AP psych final exam
Long-term potentiation
an increase in a cell's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory
A psychophysiological illness is
a stress-related physical illness such as hypertension.
According to Freud, dreams are:
a symbolic fulfillment of erotic wishes
Melissa has just completed running a marathon. She is so elated that she feels little fatigue or discomfort. Her lack of pain is probably the result of the release of A) ACh. B) endorphins. C) dopamine. D) norepinephrine.
b. endorphins
Frequency is to pitch as ____ is to ____. a.wavelength; loudness b.amplitude; loudness c.wavelength; intensity d.amplitude; intensity
b.amplitude; loudness
The earliest stage of speech development is called the ________ stage.
babbling
Dr. Frankenstein has forgotten to give his monster an important part; as a result, the monster cannot transduce sound. Dr. Frankenstein omitted the:
basilar membrane
Experimenters gave people a list of words to be recalled. When the participants were tested after a delay, the items that were best recalled were those
beginning of list
Walking through the halls of his high school 10 years after graduation, Tom experienced a flood of old memories. Tom's experience showed the role of:
context effects
Four-year-old Della asks her mother for a special treat every time they go to the grocery store. At first her mother granted every request, but now she does so less consistently. Research suggests that Della will
continue to ask for a treat nearly every time she goes to the store
Studying the road map before her trip, Colleen had no trouble following the route of the highway she planned to travel. Colleen's ability illustrates the principle of:
continuity
The tendency to organize stimuli into smooth, uninterrupted patterns is called
continuity
A pigeon is consistently reinforced with food for pecking a key after seeing an image of a human face, but not reinforced for pecking after seeing other images. By signaling that a pecking response will be reinforced, the image of a human face is a(n)
discriminative stimulus
An event or situation signaling that an operant response will be reinforced is called a(n)
discriminative stimulus
In shopping for a new stereo, you discover that you cannot differentiate between the sounds of models X and Y. The difference between X and Y is below your:
difference threshold
Learning that some responses, but not others, will be reinforced is called
discrimination
The ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus is called
discrimination
In a study on context cues, people learned words while on land or when they were underwater. In a later test of recall, those with the best retention had:
learned the words and been tested on them in the same context
Acquiring new habits best illustrates the process of
learning
In the brain, learning occurs as experience strengthens certain connections in cell work groups called
neural networks
You would be most likely to use operant conditioning to teach a dog to
retrieve sticks and balls
After finding her old combination lock, Janice can't remember its combination because she keeps confusing it with the combination of her new lock. She is experiencing:
retroactive interference
What enables you to feel yourself wiggling your toes even with your eyes closed?
sense of kinesthesis
A decrease in sensory responsiveness accompanying an unchanging stimulus is called:
sensory adaptation
The principle that one sense may influence another is:
sensory interaction
What is the correct sequence in the transmission of a simple reflex?
sensory neuron, interneuron, motor neuron
Kandel and Schwartz have found that when learning occurs, more of the neurotransmitter ________ is released into synapses.
serotonin
Because Mr. Baron demonstrates appreciation only for very good classroom answers, his students have stopped participating in class. Mr. Baron most clearly needs to be informed of the value of
shaping
B. F. Skinner believed that teaching machines could promote effective learning because they allow for both
shaping and immediate reinforcement
Your friend tosses you a frisbee. You know that it is getting closer instead of larger because of:
size constancy
The phenomenon of size constancy is based upon the close connection between an object's perceived ________ and its perceived ________.
size; distance
The effects of chronic sleep deprivation include:
suppression of the immune system, altered metabolic and hormonal functioning, impaired creativity
The cluster of brain cells that control the circadian rhythm is the
suprachiasmatic nucleus
Studies suggest that criminal behavior is most likely to be deterred by
swiftly delivered punishment
The first experimental studies of associative learning were conducted by
Ivan Pavlov
Those who believe that hypnosis is a social phenomenon argue that "hypnotized" individuals are:
Merely acting out their roles
The modern discovery of hypnosis is generally attributed to:
Mesmer
How does pain differ from other senses?
It has no single stimulus,It is influenced by both physical and psychological phenomena,It has no special receptors.
Describe the problem with phrenology
Psychological patterns can't be described by bumps on the skull
List the three pairs of color that make up opponent process theory:
Red-green, blue-yellow, Black-White
Sleep spindles predominate during which stage of sleep?
Stage 2
Many people who are bilingual experience a different sense of self, depending on which language they are using. This most clearly illustrates the implications of
Whorf's linguistic determinism hypothesis.
Six-month-old Ohmar recognizes the difference between squares and circles just as accurately as his 3-year-old brother, who can correctly name the different shapes. This fact would most directly challenge:
Whorf's linguistic determinism hypothesis.
What is a flashbulb memory?
a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event
Psychoactive drugs affect behavior and perception through
altering neural activity in the brain
As you are waiting to be interviewed for a job, your heart rate, body temperature, and breathing rate begin to increase. These physiological changes are produced by activation of the ________ nervous system.
sympathetic
According to the activation-synthesis theory, dreaming represents:
the brain's efforts to integrate unrelated bursts of activity in visual brain areas with the emotional tone provided by limbic system activity.
