Question 1

Which of the following processes would LEAST involve cognitive control?
A)playing "Simon Says" with your niece and nephew
B)jumping rope with your niece and nephew, after not having jumped rope for at least10 years
C)choosing what kind of pizzas to order based on input from a group of several people
D)not letting yourself have another glass of wine, even though you want to have one

Accepted Answer

Jumping rope is a physical activity that primarily involves motor control, not cognitive control. Playing "Simon Says" involves cognitive control as you have to inhibit yourself from doing certain actions unless a predetermined cue is given. Choosing what kind of pizzas to order based on input from a group of people involves cognitive control as you have to consider multiple options and opinions. Not letting yourself have another glass of wine involves cognitive control as you have to inhibit yourself from taking an action that you may want to do.

Question 2

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is sometimes thought of as being associated with cognitive control deficits. Which piece of evidence best supports this?
A)ADHD stimulant medications have a particularly high affinity for frontal lobe structures involved in cognitive control.
B)ADHD stimulant medications work by increasing attentional selection, which facilitates cognitive control.
C)Attention and cognitive control are more or less synonymous.
D)The interplay between attention and cognitive control is much stronger in children with ADHD than in children who do not have ADHD.

Accepted Answer

This piece of evidence supports the idea that ADHD is associated with cognitive control deficits because it suggests that the medication (which is effective for ADHD symptoms) targets structures in the brain that are involved in cognitive control.

Answer: B 
 This piece of evidence supports the idea that medication for ADHD is focused on increasing cognitive control, which is often impaired in individuals with ADHD.

Answer: D 
 This piece of evidence suggests that there may be an interaction between attention and cognitive control in individuals with ADHD, which could explain why these deficits are often seen in this population. However, it does not directly relate to medication, so it may not be as strong a piece of evidence as A or B.

Answer: C 
 This answer is incorrect because it makes a false assumption that attention and cognitive control are the same thing, which is not necessarily true.

Question 3

Focal injuries of the prefrontal cortex generally produce all of the following cognitive changes or symptoms EXCEPT
A)deficits in planning complex behaviors.
B)perseveration in responding.
C)fluent aphasia.
D)disruption of working memory.

Accepted Answer

Fluent aphasia is not a symptom typically associated with focal injuries of the prefrontal cortex. Deficits in planning complex behaviors, perseveration in responding, and disruption of working memory are all commonly observed in individuals with prefrontal cortex damage.

Question 4

Three main subdivisions of the prefrontal cortex are the
A)primary motor cortex, lateral prefrontal cortex, and frontal pole.
B)lateral prefrontal cortex, frontal pole, and medial frontal cortex.
C)frontal pole, medial frontal cortex, and anterior cingulate.
D)medial frontal cortex, anterior cingulate, and primary motor cortex.

Accepted Answer

The three main subdivisions of the prefrontal cortex are the lateral prefrontal cortex, which is involved in decision-making and working memory, the frontal pole, which is involved in monitoring and integrating information from other areas of the brain, and the medial frontal cortex, which is involved in emotional processing and regulation. The anterior cingulate is also closely associated with the prefrontal cortex, but it is not one of the three main subdivisions.

Question 5

The information that you are currently thinking about, perceiving, or using to guide responding is held in this type of memory store.
A)source memory
B)anterograde memory
C)working memory
D)implicit memory

Accepted Answer

The information that is currently being processed, perceived, or used to guide responding is held in working memory. This type of memory store is characterized by a limited capacity and a relatively short duration of retention, typically a few seconds to a minute. Working memory functions to support attention, reasoning, problem-solving, decision-making, and language comprehension, among other cognitive processes. It is considered to be a crucial component of human cognition and is essential for adaptive behavior in various domains of life.

Question 6

Cognitive control is often associated with
A)goal-oriented behavior.
B)decision making.
C)cognitive flexibility.
D)All of the answer options are correct.

Accepted Answer

Cognitive control involves several mental processes such as goal-oriented behavior, decision making, and cognitive flexibility. Therefore, all the answer options are correct.

Question 7

A patient with a frontal lobe lesion kneels and prays when watching another person do the same thing in the middle of the cafeteria. This is an example of
A)deficits in planning complex behaviors.
B)perseveration in responding.
C)utilization behavior.
D)disruption of working memory.

