Self-study
P1
Discussions of how hormones influence behavior have generally been limited to the effects of gonadal hormones on reproductive behavior and have emphasized the parsimonious arrangement whereby the same hormones involved in the biology of reproduction also influence sexual behavior. ██ ███ ███ ██████ ██████ ████████ ████ █████ █████████ ██ ████████ ██ █████ ██████████ █████████ ██ ██████████ ██████████ ███ ██████ █████████ ███
Intro topic ·
How different hormones influence behavior
Main point ·
Hormones that regulate body fluids also influence water and salt consumption
Explain homeostasis of body fluids ·
Fluids are tightly regulated by consuming and excreting water and sodium (salt)
Brief discussion of "osmolality": this is related to the composition of blood, and is what is regulated by intake and excretion of water and salt
P2
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One method of fluid regulation ·
Solute concentration in the fluid between cells is maintained by moving fluid in or out of cells
Problem ·
This method isn't always good enough
Solution ·
Physiological and behavioral responses
Example ·
of physiological/behavioral response to low solute concentration
A drop in the hormone vasopressin triggers two things: (1) excretion of excess water via urine; and (2) decreased thirst, which prevents taking in more water. Together, these reduce water in the body and raise the solute concentration back up.
Example ·
of physiological/behavioral response to high solute concentration
An increase in vasopressin triggers two things: (1) excretion of excess solutes via urine; and (2) increased thirst, which leads to taking in more water. Together, these increase water in the body and lower the solute concentration back down.
Elaborate ·
on the link between vasopressin and behavior
When solute concentration is too high, vasopressin first triggers water retention in the kidneys (i.e., a physiological response). Vasopressin only triggers a thirst (i.e., behavioral) response after the kidneys have done all they can do.
Passage Style
Single position
Spotlight
15.
Which one of the following ████ ██████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████████
Question Type
Main point
The author focuses on showing how hormones besides gonadal hormones can affect behavior. In particular, how hormones related to homeostasis influence behaviors related to water and salt consumption.
a
Both the solute █████████████ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ██ ████████ █████ ██████ ████ ██ ████ ██████ ██████████ ██████ ███████
This is too narrow to be the main point of the overall passage.
b
Behavioral responses to ███████ ██ ██ ████████ █████ ██████ ███ ██████████ ███ █████████████ ████████████ ████████ ███ ████ ██ █████ ████████████
The passage never discusses physiological malfunctions, so this can’t be the main point.
c
The effect of ████████ ██ ██████ ████████ ███ ██████████ ███ ████ ████████ ████ ███████████
The recency of the discovery of effects of hormones isn’t the main point. In addition, that gonadal hormones affect behavior and physiology is not something the passage suggests is a recent discovery.
d
Behavioral and physiological █████████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ██ ██ ████████ █████ ██████ ███ ██████████ ██████████ ███ ██████████ ███ ████████
This is the best answer. It captures the point that hormones influence behaviors related to homeostasis, which is the process by which osmolality of blood plasma is regulated.
e
The mechanisms regulating ████████████ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ████ ████████ ██████ ███ ██████ █████████
The main point isn’t about comparing mechanisms regulating reproduction and those regulating thirst/sodium. Although reproduction is mentioned at the beginning, it’s mentioned simply as an intro to the topic of hormones affecting behavior. The rest of the passage then explores a specific way in which certain hormones affect behavior related to water/salt consumption.