PSYC 205 Test Bank
1. All but which one of the following research findings provides evidence for early detection of
biological motion in chicks:
a) newly-hatched chicks look at depictions of hen faces more than non- face stimuli
b) newly-hatched chicks look at point-light depictions of hens more than randomly moving
point-light stimuli
c) newly-hatched chicks look at point-light depictions of cats more than randomly moving
point-light stimuli
d) newly-hatched chicks look at randomly moving point-lights more than point-light depictions of
hens - ANS-a
\1. As detailed in the textbook, circumstances in which individuals may start to learn from others'
behavior include all of the following except
a) If one's established behavior becomes unproductive, individuals should switch to copy the
behavior of others.
b) If the environment is rapidly changing, individuals should engage in social learning.
c) Individuals should engage in social learning when the costs of asocial learning are high.
d) Social learning should occur more when the potential demonstrators share the same
environment as the potential learner. - ANS-b
\1. Categorization
a) requires knowing the abstract set of rules that define the category.
b) is the process of classifying items or events into groups based on one or more common
features.
c) is the process of distinguishing items of events based on one or more distinct features.
d) all of the above are true. - ANS-b
\1. Hamilton's mathematical formulation for inclusive fitness takes into account
a) Only direct fitness
b) Only one's own offspring
c) Indirect and direct fitness
d) Reproductive fitness and reproductive success - ANS-c
\1. Handling is
a) the time it takes to transport food back to a home base.
b) the energy it takes to transport food back to a home base.
c) the time and energy it takes to extract the food from its source.
d) the time and energy it takes to find the food. - ANS-c
\1. In a study cited in the opening of Chapter 4, carrion crows approached and explored mussel
shells, which they initially ignored, after serendipitously and repeatedly finding small pieces of
beef under the shells. Identify the US, UR, CS, and CR in this example.
a) Shells, ignoring of shells, shells with beef underneath, exploration of shells.
b) Beef, ignoring of shells, shells, and increased exploration of shells.
c) Beef, exploration of shells, shells, increased exploration of shells.
,d) Shells with beef underneath, exploration of shells, shells, increased exploration of shells. -
ANS-c
\1. The term that characterizes a communication system in which an unpalatable species has
coloration, odors, or warning sounds that signal their danger to potential predators is
a) Batesian mimicry
b) Aposematism
c) Audience effect
d) Kinesis - ANS-b
\1. Which of the following best defines memory?
a) Memory is the mental processes of acquiring new information and modifying existing
representation.
b) Memory is the mental processes of acquiring and retaining information for later retrieval.
c) Memory is the stored representation of past experiences.
d) Memory is the stored representation of incoming information. - ANS-b
\1. Which of the following best describes the hallmarks of comparative cognition?
a) Examining the cognitive processes of animals and comparing them to those of other animals.
b) Examining cognitive processes using experimental procedures.
c) Examining cognitive processes using experimental procedures and interpreting the findings
within an evolutionary framework.
d) Examining cognition from an evolutionary framework. - ANS-c
\1. Which of the following is false about sex differences in spatial memory in humans?
a) Males rely more on directional cues while females rely more on positional cues.
b) There is a large overlap in the distribution of scores for each sex.
c) Any one man will have a better spatial memory than any one woman.
d)All of the above are true. - ANS-c
\1. Which of the following is false about visual adaptations?
a) Animals that inhabit environments with different patterns of light absorption have evolved
different visual sensitivities.
b) Some guppies are more sensitive to red light while others are more sensitive to blue light.
c) Nocturnal animals have a much higher proportion of cones than rods.
d) Animals that have very good binocular vision have a much smaller field of view. - ANS-c
\10. From the chapter on social competence, what cognitive mechanism(s) might underlie the
ability to recognize dominance structures?
a) formation of equivalence classes
b) a memory system that allows for chunking
c) a memory system that allows for reciprocity and ordinality
d) formationofequivalenceclassesandamemorysystemthatallows
for chunking - ANS-d
\10. Hippocampal size
a) increased in taxi driver trainees who took 'The Knowlege' test but not in age-matched
controls.
b) is larger in food caching birds than in non-caching birds.
c) is larger in migratory birds than in non-migratory birds.
d) has been found to be correlated with performance on spatial memory
,tasks, so all of the above are true. - ANS-b
\10. In one experiment, rats were presented with a tone, followed by a shock. After they were
conditioned to freeze to the tone in the absence of the shock, they were presented with a
compound stimulus consisting of a tone and a light, followed by a shock. A control group of rats
were also presented with this compound stimulus and the shock. At test, only the rats in the
control group showed conditioning to the light alone. What does this finding illustrate?
a) Latent inhibition.
b) Blocking.
c) Overshadowing.
d) Disinhibition. - ANS-b
\10. Schneider showed that lesions of the visual cortex rendered golden hamsters unable to
discriminate between visual stimuli, but did not impair the ability to turn towards a food reward.
