and memory?
Mushroom bodies
Optic lobes
Thoracic ganglia
Antennal nerves
10. A food-caching bird accurately retrieves seeds hidden across a large area. Which brain region is especially associated with this spatial memory ability?
The medulla
The pituitary gland
The primary motor pathway
The hippocampal formation
11. A disease damages the myelin around an animal's axons. What direct effect would be expected?
Electrical impulses would generally travel less efficiently along affected axons
Sensory receptors would become unable to detect any stimulus
Every neural signal would reverse its direction
Neurons would immediately stop producing neurotransmitters
12. Researchers want to compare brain size across mammals while accounting for differences in body size. Which measure is most useful for that specific purpose?
Absolute brain mass alone
An encephalization quotient comparing observed with expected brain size
The number of limbs controlled by the nervous system
Skull length without considering the animal's body
13. A star-nosed mole relies heavily on touch from the rays surrounding its nose. Which brain organization would best match this specialization?
Equal cortical representation for every body surface
A visual cortex that processes touch without somatosensory input
A disproportionately large somatosensory representation of the nose rays
No dedicated neural processing for the nose because it is highly sensitive
14. What makes the octopus nervous system unusually distributed compared with that of a typical vertebrate?
A large proportion of its neurons are located in its arms
Its neurons are confined almost entirely to the head
Each arm contains a complete copy of the central brain
Its nervous system communicates mainly through hormones rather than neurons
15. A drug blocks receptors for a neurotransmitter on the receiving side of a synapse. What is the most direct likely effect?
The synapse will be converted into an endocrine gland
The presynaptic neuron will permanently lose its axon
The postsynaptic cell's response to that neurotransmitter will be reduced
The receiving cell will release the blocked neurotransmitter into the bloodstream
16. A mammal has damage to the major fiber tract that carries information between the left and right cerebral hemispheres. Which structure is affected?
The medulla oblongata
The pituitary gland
The spinal cord
The corpus callosum