Skip to ContentGo to accessibility pageKeyboard shortcuts menu
OpenStax Logo
Biology for AP® Courses

Review Questions

Biology for AP® CoursesReview Questions
Search for key terms or text.
1 .
In humans, ________ is a type of general sense.
  1. gustation
  2. olfaction
  3. proprioception
  4. equilibrium
2 .
Suppose you burned your tongue and could not taste food for a day. Identify the sense affected.
  1. olfaction
  2. gustation
  3. proprioception
  4. kinesthesia
3 .
State where perception occurs.
  1. spinal cord
  2. cerebral cortex
  3. receptors
  4. thalamus
4 .
If a person’s cold receptors no longer convert cold sensory signals into electrical signals, that person has a problem with _____.
  1. reception
  2. the receptive field
  3. perception
  4. transduction
5 .
What is the smallest difference in stimuli that can be detected?
  1. receptor potential
  2. sensory transduction
  3. just-noticeable difference
  4. perception
6 .
In peppers, spicy heat is rated in SHUs, where 0 is the least amount of spicy heat. If the just-noticeable difference (JND) of the ability to perceive difference in heat detection for an individual is 20%, which pairs of peppers would have the same spiciness for a person?
  1. 9,500 vs 10,500 SHU
  2. 4,200 vs 5,100 SHU
  3. 18,000 vs 21,000 SHU
  4. 16,000 vs 18,500 SHU
7 .
What is the role of sensory receptors in sensory perception?
  1. detection of specific stimuli
  2. sensation interpretation
  3. sending electrical signals to the cortex
  4. transmitting signals from the brain to the rest of the body
8 .
Which mechanoreceptors in the skin are unencapsulated?
  1. Merkel’s disks
  2. Meissner’s corpuscles
  3. Ruffini endings
  4. Pacinian corpuscles
9 .
If an individual is born without the ability to sense high-frequency vibrations, he may have been born with a mutation in a gene that codes for ______.
  1. Merkel’s disks
  2. Meissner’s corpuscles
  3. Ruffini endings
  4. Pacinian corpuscles
10 .
If you were to burn your epidermis, what receptor type would most likely receive damage?
  1. free nerve endings
  2. Ruffini endings
  3. Pacinian corpuscles
  4. Krause end bulbs
11 .
_____ are found only in _____ skin, and detect skin deflection.
  1. Meissner’s corpuscles, hairy
  2. Ruffini endings, glabrous
  3. Pacinian corpuscles, glabrous
  4. Hair receptors, hairy
12 .
To what does nociception respond?
  1. damaging stimuli
  2. deep, fleeting pressure
  3. fine touch
  4. cold
13 .
Why do peppers, which contain capsaicin, taste “hot?”
  1. Capsaicin is corrosive and damages tissue.
  2. Capsaicin contains large quantities of heat that are released upon ingestion.
  3. Capsaicin and warm receptors open the same calcium channels.
  4. Capsaicin stimulates Krause end bulbs.
14 .
_____ are mechanoreceptors that facilitate proper gripping of objects.
  1. Merkel’s disks
  2. Meissner’s corpuscles
  3. Ruffini endings
  4. Pacinian corpuscles
15 .
How many different taste molecules can an individual taste cell detect?
  1. one
  2. five
  3. depends on the type of taste receptor
  4. depends on the part of the tongue
16 .
Describe how gustation and olfaction are similar.
  1. Both sense different stimuli in the environment.
  2. Both can have hundreds of millions of types of receptors.
  3. Both obtain stimuli from within the body.
  4. Signals from both are transmitted through the medulla.
17 .
____ is the term for savoriness in food.
  1. Gustation
  2. Tastants
  3. Umami
  4. Pheromone
18 .
If an individual becomes ill after eating too much spoiled food, what kind of taste receptors might they lack?
  1. bitter
  2. sweet
  3. umami
  4. sour
19 .
A typical dog has approximately how many times more olfactory receptors than a typical human?
  1. 2
  2. 8
  3. 83
  4. 333
20 .
(credit: modification of work by Pomerantz A, et al./Med Hypotheses)

The image shows the olfactory system for a canine.

Which is a testable hypothesis that can be written on the canine olfactory system based on this image?

