PSYCH 1XX3 CORE EXAMS SET 2026/2027 QUESTIONS AND
SOLUTIONS RATED A+
✔✔Critical Periods - ✔✔Specific time period where certain experiences are required for
normal development.
Enriched environment --> more connections and neurons
✔✔Brain Growth: Experience-Expectant - ✔✔Our brains have evolved to expect a
certain amount of environmental input. Helps brain develop normally
✔✔Brain Growth: Experience-Dependant - ✔✔Our brains develop according to our own
personal experiences
✔✔Sensitive Periods - ✔✔Brain maintains some capacity for change and growth in
adulthood; our brains develop according to our own personal experiences
✔✔Adaptations - ✔✔Functional traits or characteristics that help an individual survive
and reproduce which evolves through natural selection
✔✔Natural Selection - ✔✔Differential survival and reproduction of organisms as a result
of the heritable differences between them
✔✔3 Essential Components of Natural Selection - ✔✔1. Individual Differences
2. Differential Reproduction
3. Heritability
✔✔Essential Components of Natural Selection: Individual Differences - ✔✔Variation
among individuals for any given characteristic
✔✔Essential Components of Natural Selection: Differential Reproduction -
✔✔Differences cause individual's chances of surviving and reproducing, causing
differential reproduction
✔✔Essential Components of Natural Selection: Heritability - ✔✔Traits have a genetic
basis --> they're heritable
✔✔Stabilizing Selection - ✔✔Keeps traits stable over generations. Selects against any
sort of departure from the species typical adaptive design
✔✔Fitness - ✔✔One's ability to reproduce and leave copies of its genes in the next
generation
✔✔Sexual Selection - ✔✔- Selects behaviours and traits that increase the likelihood of
reproducing
,- Cost-inducing
- Modulation of attraction
- Requires variation of the trait of interest
✔✔Modes of Sexual Selection - ✔✔1. Female Choice
2. Success in Combat
✔✔Signs of Sexually Selected Traits - ✔✔1. Differs between the sexes
2. Specific to breeding season
✔✔Mate Choice Preferences - ✔✔- Best resistance to diseases
- Best genes for being healthy
✔✔Social Behaviours: Cooperation - ✔✔- both actor and recipient increase fitness
- cost to you < benefit to your action
✔✔Social Behaviours: Selfishness - ✔✔- actor receives benefit, recipient incurs cost
- +, -
✔✔Social Behaviours: Altruism - ✔✔- decreases actors well being, increases recipient
- -, +
✔✔Social Behaviours: Spite - ✔✔- when you harm someone because they've harmed
you
- (-) on actor, (-) on recipient
✔✔Indirect Fitness - ✔✔Fitness from the reproduction of close genetic relatives
✔✔Direct Fitness - ✔✔Fitness from personal reproduction
✔✔Direct Fitness + Indirect Fitness = - ✔✔Inclusive Fitness
✔✔Hamilton's Rule - ✔✔Altruistic behaviour is favorable when rB>C
✔✔Hamilton's Rule: r - ✔✔Degree of relatedness between individuals
✔✔Hamilton's Rule: B - ✔✔Reproductive benefit to the recipient
✔✔Hamilton's Rule: C - ✔✔Reproductive cost to the actor
✔✔Cues of Kinship - ✔✔- Mothers association -> distinguish mother by smell
- Co-residence with other children -> altruistic towards close people
, ✔✔Phenotype Matching - ✔✔An evaluation of relatedness between individuals based
on assessment of phenotype similarity. Subjects are more trusting of people when they
look similar to them
✔✔Neuron - ✔✔Communication Cells
✔✔The Receptive Zone - ✔✔- begins with the cell body
- dendrites reach to other neurons & receive signals
- signals go to the cell body, then axon
✔✔The Axon - ✔✔- signal recieved in the receptive zone
- passed down the axon
✔✔Glial Cells - ✔✔- provide structure, support and nourishment
- rest in a bath of ions, chemicals and blood
✔✔The Action Potential - ✔✔1. Sodium channels open
2. Potential difference becomes more positive
3. Potassium ions flow out
4. Voltage gated potassium channels open
5. Sodium channels close
✔✔Sodium Potassium Pump - ✔✔- helps maintain ion balance of neuron and
recovering AP
- moves slowly and utilizes extensive energy
- removes 3 NA ions, replaces with 2 K ions
✔✔Glial Cells: Myelin - ✔✔- allows AP to travel faster
- coat axons in fatty, insulating fluid
✔✔Salatory Conduction - ✔✔- when AP reaches myelin sheath
- signal can travel through long axon fast without losing strength
✔✔Nodes of Ranvier - ✔✔- open regions on the axon
- signal is streghened here
✔✔Sending a Signal - ✔✔- AP's are identical in size/strength/duration
- Messages encoded by frequency
- Strong signal = frequent signals
- Weak signal = fewer signals
✔✔The Synapse - ✔✔The terminal end of neuron A and the receptive zone of neuron B
✔✔The Synapse: Vesicles - ✔✔- contain neurotransmitters
SOLUTIONS RATED A+
✔✔Critical Periods - ✔✔Specific time period where certain experiences are required for
normal development.
