PRACTICE QUESTIONS
1. If the distance between the origin and insertion tendons is increased (the muscle is stretched), what happens to the frequency of action potentials along the sensory axons leaving the muscle spindles in that muscle?
a.
Increasesb. Decreases
c. Does not change
2. Activation of the Golgi tendon organ of a given muscle:
a. Monosynaptically produces EPSPs on the α motor neuron that returns to that muscle.
b. Is most effectively produced by lengthening of the extrafusal fibers of that muscle.
c. Polysynaptically produces IPSPs on the α motor neuron that returns to that muscle.
d. Polysynaptically produces EPSPs on the α motor neuron that returns to that muscle.
e. Activates motor neurons that return to the Golgi tendon organ itself.
3. Which of the following is not characteristic of the muscle spindle?
a. Encapsulated intrafusal fibers
b. Sensitivity to muscle tension
c. Sensitivity to dynamic stretching of the muscle
d. Parallel to the extrafusal muscle fibers
e. Sensitivity to steady-state length of the muscle
4. Gamma (γ) motor neurons:
a. Innervate and produce contraction of the equatorial (middle) region of an intrafusal fiber.
b. Have their cell bodies in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord.
c. Are never activated at the same time as α motor neurons.
d. Can regulate the sensitivity of the muscle spindle sensory organ.
e. Innervate and regulate the sensitivity of the Golgi tendon organ.