Thalamus
the brain's sensory control center, located on top of the brainstem; it directs messages to the sensory receiving areas in the cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla
A biological psychologist would be more likely to study:
the chemical changes that accompany emotions
The emotional bonding and mutual support that survivors of natural disasters provide to one another best illustrates
the tend-and-befriend response
latent content
the underlying meaning of a dream
Recognizing that one of your friends is feeling angry and that another friend is feeling sad illustrates an ability known as
theory of mind
Studies of amnesia victims suggest that:
there are two distinct types of memory
When Adam observed his sister being scolded after she hit another child, Adam also discontinued hitting other children. This best illustrates the impact of
vicarious punishment
The tendency to engage in behaviors that we observe others rewarded for performing best illustrates the influence of
vicarious reinforcement
Repression is an example of
motivated forgetting
You are able to pull your hand quickly away from hot water before pain is felt because:
movement of the hand is a reflex that involves intervention of the spinal cord only
Experts would most likely agree that intelligence is a(n)
multiple array of completely independent adaptive traits
A person who falls asleep in the midst of a heated argument probably suffers from:
narcolepsy
According to the principle of light and shadow, if one of two identical objects reflects more light to your eyes it will be perceived as:
nearer
Mason, a stockbroker, runs two miles every day after work because it reduces his level of stress. Mason's running habit is maintained by a ________ reinforcer.
negative
Any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response is called a(n)
negative reinforcer
A football quarterback simultaneously calculates receiver distances, player movements, and weather conditions. This best illustrates the activity of multiple
neural networks
People are likely to take less time to recognize a woman as a nurse than a man as a nurse because a woman more closely resembles their nurse:
prototype
In the process of classifying objects, people are especially likely to make use of
prototypes
An understanding of how stress affects our resistance to disease is the central focus of the field of
psychoneuroimmunology
The study of how psychological, neural, and endocrine processes combine to affect our immune system and health is called
psychoneuroimmunology
Andrea's physician has suggested that a program of relaxation training would provide the best treatment for her high blood pressure. The physician probably considers Andrea's hypertension to be a(n) ________ illness.
psychophysiological
Myron quit gambling after he lost over a thousand dollars betting on horse races. This best illustrates the effects of
punishment
Which of the following measures of retention is the least sensitive in triggering retrieval?
recall
Complete this analogy: Fill-in-the-blank test questions are to multiple-choice questions as:
recall is to recognition
A neuron will generate action potentials more often when it:
receives more excitatory than inhibitory inputs
Which of the following would be most characteristic of a 2-year-old's telegraphic speech?
"eat apple"
The use of physical punishment may
- lead to the suppression but not the forgetting of undesirable behavior. - model aggression as a way of coping with problems. - lead people to fear and avoid the punishing agent.
The sleep-waking cycles of young people who stay up too late typically are _____ hours in duration.
25
Echoic memories fade after approximately
3-4 seconds
English words are constructed from about ________ different phonemes.
40
Our short-term memory span is approximately ________ items.
7
The sleep cycle is approximately ________ minutes.
90
According to Hilgard, hypnosis is ____. a. No different from a state of heightened motivation b. The same as dreaming c. A dissociation between different levels of consciousness d. A form of Stage 4 sleep
A dissociation between different levels of consciousness
The greatest number of deaths in Africa today result from
AIDS
The lowest rates of drug use among high school seniors is
African Americans
The three-stage processing model of memory was proposed by
Atkinson and Shiffrin
Since Malcolm has been taking a drug prescribed by his doctor, he no longer enjoys the little pleasures of life, such as eating and drinking. His doctor explains that this is because the drug A) triggers release of dopamine. B) inhibits release of dopamine. C) triggers release of ACh. D) inhibits release of ACh.
B. inhibits release of dopamine
Elderly Mrs. Martinez finds that she must spice her food heavily or she cannot taste it. Unfortunately, her son often finds her cooking inedible because it is so spicy. What is the likely explanation for their taste differences?
Being elderly, Mrs. Martinez probably has fewer taste buds than her son.
The part of the cerebral cortex that directs the muscle movements involved in speech is known as
Broca's area
In primitive vertebrate animals, the brain primarily regulates ________; in lower mammals, the brain enables ________. A) emotion; memory B) memory; emotion C) survival functions; emotion D) reproduction; emotion
C. survival functions; emotion
List the drugs that are classified as a stimulants
Caffeine, amphetamines, methamphetamine, cocaine and tobacco
Which of the following is the most accurate description of how we process color?
Color processing occurs in two stages: (1) a three-color system in the retina and (2) opponent-process cells en route to the visual cortex.
What theorists believe that the mind and the body are separate entities?
Descartes
Which of the following is not a theory of dreaming mentioned in the text?
Dreaming is an attempt to escape from social stimulation.
