Answer Key

Reinforcement
1. They do not require surgery.
2. disease and mental illness
3. Once neurons adapt, they
need the abnormal amounts
of neurotransmitter to
produce the same response.
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Answer Key 1
 SECTION BRAIN FUNCTION AND CHEMISTRY
29.5 Reinforcement

KEY CONCEPT Scientists study the functions and chemistry of the brain.
There are three types of technologies that allow scientists to study the brain without
putting their patient through surgery.
• CT scans are like x-rays that scan the brain and use a computer to make a
three-dimensional image of the structure of the brain.
• MRI scans make three-dimensional images of the brain’s structure too, but these
scans use magnetic fields and radio waves to scan the brain.
• PET scans use radioactive glucose to determine which part of the brain is most
Nervous and Endocrine Systems

active.
There are five common neurotransmitters in the brain. If too much or too little of any
one of these is present in any part of the brain, a person might develop a mental illness.
CHAPTER 29

Depression, schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease are illnesses

that include abnormal levels of neurotransmitter in the brain.
Prescription, over-the-counter, and illegal drugs all can affect the amount of
neurotransmitter in the brain. For example,
• If there is more neurotransmitter in the synapses than usual, neurons will respond
by having fewer receptors, a process called desensitization.
• If there are abnormally low amounts of neurotransmitter in the synapses, neurons
will add receptors, a process called sensitization.
Both processes could lead to addiction. Addiction is the physical and psychological

Copyright by McDougal Littell, a division of Houghton Mifflin Company

need for a substance. Once the neurons have adapted, the drug user will need to
continue taking the drug in order to have the same amount of neurotransmitter in the
synapses and produce the same number of impulses. The drug user will also need to
take larger doses of the drug to experience the same feelings that the user had felt
before the neurons adapted. The need for larger and larger doses to produce the same
effect is called tolerance.

1. What is a benefit of the different types of imaging technologies available?

2. What can abnormal amounts of neurotransmitters cause?

3. How do sensitization and desensitization cause addiction?

42 Reinforcement Unit 9 Resource Book

McDougal Littell Biology