  1. Dogs breeds with larger tongues tend to have better olfactory sense.
  2. Dog breeds whose olfactory nerves connect to the brain tend to have better olfactory sense.
  3. Dog breeds with larger nostrils tend to have better olfactory sense.
  4. Dogs breeds with larger snouts tend to have better olfactory sense.
21 .
Which of the following has the most taste receptors?
  1. fungiform papillae
  2. circumvallate papillae
  3. foliate papillae
  4. filiform papillae
22 .
In sound, pitch is measured in _____, and volume is measured in _____.
  1. decibels (dB), hertz (Hz)
  2. decibels (dB), nanometers (nm)
  3. nanometers (nm), decibels (dB)
  4. hertz (Hz), decibels (dB)
23 .
Identify the animal that would be affected by a 120,000 Hz sound.
  1. cat
  2. bat
  3. dolphin
  4. dog
24 .
Louder sounds have a _____ compared with softer sounds.
  1. greater amplitude
  2. lower amplitude
  3. greater frequency
  4. lower frequency
25 .
Which of the following is true of frequency?
  1. Frequency is heard as volume.
  2. Louder sounds have a higher frequency.
  3. Men hear higher frequencies than women.
  4. Frequency is measured in number of sound waves per unit time.
26 .
The _____ contains receptors for transduction of mechanical waves to produce electrical signals.
  1. tympanum
  2. cochlea
  3. pinna
  4. stapes
27 .
The _____ contains the ____ , which produce(s) action potentials along the auditory nerve.
  1. incus, stapes
  2. ear canal, tympanum
  3. tympanum, oval window
  4. organ of Corti, stereocilia
28 .
Identify the structure that is found both in the auditory system and the vestibular system.
  1. basilar membrane
  2. hair cells
  3. semicircular canals
  4. ossicles
29 .
(credit: modification of work by Lindsay M. Biga, et al./Oregon State University, under CC BY-SA 4.0 license)

The top two images show the crossection of the utricle when a person is upright.

What kind of head motion would cause the utricle to have the second shape?

  1. The person's head is tilted forward.
  2. The person's head has rotated to the right, with no change in tilt.
  3. The person is slowly accelerating.
  4. The person's head has rotated to the left, with no change in tilt.
30 .
Of the following, identify the waves with the highest frequency.
  1. microwaves
  2. ultraviolet rays
  3. x-rays
  4. gamma rays
31 .
Of the following colors, identify the color associated with the shortest wavelength.
  1. red
  2. yellow
  3. green
  4. blue
32 .
Which of the following is true of light detection?
  1. Humans see most of the light spectrum.
  2. Light signals can pass through a vacuum into the eye.
  3. Decibels are used as the unit of wavelength.
  4. Violet light has a longer wavelength than red light.
33 .
The fovea is responsible for _______ because it has a high density of cones.
  1. night vision
  2. nearsightedness
  3. farsightedness
  4. acute vision
34 .
(credit: modification of work "Myopia" by Encyclopedia Britannica)

The image shows a normal eye, and an eye where the image falls in front of the retina, causing a vision defect.

What is this defect called?

  1. myopia
  2. hyperopia
  3. astigmatism
  4. color blindness
35 .
Where does some visual processing occur before information reaches the brain?
  1. cornea
  2. lens
  3. iris
  4. retina
36 .
A person catching a ball must coordinate her head and eyes. Identify the part of the brain that is helping to do this.
  1. hypothalamus
  2. superior colliculus
  3. thalamus
  4. pineal gland
PreviousNext
Order a print copy
Citation/Attribution

This book may not be used in the training of large language models or otherwise be ingested into large language models or generative AI offerings without OpenStax's permission.

Want to cite, share, or modify this book? This book uses the Creative Commons Attribution License and you must attribute OpenStax.

Attribution information
  • If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a print format, then you must include on every physical page the following attribution:

    Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/biology-ap-courses/pages/1-introduction

  • If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a digital format, then you must include on every digital page view the following attribution:

    Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/biology-ap-courses/pages/1-introduction

Citation information

© Feb 10, 2025 OpenStax. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License . The OpenStax name, OpenStax logo, OpenStax book covers, OpenStax CNX name, and OpenStax CNX logo are not subject to the Creative Commons license and may not be reproduced without the prior and express written consent of Rice University.