When two familiar objects of equal size cast unequal retinal images, the object that casts the smaller retinal image will be perceived as being:
Farther away
The word "cats" contains ________ phoneme(s) and ________ morpheme(s).
Four; two
After staring at a very intense red stimulus for a few minutes, Carrie shifted her gaze to a beige wall and "saw" the color ________. Carrie's experience provides support for the ________ theory.
Green; opponent-process
The ABC program is an educational program designed to prevent
HIV infections
Which of the following statements concerning hypnosis is true?
Hypnosis is in part an extension of the division between conscious awareness and automatic behavior
If Dr. Rogers wishes to conduct an experiment on the effects of stimulating the reward centers of a rat's brain, he should insert an electrode into the A) thalamus. B) hippocampus. C) hypothalamus. D) amygdala.
Hypothalamus
The myelin sheath, that is on some neurons, does what?
Insulated them and speeds the charges up
An artist paints a tree orchard so that the parallel rows of trees converge at the top of the canvas. What cue has the artist used to convey distance?
Linear perspective
I am a synthetic stimulant and mild hallucinogen that produces euphoria and social intimacy by triggering the release of dopamine and serotonin. What am I?
MDMA
The technique that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce computer images of structures within the brain is called
MRI
Based on research, what seems true about the specialized functions of the right and left hemispheres?
Most complex activities emerge from the integrated activity of both hemispheres.
An attorney wants to know if the details and accuracy of an eyewitness's memory for a crime would be improved under hypnosis. Given the results of relevant research, what should you tell the attorney?
Most hypnotically retrieved memories are either false or contaminated
Immune system cells that pursue and destroy diseased body cells are called
NK cells
Brenda has trouble remembering her new five-digit ZIP plus four-digit address code. What is the most likely explanation for the difficulty Brenda is having?
Nine digits are at or above the upper limit of most people's short-term memory capacity.
Dan and Joel, both 4-year-olds, have been watching reruns of "Superman" on television. Joel's mother recently found the boys standing on the garage roof, ready to try flying. What best accounts for the boys' behavior?
Observational learning
The brain research technique that involves monitoring the brain's usage of glucose is called (in abbreviated form) the:
PET scan
Resistance to stress is greatest during ________ of the GAS.
Phase 2
Who is the best example of a Type A personality?
Philip, a competitive, hot-tempered corporation president
Although her eyes are closed, Adele's brain is generating bursts of electrical activity. It is likely that Adele is:
REM sleep
During which stage of sleep does the body experience increased heart rate, rapid breathing, and genital arousal?
REM sleep
Concluding her presentation on contemporary theories of why sleep is necessary, Marilynn makes all of the following points except:
Slow-wave sleep provides a "psychic safety valve" for stressful waking experiences.
Because the flowers in the foreground appeared coarse and grainy, the photographer decided that the picture was taken too near the subject. This conclusion was based on what depth cue?
Texture gradient
Dr. Frankenstein made a mistake during neurosurgery on his monster. After the operation, the monster "saw" with his ears and "heard" with his eyes. It is likely that Dr. Frankenstein "rewired" neural connections in the monster's:
Thalamus
Which of the following statements concerning marijuana is true?
The by-products of marijuana are cleared from the body more slowly than are the by-products of alcohol
Parkinson's disease involves:
The death of nerve cells that produce dopamine
Though there is no single "control center" for emotions, their regulation is primarily attributed to the brain region known as the:
The limbic system
The axons of certain neurons are covered by a layer of fatty tissue. This tissue is:
The myelin sheath
Anger is the toxic core of
Type A personality
Who is the best example of a Type B personality?
Wang Lung, a relaxed, easygoing dentist
Damage to ________ will usually cause a person to lose the ability to comprehend language.
Wernicke's area
Which of the following illustrates the principle of visual capture?
When there is a conflict between visual information and that from another sense, vision tends to dominate.
Given normal sensory ability, a person standing atop a mountain on a dark, clear night can see a candle flame atop a mountain 30 miles away. This is a description of vision's:
absolute threshold
The process by which the lens changes its curvature is called:
accommodation
manifest content
according to Freud, the remembered story line of a dream
Psychologists define learning as the process of
acquiring new information or relatively enduring behaviors
An impairment of language is known as
aphasia
Stockbrokers who market their services with confidence that they can outperform the market average in picking stocks are especially likely to
appear credible to their customers
Jenkins and Dallenbach found that memory was better in people who were
asleep during the retention interval, presumably because interference was reduced
If a sea slug on repeated occasions receives an electric shock just after being squirted with water, its protective withdrawal response to a squirt of water grows stronger. This best illustrates
associative learning
The inner ear contains receptors for
audition and the vestibular sense
The first thing Karen did when she discovered that she had misplaced her keys was to re-create in her mind the day's events. That she had little difficulty in doing so illustrates:
automatic processing
Following Jayshree's near-fatal car accident, her physician noticed that the pupillary reflex of her eyes was abnormal. This may indicate that Jayshree's ________ was damaged in the accident.
autonomic nervous system
Heartbeat, digestion, and other self-regulating bodily functions are governed by the
autonomic nervous system
A televised image of a starving child had a greater impact on Mr. White's perception of the extensiveness of world hunger than did a statistical chart summarizing the tremendous scope of the problem. This suggests that his assessment of the world hunger problem is influenced by
availability heuristic
By encouraging people to imagine their homes being destroyed by winds from a hurricane, insurance salespeople are especially successful at selling large homeowners' policies. They are most clearly exploiting the influence of
availability heuristic
Which of the following statements regarding REM sleep is true?
b. Rem sleep deprivation results in a REM rebound.
