1. What is the monoamine theory of depression? What evidence supports this hypothesis as a cause of affective disorder? It generally takes 2-3 weeks of chronic treatment before an antidepressant begins to have a clinical benefit, yet the drug’s pharmacological effect (for example, its inhibition of MOA, or reuptake) is immediate. What synaptic mechanisms may underlie this time lag?

2. Critically evaluate the roles of the lateral hypothalamus and ventromedial hypothalamus in hunger and satiety. What other brain sites are known to be involved in eating behavior? How can this be explained in terms of a homeostatic model? What evidence shows that non- homeostatic mechanisms also contribute to feeding?

3. Describe the brain structures and anatomical pathways that make up the extrapyramidal and pyramidal motor systems. What are the main functions of these two systems? What regions in the cerebral cortex are known to be involved in movement? How do these areas contribute to the production of motor behavior?

4. How is the brain capable of “seeing” a spectrum of fine color when the eye contains only three different types of color detectors? What evidence supports the existence of dorsal (“where is it?”) and ventral (“what is it?”) visual systems in the cerebral cortex?  

5. Describe the main structures of the brain stem, the midbrain, and forebrain, including the basal ganglia, the limbic system and the cerebral cortex. What functions and behaviors are these regions known to control?