Deck 2: Habituation and Other Forms of Simple Stimulus Learning

Question 1

A decrease in responding to a stimulus is referred to as:

A) sensitization
B) priming
C) habituation
D) none of the above

Answer 1

habituation

Question 2

An increase in responding to a stimulus is referred to as:

A) sensitization
B) priming
C) habituation
D) none of the above

Answer 2

sensitization

Question 3

Which of the following is best illustrating of priming?

A) failing to notice a sign on a commonly-travelled highway
B) paying more attention in class when a teacher announces that "this material will be on your exam."
C) being able to drive a car and eat a sandwich at the same time
D) buying a specific box of cereal as a result of seeing a commercial for the product several days earlier

Answer 3

buying a specific box of cereal as a result of seeing a commercial for the product several days earlier

Question 4

An orienting response can be said to be similar to:

A) sensitization and habituation
B) priming and sensitization
C) habituation and priming
D) habituation alone

Question 5

Orienting responses:

A) depend upon stimulus intensity
B) can occur to familiar stimuli
C) can occur to novel stimuli
D) all of the above

Question 6

Habituation can be taken as evidence of learning when:

A) a subject responds more to a stimulus as trials increase
B) a subject responds less to a stimulus as trials increase
C) a subject fails to respond at all during an entire training episode
D) none of the above

Question 7

Habituation can be measured by:

A) observing whole-body startle reactions to loud tones
B) measuring the amount of blood flowing into one's brain
C) measuring changes in the electrical conductivity of the skin
D) all of the above

Question 8

The novelty recognition task is particularly useful for testing the degree of_______ that develops in an organism during the course of exposure to a stimulus.

A)imaginal flooding
B) perceptual learning
C) orienting
D) learned safety

Question 9

Williams is attempting to study habituation by varying the number of repetitions required to obtain habituation to a visual stimulus. This procedure is most directly studying which parametric feature of habituation?

A) spontaneous recovery
B) generalization
C) frequency
D) spacing

Question 10

James has been studying habituation in lab rats for the past six months. As part of his design, each week of habituation training is followed by a week where no training occurs. Over time, James has been finding that his rats habituate to the experimental stimuli faster than the previous week of habituation training. This result is evidence of which parametric feature of habituation?

A) savings
B) dishabituation
C) frequency
D) spacing

Question 11

Which of the following is most likely to result in suppressed responding during a habituation experiment?

A) spaced presentations
B) massed presentations
C) savings
D) generalization

Question 12

Which of the following is most likely to result in durable habituation?

A) spaced presentations
B) massed presentations
C) savings
D) dishabituation

Question 13

After habituating his animals to a visual stimulus, Dr. Stillman presents a novel tone to his subjects. Following the presentation of the tone, the animals are again shown the initial visual stimulus, but they no longer habituate to this event. What has occurred?

A) generalization
B) sensory adaptation
C) savings
D) dishabituation

Question 14

After habituating his animals to a dark-blue circle, Dr. Stillman presents a light-blue circle to his subjects and finds that they continue to habituate to this novel item. What has occurred?

A) generalization
B) sensory adaptation
C) savings
D) dishabituation

Question 15

Effector fatigue occurs when:

A) sensory receptors lose their ability to detect changes in the environment
B) one's response system is depleted
C) a subject exhibits an orienting response to a stimulus
D) none of the above

Question 16

Neurons directly involved in the reflex arc have been labeled:

A) Type S
B) Type R
C) Type H
D) Type A

Question 17

Neurons directly involved in the reflex arc have been labeled_________, and are closely related to the process of _________.

A) Type S; sensitization
B)Type S; habituation
C) Type H; sensitization
D) Type H; habituation

Question 18

Neurons that play a major role in the general level of arousal of the nervous system have been labeled:

A) Type S
B) Type R
C) Type H
D) Type A

Question 19

"Habituation can occur as a result of visual receptors losing their sensitivity to detect changes in one's visual environment." This idea is consistent with which explanation of habituation?

A) effector fatigue
B) sensitization
C) sensory adaptation
D) none of the above

Question 20

Woods is conducting basic research on the different types of sensory neurons that carry input to spinal neurons. Her research on these neurons will most likely lead to an increased understanding of the biological nature of:

A) habituation
B) sensitization
C) orienting responses
D) response generalization

Question 21

In describing the nature of the relationship between habituation and sensitization, Dual-Process theory argues that:

A) habituation plays a more dominant role in learning than sensitization
B) habituation may be a more dominant process in some learning situations, but sensitization may be more dominant in others
C) sensitization plays a more dominant role in learning than habituation
D) habituation and sensitization are always equally balanced in any learning environment.

Question 22

The Memory-Comparator theory is an example of what type of approach to habituation?

A) behavioral
B) non-learning
C) cognitive
D) physiological

Question 23

As a result of his past experiences with police, whenever Pat hears a police siren, he expects that he will soon be arrested. This type of a reaction arises from which model of habituation?

