At a research conference, you meet a graduate student who studies the hormonal underpinnings of mating behavior in two species of squirrel. "It turns out the difference between my two squirrel species is similar to the difference between the prairie and the montane voles," he says. You nod knowingly, and reply...

Question

A.  "Oh, so the promiscuous species has a lot of vasopressin and oxytocin receptors in the nucleus accumbus, blocking pair bonding, and the monogamous species doesn't?"
B.  "Oh, so the monogamous species has a lot of vasopressin and oxytocin receptors in the nucleus accumbus, promoting pair bonding, and the promiscuous species doesn't?"
C.  "Oh, so the polyandrous species has a lot of serotonin and dopamine receptors in the nucleus accumbus, promoting pair bonding, and the promiscuous species doesn't?"
D.  "Oh, so the monogamous species has a lot of serotonin and dopamine receptors in the nucleus accumbus, promoting pair bonding, and the promiscuous species doesn't?"


Clarify question:
What is the key concept addressed by the question?

  What type of thinking is required?

Gather Content:
What do you already know about the hormones involved in mating in the species of voles? What other information is related to the question? 

Choose Answer:
Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?


Reflection on Process:
  Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?

Answer 1

B.  "Oh, so the monogamous species has a lot of vasopressin and oxytocin receptors in the nucleus accumbus, promoting pair bonding, and the promiscuous species doesn't?"


Clarify question:
What is the key concept addressed by the question?
Understanding the mating behaviors of prairie and montane voles and how they relate to different species.

  What type of thinking is required?
This is an analyze question. You need to break down the 4 statements into the components and determine which one is correct.

Gather Content:
What do you already know about the hormones involved in mating in the species of voles? What other information is related to the question? 
This question comes from the section of the textbook that discusses the role of genes in pair bonding. You need to identify the functions of the hormones and their receptors. Do vasopressin and oxytocin receptors increase monogamy or promiscuity?

Choose Answer:
Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?
Vasopressin and oxytocin receptors are associated with monogamy.


Reflection on Process:
  Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?
Did you come up with the correct answer? You had to look over all the choice and pick out all of the ones that demonstrated the link between the presence of hormone receptors and the associated behaviors.