This Tournament Goes to Eleven 2007
Some Thought Required (Neuroscience & Psychology subject packet)
Written by: Dwight Wynne (UC Irvine)
Pronunciation note: Please pronounce “efferent” as “EE-fur-ent” and “afferent” as “AFF-fur-ent”
Tossups
1.An autopsy on mass murderer Charles Whitman revealed a large tumor in this structure. Urbach-Wiethe disease causes calcification of it. Almost any bodily reaction that can be provoked by stimulating the hypothalamus can be similarly provoked by stimulating a part of this structure. Lying just below the uncus of the temporal lobe, its main role is thought to be in perception of negative facial expressions. For ten points, identify this part of the brain most commonly associated with fear.
ANSWER: amygdala
2. It has nothing to do with Alzheimer’s, but Ralph and Menaker identified a gene called tau as responsible for some abnormal ones. They are affected by specialized retinal ganglion cells as well as the retinohypothalamic tracts. In birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians an important center is the pineal gland; while the pineal gland’s role in it in humans is unclear and may have been taken over by the suprachiasmatic nuclei. Unless entrained by zeitgebers, they usually run for about 25.3 hours in humans, thus their name meaning “about a day”. For ten points, give the usual name for this sleep-wake cycle.
ANSWER: Circadian rhythm or Circadian clock
3.A calcium-triggered influx of chloride ions into the receptor cell for it depolarizes the cell, amplifying its receptor potential. There are about 1000 genes for its receptor proteins, and each cell only expresses one of those thousand genes for this sense; furthermore, the next step in the transduction pathway, the glomeruli, each receive input from only one particular type of receptor cell. From the glomeruli, information is transmitted to a namesake “bulb”. For ten points, name this sense, the loss of which is known as anosmia.
ANSWER: olfaction (accept “olfactory sense” or “smell”)
4. Its floor, known as the rhomboid fossa, extends into the lateral recess, which ends up adjacent to the flocculus of the cerebellum. It includes the foramen of Magendie [muh-ZHON-dee] and the foramina of Luschka. A groove in this structure separates the sensory and motor nuclei of cranial nerves and is known as the sulcus limitans. The obex, the apex of its caudal part, occurs where it narrows into the central canal. For ten points, identify this most caudal and highest-numbered ventricle.
ANSWER: fourth ventricle (accept “fourth ventricle” at end of question)
5.The most caudal of the nuclei most responsible for its production, the obscurus, lies medial to the medial longitudinal fasciculus, while the pallidus lies medial to the medial lemniscus. A total of nine Raphe nuclei are the main sources of this neurotransmitter, which acts as a vasoconstrictor. Antagonists of one of its receptors are used to treat radiation-induced emesis. Cocaine overdoses have similar effects to an overdose of it, and LSD may inhibit it. Also called 5-hydroxytryptamine, or 5-HT, as it’s derived from tryptophan, For ten points, identify this “natural mood enhancer”.
ANSWER: serotonin (accept “Raphe nuclei” before mentioned)
6. Wagner’s SOP model, which includes a retrieval-generated priming mechanism, correctly predicts that this is not context-specific. Failure to account for it is cited as one of the main flaws of the Rescorla-Wagner model. It may work similarly to Hall-Pearce negative transfer, and it underlies some forms of perceptual learning. It occurs when a conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without an accompanying unconditioned stimulus; thus, less learning occurs when the two stimuli are later paired. Not to be confused with extinction, For ten points, identify this sham type of inhibition.
ANSWER: latent inhibition (prompt on “inhibition”)
7. The one in the utricle is horizontal when your head is on straight; the one in the saccule is vertical. Both contain hair cells whose hairs project into the cupula and operate similarly to auditory hair cells. The more well-known sensory organ with this name is sometimes called the [BLANK] lutea. It is slightly lateral to the optic disk, yellowish, and entirely devoid of large blood vessels. Drusen build up under this structure in its namesake degeneration, which may cause blindness. For ten points, give the common name of these vestibular and visual sense organs, the latter of which contains the fovea.
ANSWER: macula (don’t prompt on “macular degeneration” or anything else)
8.The lateral hypothalamus is no longer thought to be involved in regulating it, while the case against the ventromedial hypothalamus is less clear. Serotonin appears to decrease it, and Weingarten showed that it does not depend upon an energy deficit. Theories attempting to explain it include the positive-incentive theory as well as the glucostatic and lipostatic set-point theories, although the current vogue is the settling-point theory. Its suppression by cholecystokinin, or CCK, suggests that the GI tract plays an important role in its regulation. For ten points, identify this feeling of needing to eat, which often produces “pangs”.
ANSWER: hunger
9.Fred Sigworth received little credit for his role in developing this technique, while much of the initial work had been done by Franco Conti. The breakthrough came upon the invention of the “gigaseal” by Erwin Neher, who would share the 1991 Nobel Prize with Bert Sakmann for the development of this technique. The gigaseal is formed by inserting a fire-polished tip of a glass electrode onto a neuron’s membrane, which then allows one to record currents through a single ion channel. For ten points, name this now-ubiquitous technique.