Enriched environment --> more connections and neurons
✔✔Brain Growth: Experience-Expectant - ✔✔Our brains have evolved to expect a
certain amount of environmental input. Helps brain develop normally
✔✔Brain Growth: Experience-Dependant - ✔✔Our brains develop according to our own
personal experiences
✔✔Sensitive Periods - ✔✔Brain maintains some capacity for change and growth in
adulthood; our brains develop according to our own personal experiences
✔✔Adaptations - ✔✔Functional traits or characteristics that help an individual survive
and reproduce which evolves through natural selection
✔✔Natural Selection - ✔✔Differential survival and reproduction of organisms as a result
of the heritable differences between them
✔✔3 Essential Components of Natural Selection - ✔✔1. Individual Differences
2. Differential Reproduction
3. Heritability
✔✔Essential Components of Natural Selection: Individual Differences - ✔✔Variation
among individuals for any given characteristic
✔✔Essential Components of Natural Selection: Differential Reproduction -
✔✔Differences cause individual's chances of surviving and reproducing, causing
differential reproduction
✔✔Essential Components of Natural Selection: Heritability - ✔✔Traits have a genetic
basis --> they're heritable
✔✔Stabilizing Selection - ✔✔Keeps traits stable over generations. Selects against any
sort of departure from the species typical adaptive design
✔✔Fitness - ✔✔One's ability to reproduce and leave copies of its genes in the next
generation
✔✔Sexual Selection - ✔✔- Selects behaviours and traits that increase the likelihood of
reproducing
,- Cost-inducing
- Modulation of attraction
- Requires variation of the trait of interest
✔✔Modes of Sexual Selection - ✔✔1. Female Choice
2. Success in Combat
✔✔Signs of Sexually Selected Traits - ✔✔1. Differs between the sexes
2. Specific to breeding season
✔✔Mate Choice Preferences - ✔✔- Best resistance to diseases
- Best genes for being healthy
✔✔Social Behaviours: Cooperation - ✔✔- both actor and recipient increase fitness
- cost to you < benefit to your action
✔✔Social Behaviours: Selfishness - ✔✔- actor receives benefit, recipient incurs cost
- +, -
✔✔Social Behaviours: Altruism - ✔✔- decreases actors well being, increases recipient
- -, +
✔✔Social Behaviours: Spite - ✔✔- when you harm someone because they've harmed
you
- (-) on actor, (-) on recipient
✔✔Indirect Fitness - ✔✔Fitness from the reproduction of close genetic relatives
✔✔Direct Fitness - ✔✔Fitness from personal reproduction
✔✔Direct Fitness + Indirect Fitness = - ✔✔Inclusive Fitness
✔✔Hamilton's Rule - ✔✔Altruistic behaviour is favorable when rB>C
✔✔Hamilton's Rule: r - ✔✔Degree of relatedness between individuals
✔✔Hamilton's Rule: B - ✔✔Reproductive benefit to the recipient
✔✔Hamilton's Rule: C - ✔✔Reproductive cost to the actor
✔✔Cues of Kinship - ✔✔- Mothers association -> distinguish mother by smell
- Co-residence with other children -> altruistic towards close people
, ✔✔Phenotype Matching - ✔✔An evaluation of relatedness between individuals based
on assessment of phenotype similarity. Subjects are more trusting of people when they
look similar to them
✔✔Neuron - ✔✔Communication Cells
✔✔The Receptive Zone - ✔✔- begins with the cell body
- dendrites reach to other neurons & receive signals
- signals go to the cell body, then axon
✔✔The Axon - ✔✔- signal recieved in the receptive zone
- passed down the axon
✔✔Glial Cells - ✔✔- provide structure, support and nourishment
- rest in a bath of ions, chemicals and blood
✔✔The Action Potential - ✔✔1. Sodium channels open
2. Potential difference becomes more positive
3. Potassium ions flow out
4. Voltage gated potassium channels open
5. Sodium channels close
✔✔Sodium Potassium Pump - ✔✔- helps maintain ion balance of neuron and
recovering AP
- moves slowly and utilizes extensive energy
- removes 3 NA ions, replaces with 2 K ions
✔✔Glial Cells: Myelin - ✔✔- allows AP to travel faster
- coat axons in fatty, insulating fluid
✔✔Salatory Conduction - ✔✔- when AP reaches myelin sheath
- signal can travel through long axon fast without losing strength
✔✔Nodes of Ranvier - ✔✔- open regions on the axon
- signal is streghened here
✔✔Sending a Signal - ✔✔- AP's are identical in size/strength/duration
- Messages encoded by frequency
- Strong signal = frequent signals
- Weak signal = fewer signals
✔✔The Synapse - ✔✔The terminal end of neuron A and the receptive zone of neuron B
✔✔The Synapse: Vesicles - ✔✔- contain neurotransmitters
