QCAA Psychology Brain function

Pupil dilation is an autonomic response controlled by the brain and sympathetic nervous system, not a spinal reflex.

The somatic nervous system controls voluntary muscle movements, whereas pupil dilation is an involuntary response controlled by the autonomic nervous system.

Pupil dilation is an involuntary, unconscious autonomic response, not a conscious action taken by the animal.

A monosynaptic reflex, such as the knee-jerk reflex, involves a direct connection between a sensory neuron and a motor neuron without any interneurons.

Although the response is involuntary, it involves skeletal muscles controlled by the somatic nervous system, not the autonomic sympathetic nervous system.

The parasympathetic nervous system regulates "rest and digest" autonomic functions, whereas this reflex involves skeletal muscle contraction via the somatic nervous system.

Motor skills are procedural memories, which are a type of implicit memory, not explicit memory. The neocortex and hippocampus are primarily involved in explicit memory.

While the cerebellum is involved in implicit memory, the hippocampus is primarily responsible for explicit memory consolidation, making this pairing incorrect.

Motor skills are implicit memories, not explicit memories. The hippocampus, neocortex, and amygdala are involved in explicit and emotional memories.

While the cerebrum (specifically the motor cortex) initiates voluntary movement, the forebrain is a broad anatomical category; it does not specifically isolate the structures responsible for fine-tuning coordination and timing.

The amygdala is primarily involved in emotional processing, and the prefrontal cortex handles executive functions like planning and decision-making, rather than motor coordination.

Geschwind's territory is a region in the parietal lobe associated with language processing, not motor control, making this combination incorrect.

The cerebrum is the largest part of the brain and controls a vast array of functions including thought, memory, and senses. While the amygdala is located within the cerebrum, a general lesion to the cerebrum would cause widespread cognitive deficits rather than a specific lack of fear.

The cerebellum is primarily involved in motor control, coordination, balance, and motor learning. It is not the central structure for processing emotional responses like fear.

The primary motor cortex is responsible for the execution of voluntary movements. A lesion here would result in motor deficits or paralysis, not a selective inability to experience fear.

Myelin sheaths form around axons to increase the speed of neural transmission, not around dendrites.

Neural pathways become more efficient through repeated, correct practice (long-term potentiation), rather than when errors are made.

Structural changes during learning primarily occur at the synapses (such as increased dendritic branching) rather than within the axon itself.

Serotonin is a monoamine neurotransmitter primarily involved in regulating mood, sleep, and appetite; while it can have inhibitory effects, it is not the brain's main inhibitory neurotransmitter.

Dopamine is associated with reward and motor control and can be either excitatory or inhibitory depending on the specific receptor type, but it is not the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter.

Glutamate is the primary excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system, meaning it increases the likelihood that a neuron will fire an action potential.

This function is primarily associated with dopamine, a neurotransmitter central to the brain's reward system and feelings of pleasure.

While acetylcholine is involved in REM sleep, the regulation of general sleep cycles, mood, and emotional arousal is more closely linked to serotonin and norepinephrine.

Speech articulation and comprehension are complex cognitive processes localized to specific brain regions (Broca's and Wernicke's areas) rather than being the primary function of a single neurotransmitter.

Dipeptide repeat proteins are primarily associated with C9orf72 mutations found in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD), not Parkinson's disease.

Beta-amyloid plaques are the primary pathological feature of Alzheimer's disease. While they can co-occur in neurodegenerative conditions, they are not the defining protein of Parkinson's.

Tau proteins form neurofibrillary tangles, which are characteristic of Alzheimer's disease and other tauopathies (like Progressive Supranuclear Palsy), rather than classic Parkinson's disease.

The high prediction rate of 87.1% demonstrates that localized facial blood flow is actually a reliable indicator of stress, contradicting this statement.

If blood flow increased equally to all facial areas, analyzing a limited number of areas would not have significantly improved the prediction rate.

The central nervous system both processes and coordinates physiological responses to stressors, such as directing blood flow to specific areas of the face.

The sympathetic nervous system dilates the airways to increase oxygen intake during a fight-or-flight response, rather than constricting them.

While adrenaline is released, the fight-or-flight response actually decreases salivation, which is why people often get a dry mouth when startled or nervous.

Although glucose release increases, the release of cortisol is part of the body's slower, secondary stress response (HPA axis) and would not be an immediate physiological change.

Conscious responses are voluntary, meaning they are under conscious control, rather than involuntary.

Unconscious responses are involuntary, meaning they occur automatically and without conscious thought or control.

While unconscious responses are unintentional, they are not always regulated by the autonomic nervous system; for example, spinal reflexes are unconscious but involve the somatic nervous system.

Fine motor skills are procedural memories, not semantic memories. Semantic memories are explicit memories of facts and general knowledge, which are stored in the neocortex.

While the basal ganglia are indeed involved in procedural memory and motor control, motor skills are a type of implicit memory, not explicit memory.

Although motor skills are procedural memories, the hippocampus is primarily responsible for the consolidation of explicit memories (like episodic and semantic memories), not procedural ones.