genetic factors may influence sexual orientation H u m a n i t i e s

you must select at least 7 of the following 10 questions to answer. Please answer in your own words. You may of course use citations from the book and my lectures. If you use outside sources, please ensure proper APA style citations. You many also include hand drawn graphs, images, etc to help answer your questions. I highly recommend attending a TA study session and a join study session that the TA and I will be hosting in advance of the final.  When you answer you questions you must start each answer with the name of the question (e.g., if you are answering the #1, you would add a heading called Vision part 1 or Vision Part 1). Good luck!

1. Vision: Part 1. Name and describe each of the different structures in the visual pathways, including the ventral and dorsal streams. Start with the eye and end with specific brain structures. You must demonstrate your understanding of how visual object identification and the recognition of moving visual objects is possible.  Part 2. What are the behavioral effects that you could observe in an adult who sustains extensive damage limited to the primary visual cortex (V1)?  Would it be the same as blind sight? Why or why not? If I wanted to confirm that the reciprocal nature of V1 and V2 was necessary for visual processing, then how could I design an experiment to test such a relationship between V1 and V2?
2. Dopamine and Drug addiction: Part 1. Describe the mechanism of action for Dopamine (DA) agonist drugs (e.g., cocaine) and describe the hypothesized role of DA release in the reinforcing effects of psychostimulants. Is this role of DA the same for schizophrenia? Why is it that DA makes us feel good, yet too much DA is associated with Schizophrenia? Part 2. The research on sensitization of the nucleus accumbens has dealt with addictive drugs, mainly cocaine. Would you expect a gambling addiction to have similar effects? How could someone test this possibility? Design a brief follow-up study with a Hypothesis, IV, DV, and graph some expected results.
3. Emotion: Part 1. Describe how the brain processes the expression and recognition of emotion (i.e., describe the role of cortical structures, subcortical structures, and the main theories of emotion). People with amygdala damage approach other people indiscriminately instead of trying to choose people who look friendly and trustworthy. What might be a possible explanation? Part 2.  Explain is the neurological and psychological relationship between sleep and depression?
4. Learning: Part 1. Lashley sought to find the engram, the physiological representation of learning. In physiological psychology terms, how would you recognize an engram if you saw one? That is, what would someone have to demonstrate before you could conclude that a particular change in the nervous system was really an engram?  Part 2. Describe the role of the hippocampus in memory formation.  Explain how memories are organized (i.e., the different types of memory) and stored in our brains. If a synapse had already developed LTP once, should it be easier or more difficult to get it to develop LTP again, explain? How is confabulation different from lying? How many different memories are there and how are they different?
5. Sex and Hormones: Part 1.  Describe some of the evidence that genetic factors may influence sexual orientation. Part 2.Describe organizing and activating effects of sex hormones and give specific examples. Make sure to clearly demonstrate the difference between organizing and activating effects.
6. Corpus Callosum Facts: Part 1.When a person born without a corpus callosum moves the fingers of one hand, he or she is likely also to move the fingers of the other hand, involuntarily. What possible explanation can you suggest? Explain lateralized functions and give examples of two of those functions. Part 2. Most people with Broca’s aphasia suffer from partial paralysis on the right side of the body. Most people with Wernicke’s aphasia do not. Why? What is the relationship between language and communication? How can information be transferred between the hemispheres?
7. Methods:Part 1. Scans and tests used to study the living human brain can be either static (a snapshot at one point in time) or dynamic (showing changes over time). Give one example of each type, including its advantages and disadvantages. Part 2. Design a new cognitive neuroscience experiment using a dynamic neural measure. Make sure you describe in great detail the IV, DV, hypothesis, procedure, expected results/outcomes, any new conclusions that can be learned from your experiment.
8. Neural Communication:In as much detail as possible and necessary describe the steps of an action potential and synaptic transmission. Part 1. Give a detailed, step-by-step description of the stages of an action potential, including a description of and explanation for the refractory periods, and an accurate graph representation. Part 2. Give a detailed, step-by-step description of synaptic transmission (i.e., communication).  You must mention the ions at work!
9. Movement: Part 1. Ordinarily, patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease (who have damage to dopamine-releasing axons) move very slowly if at all. However, during an emergency (e.g., a fire in the building), they may move rapidly and vigorously. Suggest a possible explanation. Part 2. Neurologists assert that if people lived long enough, sooner or later everyone would get Parkinson’s disease. Why?
10. Plasticity and Development: Part 1.Biologists can develop antibodies against nerve growth factor (i.e., molecules that inactivate nerve growth factor). What would happen if someone injected such antibodies into a developing nervous system? How does experience affect our brains? Part 2. Describe how stem cells function. Explain all the stages of neural development. What are some ways that neurons could be guided to the appropriate target? What is the advantage of using stem cells? Should researchers be allowed to conduct research on embryonic stem cells? Describe some ways in which the brain can recover function following brain damage.