Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience Instructor Answer Guide
Multiple Choice
12.1 What Is Stress?
1. Hans Selye noticed that physiological responses to different stressors were:
a. similar.
b. dissimilar.
c. unpredictable.
d. absent.
Answer: a
2. Stress responses evolved to:
a. make you feel bad.
b. harm your body.
c. adapt to environmental demands.
d. make stressors more predictable.
Answer: c
3. Stress is
a. bad.
b. good.
c. sometimes bad, sometimes good.
d. not a real thing.
Answer: c
4. Stress can be studied:
a. only in humans.
b. only in rodents.
c. in many animal species.
d. only in the lab.
Answer: c
5. Chronic stress can negatively affect:
a. immune function.
b. cardiovascular health.
c. memory function.
d. All of these
, Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience Instructor Answer Guide
Answer: d
6. A mouse who had been exposed to social defeat stress would show which of the
following behaviors in a forced swim test?
a. Less movement
b. More movement
c. Sinking
d. None of these
Answer: a
12.2 Neural Mechanisms and Circuitry of the Stress Response
7. What are the two major systems that mediate most components of the stress response?
a. Autonomic nervous system and mesolimbic dopaminergic system
b. Periaqueductal grey and anterior cingulate cortex
c. Hypothalamic pituitary gonadal (HPG) axis and corticolimbic system
d. Sympathetic nervous system and hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis
Answer: d
8. While walking to class one day, you encounter a squirrel in your path. You stare at the
squirrel. It stares back. You walk forward one step. So does the squirrel. You step right, to
go around the squirrel. It steps right also, blocking your path. Suddenly, the squirrel
charges, a 2 pound blur of fur, teeth and claws. You scream and run away faster than you
have ever run before. What part of your nervous system is most active to support your
rapid flee for safety (i.e. your initial, rapid response to this stressor)?
a. Your parasympathetic nervous system
b. Your sympathetic nervous system
c. Your hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis
d. Your mesolimbic dopaminergic system
Answer: b
9. Which of the following are sites for negative feedback in the HPA?
a. Hippocampus
b. Hypothalamus
c. Pituitary
d. All of these
Answer: d
10. Negative feedback helps to
a. amplify the stress response.
2
Updated October 2024
Multiple Choice
12.1 What Is Stress?
1. Hans Selye noticed that physiological responses to different stressors were:
a. similar.
b. dissimilar.
c. unpredictable.
d. absent.
Answer: a
2. Stress responses evolved to:
a. make you feel bad.
b. harm your body.
c. adapt to environmental demands.
d. make stressors more predictable.
Answer: c
3. Stress is
a. bad.
b. good.
c. sometimes bad, sometimes good.
d. not a real thing.
Answer: c
4. Stress can be studied:
a. only in humans.
b. only in rodents.
c. in many animal species.
d. only in the lab.
Answer: c
5. Chronic stress can negatively affect:
a. immune function.
b. cardiovascular health.
c. memory function.
d. All of these
, Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience Instructor Answer Guide
Answer: d
6. A mouse who had been exposed to social defeat stress would show which of the
following behaviors in a forced swim test?
a. Less movement
b. More movement
c. Sinking
d. None of these
Answer: a
12.2 Neural Mechanisms and Circuitry of the Stress Response
7. What are the two major systems that mediate most components of the stress response?
a. Autonomic nervous system and mesolimbic dopaminergic system
b. Periaqueductal grey and anterior cingulate cortex
c. Hypothalamic pituitary gonadal (HPG) axis and corticolimbic system
d. Sympathetic nervous system and hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis
Answer: d
8. While walking to class one day, you encounter a squirrel in your path. You stare at the
squirrel. It stares back. You walk forward one step. So does the squirrel. You step right, to
go around the squirrel. It steps right also, blocking your path. Suddenly, the squirrel
charges, a 2 pound blur of fur, teeth and claws. You scream and run away faster than you
have ever run before. What part of your nervous system is most active to support your
rapid flee for safety (i.e. your initial, rapid response to this stressor)?
a. Your parasympathetic nervous system
b. Your sympathetic nervous system
c. Your hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis
d. Your mesolimbic dopaminergic system
Answer: b
9. Which of the following are sites for negative feedback in the HPA?
a. Hippocampus
b. Hypothalamus
c. Pituitary
d. All of these
Answer: d
10. Negative feedback helps to
a. amplify the stress response.
2
Updated October 2024
