Synopsis of Psychiatry Exam Questions
and Correct Answers Graded A+
Who created a broad theoretical system for the development of cognitive abilities? - Answer: Jean
Piaget
What is epistemology? - Answer: Study of development of abstract thought on the basis of a biological
or innate substrate
According to Piaget, what are the four major stages that lead to the capacity for adult thought and and
what age range does each occur? - Answer: Sensorimotor (birth to 2 years), preoperational thought (2 to
7 years), concrete operations (7 to 11 years), and formal operations (11 through adolescence)
In what stage of Piaget development does the child understand that melted ice in the form of water can
turn back to water (reversibility)? - Answer: Concrete operations
A child believe that bad thoughts cause accidents. What is this called and in what stage of Piaget
development does it occur? - Answer: Phenomenalistic causality; Preoperational thought
What are the critical developmental achievements of the sensorimotor stage? - Answer: Object
permanence and symbolization
A child recognizes that when a ball of clay is rolled into a sausage shape there is still the same amount of
clay. What ability is this child demonstrating and during what stage of Piaget development does this
occur? - Answer: Conservation; Concrete operations
What is the tendency to endow physical events and objects with life-like psychological attributes and in
what Piaget stage of development does this occur? - Answer: Animistic thinking; Preoperational
In the Piaget stage of concrete operations, what is egocentric thought replaced by? - Answer:
Operational thought which involves dealing with a wide array of information outside of the child.
Children can now see things from someone's else perspective
,All horses are mammals, all mammals are warm blooded, therefore all horses are warm blooded...this is
what type of reasoning and during what stage of Piaget development does it occur? - Answer: Syllogistic
reasoning; Concrete operations
Who studied infant attachment and separation and pointed out that mother-child attachment was an
essential medium of human interaction that had important consequences for later development? -
Answer: John Bowlby
Who demonstrated the emotional and behavioral effects of isolating monkeys form birth and keeping
them from forming attachments? - Answer: Harry Harlow
Mary Ainsworth is know for describing what 3 main types of insecure attachment? - Answer: Insecure-
avoident, insecure-ambivalent, and insecure-disorganized
65% of infants are securely attached by what age? - Answer: 25 months
What are the three types of signal indicators in infants? - Answer: Hunger, anger, and pain
What are the three sequences of behavior patterns in children that are operated from their mothers for
long periods of time? - Answer: Protest, despair, and detachment
In Pavlovian conditioning, what are the following called...food, bell, new response to the bell, and the
natural response to the food itself? - Answer: Unconditional stimulus, conditional stimulus, conditional
response, and unconditional response
Who was Pavlovian conditioning developed by? - Answer: Ivan Pavlov
Who was operant conditioning developed by? - Answer: B.F. Skinner
What is Pavlovian conditioning? - Answer: Occurs when neutral stimuli are associated with a
psychologically significant event
,What is operant conditioning? - Answer: Occurs when a behavior (instead of a stimulus) is associated
with a psychologically significant event
What is sign tracking? - Answer: When a CS signals a positive US, the CS will tend to evoke approach
behaviors
What is extinction? - Answer: Learned behavior decreases when the US or reinforcer
A person who gets sick of drinking an alcoholic beverage and consequently learns to hate the flavor is an
example of what type of conditioning? - Answer: Pavlovian conditioning
Give an example of a compensatory response? - Answer: Alcohol causes a drop in body temperature, a
conditioned response to a CS associated with alcohol is typically an increase in body temperature
What is it called when some stimuli are especially effective signals for some USs because evolution has
made them that way? - Answer: Preparedness
How does extinction occur? - Answer: Conditioned response decreases if the CS is presented repeatedly
without the US after conditioning
How does counterconditioning occur? - Answer: CS is paired with a very different US/UR
What is a drug that can be used to improve long-term potentiation and can possibly facilitate extinction
learning in humans undergoing exposure therapy for anxiety disorders and which receptor does it work
on? - Answer: D-cycloserine; N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)
What is a reinforcer? - Answer: Any event that could be shown to increase the strength of an operant if
it was made a consequence of the operant
What is incentive learning and give and example? - Answer: Process of learning about the effects the
reinforcer has on the motivational state; Hunger invigorated the instrumental action only if the animal
had previously experienced the reinforcer in that state
, Figure 2.3-3 - Answer: Page 108-109
What biological changes occur during short-lasting plasticity? - Answer: Increase in neurotransmitter
release
What biological changes occur during long-lasting plasticity? - Answer: New protein synthesis, physical
growth of neural processes, and an increase in the number of synaptic connections
What are the main cortical pathways for visual information starting after the primary visual cortex? -
Answer: Ventrally to the inferotemporal cortex (identification of visual objects) and dorsally to the
parietal cortex (processes information about spatial location)
Alcoholic Korsakoff's syndrome causes amnesia due to destruction in what area of the brain? - Answer:
Diencephalon
Figure 2.4-3 - Answer: Page 114
Amnesia effects what kind of memory? - Answer: Declarative memory
What is declarative memory? - Answer: Conscious recollection of facts and events
What abilities are included in non-declarative learning? - Answer: Skill learning, habit learning, simple
forms of conditioning, and priming
A patient cannot remember word lists and stories (verbal material), which part of the brain is damaged?