How can this be?
a) The hamsters could smell the food.
b) The visual system that identifies the 'where' of stimuli was intact in these hamsters.
c) The hamsters' lateral geniculate nucleus showed compensatory plasticity.
d) Lesions of the visual cortex do not impair a hamsters' ability to attend to relevant stimuli. -
ANS-b
\10. What evidence from the readings suggests that the amount of generalization to novel
stimuli can be altered through experience?
a) After being trained to respond to red lights, lights with more similar wave lengths cause more
responding than those with less similar wavelengths.
b) After being trained to respond in the presence of a 1000 hz tone and white light, pigeons will
not respond to anything above or below a 1000 hz tone.
c) After being trained to respond when a 1000 hz tone is present, but not when it is absent,
pigeons show sharper generalization gradients than if they were trained with the 1000 hz tone
present through training.
d) After being trained to respond on three different keys, pigeons show steeper generalization
gradients than those trained to respond on two different keys. - ANS-c
\10. Which of the following does not characterize Nim Chimpsky's use of American Sign
Language?
a) He responded correctly to instructions to perform novel actions (e.g., "Put the ball in the
refrigerator").
b) Many of his strings of signs consisted of repeated words.
c) His average 'utterance' length remained small relative to that of
developing children.
d) Many of Nim's signs were repetitions of signs that the trainer had just
made. - ANS-a
\10. Which of the following is false regarding the physiological basis of memory?
a) More neurotransmitter is released each time an organism encounters the same stimulus.
b) Neurons that fire together, wire together.
c) Sensory neurons release less glutamate over habituation trials.
d) Long-term potentiation (LTP) is a plausible neurobiological substrate
of memory. - ANS-a
, \10. Which of the following is true?
a) The evolution of cognitive processes can be difficult to establish due to common exaptation.
b) The evolution of cognitive processes can be difficult to establish due to common adaptation.
c) The adaptive value of cognitive processes can be difficult to establish due to random effects.
d) The adaptive value of cognitive processes can be difficult to establish due to by-products. -
ANS-b
\10. Which of the following statements is most accurate?
a) Some examples of animal 'teaching' appear to fit the current operational definition of
teaching.
b) It is commonly accepted that the current operational definition of 'teaching' captures the key
components of human teaching.
c) Meerkat 'teaching behavior' includes information regarding how to kill prey.
d) Comparative cognition research indicates that 'teaching' is not a key component to the
cumulative culture of human populations. - ANS-a
\11. Although often described as a revolution, the increase in research into cognition can be
seen as gradual due to
a) continuing research from the 1900s-1950s on higher mental processes.
b) behaviorism's continued dominance in psychology in the latter half of the 20th century.
c) the strict adherence to Morgan's canon by a select group of researchers.
d) the difficulty of discovering evidence for higher processing in animals. - ANS-a
\11. Blue jays were better at detecting one type of moth over another if it appeared in successive
trials. What does this finding suggest?
a) Blue jays were using selective attention.
b) Blue jays were using sustained attention.
c) Blue jays were forming search images.
d) a and c. - ANS-d
\11. In a choice experiment, pigeons are trained to peck a key for a food reward on different
schedules of reinforcement. Pecking key A delivers reinforcement on a VR 24 schedules and
key B delivers reinforcement on a VR 8 schedule of reinforcement. How would the animals
allocate their responses over a 5-min period?
a) They should respond exclusively on key B.
b) They should respond initially on key A but then respond equally on both keys as that would
maximize the rate of reinforcement.
c) They should respond exclusively on key A.
d) They should make three times as many responses on key B as on key
A. - ANS-a
\11. Thorndike's 'law of effect' refers to
a) a short-hand for the second law of thermodynamics.
b) a change in behavior based on its consequence.
c) an unconditioned stimulus that is always followed by an unconditioned response.
d) learning that will always result in consolidation. - ANS-b
\11. Which of the following would be a good way to assess the structure of natural categories?
a) Compare the time to respond (reaction time) to items that are and are not part of the natural
category.