John B. Watson considered himself to be a(n)
behaviorist
An unwillingness to give up our beliefs even when the evidence proves us wrong is called
belief perseverance
The value of making a good first impression when you begin work for a new employer is best underscored by the research on
belief perseverance
A prototype is a
best example of a particular category
Dr. Hernandez is studying neurotransmitter abnormalities in depressed patients. She would most likely describe herself as a:
biological psychologist
Despite the very stressful events in his life, Mark has been able to maintain good health. This is because of his persistent optimism and the emotional support of his family. An integrated understanding of Mark's well-being is most clearly provided by
biopsychosocial approach
The general adaptation syndrome describes stages in the
body's response to prolonged stress
The part of the human brain that is most like that of a fish is the:
brainstem
Cortical areas that are not primarily concerned with sensory, motor, or language functions are:
called association areas
Rodents who experienced inescapable shocks were more prone to developing cancer if they had previously been exposed to
carcinogens
Jessica experienced difficulty keeping her balance after receiving a blow to the back of her head. It is likely that she injured her
cerebellum
Which area of the brain is most important in the processing of implicit memories?
cerebellum
One way to increase the amount of information in memory is to group it into larger, familiar units. This process is referred to as
chunking
When our ______ is disrupted, we experience jet lag.
circadian rhythm
Figures tend to be perceived as whole, complete objects, even if spaces or gaps exist in the representation, thus demonstrating the principle of
closure
Figure is to ground as ________ is to ________.
cloud; sky
The ability to pay attention to only one voice at a time is called
cocktail party effect
The acquisition of mental information by observing events, watching others, or through language is called
cognitive learning
Research on the language capabilities of apes clearly demonstrates that they have the capacity to
communicate through the use of symbols.
Compared with deaf children exposed to sign language from birth, those who first learn sign language as teens are less likely to
comprehend grammatical subtleties of sign language.
By learning to classify cats and dogs, monkeys demonstrate a capacity to form
concepts
A child's learned fear at the sight of a hypodermic needle is a(n)
conditioned response
In Pavlov's experiments, the sound of the tone triggered the dog's salivation. Salivation to the sound of a tone was a(n)
conditioned response
Male Japanese quail became sexually aroused by a red light that was repeatedly associated with the presentation of a female quail. The sexual arousal triggered by the red light was a
conditioned response
In classical conditioning, the NS becomes a ________ after it reliably signals the impending occurrence of the ________.
conditioned stimulus; unconditioned stimulus
As the football game continued into the night, LeVar noticed that he was having difficulty distinguishing the colors of the players' uniforms. This is because the ________, which enable color vision, have a ________ absolute threshold for brightness than the available light intensity.
cones; higher
Because she believes that boys are naughtier than girls, Mrs. Zumpano, a second-grade teacher, watches boys more closely than she watches girls for any signs of misbehavior. Mrs. Zumpano's surveillance strategy best illustrates
confirmation bias
Scientists are trained to carefully observe and record any research outcomes that are inconsistent with their hypotheses. This practice most directly serves to reduce
confirmation bias
Concluding his presentation on levels of information processing, Miguel states that:
conscious processing is serial, while unconscious processing is parallel.
A response is learned most rapidly and is most resistant to extinction if it is acquired under conditions of
continuous reinforcement followed by partial reinforcement.
right hemisphere of brain
controls left side of the body and contains creativity and the arts
left hemisphere of brain
controls right side of the body and is logical, contains mathamatics, lauguage, & speech
List the binocular depth cues
convergence and retinal disparity
What is the correct order of the structures through which light passes after entering the eye?
cornea, pupil, lens, retina
The nerve fibers that enable communication between the right and left cerebral hemispheres and that have been severed in split-brain patients form a structure called the
corpus callosum
Hubel and Wiesel discovered feature detectors in the visual:
cortex
By about age 7, those who have not been exposed to either a spoken or a signed language gradually lose their ability to master any language. This illustrates the importance of ________ for language acquisition.
critical period
Nerve deafness is caused by:
damage to the cochlea
Wild animals placed in zoos sometimes die shortly thereafter. These deaths are likely to result from a(n)
decrease in the animals' production of lymphocytes.
