Trinity University champions show their first-place trophy. They include (in alphabetical order) Nick Chretien, Caroline Crocker, Elizabeth Flagge, Mallory Harden, Patrick O'Malley, Ryan Stover and Lindsay Weigley.
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“Neuroscience trivia” may sound like a contradiction in terms. But it’s exactly what students from three competing universities needed to know for the annual Brain Bowl, held Tuesday, April 14, at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

This year, Trinity University triumphed over defending Brain Bowl champion Texas A&M University. The University of Texas at Arlington made a strong showing in its first-ever Brain Bowl appearance but ultimately finished third.

The undergraduate students racked their brains for the answers to such questions as:

• What is the belief that a familiar person has been replaced by an imposter?
  
• Name the condition in which normally non-painful stimuli are perceived as being painful.
  
• If the frequency of sound waves determines pitch, what determines volume?

Modeled after 'University Challenge' quiz show
This was the 12th year for the Brain Bowl, sponsored by the neuroscience community at the Health Science Center. It is the brainchild of David A. Morilak, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology, who modeled it on the 1960s quiz show “University Challenge.”

“This has been my baby since it was born,” Dr. Morilak said.

Answers to brainteasers

Each year, the defending champion competes against two other universities for prizes, bragging rights and the Brain Bowl trophy. Baylor University has appeared in at least half of the Brain Bowls since the event began. “Baylor had a real streak going — I think it was six years in a row,” Dr. Morilak said.

Other past competitors include Southwestern University, St. Mary’s University, Texas Lutheran University, The University of Texas at Austin and The University of Texas at San Antonio.

Each Brain Bowl begins with three increasingly difficult rounds of questions in five categories: neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, neurophysiology, brain and behavior, and drugs and the brain. Each correct answer earns points for the team. After the third round, students are able to wager the points they have accrued on a single challenge question.

Trinity students confer to come up with an answer during the Brain Bowl.

Draws interested student to the Health Science Center
A reception afterward gives competitors a chance to meet faculty and graduate students in neuroscience from the Health Science Center. Several past Brain Bowl competitors have gone on to study at the Health Science Center.

Rene Santacruz, who competed in back-to-back Brain Bowls as an undergraduate student at Trinity, is a first-year student in the neuroscience track of the Health Science Center’s Integrated Multidisciplinary Graduate Program. He said the Brain Bowl helped reinforce what he was learning in class while teaching him things he had never known before.

“I also feel that the Brain Bowl gave me some insight on people here in the neuroscience track, since quite a few faculty and graduate students attended,” said Santacruz, who now researches neurodegeneration.

David Medina, who competed against Santacruz as a UTSA student, also is a first-year student of neuroscience at the Health Science Center. “I think that was one of the events that really turned me on to the program here,” Medina said. “It was a lot of fun. It introduced me to this neuroscience community that I wasn’t aware of. It was a really fun way to bring professors, students and graduate students together.”