Chapter 3 Behavioral science Practice question: Learning and memory

Researchers repeatedly startle a participant with a loud buzzer. After some time, the participant stops being startled by the buzzer. If the researchers interrupt the study with the sound of pans banging together, which of the following would likely be observed? A. Increased startle response to the buzzer B. Decreased startle response to the buzzer C. No change in the response to the buzzer D. Generalization to previously nonaversive stimuli

A After a while, the participant became habituated to the sound of the buzzer. Introducing a new stimulus, such as the banging pans, should dishabituate (resensitize) the original stimulus, causing a temporary increase in response to the sound of the buzzer.

Which of the following is true of teaching an animal a complicated, multistage behavior? I. The individual parts of the behavior should not run counter to the animal's natural instincts. II. The behaviors must be tied to a food reward of some kind. III. Rewarding individual parts of the behavior on their own interferes with reinforcement of the entire behavior. A. I only B. I and III only C. II and III only D. I, II, and III

A Complicated, multistage behaviors are typically taught through shaping, so statement III must not be part of the correct answer. Reinforcers do not necessarily need to be food-based, and instinctive drift can interfere with learn-ing of complicated behaviors; therefore, only statement I is accurate.

A researcher uses a partial-report procedure after presenting participants with an array of nine numbers for a fraction of a second. Which of the following is the most likely result of this procedure? A. The participants will be able to recall any of the rows or columns in great detail but only immedi-ately after presentation. B. The participants will only be able to recall the first few numbers in the array due to the serial position effect. C. The participants will be able to recall approxi-mately seven of the numbers for a few seconds following presentation of the stimulus. D. The participants will not be able to recall any of the numbers verbally, but will be able to draw the full array under hypnosis.

A Partial-report procedures, in which the individual is asked to recall a specific portion of the stimulus, are incredibly accurate, but only for a very brief time. This is a method of studying sensory (specifically, iconic) memory. Both the serial position effect, (B), and the 7 ± 2 rule, (C), are char-acteristics of short-term memory.

Which of the following methods of encoding is most conducive to later recall? A. Semantic B. Visual C. Iconic D. Acoustic

A Semantic encoding, or encoding based on the meaning of the information, is the strongest of the methods of encod-ing. Visual encoding, (B), is the weakest, and acoustic encoding, (D), is intermediate between the two. Iconic memory, (C), is a type of sensory memory.

Which of the following would an elderly individual be most likely to have trouble recalling? A. The circumstances of meeting his or her signifi-cant other in college B. A doctor's appointment scheduled for 1:00 p.m. C. The names of the characters in his or her favorite television show D. That a library book needs to be returned when passing by the library on a morning walk

B Elderly individuals have the most trouble with time-based prospective memory, which is remembering to do an activ-ity at a particular time. Other forms of memory are gener-ally preserved, or may decline slightly but less significantly than time-based prospective memory.

A person suffers from food poisoning after eating a spoiled orange and later finds that the smell of lemon and other citrus fruits makes her nauseated. This is an example of: A. acquisition. B. generalization. C. discrimination. D. negative reinforcement.

B Generalization is the process by which similar stimuli can produce the same conditioned response. Here, the response to the taste and smell of oranges has generalized to that of all citrus.

Which of the following is an example of a semantic memory? A. Having the ability to drive a car B. Knowing the parts of a car engine C. Remembering the experience of learning to drive D. Associating a car with other vehicles in a semantic network

B Semantic memory is the category of long-term memory that refers to recall of facts, rather than experiences or skills. Be careful not to confuse semantic memory with semantic networks, (D), which are the associations of simi-lar concepts in the mind to aid in their retrieval.

A credit card company begins applying an interest rate to credit card accounts in response to late payments. This is an example of: A. positive reinforcement because the credit card company will now make more money. B. negative reinforcement because the credit card company is adding a fee to motivate the person to pay their bills. C. positive punishment because the credit card company is adding a fee to reduce the incidence of late payments. D. negative punishment because the credit card company is decreasing the amount the person has to pay.

C Because the credit card company wishes to decrease the behavior of late bill payment, this is a punishment, so we can eliminate (A) and (B). The company is adding some-thing unpleasant by adding an additional fee, and is hoping to reduce the occurrence of late payments (the target behavior), making (C) a match. The person is now having to pay additional money, making (D) an opposite answer.

A rat is trained to press a lever to obtain food under a fixed-interval schedule. Which of the following behaviors would the rat most likely exhibit? A. Pressing the lever continuously whenever it is hungry. B. Pressing the lever exactly once and waiting for the food pellet before pressing it again. C. Pressing the lever slowly at first, but with increasing frequency as the end of the interval approaches. D. None of the above; the association formed by fixed-interval schedules is too weak to increase behavior.

C In a fixed-interval schedule, the desired behavior is rewarded the first time it is exhibited after the fixed interval has elapsed. Both fixed-interval and fixed-ratio schedules tend to show this phenomenon: almost no response imme-diately after the reward is given, but the behavior increases as the rat gets close to receiving the reward.

Which of the following is an example of a circumstance that could cause a state-dependent recall effect? I. The individual is outside on a rainy day. II. The individual is high on marijuana. III. The individual is in a manic episode. A. І only B. ІІI only C. IІ and ІІІ only D. І, ІІ, and ІІІ

C State-dependent recall is concerned with the internal rather than external states of the individual. As such, both state-ments II and III are examples of state-dependent circum-stances, while statement I might cause a context effect instead.

Which of the following would be most likely to be stored in long-term memory? A. A list of nonsense words B. A list of the dates of birth of 15 randomly selected people C. A list of the names of musicians in an individual's favorite bands D. A list of the dates of battles in the Peloponnesian War

C The self-reference effect indicates that information that is most meaningful to an individual is the most likely to be memorized. (C) is the most personally relevant to the indi-vidual memorizing the list.

Many pets will run toward the kitchen when they hear the sound of a can opener opening a can of pet food. The sound of the can opener is a(n): A. conditioned response. B. unconditioned response. C. conditioned stimulus. D. unconditioned stimulus.

C The sound of a can opener would not normally produce a response on its own, making it a stimulus that must have been conditioned by association with food. 3

Which of the following is true of controlled processing? A. It is the means through which information enters short-term memory. B. Information that requires controlled processing cannot become automatic. C. It always requires active attention to the informa-tion being encoded. D. Most information we can later recall is encoded using controlled processing.

C This is the definition of controlled processing and is the only answer choice that is necessarily true of controlled processing. Effortful processing is used to create long-term memories, and—with practice—can become automatic, invalidating (A) and (B). Most of our day-to-day activities are processed automatically, making (D) incorrect.

Which of the following processes would increase the likelihood of a behavior? A. Extinction B. Negative punishment C. Positive punishment D. Avoidance learning

D Avoidance learning is a type of negative reinforcement in which a behavior is increased to prevent an unpleas-ant future consequence. Extinction, (A), is a decreased response to a conditioned stimulus when it is no lon-ger paired with an unconditioned stimulus. Punish-ment, (B) and (C), leads to decreased behaviors in operant conditioning.

An individual memorizes a shopping list by associating each item with an image that corresponds with a number. This individual is using which of the following mnemonics? A. Clustering B. Method of loci C. Elaborative rehearsal D. Peg-words

D The association of words on a list to a preconstructed set of ideas is common to both the method-of-loci and peg-word mnemonics. Method-of-loci systems, (B), associate items with locations, while peg-word systems use images associ-ated with numbers.