1. All but which one of the following research findings provides evidence for early detection of
biological motion in chicks:
a) newly-hatched chicks look at depictions of hen faces more than non- face stimuli
b) newly-hatched chicks look at point-light depictions of hens more than randomly moving
point-light stimuli
c) newly-hatched chicks look at point-light depictions of cats more than randomly moving
point-light stimuli
d) newly-hatched chicks look at randomly moving point-lights more than point-light depictions of
hens - ANS-a
\1. As detailed in the textbook, circumstances in which individuals may start to learn from others'
behavior include all of the following except
a) If one's established behavior becomes unproductive, individuals should switch to copy the
behavior of others.
b) If the environment is rapidly changing, individuals should engage in social learning.
c) Individuals should engage in social learning when the costs of asocial learning are high.
d) Social learning should occur more when the potential demonstrators share the same
environment as the potential learner. - ANS-b
\1. Categorization
a) requires knowing the abstract set of rules that define the category.
b) is the process of classifying items or events into groups based on one or more common
features.
c) is the process of distinguishing items of events based on one or more distinct features.
d) all of the above are true. - ANS-b
\1. Hamilton's mathematical formulation for inclusive fitness takes into account
a) Only direct fitness
b) Only one's own offspring
c) Indirect and direct fitness
d) Reproductive fitness and reproductive success - ANS-c
\1. Handling is
a) the time it takes to transport food back to a home base.
b) the energy it takes to transport food back to a home base.
c) the time and energy it takes to extract the food from its source.
d) the time and energy it takes to find the food. - ANS-c
\1. In a study cited in the opening of Chapter 4, carrion crows approached and explored mussel
shells, which they initially ignored, after serendipitously and repeatedly finding small pieces of
beef under the shells. Identify the US, UR, CS, and CR in this example.
a) Shells, ignoring of shells, shells with beef underneath, exploration of shells.
b) Beef, ignoring of shells, shells, and increased exploration of shells.
c) Beef, exploration of shells, shells, increased exploration of shells.
,d) Shells with beef underneath, exploration of shells, shells, increased exploration of shells. -
ANS-c
\1. The term that characterizes a communication system in which an unpalatable species has
coloration, odors, or warning sounds that signal their danger to potential predators is
a) Batesian mimicry
b) Aposematism
c) Audience effect
d) Kinesis - ANS-b
\1. Which of the following best defines memory?
a) Memory is the mental processes of acquiring new information and modifying existing
representation.
b) Memory is the mental processes of acquiring and retaining information for later retrieval.
c) Memory is the stored representation of past experiences.
d) Memory is the stored representation of incoming information. - ANS-b
\1. Which of the following best describes the hallmarks of comparative cognition?
a) Examining the cognitive processes of animals and comparing them to those of other animals.
b) Examining cognitive processes using experimental procedures.
c) Examining cognitive processes using experimental procedures and interpreting the findings
within an evolutionary framework.
d) Examining cognition from an evolutionary framework. - ANS-c
\1. Which of the following is false about sex differences in spatial memory in humans?
a) Males rely more on directional cues while females rely more on positional cues.
b) There is a large overlap in the distribution of scores for each sex.
c) Any one man will have a better spatial memory than any one woman.
d)All of the above are true. - ANS-c
\1. Which of the following is false about visual adaptations?
a) Animals that inhabit environments with different patterns of light absorption have evolved
different visual sensitivities.
b) Some guppies are more sensitive to red light while others are more sensitive to blue light.
c) Nocturnal animals have a much higher proportion of cones than rods.
d) Animals that have very good binocular vision have a much smaller field of view. - ANS-c
\10. From the chapter on social competence, what cognitive mechanism(s) might underlie the
ability to recognize dominance structures?
a) formation of equivalence classes
b) a memory system that allows for chunking
c) a memory system that allows for reciprocity and ordinality
d) formationofequivalenceclassesandamemorysystemthatallows
for chunking - ANS-d
\10. Hippocampal size
a) increased in taxi driver trainees who took 'The Knowlege' test but not in age-matched
controls.
b) is larger in food caching birds than in non-caching birds.
c) is larger in migratory birds than in non-migratory birds.
d) has been found to be correlated with performance on spatial memory
,tasks, so all of the above are true. - ANS-b
\10. In one experiment, rats were presented with a tone, followed by a shock. After they were
conditioned to freeze to the tone in the absence of the shock, they were presented with a
compound stimulus consisting of a tone and a light, followed by a shock. A control group of rats
were also presented with this compound stimulus and the shock. At test, only the rats in the
control group showed conditioning to the light alone. What does this finding illustrate?
a) Latent inhibition.
b) Blocking.
c) Overshadowing.
d) Disinhibition. - ANS-b
\10. Schneider showed that lesions of the visual cortex rendered golden hamsters unable to
discriminate between visual stimuli, but did not impair the ability to turn towards a food reward.