As her friend Milo walks toward her, Noriko perceives his size as remaining constant because his perceived distance ________ at the same time that her retinal image of him ________.
decreases, increases
Research has found that the amount of representation in the motor cortex reflects the
degree of precise control required by each of the parts
Some students study hard beginning with the first couple of weeks of a semester because they subsequently receive very good final course grades. This best illustrates that human behavior is influenced by
delayed reinforcers
What is the correct sequence in the transmission of a neural impulse?
dendrite, cell body, axon, synapse
During an action potential, the electrical state of the axon becomes:
depolarized, as positively charged atoms are admitted
Sensation is to ________ as perception is to ________.
detection; interpretation
The eerie feeling of having been somewhere before is an example of:
déjà vu
The three steps in memory processing are:
encoding, storage, retrieval
In response to stress, the adrenal glands release
epinephrine
In classical conditioning a stimulus is any event or situation that
evokes a response
The third phase of the general adaptation syndrome is characterized by
exhaustion
Amnesia patients typically experience disruption of
explicit memories
According to B. F. Skinner, human behavior is controlled primarily by
external influences
Makayla developed an intense fear of flying five years ago when she was in a plane crash. The fact that today she can again fly without distress indicates that her fear has undergone
extinction
Objects higher in our field of vision are perceived as ________ due to the principle of ________.
farther away; relative height
Walter Cannon observed that a variety of stressors trigger
fight or flight reaction
Blake is a carpet installer who wants to be paid for each square foot of carpet he lays rather than with an hourly wage. Blake prefers working on a ________ schedule of reinforcement.
fixed ratio
Paul and Michael sell magazine subscriptions by telephone. Paul is paid $1.00 for every five calls he makes, while Michael is paid $1.00 for every subscription he sells, regardless of the number of calls he makes. Paul's telephoning is reinforced on a ________ schedule, whereas Michael's is reinforced on a ________ schedule.
fixed-interval; variable-ratio
We are most likely to imitate the behavior of models if we observe that their actions are
followed by reinforcement
In writing survey questions, political pollsters who want to gather evidence of people's support for particular viewpoints are especially likely to understand the impact of
framing
On Monday, the meteorologist forecast a 20 percent chance of rain, so Sheryl took her umbrella to work. On Friday, he reported an 80 percent chance that it would not rain, so Sheryl left her umbrella at home. Sheryl's behavior illustrates the effect of
framing
Following a nail gun wound to his head, Jack became more uninhibited, irritable, dishonest, and profane. It is likely that his personality change was the result of injury to his:
frontal lobe
Beginning at the front of the brain and moving toward the back of the head, then down the skull and back around to the front, what is the correct order of the cortical regions?
frontal, parietal, occipital, temporal
Because of the discomfort and embarrassment associated with his childhood bed-wetting, Andrew becomes nervous whenever he senses an urge to urinate. If genital arousal subsequently makes Andrew unusually anxious, this would best illustrate
generalization
Monica's psychotherapist reminds her so much of her own father that she has many of the same mixed emotional reactions to him that she has to her own dad. Her reactions to her therapist best illustrate the importance of
generalization
Toddlers taught to fear speeding cars may also begin to fear speeding trucks and motorcycles. This best illustrates
generalization
Human language appears to have evolved from
gestured communication
Hypnotic responsiveness is:
greater when people are led to expect it
The subfield of psychology that provides psychology's contribution to the prevention and treatment of illness is known as
health psychology
A reliance on quick intuitive judgments is best illustrated by our use of
heuristics
Simple thinking strategies that allow us to solve problems and make judgments efficiently are called
heuristics
textbook chapters are often organized into _____ in order to facilitate information processing
hierarchies
The hearing losses that occur with age are especially pronounced for:
high pitched sounds
Operant response rates tend to be ________ when linked to a ratio schedule rather than an interval schedule. Operant response rates tend to be ________ consistent when linked to a variable schedule rather than a fixed schedule.
higher, more
Amnesia victims typically have experienced damage to the ________ of the brain.
hippocampus
Chemical messengers produced by endocrine glands are called:
hormones
Epinephrine and norepinephrine are ________ that are released by the ________ gland.
hormones; adrenal
Wavelength is to ________ as ________ is to brightness.
hue; intensity
Visual sensory memory is referred to as
iconic memory
A split-brain patient has a picture of a knife flashed to her left hemisphere and that of a fork to her right hemisphere. She will be able to:
identify the fork using her left hand
Nearsightedness is a condition in which the:
image falls in front of the retina
Janet has almost finished painting a neighbor's house, at which time she'll be paid $2000. The fact that she is increasingly unlikely to quit painting as she nears completion of the job best illustrates that operant behavior is strongly influenced by ________ reinforcers.
immediate
Giving a hungry rat food for pressing a bar before the rat has a chance to engage in other incidental behaviors like running or scratching best illustrates
immediate reinforcement
To quickly teach a dog to roll over on command, you would be best advised to use
immediate reinforcers rather than delayed reinforcers.
