Question

Name____________________________________________ Section (circle one) 15 16

The Mountain Lion Based on a true story

Instructions

After each of the numbered sections of the story answer the question in bold.

In answering each question you will:

Choose and identify 3 psychobiological factors that were in operation, and

Explain how the psychobiological factors were involved (The factor was doing…what?).  

There will be three answers for each section, a total of 12 (3X4) answers for the assignment.

The fifth section is EXTRA CREDIT. There will be no mark-down for weak or wrong responses.

Select items related to psychobiological processes (items) from the list in the box below.  

You may use an item from the list once only.

I suggest that you check off each item as you use it.

Preferred: Assignment will be typed. If handwritten, writing must be easily legible. Check your grammar and spelling. Number all answers in the format of the Assignment, i.e. 1.1., 1.2., 1.3., etc.

Your answers must be in the form of complete sentences.

Late work will be marked down.

Acetylcholine

Adrenal gland

Afferent and Efferent neurons

Amygdala

Antagonistic Neurotransmitter (Specify which neurotransmitter)

Binocular cues

Brightness constancy

Cerebral cortex

Cortisol

Dopamine

Endocrine system (Which hormone)

Endorphins

Epinephrine

Excitatory neurotransmitter (Specify which neurotransmitter)

Figure ground

Frontal lobe

GABA

Gate control theory

Glutamate

Hippocampus

Hypothalamus

Interneurons

Inhibitory neurotransmitter (Specify which..)

Just Noticeable Difference (Be specific)

Kinesthetic sense

Left side of brain

Limbic system

Mirror neurons

Motor neurons

Norepinephrine

Occipital lobe

Olfaction

Parasympathetic nervous system

Parietal lobe

Sensory neurons

Sensory transduction

Serotonin

Sound localization

Sympathetic nervous system

Synaptic transmission

Synaptic vesicles

Temporal lobe

Thalamus

Vestibular sense

1. A man is jogging in Estes Park, Colorado. A mountain lion starts to track him. The man senses something behind him, looks back, and sees the mountain lion. The jogger springs into action and starts running as fast as he can go. He runs to a tree and climbs up.

Name and describe 3 psychobiological factors that may be operating in this situation. Explain what each is doing.

1. All @ 8.3

2.

3.

2. The mountain lion stands up against the tree growling ferociously and roaring, while trying to swat the jogger with its powerful paws.  

The jogger is desperately afraid. He reaches for a nearby branch, breaks it off, and tries to hit the mountain lion. He is trying to keep it from climbing up the tree. He swings the branch, occasionally hitting a paw or a leg, and screams curses at the mountain lion. The jogger does not notice that the temperature is dropping. The lion continues its attempts to reach the jogger. The man looks down at the lion as it roars, revealing long, wicked looking, cat’s teeth.

Name and describe 3 psychobiological processes that the jogger is experiencing.

  

3. The jogger’s wife, knowing how long his run should take, realizes that her husband is late. She becomes increasingly upset and worried. After an hour, she can’t wait any longer, calls the sheriff, and explains her concern. She can’t leave the house because there is an infant. Her hands are shaking as she tells the sheriff her husband’s favorite jogging route.  

How would you explain in 3 psychobiological terms what the jogger’s wife has been experiencing?

1.

2.

3.

4. The sheriff follows the jogging route and arrives at the scene. He sees the Mt. Lion standing up against the tree below the jogger. He immediately understands what is going on. He quickly pulls his riffle from the bracket in his Jeep, aims instinctively, and fires, killing the mountain lion. The grateful jogger climbs down. The sheriff wraps a blanket around him and drives him home.

On the ride back to his house, the jogger feels his body calming down as he distances himself to the extent he can from the extreme physical and mental ordeal. As they approach the jogger’s house, he realizes for the first time that it is very cold outside, and he is wearing only shorts and a tee shirt.  

Shortly after arriving home, he falls asleep on the couch while looking at his baby.

Describe three psychobiological processes that could be in effect for the jogger after the Mt. Lion has been killed and he has left the tree.

3.

Extra Credit

Answer these questions. You have nothing to lose!

5. The next day the jogger and his wife return to the scene of the fearful experience. He has told his wife about how he broke off the dead branch and tried to defend himself. The jogger says, for about the fifth time, that this had been the most terrifying experience in his life. As they approach the tree, he begins to feel uneasy.

He is amazed to see that the branch he broke off is almost 3 inches in diameter was alive and healthy. He wonders how he could have had the strength to break a branch that large and heavy.  

READ THIS QUESTION CAREFULLY!  

YOU ARE INSTRUCTED TO

OFFER A POSSIBLE EXPLANATION TO THE JOGGER.

Reader, how would you begin to explain to the jogger what psychobiological

Processes (3) had been triggered in him that may have accounted for the great

physical strength that enabled him to break off the branch that probably saved

his life?

Altogether 6 pts..

2.

3.

Everybody, except of course the mountain lion, lives happily ever after.  

The end.

Answer 1

A man is jogging in Estes Park, Colorado. A mountain lion starts to track him. The man senses something behind him, looks back, and sees the mountain lion. The jogger springs into action and starts running as fast as he can go. He runs to a tree and climbs up.
1. Amygdala: When someone experiences a stressful event, the amygdala, an area of the brain that contributes to emotional processing, sends a distress signal to the hypothalamus, to prepare the body for response.
2. Hypothalamus: The hypothalamus is a bit like a command center. This area of the brain communicates with the rest of the body through the autonomic nervous system, which is comprised of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system.
3. Sympathetic nervous system: The sympathetic nervous system receives signals from the hypothalamus through the autonomic nerves to the adrenal glands. It prepares the body for the fight or flight response.
Please post the other questions separately as we are supposed to answer just one question or four sub parts of the same question.