100+ Free SLPLE Practice Questions

Explanation: The posterior cricoarytenoid (PCA) is the only intrinsic laryngeal muscle that abducts the vocal folds, opening the glottis for respiration. The lateral cricoarytenoid and thyroarytenoid muscles are adductors. The cricothyroid muscle is responsible for lengthening and tensing the vocal folds to alter pitch.

Explanation: Broca's area corresponds to Brodmann areas 44 (pars opercularis) and 45 (pars triangularis) in the inferior frontal gyrus. It is responsible for motor speech planning and expressive language processing. Brodmann area 22 corresponds to Wernicke's area, while 41 and 42 represent the primary auditory cortex.

Explanation: Taste from the anterior two-thirds of the tongue is carried by the chorda tympani branch of Cranial Nerve VII (Facial). General sensory innervation (touch, pain, temperature) to the same region is carried by the lingual nerve, a branch of Cranial Nerve V (Trigeminal). Cranial Nerve IX (Glossopharyngeal) provides both taste and general sensation to the posterior one-third of the tongue.

Explanation: The histological structure of the vocal fold consists of five layers, arranged from superficial to deep: the epithelium, superficial lamina propria (also known as Reinke's space), intermediate lamina propria, deep lamina propria, and the vocalis muscle (part of the thyroarytenoid muscle). The intermediate and deep layers of the lamina propria form the vocal ligament. This structural stratification underlies the cover-body theory of vocal fold vibration.

Explanation: Velopharyngeal closure occurs when the soft palate (velum) elevates and retracts against the posterior pharyngeal wall, sealing the passage between the oral and nasal cavities. This mechanism prevents nasopharyngeal regurgitation of food or liquid during the pharyngeal phase of swallowing. Epiglottic inversion and vocal fold adduction protect the lower airway, not the nasal cavity.

Explanation: The sentence consists of 7 morphemes: 'The' (1), 'dog' (2) + '-s' (plural inflection, 3), 'are' (4), 'bark' (5) + '-ing' (progressive inflection, 6), 'outside' (compound word, counted as 1 morpheme, 7). Inflectional morphemes like plural '-s' and progressive '-ing' are counted separately. Compound words are counted as a single free morpheme.

Explanation: The hypoglossal nerve (Cranial Nerve XII) provides motor innervation to all intrinsic (superior longitudinal, inferior longitudinal, transverse, vertical) and extrinsic (genioglossus, hyoglossus, styloglossus) muscles of the tongue. The only exception is the palatoglossus muscle, which is actually a muscle of the velum and is innervated by the vagus nerve (Cranial Nerve X) via the pharyngeal plexus.

Explanation: The regular plural '-s' is a Brown's Stage II morpheme that typically emerges between 27 and 30 months of age, when the child's Mean Length of Utterance (MLU) is between 2.0 and 2.5. Other Stage II morphemes include the preposition 'in' and present progressive '-ing'. Stage III morphemes like possessive '-s' emerge slightly later.

Explanation: The arcuate fasciculus is a bundle of association fibers that arches around the lateral fissure to connect Wernicke's area in the temporal lobe with Broca's area in the frontal lobe. Damage to this pathway typically leads to conduction aphasia, which is characterized by intact comprehension but severely impaired repetition. The corpus callosum connects the two cerebral hemispheres, not cortical regions within the same hemisphere.

Explanation: The corticobulbar (or corticonuclear) tract is a motor pathway of the pyramidal system that originates in the motor cortex and descends to synapses on the motor nuclei of cranial nerves in the brainstem. These cranial nerves (specifically CN V, VII, IX, X, XI, and XII) directly innervate the muscles of the larynx, pharynx, tongue, jaw, and face. The corticospinal tract descends further to control spinal nerves for body movement.