The Mountain Lion

The Mountain Lion

Name____________________________________________

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, spell and grammar-checked. If handwritten, writing must be easily legible. Check your grammar and spelling. Follow the numbered format of the assignment in providing answers. Number all answers in the format of the Assignment.
Your answers must be in the form of complete sentences.

Acetylcholine
Adrenal gland
Afferent and Efferent neurons
Amygdala
Antagonist (Specify which)
Antagonistic Neurotransmitter (Specify which)
Binocular cues
Brightness constancy
Cerebral cortex
Cortisol
Dopamine
Endocrine system (Which hormone)
Endorphins
Epinephrine
Excitatory neurotransmitters (Specify which)
Figure ground
Frontal lobe
GABA
Gate control theory
Glutamate
Hippocampus
Hormones (Provide example)
Hypothalamus
Inhibitory neurotransmitters
Interneurons Just Noticeable Difference
Kinesthetic sense
Left side of brain
Limbic system
Mirror neurons
Motor neurons
Norepinephrine
Occipital lobe
Olfaction
Parasympathetic nervous system
Parietal lobe
Reuptake
Right side of brain
Saccades
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 4 psychobiological factors that may be operating in this situation. Explain what each is doing.
1.
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 4 psychobiological processes that the jogger is experiencing.
1.
2.
3.
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 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.
1.
2.
3.
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?

1.
2.
3.
Everybody, except of course the mountain lion, lives happily ever after.

The end.
About how much time did you spend on this assignment? ________________ Hr.s