Download Neuroscience Trivia

1. Q: What is the longest amount of time a person has been able to stay awake?
A: 264 hours (11 days) in 1963-Randy Gardner; The study was done under the guidance
of Dr. William C. Dement who discovered the phenomenon of REM sleep along with
Nathaniel Kleitman and Eugene Aserinsky in 1953. William C. Dement was my
undergraduate advisor’s advisor. After the experiment, Randy slept for 15 hours….
2. Q: What part of the brain controls fever?
A: Hypothalamus; The hypothalamus mediates the secretion of hormones. Fevers are
catalyzed by pyrogens (“pyro” meaning fire) such as interleukin 1 and 6 and tumor
necrosis factor-alpha.
3. Q: What types of tastes does your tongue respond to?
A: Sweet, Sour, Bitter, Salty, and Umami Umami was recently discovered in Japan. It is
classified as a savory taste such as that of steak and other high quality meats…
4. Q: What are the wrinkles on the brain called?
A: Convolutions The wrinkles on the brain do not appear until the end of fetal
development (months 7-9) whereupon numerous fibers in the brain tense, creating valleys
called sulci and bulges called gyri. The central sulcus is a common landmark of the brain
dividing the frontal and posterior cortices. Alterations in these convolutions are
associated with schizophrenia (see Scientific American, February 2009).
5. Q: Why is eating a pufferfish dangerous?
A: It contains a neurotoxin called tetrodotoxin. TTX blocks sodium channels which
prevents a neuron from firing or depolarizing. The heart stops, breathing ceases, and the
victim dies within minutes. A chef serving pufferfish must be licensed.
6. Q: What structure connects the two sides of the brain?
A: The corpus collosum It allows the right and left hemisphere to communicate with each
other. Marsupials and monotremes do not have a corpus collosum. If the corupus
collusom is damaged, a person will be able to see objects in their left visual (because it is
processed on the right side of the brain), but will not be able to name the object because
the speech and comprehension centers are located on the left side of the brain. It is called
“split-brain.”
7. Q: What type of alleged compound is in AXE body spray that results in the
wearer being irresistible?
A: Pheromones; these are scents that facilitate sexual behavior. Unlike other scents,
pheromones are recognized by the vomeronasal organ which is wired to areas of the brain
stimulating sexual proceptive (‘seeking and flirting’) and receptive (“doing”) behaviors.
8. Q: Alcohol affects your motor coordination by affecting what part of your
brain?
A: Cerebellum; Mothers who consume alcohol while pregnant can retard the migration
and proliferation of neurons in their offspring’s cerebellums. This leads to motor
incoordination obviously. Also, alcohol affects balance because it causes the fluid
circulating within the vestibular organs that control balance to be thinner or (to have less
viscosity).
10. Q: Why can extended MP3/iPod use result in hearing loss?
A: Damage to hair cells; hair cells are extensions of the auditory nerve which is wired to
the auditory cortex. Hair cells amplify sounds by condensing their size. Chronically
listening to music at louder decibels prevents the hair cells from scrunching.
11. Q: Why does your teacher tell you to study a little bit every day rather than pull
an all nighter before your test?
A: Sleep consolidation- hippocampus (LTP); sleep, especially REM sleep, is important
for the consolidation of memories,. Theta waves (“shark fin” waves) seen during REM
sleep favor the consolidation of memories. Pulling an all nighter into the morning hours,
deprives one of REM sleep which is most prevalent during the early morning.
12. Q: What sense is the best at unlocking emotional memories?
A: Olfaction/Limbic System; People who are anosmic (lose their sense of smell due to
damage of olfaction nerves) eventually develop depression because their amygdala, the
center of emotional regulation, reduces in size. This is because the olfaction neurons
connect to the amygdala. If these olfaction neurons don’t “work out” much like a
bodybuilder, the amygdala decreases in size much like the size of a bodybuilder’s
muscles would.
