Deck 9: William Kaye Estes

Question 1

Estes's theory of learning can be considered an extension of theory of learning:

A)Pavlov's
B)Thorndike's
C)Hull's
D)Guthrie's

Answer 1

Guthrie's

Question 2

If 10 stimulus elements are sampled at the beginning of a learning trial and if the trial is terminated by a bar press response, how many of those sampled elements will be attached to the bar press response after the trial?

A)approximately 10
B)10
C)about 5
D)somewhere between 1 and 10

Answer 2

10

Question 3

If one could increase the size of ? (Theta) one would also increase:

A)the rate of learning
B)the number of elements sampled on each trial
C)how rapidly the "state of the system" changes
D)all of the above

Answer 3

all of the above

Question 4

The learning curve generated by Estes's formula is essentially the same as the one generated by formula.

A)Skinner's
B)Thorndike's
C)Hull's
D)Pavlov's

Question 5

According to Estes the amount of generalization from one learning experience to another is determined by:

A)how rapidly the second experience follows the first
B)the number of stimulus elements the two situations have in common
C)how well the subject understands the relationship between these two situations
D)all of the above

Question 6

Estes takes the same position on transfer as did:

A)Thorndike
B)Skinner
C)Pavlov
D)Watson

Question 7

Which of the following represents Estes's explanation of spontaneous recovery?

A)the dissipation of fatigue
B)the subject forgets what happened during extinction
C)some elements that were present during training were not present during extinction and therefore they remained conditioned
D)spontaneous recovery is a "pseudo-phenomenon"

Question 8

It has been found that if an event occurs 60% of the time a subject will eventually predict that it will occur 60% of the time.This phenomenon is referred to as:

A)operant conditioning
B)Markov learning
C)state of the system detection
D)probability matching

Question 9

Estes's research indicates that the typical negatively accelerated learning curve is generated because:

A)learning is incremental
B)learning is insightful
C)the data from subjects in the unlearned state and the data from subjects in the learned state are pooled together
D)habit strength builds up slowly over successive learning trials

Question 10

In Estes's array model, features of a novel event or stimulus are compared with

A)features conditioned in S
B)features in a similar environment
C)their similarity coefficient
D)features in a memory array

Question 11

In Estes's array model, the measure of similarity between two events is

A)the product of their similarity coefficients
B)the sum of their similarity coefficients
C)the ratio of their similarity matrices
D)there is no way to determine the measure of similarity

Question 12

The authors of your text contend that mathematical models of learning have:

A)provided a great deal of new information about the learning process
B)provided little new information about the learning process
C)essentially replaced older notions about learning
D)become obsolete

Question 13

In Estes's stimulus sampling theory, he assumed the learning situation was comprised of a(n):

A)infinite number of stimulus elements
B)small number of stimulus elements
C)large but finite number of stimulus elements
D)conditioned and unconditioned stimulus

Question 14

S is defined by Estes to be:

A)the stimuli sampled by the subject at the beginning of a learning trial
B)all the stimuli attached to a correct response
C)all the stimuli attached to an incorrect response
D)the total number of stimuli that are present during a learning trial

Question 15

A₂ symbolizes:

A)the total number of stimuli that are present during a learning trial
B)a random sample of stimuli experienced by the subject during a learning trial
C)any response the experimenter decides is "correct"
D)a response other than the one in which the experimenter is interested

Question 16

For Estes, which of the following constitutes learning?

A)gaining insight
B)the switching of stimulus elements from A₂ to A₁ responses
C)a gradual increase in the size of Theta
D)all of the above

Question 17

------ is a proportion of stimulus elements from S that the subject experiences at the onset of a learning trial.

A)Theta (?)
B)delta (?)
C)P₁
D)A₁

Question 18

According to Estes the size of ? (Theta):

A)changes from trial to trial
B)remains constant throughout an experiment
C)is large at the beginning of an experiment but becomes smaller as the experiment progresses
D)is small at the beginning of an experiment but becomes larger as the experiment progresses

Question 19

As the number of successive learning trials goes up, rate of learning goes down.This fact generates:

A)a great deal of anxiety among learning theorists
B)a positively accelerated learning curve
C)a negatively accelerated learning curve
D)a bimodal learning curve

Question 20

According to Estes, the laws for acquisition and for extinction are:

A)similar
B)opposite
C)the same
D)nonexistent

Question 21

A(n)-------process is characterized by an abrupt, stepwise change in response probabilities rather than a relatively slow, gradual change from trial to trial.

A)incremental
B)stochastic
C)negatively accelerated
D)Markov

Question 22

The array model was developed to explain

A)language learning
B)classification and categorization
C)probability matching
D)gambling decisions

Question 23

SST assumes ; the array model assumes .

A)cognitive learning; classical conditioning
B)no memory; cognitive memory arrays
C)Markov processes; incremental processes
D)additive relationships; multiplicative relationships

Question 24

What, according to Estes's current analysis, is the role of reinforcement?

A)it strengthens S-R associations
B)it provides information to the organism
C)it strengthens the behavior that produces it
D)it actually has no role