Deck 7: Learning

Question 1

Which of the following is NOT likely to be the result of learning?

A) Your pet bird repeats your words and phrases.
B) A dog opens the cupboard door to get into the dog food.
C) A man drives a new route when road construction blocks his route.
D) A baby can reach the table after growing tall enough.

Answer 1

A baby can reach the table after growing tall enough.

Question 2

Sarah is trying to study, but the loud noise from her neighbor's party distracts her. However, after some time, Sarah finds that she can concentrate on her work, even though the noise is as loud as it ever was. What process has likely occurred?

A) sensitization
B) habituation
C) classical conditioning
D) instrumental conditioning

Answer 2

habituation

Question 3

__________ occurs when one fails to respond to stimuli that have become familiar due to repeated exposure.

A) Acclimation
B) Assimilation
C) Response control
D) Habituation

Answer 3

Habituation

Question 4

Which of the following philosophers would NOT be considered an empiricist?

A) Rene Descartes
B) George Berkeley
C) John Locke
D) All the above are empiricists.

Question 5

Who is credited with the discovery of classical conditioning?

A) John B. Watson
B) Ivan Pavlov
C) B. F. Skinner
D) Edward L. Thorndike

Question 6

Which of the following may occur as you learn?

A) The axons on your neurons grow longer and stronger.
B) The dendrites on your neurons grow more sensitive.
C) The dendrites on your neurons form new connections.
D) All of the above.

Question 7

Which of the following would be an accurate reflection of a learning theorist's viewpoint regarding learning?

A) All learning depends on essentially the same mechanism; thus general conclusions may be made about learning across organisms.
B) Each kind of animal learns in its own unique way; thus general conclusions cannot be made about learning across organisms.
C) Some animals learn in similar ways, thus general conclusions can only be made for particular groups or kinds of animals.
D) Learning depends on highly similar mechanisms for nonhuman animals, and thus conclusions from animal studies can be applied to animals, but not humans.

Question 8

Unconditioned responses by definition occur __________.

A) independent of any learning
B) only in lower organisms
C) only in conditions of deprivation
D) only in response to secondary reinforcers

Question 9

An infant presented with the same visual stimulus over and over again will eventually lose interest in it, not responding with the same degree of curiosity as he did initially. This gradual drop-off in responding has been called __________.

A) the learning curve
B) the law of effect
C) habituation
D) stimulus generalization

Question 10

A(n) __________ is elicited by a stimulus regardless of an animal's history of experiences.

A) unconditioned response
B) unconditioned stimulus
C) conditioned reflex
D) conditioned response

Question 11

More than anything else, when the early empiricist philosophers sought to offer an account of learning, they focused on __________.

A) associations
B) the creation of belief systems
C) how learning leads to the creation of new skills
D) the creation of elaborate belief systems

Question 12

What is an object or event called that elicits a response without prior learning?

A) an unconditioned response
B) a conditioned response
C) an unconditioned stimulus
D) a conditioned stimulus

Question 13

How would an empiricist explain how you learned that dogs are both mammals and animals, that is, both animals belong in many categories?

A) You formed multiple synaptic connections to each neural circuit.
B) This more complex learning was the result of more associations that were built layer upon layer.
C) Your maturing brain allowed these connections to be formed.
D) You formed cognitive maps that linked these concepts together.

Question 14

Learning often includes changes in behavior or the development of new skills. But it can also involve __________.

A) the acquisition of new knowledge without clear implications for behavior
B) simple associations ("She finally realized, where there's smoke, there's fire")
C) the creation of elaborate belief systems
D) all of the above answers are correct

Question 15

A(n) __________ response is elicited by a US.

A) conditioned
B) learned
C) secondary
D) unconditioned

Question 16

Which of the following is the best example of one of the simplest forms of learning, called habituation?