13. Q: What is the most effective therapy for the “winter blues” aka SAD?
A: light therapy; seasonal affective disorder is most prevalent during the winter because
there are more hours of darkness than light in a day. It is most common in people who
live in northern latitudes (i.e. Canada and North Pole) and increases the risk of depression
and alcoholism
14. Q: What do most people consider the “female hormone”?
A: Estrogens; describe why this is not accurate; Men have estrogen too, except this
estrogen is aromatized (converted from estrogen to testosterone via the enzyme
aromatase).
15. Q: How fast can a nerve impulse travel in your body?
A: Approximately 80 meters per second; nerve impulses travel the fastest in neurons that
are 1) large in diameter because it decreases resistance and 2) myelinated or covered with
an insulator because it allows nerve impulses to “jump” in a process called salutatory
conduction.
16. Q: What sensory system is responsible for that nauseous feeling you get after
riding a roller coaster?
A: Vestibular system; this system controls balance. Nausea is facilitated by fluid sloshing
around within the vestibular system. As mentioned earlier, alcohol has a similar effect
because this fluid is thinner.
17. Q. What is the primary brain chemical released when an individual smokes,
uses drugs, or drinks alcohol?
A: Dopamine-reward system; The central drug reward circuit in the brain consists of two
structures; the ventral tegmental area and the nucleus accumbens. Drugs of abuse act on
various levels of this system resulting in the drugs to be rewarding by means of
increasing dopamine release. Note: other addictions such as sex and food also act on this
central drug reward circuit in a similar manner.
18. Q: Are males better at following maps than females?
A: Sex differences.; The male brain is wired in manner that favors better spatial
orientation. The female brain is wired in manner that favors better loquaciousness.
19. Q: Do human only use 10% of their brain?
A: No, they use their whole brain, they might just use 10% at any given time.; such as
during deep sleep when cortical activation is minimal, yet synchronous. It is true,
however, that 90% of the brain consists of glia which insulates and supports various brain
structures and maintains chemical homeostasis by acting as a buffer.
20. Q: Can dogs smell things humans cannot?
A: No, they just have much better acuity than we do ; they have more and larger olfactory
receptors for olfaction smells to bind. This increases the intensity and frequency of
neuronal firings within the olfactory system.
21: Q: Where is the worst place to break your back?
A: the higher up the worse it is.; the higher it is, the greater the magnitude of paralysis;
breaking the lower back may only cause leg paralysis while breaking the middle to upper
may result in quadriplegia (complete paralysis of all limbs).
22: Q: What is the most sensitive part of your face?
A: the lips; mention homunculus man….
23: Q: What is one way that Albert Einstein’s brain was unique?
A: More glia in certain areas.;
24. Q: Why do snakes flick their tongues?
A: to sample odorants in the air and provide info to the vomeronasal system.; mentioned
before
25. Q: What causes spicy food to burn your tongue?
A: stimulation of pair receptors by capsacin.; this burning sensation is actually killing
taste buds as it occurs. The killing of taste buds results from neurotoxicity or too much
input from a specific neurotransmitter called glutamate.
26. Q: What types of negative effects of long-term stress have on the body?
A: Memory (hippocampus)
Immune
Repro (Sex)
Reduced brain size and volume…..
27. Q: What is “Roid-rage”?
A: Extreme aggressive behavior due to prolonged anabolic steroid use.; aggression is
regulated in several brain structures including the amygdala and septum.
28. Q: Why does eating turkey (or another protein source) make you sleepy?
A: increased tryptophan; tryptophan is a precursor of the neurotransmitter serotonin.
When serotonin levels increase, we become sleepy and exhausted from physical exercise.
29: Q: What is the only part of your nervous system that can readily been seen?
A: your retina; involved with vision
30: Q: When you get hit in the back of the head, why do you sometimes see stars?
A: you just jostled your V1 (visual cortex)-occipital lobe; brain to skull resulting in
bruising