- Answer: Medial temporal or diencephalic structures in the left cerebral hemisphere
A patient cannot remember faces, spatial layouts, and other nonverbal material, which part of the brain
is damaged? - Answer: Medial temporal or diencephalic structures in the right cerebral hemisphere
A patient has impaired memory for spoken and written text, which part of the brain is damaged? -
Answer: Left medial temporal lobe
and Correct Answers Graded A+
Who created a broad theoretical system for the development of cognitive abilities? - Answer: Jean
Piaget
What is epistemology? - Answer: Study of development of abstract thought on the basis of a biological
or innate substrate
According to Piaget, what are the four major stages that lead to the capacity for adult thought and and
what age range does each occur? - Answer: Sensorimotor (birth to 2 years), preoperational thought (2 to
7 years), concrete operations (7 to 11 years), and formal operations (11 through adolescence)
In what stage of Piaget development does the child understand that melted ice in the form of water can
turn back to water (reversibility)? - Answer: Concrete operations
A child believe that bad thoughts cause accidents. What is this called and in what stage of Piaget
development does it occur? - Answer: Phenomenalistic causality; Preoperational thought
What are the critical developmental achievements of the sensorimotor stage? - Answer: Object
permanence and symbolization
A child recognizes that when a ball of clay is rolled into a sausage shape there is still the same amount of
clay. What ability is this child demonstrating and during what stage of Piaget development does this
occur? - Answer: Conservation; Concrete operations
What is the tendency to endow physical events and objects with life-like psychological attributes and in
what Piaget stage of development does this occur? - Answer: Animistic thinking; Preoperational
In the Piaget stage of concrete operations, what is egocentric thought replaced by? - Answer:
Operational thought which involves dealing with a wide array of information outside of the child.
Children can now see things from someone's else perspective
,All horses are mammals, all mammals are warm blooded, therefore all horses are warm blooded...this is
what type of reasoning and during what stage of Piaget development does it occur? - Answer: Syllogistic
reasoning; Concrete operations
Who studied infant attachment and separation and pointed out that mother-child attachment was an
essential medium of human interaction that had important consequences for later development? -
Answer: John Bowlby
Who demonstrated the emotional and behavioral effects of isolating monkeys form birth and keeping
them from forming attachments? - Answer: Harry Harlow
Mary Ainsworth is know for describing what 3 main types of insecure attachment? - Answer: Insecure-
avoident, insecure-ambivalent, and insecure-disorganized
65% of infants are securely attached by what age? - Answer: 25 months
What are the three types of signal indicators in infants? - Answer: Hunger, anger, and pain
What are the three sequences of behavior patterns in children that are operated from their mothers for
long periods of time? - Answer: Protest, despair, and detachment
In Pavlovian conditioning, what are the following called...food, bell, new response to the bell, and the
natural response to the food itself? - Answer: Unconditional stimulus, conditional stimulus, conditional
response, and unconditional response
Who was Pavlovian conditioning developed by? - Answer: Ivan Pavlov
Who was operant conditioning developed by? - Answer: B.F. Skinner
What is Pavlovian conditioning? - Answer: Occurs when neutral stimuli are associated with a
psychologically significant event
,What is operant conditioning? - Answer: Occurs when a behavior (instead of a stimulus) is associated
with a psychologically significant event
What is sign tracking? - Answer: When a CS signals a positive US, the CS will tend to evoke approach
behaviors
What is extinction? - Answer: Learned behavior decreases when the US or reinforcer
A person who gets sick of drinking an alcoholic beverage and consequently learns to hate the flavor is an
example of what type of conditioning? - Answer: Pavlovian conditioning
Give an example of a compensatory response? - Answer: Alcohol causes a drop in body temperature, a
conditioned response to a CS associated with alcohol is typically an increase in body temperature
What is it called when some stimuli are especially effective signals for some USs because evolution has
made them that way? - Answer: Preparedness
How does extinction occur? - Answer: Conditioned response decreases if the CS is presented repeatedly
without the US after conditioning
How does counterconditioning occur? - Answer: CS is paired with a very different US/UR
What is a drug that can be used to improve long-term potentiation and can possibly facilitate extinction
learning in humans undergoing exposure therapy for anxiety disorders and which receptor does it work
on? - Answer: D-cycloserine; N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)
What is a reinforcer? - Answer: Any event that could be shown to increase the strength of an operant if
it was made a consequence of the operant
What is incentive learning and give and example? - Answer: Process of learning about the effects the
reinforcer has on the motivational state; Hunger invigorated the instrumental action only if the animal
had previously experienced the reinforcer in that state
, Figure 2.3-3 - Answer: Page 108-109
What biological changes occur during short-lasting plasticity? - Answer: Increase in neurotransmitter
release
What biological changes occur during long-lasting plasticity? - Answer: New protein synthesis, physical
growth of neural processes, and an increase in the number of synaptic connections
What are the main cortical pathways for visual information starting after the primary visual cortex? -
Answer: Ventrally to the inferotemporal cortex (identification of visual objects) and dorsally to the
parietal cortex (processes information about spatial location)
Alcoholic Korsakoff's syndrome causes amnesia due to destruction in what area of the brain? - Answer:
Diencephalon
Figure 2.4-3 - Answer: Page 114
Amnesia effects what kind of memory? - Answer: Declarative memory
What is declarative memory? - Answer: Conscious recollection of facts and events
What abilities are included in non-declarative learning? - Answer: Skill learning, habit learning, simple
forms of conditioning, and priming
A patient cannot remember word lists and stories (verbal material), which part of the brain is damaged?
- Answer: Medial temporal or diencephalic structures in the left cerebral hemisphere
A patient cannot remember faces, spatial layouts, and other nonverbal material, which part of the brain
is damaged? - Answer: Medial temporal or diencephalic structures in the right cerebral hemisphere
A patient has impaired memory for spoken and written text, which part of the brain is damaged? -
Answer: Left medial temporal lobe
