Multiple Choice
9.1 Somatosensory Receptors
1. Jill has suffered a bad burn on an area of her skin. She has damaged the epidermis and
upper part of the dermis. The deeper dermis layers are intact and undamaged. Which touch
receptors are likely to be impaired?
a. Ruffini endings and Pacinian corpuscles
b. Merkel disks and Pacinian corpuscles
c. Merkel disks and Meissner’s corpuscles
d. Ruffini endings and Meissner’s corpuscles
Answer: c
2. What is the stimulus that activates touch receptors?
a. Chemical transmitters binding to the receptors.
b. Physically pulling open protein complexes in the cell membrane.
c. Photons of light.
d. Temperature-dependent changes in protein shape.
Answer: b
3. Which receptors have small, accurate receptive fields and are encapsulated?
a. Free nerve endings
b. Pacinian corpuscles
c. Meissner’s corpuscles
d. Ruffini’s endings
Answer: c
4. You are testing a touch receptor to see what kind of stimulus it responds to. You apply a
constant touch stimulus and find that the receptor fires rapidly at first but then stops firing,
even though you have continued to provide the constant touch stimulus. Based on this
information, what kind of receptor could this be?
a. Meissner’s corpuscles only
b. Pacinian corpuscles only
c. Neither Meissner’s nor Pacinian corpuscles
d. Both Meissner’s and Pacinian corpuscles
Answer: d
5. Nociceptors transduce which kind of sensory information?
, Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience Instructor Answer Guide
a. Mechanical pain
b. Thermal pain
c. Chemical pain
d. All of the above
Answer: d
6. Which of the following does NOT have a role in nociception following tissue injury?
a. Mast cells
b. C-fibers
c. Pacinian corpuscles
d. A-delta fibers
Answer: c
7. Which of the following fibers has the fastest conduction speed?
a. A-alpha
b. A-beta
c. A-delta
d. C fiber
Answer: a
8. Why do A-alpha fibers have the fastest conduction speed of the 4 major sensory fibers?
a. Because they have the widest diameter.
b. Because they have the most myelination.
c. Both A and B.
d. Neither A nor B.
Answer: c
9.2 Somatosensation in the Central Nervous System
9. Pain and touch:
a. are transduced by the same receptors.
b. follow the same spinal pathways.
c. use only myelinated fibers
d. none of the above.
Answer: d
10. In the Gate Control Theory of pain, why does touch sensation reduce pain sensation?
a. Because the brain centers for interpreting pain can only handle limited input and
adding touch information overwhelms pain processing.
2
Updated October 2024
9.1 Somatosensory Receptors
1. Jill has suffered a bad burn on an area of her skin. She has damaged the epidermis and
upper part of the dermis. The deeper dermis layers are intact and undamaged. Which touch
receptors are likely to be impaired?
a. Ruffini endings and Pacinian corpuscles
b. Merkel disks and Pacinian corpuscles
c. Merkel disks and Meissner’s corpuscles
d. Ruffini endings and Meissner’s corpuscles
Answer: c
2. What is the stimulus that activates touch receptors?
a. Chemical transmitters binding to the receptors.
b. Physically pulling open protein complexes in the cell membrane.
c. Photons of light.
d. Temperature-dependent changes in protein shape.
Answer: b
3. Which receptors have small, accurate receptive fields and are encapsulated?
a. Free nerve endings
b. Pacinian corpuscles
c. Meissner’s corpuscles
d. Ruffini’s endings
Answer: c
4. You are testing a touch receptor to see what kind of stimulus it responds to. You apply a
constant touch stimulus and find that the receptor fires rapidly at first but then stops firing,
even though you have continued to provide the constant touch stimulus. Based on this
information, what kind of receptor could this be?
a. Meissner’s corpuscles only
b. Pacinian corpuscles only
c. Neither Meissner’s nor Pacinian corpuscles
d. Both Meissner’s and Pacinian corpuscles
Answer: d
5. Nociceptors transduce which kind of sensory information?
, Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience Instructor Answer Guide
a. Mechanical pain
b. Thermal pain
c. Chemical pain
d. All of the above
Answer: d
6. Which of the following does NOT have a role in nociception following tissue injury?
a. Mast cells
b. C-fibers
c. Pacinian corpuscles
d. A-delta fibers
Answer: c
7. Which of the following fibers has the fastest conduction speed?
a. A-alpha
b. A-beta
c. A-delta
d. C fiber
Answer: a
8. Why do A-alpha fibers have the fastest conduction speed of the 4 major sensory fibers?
a. Because they have the widest diameter.
b. Because they have the most myelination.
c. Both A and B.
d. Neither A nor B.
Answer: c
9.2 Somatosensation in the Central Nervous System
9. Pain and touch:
a. are transduced by the same receptors.
b. follow the same spinal pathways.
c. use only myelinated fibers
d. none of the above.
Answer: d
10. In the Gate Control Theory of pain, why does touch sensation reduce pain sensation?
a. Because the brain centers for interpreting pain can only handle limited input and
adding touch information overwhelms pain processing.
2
Updated October 2024
