Practice question · Sort into groups
The adrenal gland drives two stress responses on different timescales. Sort each feature.
Groups: Fast: sympathetic adrenaline · Slow: HPA cortisol
- Builds over minutes to hours via a hormone cascade
- Runs through hypothalamus, then pituitary, then adrenal glands
- Delivers an immediate jolt of energy for fight-or-flight
- Surges within seconds under direct sympathetic control
Hints
- One route is a fast nerve-driven adrenaline surge; the other a slow hormone cascade to cortisol.
- Seconds and direct sympathetic control is adrenaline; minutes-to-hours via the HPA cascade is cortisol.
Show the answer
Fast: sympathetic adrenaline: Surges within seconds under direct sympathetic control, Delivers an immediate jolt of energy for fight-or-flight
Slow: HPA cortisol: Builds over minutes to hours via a hormone cascade, Runs through hypothalamus, then pituitary, then adrenal glands
Why
Adrenaline surges in seconds under direct sympathetic control; cortisol builds over minutes to hours through the HPA cascade. Same stress, two systems: a fast neural jolt and a slow hormonal response.
Practise The Endocrine System
The app has 4 more questions on this lesson, and keeps your place in the course. Psychology I is free to start.
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