ANSWER: patch-clamp recording
10. Pavlovian-instrumental transfer appears to occur in the shell of the nucleus most commonly identified with this. The ventral tegmental area is probably responsible for synthesizing the neurotransmitters that give rise to this feeling. Among the other structures involved in this sensation are the locus coeruleus [sur-RULE-lee-us] and prefrontal cortex, although recent pop science articles place most of the blame on the nucleus accumbens and its need for dopamine. For ten points, name this “principle” that was thought by Freud to govern the id, a sensation of happiness.
ANSWER: pleasure (accept “reward”, prompt on “addiction”)
11.The small cell cap in the nucleus that receives most fibers from this structure is comparatively large only in humans and porpoises, and damage to that area resulting from NF2 tumor removal may cause a complete loss of speech recognition. Its ion gradient is maintained through active transport processes in the stria vascularis, along the wall of the scala media, which forms one of its (*) three main sections along with the scala tympani and scala vestibuli. Vibrations of the basilar membrane are sensed by its inner hair cells in the Organ of Corti. For ten points, name this snail-shaped organ also called the “inner ear”.
ANSWER: cochlea (accept “cochlear nucleus” early, prompt on “inner ear” before (*) )
12.It occupies the posterior part of the superior temporal gyrus, and along with the inferior parietal lobule and parts of the middle temporal gyrus it is part of the perisylvian zone. Its namesake proposed a model that was extended by Norman Geschwind. Its main efferent fibers form the arcuate fasciculus, and it receives most of its information from the auditory cortex. Damage to this area leads to a namesake aphasia also called fluent aphasia, in which speech is grammatically correct but makes little sense. For ten points, identify this language-processing center that sends information to Broca’s area.
ANSWER: Wernicke’s area
13.He took a job at the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency after he was forced to resign from Johns Hopkins due to the discovery of his affair with his research assistant Rosalie Rayner. His most important paper repudiated the prevailing structuralist school and became known as the “behaviorist manifesto”. Best known for claiming “Give me a dozen healthy infants…and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select”, For ten points, name this psychologist who conditioned fear of white fuzzy things in Little Albert.
ANSWER: John B. Watson
14. Arnold-Chiari malformation accompanies myelomeningocele, a severe form of this disease, while the mildest form of it, occulta, often goes unnoticed. It can be detected by the elevated presence of alpha-fetoprotein in the amniotic fluid. Affected individuals often have allergies to latex and are usually paralyzed below the waist. It results from the failure of the caudal neuropore to close, often due to a lack of folic acid during pregnancy. For ten points, name this most common permanently disabling developmental disorder, which occurs when neural tissue sticks out the back of the spine.
ANSWER: spina bifida
15.Rabies can be diagnosed by the prevalence of abnormal cytoplasmic bodies in this structure’s neurons. It consists of three layers, including the molecular layer and the polymorphic layer, while the intermediate layer is either a pyramidal cell layer in the horn of Ammon or a granule cell layer in the dentate gyrus. The perforant path contains its inputs from the entorhinal cortex, the Schaffer collateral carries information from its CA3 cells to its CA1 cells, and its main output is the fornix. For ten points, identify this structure involved in memory consolidation and spatial memory.
ANSWER: hippocampus
16.Unmyelinated primary afferents from cells sensing this may violate the law of Bell and Magendie [muh-ZHON-dee] and serve as efferent fibers as well. In the mouth, capsaicin can cause the release of Substance P from the axon terminals of those nocireceptors, which can then activate either A-delta and C fibers depending on whether it is acute or chronic. The periaqueductal gray is also important in its pathway, and the inability to feel it is known as analgesia. For ten points, give the general term for this unpleasant stimulation, often accompanied by modifiers like “sharp” and “throbbing”.
ANSWER: pain (accept “nocireceptors” or “nociception” before mentioned)
17.A book about it by Druckman and Bjork claims that “the popularity of [this] in the absence of proven scientific worth is troublesome”, as it may not predict job performance as well as it claims. Alternatives to it have been developed by Starke Hathaway, who uses a “T-scale”, and Hans and Sybil Eysenck, who use a two-axis model. It uses 126 yes-no questions inspired by Carl Jung, and results in one of sixteen “types”. Developed by and named after a Canadian psychologist and her mother, For ten points, identify this most popular personality test.
ANSWER: Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
18. The circle of Willis is a circle of these. They consist of layers such as the intima, adventitia, and lumen, and appear to be primarily affected by nitrous oxide. The lenticulostriate ones, near the globus pallidus and putamen, are known for their propensity to cause ischemia. They can be divided into the vertebral and carotid systems, and include the posterior cerebral, anterior communicating, and basilar. They are separated from neurons by astrocytes, and can cause strokes if occluded. For ten points, identify these blood vessels that deliver oxygen to cells.
