Study Guide – Unit III
Biological Basses of Behavior
Name: ___________________________________________________ Period: __________________
Module 9
9-1
1. Where in the body did Plato believe the mind was located?
2. How did Aristotle disagree with Plato?
3. How did Franz Gall contribute to the mind-body question?
9-2
1. Fill in the chart below with the functions of these neural structures.
Structure
Dendrite
Function
Cell body
Axon
Terminal branches
Myelin sheath
2. Describe what the action potential is and why it is important to neural communication.
3. What is the difference between an excitatory nerve signal and an inhibitory nerve signal?
4. What is a threshold?
5. What happens when the level of neural stimulation above the threshold is increased? Why?
9-3
1. What is a synapse?
2. What is reuptake?
9-4
1. Give an example of an agonist and describe how it functions in the nervous system.
2. Give an example of an antagonist and describe how it functions in the nervous system.
3. Describe how Botulin functions as an antagonist for acetycholine.
4. What effect does the release of endorphins have on the body?
Module 10
10-2
1. In what ways do the endocrine and nervous systems act similarly? In what ways do they act
differently?
2. Use the information from your text to complete the chart of endocrine system structures and
functions below.
Structure
Function
Hypothalamus
Secretes female hormones
Adrenal glands
Releases growth hormone, oxytocin and
other hormones
Affects metabolism
Testis
Regulates the level of sugar in the blood
parathyroid
Module 11
11-1
1. What does it mean to lesion the brain? Why is this procedure important in studying the brain?
2. What do each of the brain scanning methods reveal or show us about the brain function?
a. EEG
b. CT:
c. PET:
d. MRI:
e. fMRI
11-2
1. In general, what are the functions of the brainstem structures?
11-3
1. In general, what are the functions of the limbic system structures?
Module 12
12-1
1. In general, what are the functions of the various cortex regions?
2. How do glial cells support neurons?
3. What are the four lobes of the cortex and what basic function does each serve?
4. In which lobe is the motor cortex located?
5. In which lobe is the somatosensory cortex located?
6. List three of the varied functions of the association areas
7. What role do Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area play in language?
12-2
1. What is plasticity and what are two instances in which it could occur?
2. Give two examples from the text of the brain’s ability to reorganize or reassign brain functions.
3. How is neurogenesis different from plasticity?
Module 13
13-1
1. What is lateralization, and why is it important in the way our brain functions?
2. What role does the corpus callosum play in relation to the two hemispheres?
3. What is the relationship between handedness and speech processing?
13-2
1. How is cognitive neuroscience changing the way we understand mental processes?
2. What is dual processing? Give an example form the text of dual processing
Module 14
14-1
1. Genes can either be __________________________ or ______________________. What does
this mean?
2. Identical twins form from a _________________________ fertilized egg call and are
_____________________ identical.
3. Discuss the findings of Bouchand’s twin studies.
4. What is a criticism leveled at Bouchard’s studies
5. According to the text, what is the rather counterintuitive finding regarding adoptive families
versus biological families?
6. The environment shared by a family’s children has virtually _____________________ discernible
impact on their personalities.
14-2
1. What is molecular genetics? Why is it important to the study of human behavior?
14-3
1. How is heritability defined?
14-4
1. How is the example of two babies born with different genetic personalities used to explain how
heredity and environment work together?
Module 15
15-1
1. How were researchers Belyaev and Trot able to produce domesticated foxes?
2. What are the larger implications of their study (above)
3. What is the “second Darwinian revolution” and why is it significant?
4. How does evolutionary psychology explain behavior tendencies?
15-2
1. What arguments do evolutionary psychologists make that support men’s increased interest in
sex?
15-3
1. List three criticisms of evolutionary psychology.
15-4
1. Using figure 15.1, discuss the three influences on individual development according to the
biopsychosocial model.
2. Using the trait of aggressiveness, list possible:
a. Biological components.
b. Social components
c. Psychological components