AP Psychology: The Brain — Drill 4

About This Drill

AP Psychology: The Brain — Drill 4 is a Multiple Choice practice drill covering Unit 1: Biological Bases of Behavior. It contains 5 original questions created by Brian Stewart, a Barron's test prep author with over 20 years of tutoring experience.

Test your knowledge of brain structures and their functions with these AP Psychology practice questions on Topic 1.4. This AP exam prep drill covers the reticular activating system, amygdala, hemispheric lateralization, Broca's area, and the hippocampus.

Questions in This Drill

1. A neurologist studies a patient injured in a car accident. After the injury, the patient struggles to stay alert during the day and cannot maintain a normal sleep-wake cycle, even though his movement and sensory perception are intact. Which brain structure is most likely damaged?
2. A researcher presents participants with images of threatening faces while recording brain activity. One structure consistently shows heightened activation in response to the threatening images but not to neutral ones. Which structure is most likely responsible for this pattern?
3. A research team divides 120 participants into two groups: one completes a verbal reasoning task, the other a spatial rotation task. Brain imaging shows greater left-hemisphere activation for verbal tasks and greater right-hemisphere activation for spatial tasks. The researchers conclude that language is exclusively controlled by the left hemisphere. Which of the following is the most accurate critique of this conclusion?
4. Following a stroke affecting his left frontal lobe, a patient can understand everything said to him but can no longer produce fluent spoken language. This pattern most directly implicates which brain area?
5. A graduate student finds that across 40 participants, those who score higher on a stress questionnaire show greater hippocampal volume loss. The correlation between stress scores and hippocampal volume is r = −0.61. What is the most appropriate conclusion from these data?