How can this be?
a) The hamsters could smell the food.
b) The visual system that identifies the 'where' of stimuli was intact in these hamsters.
c) The hamsters' lateral geniculate nucleus showed compensatory plasticity.
d) Lesions of the visual cortex do not impair a hamsters' ability to attend to relevant stimuli. -
ANS-b
\10. What evidence from the readings suggests that the amount of generalization to novel
stimuli can be altered through experience?
a) After being trained to respond to red lights, lights with more similar wave lengths cause more
responding than those with less similar wavelengths.
b) After being trained to respond in the presence of a 1000 hz tone and white light, pigeons will
not respond to anything above or below a 1000 hz tone.
c) After being trained to respond when a 1000 hz tone is present, but not when it is absent,
pigeons show sharper generalization gradients than if they were trained with the 1000 hz tone
present through training.
d) After being trained to respond on three different keys, pigeons show steeper generalization
gradients than those trained to respond on two different keys. - ANS-c
\10. Which of the following does not characterize Nim Chimpsky's use of American Sign
Language?
a) He responded correctly to instructions to perform novel actions (e.g., "Put the ball in the
refrigerator").
b) Many of his strings of signs consisted of repeated words.
c) His average 'utterance' length remained small relative to that of
developing children.
d) Many of Nim's signs were repetitions of signs that the trainer had just
made. - ANS-a
\10. Which of the following is false regarding the physiological basis of memory?
a) More neurotransmitter is released each time an organism encounters the same stimulus.
b) Neurons that fire together, wire together.
c) Sensory neurons release less glutamate over habituation trials.
d) Long-term potentiation (LTP) is a plausible neurobiological substrate
of memory. - ANS-a
, \10. Which of the following is true?
a) The evolution of cognitive processes can be difficult to establish due to common exaptation.
b) The evolution of cognitive processes can be difficult to establish due to common adaptation.
c) The adaptive value of cognitive processes can be difficult to establish due to random effects.
d) The adaptive value of cognitive processes can be difficult to establish due to by-products. -
ANS-b
\10. Which of the following statements is most accurate?
a) Some examples of animal 'teaching' appear to fit the current operational definition of
teaching.
b) It is commonly accepted that the current operational definition of 'teaching' captures the key
components of human teaching.
c) Meerkat 'teaching behavior' includes information regarding how to kill prey.
d) Comparative cognition research indicates that 'teaching' is not a key component to the
cumulative culture of human populations. - ANS-a
\11. Although often described as a revolution, the increase in research into cognition can be
seen as gradual due to
a) continuing research from the 1900s-1950s on higher mental processes.
b) behaviorism's continued dominance in psychology in the latter half of the 20th century.
c) the strict adherence to Morgan's canon by a select group of researchers.
d) the difficulty of discovering evidence for higher processing in animals. - ANS-a
\11. Blue jays were better at detecting one type of moth over another if it appeared in successive
trials. What does this finding suggest?
a) Blue jays were using selective attention.
b) Blue jays were using sustained attention.
c) Blue jays were forming search images.
d) a and c. - ANS-d
\11. In a choice experiment, pigeons are trained to peck a key for a food reward on different
schedules of reinforcement. Pecking key A delivers reinforcement on a VR 24 schedules and
key B delivers reinforcement on a VR 8 schedule of reinforcement. How would the animals
allocate their responses over a 5-min period?
a) They should respond exclusively on key B.
b) They should respond initially on key A but then respond equally on both keys as that would
maximize the rate of reinforcement.
c) They should respond exclusively on key A.
d) They should make three times as many responses on key B as on key
A. - ANS-a
\11. Thorndike's 'law of effect' refers to
a) a short-hand for the second law of thermodynamics.
b) a change in behavior based on its consequence.
c) an unconditioned stimulus that is always followed by an unconditioned response.
d) learning that will always result in consolidation. - ANS-b
\11. Which of the following would be a good way to assess the structure of natural categories?
a) Compare the time to respond (reaction time) to items that are and are not part of the natural
category.
