Week 2 Assessment — Brain, Nervous System & Consciousness

Mastery Authority

Stored assessment evidence controls Week 2 mastery

Lesson completion and challenge play do not confer mastery. Week 2 is mastered only when the best stored weekly assessment score is at least 80%.

Form A · First Attempt

Week 2 Knowledge Check

1. A neurotransmitter is: an electrical impulse traveling through an axon a chemical messenger released at synapses a personality trait

2. The central nervous system consists of: brain and spinal cord all glands and hormones peripheral nerves only

3. Which statement best reflects modern brain-network reasoning? every complex behavior has one isolated brain center brain regions never specialize regions can specialize while complex behavior depends on coordinated networks

4. A circadian rhythm is: a personality cycle an approximately 24-hour biological rhythm a single REM episode

5. A student's heart rate rises before a speech. Which interpretation is most responsible? the student definitely has anxiety heart rate proves fear physiological arousal increased; several explanations remain possible

6. An fMRI study shows more activity in a hippocampal region during new learning. Best conclusion? the region stores all memory measured activation differed under the learning condition and may contribute to the process the scan photographed a memory

7. Which method is especially useful for millisecond-scale timing of brain activity? EEG fMRI only self-report only

8. Why is converging evidence valuable? it removes every limitation it makes one method sufficient compatible results across methods can strengthen an explanation while offsetting method-specific weaknesses

9. A training study shows accuracy rising from 68% to 85% over four weeks. What is directly supported? one specific synapse caused improvement performance improved across the measured practice period intelligence permanently increased

10. Which statement best respects Week 2's interpretation boundary? “He is low in dopamine because he looks sad.” “A brain scan can diagnose a stranger from one image.” “Biological measures are informative, but they require context and do not equal destiny or diagnosis.”

Answer all 10 questions, then score the assessment.

Targeted Correction

Review before Form B

Write one scientific rule you will carry into the retake.

Form B · Parallel Retake

New questions, same standards

1. Which sequence is most accurate? action potential travels along axon → transmitter released → receptor influenced receptor creates a personality → axon releases a hormone transmitter travels as an action potential through blood

2. Which statement about the endocrine system is correct? hormones communicate only between adjacent neurons glands release hormones into the bloodstream hormones reveal exact motives

3. Why is “amygdala = fear center” incomplete? fear involves broader networks and the amygdala participates in several significance-related processes the amygdala has no role in emotional learning all brain regions do the same thing

4. Which statement about sleep is best supported? dreams occur only in REM sleep is biological inactivity sleep cycles through active non-REM and REM states and relates to attention and memory

5. A participant has a faster heart rate after caffeine. Which conclusion is safest? caffeine proves fear physiological state changed; emotion cannot be inferred from heart rate alone the person has a disorder

6. Which statement about left/right brain claims is most accurate? logical people use only the left hemisphere creative people use only the right hemisphere some functions are lateralized, but everyday cognition depends on integrated hemispheric networks

7. Which method offers useful spatial localization through blood-oxygen-related signals? EEG fMRI anecdote

8. Lesion evidence is especially useful because it can help test: whether a damaged system is necessary for normal performance exact thoughts whether all people have identical brains

9. Reported sleep increases while reaction time becomes faster in a small observational sample. Best wording? sleep caused intelligence everyone needs the same sleep amount more reported sleep was associated with faster responding in this sample

10. Which statement about neuroplasticity is responsible? neural systems can change with experience, but plasticity has biological and contextual limits anyone can rewire the brain without limit lack of change means a person did not try hard enough

Form B is a parallel assessment, not a duplicate.

Mastery Reached

Week 2 is mastered

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Mastery Assessment

Stored assessment evidence controls Week 2 mastery

Week 2 Knowledge Check

Review before Form B

New questions, same standards

Week 2 is mastered