Accepted Answer

This is an example of utilization behavior, which refers to the automatic performance of inappropriate or irrelevant actions in response to external stimuli, due to a disruption in the control mechanisms of the frontal lobes. In this case, the patient's frontal lobe lesion led to a lack of inhibition of the behavior of kneeling and praying, which was prompted by the sight of another person doing the same thing. The other options are not directly related to this behavior.

Question 8

A monkey that has previously received a lesion in the lateral prefrontal cortex is shown two food wells, each of which is covered by a marked stimulus card:  As the monkey watches, a food reward is placed into the left well and then both wells are covered. If the monkey is now allowed to retrieve the food reward immediately, it will
A)correctly select the left food well.
B)select from either of the food wells randomly.
C)incorrectly select the right well.
D)no longer respond to either of the food wells.

Accepted Answer

The answer of A monkey that has previously received a...

Question 9

Working memory has been called the ________ of the mind.
A)blackboard
B)bookshelves
C)filing cabinet
D)staple gun

Accepted Answer

Working memory is often referred to as the "blackboard of the mind" because it involves the temporary holding and manipulation of information, similar to how one might use a blackboard to jot down and work through ideas.

Question 10

Which of the following best describes a real-life example of the delayed-response task?
A)After reading and studying on Sunday afternoon, you take a cognitive neuroscience exam on Monday morning.
B)After looking up the phone number of a local pizza place, you walk across the room to the telephone and begin dialing it.
C)After staring intently at a bright streetlamp, you notice that there is an afterimage of the light even when you move your eyes to another location.
D)Every time you visit the doctor to receive a shot, she gives you a cherry lollipop. After several visits you find that the taste of cherry lollipops makes you anxious.

Accepted Answer

In the delayed-response task, a subject is asked to perform a task after a delay, during which they must maintain information in short-term memory to successfully complete the task. In this real-life example, the task is looking up a phone number and then dialing it, which requires the subject to maintain the information in short-term memory while they walk across the room to the telephone.

Question 11

Lesions of the lateral prefrontal cortex disrupt ________ memory but not ________ memory.
A)long-term; working
B)long-term; short-term
C)working; long-term
D)working; short-term

Accepted Answer

Lesions of the lateral prefrontal cortex disrupt working memory but not long-term memory. This is supported by research on patients with prefrontal cortex damage who showed deficits in tasks requiring working memory but were still able to perform normally on long-term memory tasks.

Question 12

A monkey is taught that food is associated with a stimulus card that has a star on it. After training, the animal receives a lesion to the lateral prefrontal cortex. The monkey's memory for the food-stimulus card association is then tested by presenting the animal with the two stimulus cards diagrammed here.  How will the monkey now respond?
A)The monkey will remember the correct response and choose stimulus card 1 to earn a food reward.
B)The memory trace left by the training period will be disrupted by the surgery, and the monkey will randomly select among the stimulus cards.
C)The monkey will no longer be able to retrieve old memories, even if the representations are intact, and will randomly select among the stimulus cards.
D)The monkey will no longer be able to recognize visual patterns and will randomly select among the stimulus cards.

Accepted Answer

The answer of A monkey is taught that food is...

Question 13

Which of the following statements best describes the anatomical connectivity of the prefrontal lobes to the rest of the brain?
A)Most synapses in the prefrontal cortex originate from subcortical regions rather than from other cortical regions in the brain.
B)Almost all connections in this area carry inputs from other regions of the cortex rather than from subcortical regions.
C)Connections in this region tend to carry inputs from other parts of the prefrontal cortex rather than from other lobes of the brain.
D)There are extensive projections to and from the prefrontal cortex to all other lobes of the brain.

Accepted Answer

The prefrontal cortex is extensively connected with all other lobes of the brain via numerous projections. These projections are bidirectional, meaning that they both receive and send information to and from other regions of the brain. Therefore, statement D accurately describes the anatomical connectivity of the prefrontal lobes to the rest of the brain.

Question 14

The most caudal part of the frontal lobe contains the ________ region.
A)lateral prefrontal cortex
B)premotor
C)anterior cingulate
D)primary motor

Accepted Answer

The most caudal part of the frontal lobe contains the primary motor region, which is responsible for controlling voluntary movements of specific body parts.

Question 15

You are driving around town. Which of the following stops will require the most working memory?
A)stopping at a frequently visited supermarket
B)stopping at home
C)stopping at a friend's home
D)stopping at a business you have never visited before

Accepted Answer

Stopping at a business you have never visited before requires the most working memory as you will need to actively remember the new location, look for the correct entrance, and potentially navigate through an unfamiliar layout. This involves more cognitive load than stopping at a familiar location like a supermarket or home.