Memory for skills is called
implicit memory
Elderly Mr. Flanagan, a retired electrician, can easily remember how to wire a light switch, but he cannot remember the name of the president of the United States. Evidently, Mr. Flanagan's _____ memory is better than his _____ memory.
implicit; explicit
According to the serial position effect, when recalling a list of words you should have the greatest difficulty with those
in the middle of the list
In one experiment, most of the participants who viewed a videotape of men tossing a basketball remained unaware of an umbrella-toting woman sauntering across the screen. This illustrated
inattentional blindness
The increasing complexity of animals' behavior was accompanied by a(n):
increase in the amount of association area
Negative reinforcers ________ the rate of operant responding, and punishments ________ the rate of operant responding.
increase, decrease
Chronic anger ________ the risk of heart disease, and chronic depression ________ the risk of heart disease.
increases, increases
inhibitory input
information entering a neuron that signals it not to fire
excitatory input
information entering a neuron that signals it to fire
According to memory researcher Daniel Schacter, blocking occurs when
information is on the tip of our tongue, but we can't get it out.
People who heard unusual phrases prior to sleep were awakened each time they began REM sleep. The fact that they remembered less the next morning provides support for the ________ theory of dreaming.
information processing
Studies of the visual cliff have provided evidence that much of depth perception is:
innate
If a stranger looks like someone who previously harmed or threatened us in some way, we may-without consciously recalling the earlier experience-react warily. This illustrates that our reactions to others may be influenced by
intuition
The size of the pupil is controlled by the:
iris
It is easier to recall information that has just been presented when the information:
is heard rather than seen
A PET scan of a sleeping person's brain reveals increased activity in the visual and auditory areas. This most likely indicates that the sleeper:
is in REM sleep
The isolated Piraha tribespeople of Brazil have no words for specific numbers higher than 2. If shown 7 nuts in a row they find it difficult to lay out the same number from their own pile of nuts. This best illustrates the impact of
language on thinking.
According to the gate-control theory, a way to alleviate chronic pain would be to stimulate the _____ nerve fibers that _____ the spinal gate.
large; close
Jill dreams that she trips and falls as she walks up the steps to the stage to receive her college diploma. Her psychoanalyst suggests that the dream might symbolize her fear of moving on to the next stage of her life—a career. The analyst is evidently attempting to interpret the ________ content of Jill's dream.
latent
B. F. Skinner's work elaborated what E. L. Thorndike had called
law of effect
In several studies, people with hearing loss, especially those not wearing hearing aids, have reported being ________ socially engaged and ________ often experiencing others' irritation.
less; more
A scientist from another planet wishes to study the simplest brain mechanisms underlying emotion and memory. You recommend that the scientist study the:
limbic system of a dog
It has been suggested that Alaskan Eskimos' rich vocabulary for describing snow enables them to perceive differences in snow conditions that would otherwise go unnoticed. This suggestion most clearly illustrates
linguistic determinism
For Type A individuals, exposure to stress is especially likely to inhibit organs such as the ________ from removing cholesterol and fat from the blood.
liver
After suffering damage to the hippocampus, a person would probably:
lose the ability to store new facts
At some point during the babbling stage, infants begin to
lose their ability to discriminate sounds they never hear.
The place theory of pitch perception cannot account for how we hear:
low pitched sounds
After experiencing the stress of losing her job, Colleen suffered an increased incidence of cold and flu infections. Her increased illness is best attributed to reduced levels of
lymphocytes
Dental students healed more slowly from punch wounds received three days prior to a major exam than from punch wounds received during their summer vacation. The slower healing prior to a major exam is best explained by the students' temporarily reduced production of
lymphocytes
One reason that your ability to detect fine visual details is greatest when scenes are focused on the fovea of your retina is that:
many cones, which are clustered in the fovea, have individual bipolar cells to relay their information to the cortex.
THC is the major active ingredient in
marijuana
People's procedural memory of how to open the front door of their house is most likely to consist of
mental image
To help him remember the order of ingredients in difficult recipes, master chef Giulio often associates them with the route he walks to work each day. Giulio is using which mnemonic technique?
method of loci
Prototype is to category as ________ is to ________.
milk; beverage
The effect of a drug that is an agonist is to:
mimic a particular neurotransmitter
Without conscious reflection, people often yawn when they observe others yawning. Researchers are now considering whether this can be attributed to
mirror neuron activity
It has been suggested that ________ are activated when a monkey moves a peanut into its own mouth and when a monkey simply observes other monkeys move a peanut into their mouths.
mirror neurons
Sandy finds it harder to frown when watching her brother smile than when seeing him frown. Scientists are currently debating whether this can be attributed to the activation of
mirror neurons
Memory techniques such as acronyms and the peg-word system are called
mnemonic devices
Jeremy wears his baseball cap backward because he noticed that his older brother does so. This illustrates the importance of
modeling
Skinner is to shaping as Bandura is to
modeling
Being in a bad mood after a hard day of work, Susan could think of nothing positive in her life. This is best explained as an example of:
mood-congruent memory
People are likely to detect male prejudice against females ________ easily than they detect female prejudice against males. They are likely to detect younger people's prejudice against older people ________ easily than they detect older people's prejudice against younger people.
