PSYCH 2050 EXAM QUESTIONS AND
VERIFIED ANSWERS
Higher and lower level cognition - ANSWER Lower is closer to the input from our senses,
high is further away, creates abstract cognition
Habituation - ANSWER A "Getting used to it" response
What does habituation teach us? - ANSWER Not every stimulus is significant and worthy
of our attention
Free energy Principle - ANSWER - Global theory about how the brain works
- Particular behaviours match particular outcomes
- Biological systems must maintain their states and minimise surprise
3 stages of classical conditioning - ANSWER Habituation (CS)
Acquisition (CS+US)
Extinction (CS)
2 factors influencing the acquisition curve - ANSWER 1. Intensity of the US
2. Order and timing
Delay short conditioning vs delay long conditioning - ANSWER Longer exposure to the
CS alone
Trace conditioning - ANSWER A gap between presentation of CS and US
simultaneous conditioning - ANSWER CS and US are presented at the same time
Backward Conditioning - ANSWER US is presented before CS
Temporal conditioning - ANSWER the US is presented as set time intervals, thus time is
the CS
Two types of pavlovian conditioning - ANSWER Excitatory (CS predicts US)
Inhibitory (CS predicts absence of US)
Retardation test - ANSWER 1. Inhibitory conditioning
2. I + US and N+US
Summation test - ANSWER 1. Inhibitory conditioning
,2. Present the excitatory with the inhibitor
How to tell retardation and summation tests apart? - ANSWER Summation tests has the
N presented alone
What is Blocking? - ANSWER Kamin 1969
- When the CS is presented alongside an UCS and still presents the same result (light +
bell = zap, light still = zap)
What is super conditioning? - ANSWER - When the UCS predicts the absence of the CS
(bell = zap, light + bell = no zap)
- Faster learning
Rescorla-Wagner Model - ANSWER The strength of the CS-US association is determined
by the extent to which the unconditioned stimulus is unexpected
What is the Garcia effect? - ANSWER Equipotentiality does not hold
The Law of Effect - ANSWER Tendency to perform an act is increased if rewarded,
weakened if not
What is shaping - ANSWER Guiding behavior toward closer and closer approximations
of the desired behavior
What is Baiting? - ANSWER Using a reinforcer to train a behaviour until it can be
performed without it
What is mimicking? - ANSWER Repeating behaviours
What is chaining? - ANSWER Learning a behaviour in small pieces, often helps to start
with he last behaviour
What is bridging? - ANSWER Using a quick reinforcer to signal the arrival of an eventual
reward
Schedules of reinforcement - ANSWER - Continuous - every time
- Partial - only some
- Ratio vs interval (instances vs time of behaviour)
- Fixed ratio - every nth
- Variable ratio (strongest) - on average every nth
- Fixed interval - first behaviour after N seconds
Variable interval - On average first behaviour after n seconds
, How to punish effectively - ANSWER - NO escape
- As intense as possible
- As continuous as possible
- No delay
Reward variables - ANSWER Drive, Size, Delay
The three-term contingency - ANSWER 1. The discriminative stimulus - sets the
occasion
2. The operant response - the behaviour
3. The outcome - the consequence
Tolman's theory - ANSWER A response did not have to be performed nor a consequence
experienced for operant conditioning to occur
Drive Reduction Theory - ANSWER Hull & Spence (1940)
- If homeostasis is disrupted, it is a negative reinforcer and major cause of learning
Premack's principle - ANSWER A high probability behaviour can reinforce a low
probability behaviour
Avoidance vs escape - ANSWER Prevent the occurrence of vs terminate an aversive
consequence
Learned helplessness - ANSWER Yoked experiment - Ps began to behave as if their
behaviour had no effect on what happens to them
What are some side effects of learned helplessness? - ANSWER - Depression
VERIFIED ANSWERS
Higher and lower level cognition - ANSWER Lower is closer to the input from our senses,
high is further away, creates abstract cognition
Habituation - ANSWER A "Getting used to it" response
What does habituation teach us? - ANSWER Not every stimulus is significant and worthy
of our attention
Free energy Principle - ANSWER - Global theory about how the brain works
- Particular behaviours match particular outcomes
- Biological systems must maintain their states and minimise surprise
3 stages of classical conditioning - ANSWER Habituation (CS)
Acquisition (CS+US)
Extinction (CS)
2 factors influencing the acquisition curve - ANSWER 1. Intensity of the US
2. Order and timing
Delay short conditioning vs delay long conditioning - ANSWER Longer exposure to the
CS alone
Trace conditioning - ANSWER A gap between presentation of CS and US
simultaneous conditioning - ANSWER CS and US are presented at the same time
Backward Conditioning - ANSWER US is presented before CS
Temporal conditioning - ANSWER the US is presented as set time intervals, thus time is
the CS
Two types of pavlovian conditioning - ANSWER Excitatory (CS predicts US)
Inhibitory (CS predicts absence of US)
Retardation test - ANSWER 1. Inhibitory conditioning
2. I + US and N+US
Summation test - ANSWER 1. Inhibitory conditioning
,2. Present the excitatory with the inhibitor
How to tell retardation and summation tests apart? - ANSWER Summation tests has the
N presented alone
What is Blocking? - ANSWER Kamin 1969
- When the CS is presented alongside an UCS and still presents the same result (light +
bell = zap, light still = zap)
What is super conditioning? - ANSWER - When the UCS predicts the absence of the CS
(bell = zap, light + bell = no zap)
- Faster learning
Rescorla-Wagner Model - ANSWER The strength of the CS-US association is determined
by the extent to which the unconditioned stimulus is unexpected
What is the Garcia effect? - ANSWER Equipotentiality does not hold
The Law of Effect - ANSWER Tendency to perform an act is increased if rewarded,
weakened if not
What is shaping - ANSWER Guiding behavior toward closer and closer approximations
of the desired behavior
What is Baiting? - ANSWER Using a reinforcer to train a behaviour until it can be
performed without it
What is mimicking? - ANSWER Repeating behaviours
What is chaining? - ANSWER Learning a behaviour in small pieces, often helps to start
with he last behaviour
What is bridging? - ANSWER Using a quick reinforcer to signal the arrival of an eventual
reward
Schedules of reinforcement - ANSWER - Continuous - every time
- Partial - only some
- Ratio vs interval (instances vs time of behaviour)
- Fixed ratio - every nth
- Variable ratio (strongest) - on average every nth
- Fixed interval - first behaviour after N seconds
Variable interval - On average first behaviour after n seconds
, How to punish effectively - ANSWER - NO escape
- As intense as possible
- As continuous as possible
- No delay
Reward variables - ANSWER Drive, Size, Delay
The three-term contingency - ANSWER 1. The discriminative stimulus - sets the
occasion
2. The operant response - the behaviour
3. The outcome - the consequence
Tolman's theory - ANSWER A response did not have to be performed nor a consequence
experienced for operant conditioning to occur
Drive Reduction Theory - ANSWER Hull & Spence (1940)
- If homeostasis is disrupted, it is a negative reinforcer and major cause of learning
Premack's principle - ANSWER A high probability behaviour can reinforce a low
probability behaviour
Avoidance vs escape - ANSWER Prevent the occurrence of vs terminate an aversive
consequence
Learned helplessness - ANSWER Yoked experiment - Ps began to behave as if their
behaviour had no effect on what happens to them
What are some side effects of learned helplessness? - ANSWER - Depression
