SAMPLE QUESTIONS


Don't forget the questions at the end of each section of the lecture notes!!


Part 1. True/False

  1. (T/F) B.F. Skinner investigated the manner in which cats learn the impact of their actions.
  2. (T/F) It was once believed that nerves originated in the heart.
  3. (T/F) Parkinson's patients have shed light on the understanding of how we learn.
  4. (T/F) The microscopic approach to learning presumes that changes in synaptic connections occur during learning and that these changes represent memories.
  5. (T/F) Lashely demonstrated that the memory for running a maze could be localized to a very specific region of the brain.
  6. (T/F) Galvani was one of those responsible for demonstrating that nerves used electricity to propogate information.
  7. (T/F) The strength of connections between two cells can be modified by brief periods of high frequency activity.
  8. (T/F) One of the characteristics of habituation is that the habituated response remains decreased for the life of the animal.
  9. (T/F) Backward conditioning is the most powerful and quickest way to get a CS to elicit a CR.
  10. (T/F) Resorla-Wagner theory can predict when conditioned inhibition will occur.

Part 2.

Match the terms in the first column with the term in the second column
that is the best describes it. All terms in column 2 are used once.
Habituation 1.Skill memory (knowing how)
Declarative Memory 2.Memories that are labile and short lasting
Instrumental Conditioning 3.Learning relations between stimuli
Delayed Responses 4.Learning the impact of actions
Sensitization 5.Paradigm for investigating complex learning
Classical Conditioning 6.Augmentation of a response to a stimulus, following
presentation of the same or another stimulus
Dishabituation 7.Respondent Conditioning
Short term memory 8.Fact memory (knowing that)
Associative Learning 9.The decrease in the associability of a stimulus
due to the organisms preexposure to that
stimulus
Procedural 10.Operant Conditioning
Latent Inhibition 11.Learning of relations among events


Hermann Ebbinghaus 1.First suggested that the brain controlled behavior.
Galen 2.Portrayed man in a similar light as animals except that
man had a rational soul.
Rene Descartes 3.Did some of the first experiments addressing the question
of where memories are stored.
Charles Darwin 4.Described the phenomena whereby a neurtral stimulus
can be made to elicit and autonomic
response.
Karl Lashley 5.Formulated the hypothesis that memories are stored in cell assemblies.
Ivan Pavlov 6.Described the "Law of effect".
William James 7.Suggested that man was a descendent of other species.
Edward Lee Thorndike 8.Reported that disturbances in memory could be traced
to lesions of specific brain areas.
Theodule Armand Ribot 9.Proposed a mathematical model to describe the associations
formed during classical conditioning.
Donald Hebb 10.Reported that patients whose temporal lobe was stimulated
by electrical current recalled past
events.
Wilder Penfield 11.Person who after a temporal lobectomy was unable to
form new declarative memories.
H.M. 12.First looked for measures of the acquisition and recall
of information in the human mind.
Robert Rescorla 13.Proposed a model for memory containing a primary
and secondary storehouse for information.
Ramon y Cajal 14.Demonstrated that the central nervous system is made up
of discrete entities that have distinct
shapes and sizes.

PART 3.

  1. Withholding of a response to a frequently repeated stimulus is called __________________ .
  2. Memory that is spared in amnesics is called _______________ memory. Why?
  3. When using a compound stimulus as a CS, the lack of conditioning to one of the two stimuli is refered to as ___________.

      4. A. Differential Contingency

      B. Habituation

      C. Overshadowing

      D. Conditioned Inhibition
  4. The fact that a CS is always associated with a US is refered to as _____________.

      5. A. Differential Contingency

      B. Contiguity

      C. Overshadowing

      D. blocking
  5. If the P(US/CS)>P(US/no CS) it can be said that ________________ exists.

      6. A. a Differential Contingency

      B. Contiguity

      C. Overshadowing

      D. Habituation

  6. What types of tasks are not impaired in humans who have damage to their temporal lobes?
    7. A. Being able to say what happened
    yesterday.
    		 B. Being able to tell someone the color of
    a recent visitors hair.
    		 C. Being able to do a jigsaw
    puzzle faster the second time
    they're asked to complete it.
  7. Instrumental conditioning is not a paradigm where the .........
    8. A.animal's behavior dictates
    the consequences.    		 B. animal is motivated through
    aversive stimuli    		 C. animal can be anesthetised.
    		 D. reinforcer can take on
    many forms.

PART 4.

  1. What does the Rescorla-Wagner theory predict about compound stimuli? Use an example to illustrate your point.
  2. The results of the serial position curve have been used to ________ .
  3. Illustrate and label the results obtained when 'normal' subjects are asked to recall specific words from a quickly presented list of 7-12 words. How does this curve look for the amnesic patient?
  4. Describe a proposed neural mechanism that could explain the results of certain classical conditioning paradigms that use a single CS.
  5. The pairing of a conditioned stimulus with the absence of a unconditioned stimulus decreases the efficacy of the CS to elicit a CR. This is similar to habituation but not exactly the same. Why?
  6. What is latent inhibition?
  7. Neurobiological studies have led to the conclusion that memory can be divided into a short-term and a long-term component. Give a short description of these studies.


Albert Borroni
last modified 9/27/9611:12am