more and more
Assuming that the visual systems of humans and other mammals function similarly, you would expect that the retina of a nocturnal mammal (one active only at night) would contain:
mostly rods
No matter what language we first use, our first words are mostly
nouns
A strong stimulus can increase the
number of times the neuron fires
In a well-known experiment, preschool children pounded and kicked a large inflated Bobo doll that an adult had just beaten on. This experiment served to illustrate the importance of
observational learning
Mirror neurons are believed by some scientists to provide a biological basis for
observational learning
Our ability to learn by witnessing the behavior of others best illustrates
observational learning
Rhesus macaque monkeys are more likely to reconcile after a fight if they grow up with forgiving older macaque monkeys. This best illustrates the impact of
observational learning
The visual cortex is located in the
occipital lobe
Children often learn to associate pushing a vending machine button with the delivery of a candy bar. This best illustrates the process underlying
operant conditioning
In which form of learning is behavior influenced by its consequences?
operant conditioning
I am a cell in the thalamus that is excited by red and inhibited by green. I am a(n):
opponent-process cell
Consciousness is defined in the text as:
our awareness of ourselves and our environment
Our experience of pain when we are injured depends on:
our physiology, experiences and attention, and surrounding culture
Introductory psychology students facing a midterm exam one week later spent five minutes each day visualizing themselves scanning the posted grade list, seeing their A grade, and feeling proud. This ________ simulation had ________ effect on their exam scores.
outcome; little
Five-year-olds copy senseless and irrelevant adult actions such as stroking a plastic jar with a feather before reaching inside the jar for a toy. This best illustrates
overimitation
A stress-moderating hormone released by cuddling and associated with pair-bonding is known as
oxytocin
The brain breaks vision into separate dimensions such as color, depth, movement, and form, and works on each aspect simultaneously. This is called:
parallel processing
Studies by Loftus and Palmer, in which people were quizzed about a film of an accident, indicate that
people's recall may easily be affected by misleading information.
Which of the following best accounts for people's greater fear of commercial air flights than of driving an automobile?
perceived control
As we move, viewed objects cast changing shapes on our retinas, although we do not perceive the objects as changing. This is part of the phenomenon of
perceptual constancy
Each time you see your car, it projects a different image on the retinas of your eyes, yet you do not perceive it as changing. This is because of:
perceptual constancy
Although carpenter Smith perceived a briefly viewed object as a screwdriver, police officer Wesson perceived the same object as a knife. This illustrates that perception is guided by:
perceptual set
The phenomenon that refers to the ways in which an individual's expectations influence perception is called:
perceptual set
Heart disease and depression may both result when chronic stress triggers
persistent inflammation
A Harvard School of Public Health research team studied 1306 initially healthy men over a 10-year period. They found that ________ were more than twice as likely as ________ to develop heart disease.
pessimists; optimists
A bodybuilder friend suddenly seems to have grown several inches in height. You suspect that your friend's growth spurt has occurred because he has been using drugs that affect the:
pituitary gland
The gland that regulates body growth is the
pituitary gland
In a resting state, the axon is
polarized, with mostly positively charged ions outside and negatively charged ions inside
The introduction of a pleasant stimulus is to ________ as the withdrawal of a pleasant stimulus is to ________.
positive reinforcer; negative reinforcer
Of the four distinct skin senses, the only one that has definable receptors is:
pressure
In an effort to remember the name of the classmate who sat behind her in fifth grade, Martina mentally recited the names of other classmates who sat near her. Martina's effort to refresh her memory by activating related associations is an example of:
priming
When Carlos was promoted, he moved into a new office with a new phone extension. Every time he is asked for his phone number, Carlos first thinks of his old extension, illustrating the effects of: A) proactive interference. B) retroactive interference. C) encoding failure. D) storage failure.
proactive interference
Circadian rhythms are:
regular body cycles that occur on a 24-hour schedule
Information is maintained in short-term memory only briefly unless it is:
rehearsed
The tendency to perceive hazy objects as being at a distance is known as ________. This is a ________ depth cue.
relative clarity; monocular
The depth cue that occurs when we watch stable objects at different distances as we are moving is:
relative motion
Lewis cannot remember the details of the torture he experienced as a prisoner of war. According to Freud, Lewis's failure to remember these painful memories is an example of:
repression
Following a head injury, a person has ongoing difficulties staying awake. Most likely, the damage occurred to the
reticular formation
Moruzzi and Magoun caused a cat to lapse into a coma by severing neural connections between the cortex and the A) reticular formation. B) hypothalamus. C) thalamus. D) cerebellum.
reticular formation
The transduction of light energy into nerve impulses takes place in the:
retina
When we stare at an object, each eye receives a slightly different image, providing a depth cue known as
retinal disparity
The process of getting information out of memory storage is called:
retrieval
At your high school reunion you cannot remember the last name of your homeroom teacher. Your failure to remember is most likely the result of:
retrieval failure
Research participants were asked to identify a word that could be associated meaningfully with each of three other words. Solutions that occurred with sudden insight were accompanied by a burst of activity in the brain's ________ lobe.