A) You see something you've never seen before and immediately orient toward it.
B) After watching a lot of violent TV, the violence depicted bothers you less and less.
C) You work near a stove, accidentally touch a hot burner, and then make the connection: Stoves are hot.
D) If you are involved in a well-rehearsed task, such as washing the dishes, you go through the same steps each time you perform the task.

Question 17

What is the adaptive significance of habituation?

A) It greatly intensifies the effects of sensitization.
B) It allows organisms to ignore familiar but harmless stimuli.
C) It paves the way for associative conditioning.
D) It keeps neurons active when they might otherwise degenerate.

Question 18

Professor James was hoping to get a lot of work done on the train. Unfortunately, he was seated next to a bunch of rambunctious children. At first he found it difficult to concentrate, but gradually he was able to ignore the noise completely. In terms of learning terminology, what type of process has occurred?

A) sensitization
B) habituation
C) extinction
D) shaping

Question 19

Rosetta sets her alarm clock to "medium loud" at the start of the semester. The first few times it rings, she hears it and jumps out of bed immediately. By the second week of classes, Rosetta sleeps right through the alarm until she resets it to "really loud." What is this an example of?

A) shaping
B) successive approximations
C) secondary reinforcement
D) habituation

Question 20

An obvious benefit of habituation is that __________.

A) it narrows the range of stimuli that elicit alarm
B) it guarantees that we will respond to novel inputs
C) it leads to enduring brain changes in the hippocampus
D) both a and b

Question 21

Injection of an animal with amphetamine leads to heart rate acceleration. With repeated injections, however, the injection procedure alone (i.e., when an inert substance is injected) can elicit heart rate acceleration. In this situation, which of the following is true?

A) The injection procedure is the CS.
B) Heart rate acceleration is both the UR and the CR.
C) Amphetamine is the US.
D) All of the above answers are correct.

Question 22

The presentation of an air puff to the eye leads reflexively to closure of the eyelid. What is the air puff an example of?

A) a conditioned response
B) an unconditioned response
C) a conditioned stimulus
D) an unconditioned stimulus

Question 23

What is the procedure wherein the CR becomes weaker because the US has been omitted?

A) conditioning
B) reconditioning
C) generalization
D) extinction

Question 24

Benny, an unfortunate family dog, has been brought up in an abusive environment; his owners routinely beat him with a broomstick. Now, Benny cries and whimpers anytime he sees a broom. In terms of classical conditioning, what is the broom in this example?

A) an unconditioned stimulus
B) a conditioned stimulus
C) a punisher
D) a negative reinforcer

Question 25

The basic procedure that produces classical conditioning is that a __________ is followed, after a very brief interval, by a __________.

A) desired response; reinforcement
B) US; UCR
C) CS; CR
D) CS; US

Question 26

A puff of air against an open eye causes the eye to blink reflexively. In this instance, the puff of air is an example of a(n) __________.

A) conditioned stimulus
B) unconditioned stimulus
C) reinforcer
D) neutral stimulus

Question 27

Which of the following is the best example of classical conditioning?

A) Bob buys a lottery ticket each time he gets his car inspected because four years ago he won $100 on a ticket he bought immediately after a car inspection.
B) Sam underwent a painful dental procedure, and now his palms sweat when he sees the door to his dentist's office.
C) Sally's dog brings her the newspaper and gets a pat on the head in return.
D) Ted drops his economics course after failing the first exam.

Question 28

When a dog salivates at meat, the salivation is __________.

A) a conditioned response
B) an unconditioned response
C) a conditioned stimulus
D) an unconditioned stimulus

Question 29

The first few times you met Laura, your future girlfriend, for coffee, Bob Dylan was playing in the background. Later, whenever you happened to hear a Dylan song, it gave you a mysterious feeling of joy. In this case Bob Dylan's music has become __________.

A) a conditioned stimulus
B) a conditioned response
C) an unconditioned stimulus
D) a reinforcer

Question 30

What would one call salivation as a reaction to lemon juice in the mouth?

