Learning and Memory Chapter 8

Which statement demonstrates that nonhumans can learn cognitive skills?

-Chimpanzees in the wild have learned how to use stones to crack nuts. -Dolphins can learn to repeat whatever action they had performed most recently when instructed to do so by a trainer. -In the lab, experimenters have taught primates and other animals to use various tools. ****All of the statements are correct.

Which statement is TRUE about skill memories?

-They are difficult to convey except by demonstration. -They may be acquired without awareness. -They require several repetitions. ***All of the statements are true.

Psychologists usually associate cognitive skills with the

-ability to reason and solve problem -tasks that require sorting through large amounts of knowledge. -tasks depend more on intellectual prowess. ***All of the answers are correct.

Which statement is TRUE regarding the forgetting of skills?

Forgetting is rapid at first and then slows down

Which disorder involves a reduction in the number of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta that control activity in the basal ganglia?

Parkinson's disease

Which statement is TRUE?

Playing violent action video games can increase visual-attention abilities

What has been found regarding the impact of sleep on people's ability to perform a sequenced finger-tapping task?

Practicing two skills on the same day can interfere with retention of the first skill practiced

Which statement is NOT true about memories for events and facts?

They require several repetitions

A person riding as a passenger in a car sometimes has the experience of automatically stepping on an imaginary brake as the driver brings the car to a fast stop. The passenger's behavior is:

a motor program

A skill is a(n)

ability to perform a task that has been honed through experience

According to Thorndike's identical elements theory, if one learns to swim in an indoor pool, one will swim the BEST in

an indoor pool

Skill memories

are improved by repeated experiences

During the _____ stage of skill acquisition, learners begin using stereotyped actions when performing the skill and rely less on actively recalled memories of rules

associative

The second stage in the Fitts's model of skill learning is:

associative

Which stage of Fitts's three-stage model would act in setting up a tent without instructions

associative

Being able to throw a baseball without having to think about the motions one is making is an example of the _____ stage of skill acquisition

autonomous

Which stage of Fitts's three-stage model would act in setting up a tent while carrying on a discussion about politics?

autonomous

Research suggests that the basal ganglia are involved in learning

both perceptual-motor skills and cognitive skills

People with Parkinson's disease

can be treated with deep brain stimulation

The Tower of Hanoi puzzle is used for studying how one learns _____ skills

cognitive

Unlike deep brain stimulation where the electrodes stimulate the brain, the motor prostheses electrodes:

collect information from neurons and transmit those signals

When rats with damage to the basal ganglia are put in a water maze, and the platform is moved to a new location, the rats swim:

directly to the location where the platform used to be, even when the platform is not visible

A procedure that delivers an electrical current into a patient's brain through or more implanted electrodes is known as:

electroconvulsive therapy

The learning process that includes the ability to verbalize about the actions or events being learned is known as:

explicit learning

Which activity is an example of the cognitive stage of skill acquisition?

following the instructions in a recipe to bake cookies

A sequence of movements that an organism can perform virtually automatically is known as motor programs or

habits

Thorndike proposed that learned abilities transfer to new situations to an extent that depends on the number of elements in the new situation. This is referred to as

identical elements theory

As people learn a new perceptual-motor skill, the amount of cortex that is active _____ with practice

increases rapidly at first and then more slowly

Dara is practicing a new gymnastic routine. Her practice will be MOST effective if she:

is given feedback about her performance

Feedback about the performance of a skill that is critical to the effectiveness of practice is known as

knowledge of results

After the events of Columbine, certain video games came under heavy criticism for their violent content, especially the use of guns. The perpetrators spent hours playing the specific games as "practice." If the criticism is true and video games played a role, which learning ability would explain what the shooters where doing by playing the video game?

learning set formation

Which activity is the BEST example of implicit learning?

learning the words of a song that is played regularly on the radio

Jacob has an exam tomorrow. He hasn't studied all semester and is cramming his studying all into one night. Jacob is using _____ practice

massed

In 2005, Harvard University president Larry Summers provoked controversy by suggesting that:

men have a high aptitude in the area of engineering

Psychologists sometimes classify memories that are not easily put into words, including skill memories as

nondeclarative memories

Without any explicit training from adults many children know how to turn the ignition key in order to start their parent's cars. This is an example of

observational learning

If a child wants to learn to write his own name by using spaced practice, he should write the name

once every day for several weeks

An expert is someone who

performs a skill better than most people

Someone with damage to the basal ganglia would have the MOST trouble with which task?

remembering how to ride a bike

An experimental task that requires individuals to press keys in specific sequences on the basis of cues provided by a computer is known as:

serial reaction time task

On mirror-tracing tasks, people with damage to the cerebellum _____ than unimpaired people

show less transfer of training

Which skill is an example of a perceptual-motor skill?

skiing

With practice, cortical expansion occurs in areas of

somatosensory cortex that are relevant for performing the skill

What is serial reaction time task used for?

study implicit learning

A person with damage to the cerebellum would have the MOST trouble with which task?

synchronizing movements with a partner in ballroom dancing

A person's genetically endowed ability to perform a skill better than most is known as a gift or a(n)

talent

Neuroimaging studies of experts suggest that one should see increased cortical activation in brain areas associated with a

tennis-player's dominant arm

When a rat learns to turn the correct way in a T-shaped maze, one finds that, in the basal ganglia:

the pattern of neural activity changes as the rat becomes better at the task

Research on talent and expertise suggests that:

the total amount of practice is an important variable in determining whether a person will become an expert

If Madeleine wants to learn two very simple perceptual-motor skills MOST effectively, she should practice:

them on separate days

Research on using massed and spaced practice to train postal workers to use a letter-sorting machine showed that

those using spaced practice required the fewest hours of training to learn the task

The restricted applicability of some learned skills to specific situations is known as:

transfer specificity

Thorndike's identical elements theory provides a good explanation for

transfer specificity