right temporal
The receptor of the eye that functions best in dim light is the:
rod
Semantics refers to the
rules by which we derive meaning from sounds
Because she was listening to the news on the radio, Mrs. Schultz didn't perceive a word her husband was saying. Her experience best illustrates
selective attention
Our inability to consciously perceive all the sensory information available to us at any single point in time best illustrates the necessity of:
selective attention
While reading a novel, Raoul isn't easily distracted by the sounds of the TV or even by his brothers' loud arguments. This best illustrates
selective attention
Craik and Tulving had research participants process words visually, acoustically, or semantically. In a subsequent recall test, which type of processing resulted in the greatest retention?
semantic
When Sandy scalded her toe in a tub of hot water, the pain message was carried to her spinal cord by the ________ nervous system.
somatic
Voluntary movements, such as writing with a pencil, are directed by the
somatic nervous system
Language refers to the
spoken, written, or signed words and the ways they are combined to communicate meaning
The reappearance, after a time lapse, of an extinguished CR is called
spontaneous recovery
Luigi minimized the stress of testing positive for HIV by viewing this circumstance as an opportunity for a renewed religious commitment and spiritual growth. His reaction best illustrates the importance of
stress appraisal
Rush hour traffic is to upset stomach as ________ is to ________.
stressor; stress reaction
Compared with men, women have ________ immune systems, and they are ________ susceptible to lupus and multiple sclerosis.
stronger; more
Introductory psychology students performed best on a midterm psychology test if they had previously spent five minutes a day visualizing themselves:
studying effectively
Which of the following is not an example of a biological rhythm?
sudden sleep attacks during the day
When he was 8 years old, Frank was questioned by the police about a summer camp counselor suspected of molesting children. Even though he was not, in fact, molested by the counselor, today 19-year-old Frank "remembers" the counselor touching him inappropriately. Frank's false memory is an example of which "sin" of memory?
suggestibility
Your brother has been taking prescription medicine and experiencing a number of unpleasant side effects, including unusually rapid heartbeat and excessive perspiration. It is likely that the medicine is exaggerating activity in the:
sympathetic nervous system
Studies demonstrate that learning causes permanent neural changes in the ________ of animals' neurons.
synapses
Lavonne was careful to avoid the use of dangling participles and run-on sentences in her essay because she did not want to lose points for faulty
syntax
Bilingual people, who inhibit one language while using the other, can better inhibit their attention to irrelevant information. This has been called
the bilingual advantage.
REM sleep is referred to as paradoxical sleep because:
the body's muscles remain relaxed while the brain and eyes are active.
How a particular psychoactive drug affects a person depends on
the dosage and form in which the drug is taken, the users expectations and personality, the situation in which the drug is taken
Seventy-five-year-old Claude has difficulty hearing high-pitched sounds. Most likely his hearing problem involves:
the hair cells of his inner ear.
Weber's law states that:
the jnd for any stimulus is a constant proportion
The frequency theory of hearing is better than place theory at explaining our sensation of:
the lowest pitches
During basketball practice Jan's head was painfully elbowed. If the trauma to her brain disrupts her memory, we would expect that Jan would be most likely to forget:
the name of the play during which she was elbowed
In Pavlov's experiments on the salivary conditioning of dogs, the US was
the presentation of food in the dog's mouth
Research on stressful life events indicates that
those who have been recently widowed, fired, or divorced are more vulnerable to disease.
A person who requires increasing amounts of a drug in order to feel its effect is said to have developed:
tolerance
The process by which sensory information is converted into neural energy is:
transduction
In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, infants develop a fear of books after books are repeatedly presented with a loud noise. In this fictional example, the loud noise is a(n)
unconditioned stimulus
The pain of heroin withdrawal may be attributable to the fact that:
under the influence of heroin the brain ceases production of endorphins
The overconfidence phenomenon refers to the tendency to
underestimate the extent to which our beliefs and judgments are inaccurate
Contemporary psychologists are most likely to criticize Whorf's linguistic determinism hypothesis for
underestimating the extent to which thinking occurs without language.
After Paul's snow-skiing accident, doctors detected damage to his cerebral cortex in Wernicke's area. Because of the damage, Paul is most likely to experience difficulty in
understanding what others are saying
Noam Chomsky suggested that all human languages share a(n)
universal grammar
Psychologists are most likely to doubt that chimpanzees have the capacity to
use complex grammar
On the first day of class, Professor Wallace tells her geography students that pop quizzes will be given at unpredictable times throughout the semester. Clearly, studying for Professor Wallace's surprise quizzes will be reinforced on a ________ schedule.
variable interval
Dr. Johnson briefly flashed a picture of a key in the right visual field of a split-brain patient. The patient could probably:
verbally report that a key was seen
One light may appear reddish and another greenish if they differ in:
wavelength
What is the spacing effect?
we retain information better when we rehearse over time
The term gestalt means
whole
Whorf's linguistic determinism hypothesis emphasizes that
words shape the way people think