A) behavioral
B) non-learning
C) cognitive
D) physiological

Question 24

Aplysia have been used to study the physiological properties of learning because:

A) they only have one neuron, which makes it easy to see and study
B) they only have a few neurons, which are relatively large in size
C) they have the same number of neurons as humans, so generalizations can be made from Aplysia to humans
D) none of the above

Question 25

An Aplysia's siphon, when stimulated by touch, withdraws into its body. Such withdrawal, in and of itself, is illustrative of:

A) habituation
B) sensitization
C) effector fatigue
D) response generalization

Question 26

Studying the interaction between neurons in Aplysia has led to the conclusion that habituation occurs:

A) within sensory neurons
B) within motor neurons
C) at synapses between neurons
D) within neuronal receptors

Question 27

From a cognitive perspective, habituation occurs when:

A) a memory of an event is first being established
B) one does not have a memory for an event
C) sensory and motor neurons interact with one another
D) a memory of an event has been acquired

Question 28

From a cognitive perspective, sensitization occurs when:

A) a memory of an event is first being established
B) one's long-term memory is activated
C) sensory and motor neurons interact with one another
D) a memory of an event has been acquired

Question 29

The Memory-Comparator theory argues that habituation can occur:

A) only at the level of short-term memory
B) only at the level of long -term memory
C) at the level of either short- or long-term memory
D) none of the above

Question 30

Samantha is attempting to measure permanent habituation in her rats. The memories that will have to be retrieved in order for Samantha to have any useful data will have to come from her subjects':

A) short-term memory
B) long-term memory
C) sensory memory
D) iconic memory

Question 31

According to Sokolov's Memory-Comparator theory, a response similar to sensitization will occur if:

A) a memory comparator does not find an already-stored representation of a stimulus that one is presented with
B) a memory comparator does find an already-stored representation of a stimulus that one is presented with
C) Type H neurons are activated
D) Type S neurons are activated

Question 32

Gibson & Walk's classic perceptual learning experiment found that:

A) infants exposed to English phonemes demonstrate language skills earlier than Hindi infants
B) preexposure to stimuli inhibits later learning
C) the more one knows about a learning environment, the less one can learn in the future
D) preexposure to stimuli facilitates later learning

Question 33

A teacher is helping a young student understand what the color 'green' looks like. Research on perceptual learning suggests that the best way of accomplishing this would be to:

A) only show the student different objects that are 'green'
B) show the student some objects that are 'green' and some that are 'blue'
C) show the student different objects that are a mixture of 'green' and 'blue'
D) all of the above

Question 34

After seeing a commercial, for a specific type of new car, 20 times in a single day, Mary decides that that car is the best car on the market, and she will buy it when she gets paid next month. Which of the following processes is at work here?

A) neophobia
B) subliminal learning
C) habituation
D) the mere exposure effect

Question 35

The mere exposure effect is contingent upon which of the following occurring?

A) rewards
B) problems
C) decision-making
D) none of the above

Question 36

Which of the following questions would most likely elicit an unconscious, mere-exposure based reaction?

A) Were you presented with this stimulus during the experiment?
B) Are you afraid of this stimulus?
C) How much do you like this stimulus?
D) How many times have you been exposed to this stimulus?

Question 37

Smith feels that his 10th-grade students will do much better in their calculus class that they will be taking next year if they do well in their math class this year, which provides the mathematical basics for calculus. Mr. Smith seems to be an advocate of:

A) perceptual fluency
B) perceptual learning
C) the mere exposure effect
D) neophobia

Question 38

Having a fear of new stimuli is referred to as:

A) mere-exposure phobia
B) neophobia
C) habituphobia
D) none of the above

Question 39

Upon returning home from middle school each day, Billy has a peanut butter sandwich for a snack. After 8 days of this, he finds that he no longer enjoys the sandwich, but he wants to enjoy it as he did when he first started eating this daily treat. Research on habituation shows that Billy should avoid eating peanut butter sandwiches for__________days in order to have the strongest chance of getting his enjoyment back to its initial level.

A) 1
B) 2
C) 4
D) 8

Question 40

Continued, safe exposure to an object usually results in neophobia:

A) increasing
B) decreasing
C) remaining the same
D) increasing at first, then decreasing

Question 41

The learned safety hypothesis deals with what occurs as a result of a(n):

A) increase in neophobia
B) decrease in the mere exposure effect
C) decrease in neophobia
D) increase in sensitization

Question 42

Kunst-Wilson and Zajonc showed that:

A) the mere exposure effect could occur in the absence of conscious memory
B) the mere exposure effect was contingent upon conscious recall of stimuli
C) the mere exposure effect only occurs for consciously recalled stimuli
D) none of the above

Question 43

Priming occurs when:

A) one presentation of a stimulus facilitates the processing of a closely-following repetition of the same stimulus
B) several presentations of a stimulus facilitate the processing of a closely-following repetition of the same stimulus
C) one presentation of a stimulus facilitates the positive affect directed towards a closely-following repetition of the same stimulus
D) several presentations of a stimulus facilitate the positive affect directed towards a closely-following repetition of the same stimulus

Question 44

Which of the following scenarios would most likely lead to potentiated startle?

A) hearing a fire alarm activate when one is in a deep sleep
B) hearing a balloon burst while one is studying in a quiet library
C) hearing a building explode while one is exchanging gunfire with an enemy during a military battle
D) hunting deer in a nature preserve

Question 45

The use of stimuli exposures has been used to treat:

A) depression
B) phobias
C) rapists
D) all of the above

Question 46

Research has shown that exposure therapy will only work if the patient is exposed to their feared stimulus in a controlled, non-threatening manner.

Question 47

Which of the following methods are not forms of exposure therapy?

A) implosion
B) virtual reality
C) emotional flooding
D) all of the above
E) none of the above