ANSWER: arteries of the brain (prompt on “blood vessels”)
19.It can be plotted in terms of valence and arousal. Zajonc [ZY-yence] and Le Doux claim that it may happen unconsciously, while Schacter’s two-factor theory requires a cognitive label. Hohmann’s study of injured war veterans lent credence to the James-Lange theory of it, but most psychologists also agree with the competing Cannon-Bard theory. Loosely defined as a combination of physiological, behavioral, and conscious factors, For ten points, identify this general term for any feeling.
ANSWER: emotion
20.The Marr-Albus theory predicts plasticity in a parallel fiber synapse if it is active at the same time as a synapse onto a different type of cell in this structure. Each of those Purkinje cells is innervated by a single climbing fiber from the inferior olive, and other types of cells in this structure include basket cells and granule cells. Learning in this structure governs most balance-related activities. For ten points, identify this largest part of the hindbrain, responsible for coordinating most motor actions.
ANSWER: cerebellum (accept “Purkinje cells” before mentioned)
21.The cheese effect, in which tyramine-rich foods cause an enormous increase in blood pressure, is a side effect of the first class of drugs used to treat this (*) condition. The first one, originally developed to treat tuberculosis, was iproniazid. Those MAO inhibitors have since been replaced by imipramine, reboxetine, fluoxetine, and other SNRIs and SSRIs. Currently the most common drugs used to treat it are marketed under names like Zoloft and Prozac. For ten points, name this affective disorder characterized by an extended period of sadness.
ANSWER: depression (accept “MAO inhibitors” or “monoamine oxidase inhibitors” before (*))
Bonuses
1. Alcohol and your brain: a wonderful combination. For ten points per answer:
[10] At a rate of about 1 in 750 infants, this is the leading cause of brain abnormalities; it is marked by a small head, facial misproportions, and severe cognitive deficits.
ANSWER: fetal alcohol syndrome or FAS
[10] Chronic alcohol consumption can lead to this neuropsychological disorder characterized by memory loss and dementia. It results from a thiamine deficiency.
ANSWER: Korsakoff’s syndrome
[10] Full-blown alcohol withdrawal occurs in three phases; this is the name for the third phase, characterized by hallucinations, hyperthermia, and tachycardia, among other things.
ANSWER: delirium tremens or DTs
2. Along with the “Latah” from Malaysia and the “Myriachit” from Siberia, this group suffers from what is commonly known as “startle disease”. For ten points per answer:
[10] Identify this group, which gives its name to the mascot of Louisiana-Lafayette.
ANSWER: Ragin’Cajuns
[10] Two types of startle disease have been identified, one involving a faulty receptor and one involving too few receptors. Name either.
ANSWER: spasmodic or spastic
[10] The receptors in the previous question are for this common inhibitory neurotransmitter and simplest amino acid.
ANSWER: glycine
3. It may be involved in regulating forebrain activity, and along with projections from the reticular formation to the thalamus, it plays a role in the sleep-wake cycle. For ten points per answer:
[10] Identify this nucleus in the basal forebrain, named for a 19th century German neuropathologist.
ANSWER: basal nucleus (or nucleus basalis) of Meynert
[10] A decrease in cell density in the basal nucleus of Meynert is one of the effects of this disease usually affecting old people, whose better known symptoms include dementia and memory loss.
ANSWER: Alzheimer’s disease
[10] The neurons in the substantia innominata, which includes the basal nucleus of Meynert, primarily communicate using this neurotransmitter also found at the neuromuscular junction.
ANSWER: acetylcholine
4. Current research is investigating the use of sounds to prevent the “open circuits” that cause its most commonly observed symptoms. For ten points each:
[10] Identify this disease characterized by repeated seizures.
ANSWER: epilepsy
[10] When people think of epileptic seizures, they typically think of this kind, which affects the entire body, including violent convulsions and loss of consciousness.
ANSWER: grand mal seizure or tonic-clonic seizure
[10] An epileptic “march” is named after this English neuroscientist who disproved the theory that seizures begin in the medulla oblongata.
ANSWER: John Hughlings Jackson (accept Jacksonian march)
5. Beck and Cadamagnani replicated this experiment by asking low-income, middle-income, and high-income residents of Crestline, Ohio to reach people of the same income level in Los Angeles. For ten points each:
[10] Identify this study which asked people to deliver a message from a “starter” in, e.g., Nebraska to a “target” in, e.g., Massachusetts using only personal acquaintances.
ANSWER: small world experiment
[10] The famous interpretation of that experiment, disproven for low-income residents by Beck and Cadamagnani, was that any two people are separated by this many “degrees”.It’s also the smallest perfect number.
ANSWER: six
[10] The small world experiment was conducted by this dude who also got people to deliver supposedly lethal voltages to people who gave wrong answers to word association questions.
ANSWER: Stanley Milgram
6. Identify these terms from classical conditioning given a definition For the stated number of points.