Lab Exercise with Quizzing

Read the materials, click on the lab exercise links and take the quizzes. Please note these will open in a new window.

Lab Exercise 1: Probe the Brain

PBS offers excursions into the working of the brain. In a virtual sense you will have the opportunity to “relive” the probing of the motor cortex that was done in the 1940s by Canadian brain surgeon Wilder Penfield.

Follow-Up Quiz

1. Which area of the brain appears to be probed in this demonstration?

  1. Broca’s area
  2. Wernicke’s area
  3. motor cortex
  4. angular gyrus

Ans: C

2. When the probes are applied in this demonstration, the labels show that there is symmetrical lateralization of body part motor control.

  1. True
  2. False

Ans: T

3. Based on what you know about brain activity organization form reading the text, if the area is probed for the arm in the right hemisphere, this will control the ______.

  1. right arm
  2. left arm
  3. neither arm
  4. both arms

Ans: B

 

Lab Exercise 2: Brain Atlas Exercise 

The Scalable Brain Atlas (SBA) is a fully web-based display engine for brain atlases, imaging data and ontologies. Be sure to explore several of the brains available. As you explored the human brain, what did you find surprising? Do you know what each lobe is primarily dedicated to? Can you identify other structures?

Follow-Up Quiz

1. Which of the following brain atlases did this exercise contain?

  1. opossum
  2. marmoset
  3. pig
  4. both opossum and marmoset

Ans: D

2. Which mouse brain atlas would you use to look at the area of the brain important for memory formation and retrieval?

  1. Alan mouse brain volumetric atlas
  2. Waxholm space for the mouse
  3. in vivo MRI template
  4. DTI Atlas

Ans: B

3. The atlases show that human brains have completely different names for neural structures than other animals.

  1. True
  2. False

Ans: F

 

Lab Exercise 3: Neuroimaging Exercise 

This Brain Atlas offers views of the normal brain, but also the brain affected by various disorders. Explore the human brain under different brain conditions by visiting the following labeled links:

Cerebrovascular Disease (select and click on any of the subcategories under this heading)

Neoplastic Disease (select and click on any of the subcategories under this heading)

Degenerative Disease (select and click on any of the subcategories under this heading)

Inflammatory or Infectious Disease (select and click on any of the subcategories under this heading)

As you explore these, can you identify any of the disorders? What is the typical brain deterioration in individual disorders?

Follow-Up Quiz

1. Which of the following types of neuroimaging techniques are NOT used in the images on this site?

  1. MRI
  2. PET
  3. CT
  4. EKG

Ans: D

2. When you click on “Can you name these brain structures?” under the “Normal Brain” section, what area is the bottommost arrow pointing to?

  1. motor cortex
  2. Broca’s area
  3. primary visual cortex
  4. pre-frontal cortex

Ans: C

3. The website has a time-lapse clip that clearly illustrates a brain tumor.

  1. True
  2. False

Ans: F