Question 16

The statement "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny" is discussed in multiple places in this chapter. Which of the following, if true, would be inconsistent with that statement?
A)Squirrel monkeys and dogs tend to exhibit poorer cognitive control than chimpanzees.
B)The frontal lobes of dogs are fully developed within their first 2 years of life.
C)The frontal lobes of chimpanzees become fully developed at a younger age than the frontal lobes of squirrel monkeys or dogs.
D)Humans exhibit better cognitive control than chimpanzees, but our frontal lobes take longer to develop.

Accepted Answer

The statement "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny" suggests that an organism's developmental process (ontogeny) mirrors the evolutionary history of its species (phylogeny). Choice C is inconsistent with this statement because if chimpanzee frontal lobes develop at a younger age than those of squirrel monkeys or dogs, it implies a deviation from the expected evolutionary sequence, where more complex organisms (like primates) would have longer developmental periods to reflect their more complex evolutionary history.

Question 17

John is unable to carry on the most rudimentary conversations. Whenever someone changes the subject he persists on the same topic for several minutes. Eventually, people simply leave him alone, talking to himself. John has
A)deficits in planning complex behaviors.
B)perseveration in responding.
C)fluent aphasia.
D)disruption of working memory.

Accepted Answer

Perseveration refers to the inability to shift from one topic to another, which is exactly what John is experiencing. The other options do not accurately describe John's symptoms.

Question 18

The human analog of the delayed-response task that is used as a test of cognitive development in human infants is the ________ task.
A)delayed-reward
B)object permanence
C)sensorimotor development
D)conservation of quantity

Accepted Answer

Object permanence is the ability to understand that objects continue to exist even when they can no longer be seen or heard. It is a developmental milestone in infants and is tested through the delayed-response task. The other options listed are not directly related to the delayed-response task.

Question 19

The ventromedial zone is also known as (the)
A)primary motor cortex.
B)Wernicke's area.
C)anterior cingulate cortex.
D)orbitofrontal cortex.

Accepted Answer

The ventromedial zone is also known as the orbitofrontal cortex, which is responsible for emotion regulation, decision-making processes, and social behavior. The primary motor cortex (A) is responsible for controlling voluntary movements, Wernicke's area (B) is involved in language comprehension, and the anterior cingulate cortex (C) is involved in decision-making and emotion regulation, but is not synonymous with the ventromedial zone.

Question 20

Cognitive control is NOT involved in which of the following?
A)goal-oriented behavior
B)decision making
C)cognitive flexibility
D)implicit memory

Accepted Answer

Cognitive control is not involved in implicit memory, which refers to the unconscious influence of past experiences on behavior and performance without intentional recollection. Goal-oriented behavior, decision making, and cognitive flexibility all rely on cognitive control and the ability to regulate and direct attention, working memory, and other executive functions in pursuit of a desired outcome or adaptation to changing circumstances.

Quiz 12: Cognitive Control

Which of the following processes would LEAST involve cognitive control?

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is sometimes thought of as being associated with cognitive control deficits. Which piece of evidence best supports this?

Focal injuries of the prefrontal cortex generally produce all of the following cognitive changes or symptoms EXCEPT

Three main subdivisions of the prefrontal cortex are the

The information that you are currently thinking about, perceiving, or using to guide responding is held in this type of memory store.

Cognitive control is often associated with

A patient with a frontal lobe lesion kneels and prays when watching another person do the same thing in the middle of the cafeteria. This is an example of

Working memory has been called the ________ of the mind.

Which of the following best describes a real-life example of the delayed-response task?

Lesions of the lateral prefrontal cortex disrupt memory but not memory.

Which of the following statements best describes the anatomical connectivity of the prefrontal lobes to the rest of the brain?

The most caudal part of the frontal lobe contains the ________ region.

You are driving around town. Which of the following stops will require the most working memory?

The statement "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny" is discussed in multiple places in this chapter. Which of the following, if true, would be inconsistent with that statement?

John is unable to carry on the most rudimentary conversations. Whenever someone changes the subject he persists on the same topic for several minutes. Eventually, people simply leave him alone, talking to himself. John has

The human analog of the delayed-response task that is used as a test of cognitive development in human infants is the ________ task.

The ventromedial zone is also known as (the)

Cognitive control is NOT involved in which of the following?