A) a conditioned response
B) an unconditioned response
C) a conditioned stimulus
D) an unconditioned stimulus

Question 31

Once a CS-US relationship is established, the original CS can serve to condition another neutral stimulus that then acts as a new CS. What is this process called?

A) stimulus generalization
B) experimental extinction
C) second-order conditioning
D) reconditioning

Question 32

While driving down the highway, Jane sees a roadside sign advertising cheeseburgers. Jane begins to salivate. In terms of classical conditioning, the sign displaying the cheeseburgers would be the __________.

A) CS
B) US
C) reward
D) primary reinforcer

Question 33

Which of the following will usually result in experimental extinction?

A) repeated presentations of the CS without the US
B) repeated presentations of the US without the CS
C) severing the US-UR link
D) both a and b will result in extinction

Question 34

Which is the best example of a conditioned response?

A) A gun-shy dog cowers when he sees a shotgun.
B) A child flinches when a balloon bursts a foot away from her face.
C) A snail withdraws into its shell when someone pokes a stick at it.
D) A dog perks up its ears and turns toward the source of an unexpected sound.

Question 35

Testosterone levels rise in male rats if they smell a nearby female rat that is in heat. In a proposed experiment, one male rat was allowed to mate only with females who wore oil of wintergreen "perfume." After several such exposures, the male's testosterone levels rose whenever he smelled oil of wintergreen. What serves as the CS in this example?

A) the opportunity to mate
B) the male rat's testosterone level
C) the natural smell of the female
D) the smell of oil of wintergreen

Question 36

Which observation was most directly responsible for redirecting Pavlov's research from the study of digestive reflexes to investigations of conditioning?

A) the finding that salivary secretions could be collected by implantation of a fistula
B) the finding that in adult dogs persistent saliva secretions accompany eating
C) the finding that the secretion of saliva was elicited, via a reflex mechanism, by food in the mouth
D) the finding that stimuli that were initially neutral could eventually elicit digestive reflexes

Question 37

In a classical conditioning experiment, the magnitude of the response to the __________ varies with the number of CS-US pairings.

A) CS
B) US
C) orienting reflex
D) reinforcer

Question 38

An infant has become bored with the visual presentation of a pink square. Then, when researchers make the square spin counterclockwise, the infant's interest perks up again. What is this kind of change in responsiveness called?

A) positive reinforcement
B) dishabituation
C) a conditioned response
D) a conditioned stimulus

Question 39

The pupil of the eye automatically constricts when a bright light is directed at the eye. What does this illustrate?

A) a conditioned stimulus
B) habituation
C) a conditioned response
D) an unconditioned response

Question 40

A tap to the leg just below the knee leads to the knee-jerk response. This response can be elicited even in newborns. What is the knee jerk following a tap on the leg an example of?

A) an unconditioned response
B) a conditioned response
C) an unconditioned stimulus
D) a conditioned stimulus

Question 41

Which of the following is the best example of extinction?

A) After repeated presentations of the sound of a bell, a dog ceases to turn his head toward it.
B) A rat stops pressing a bar when food is no longer presented after a lever press.
C) Over a period of time, a man requires larger doses of drug Z to obtain the same effect.
D) As a result of brain damage, a woman enters a coma.

Question 42

When the relationship between a conditioned stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus is severed, the conditioned response diminishes. What is this known as?

A) extinction
B) generalization
C) reconditioning
D) punishment

Question 43

How is fear conditioning accomplished?

A) by pairing an aversive CS with a neutral US
B) by pairing a neutral CS with an aversive US
C) by pairing an aversive CS with a neutral CR
D) by pairing a neutral CS with an aversive CR

Question 44

After a conditioned response is extinguished, an animal is given 24 hours of rest. What will the animal do if, the next day, it is presented with the CS?

A) It will not respond to the original CS.
B) It will resume responding to the original CS.
C) It will appear to be confused and frustrated, alternating between responding and not responding to the original CS.
D) It will respond first to the original CS, and, if no US is presented, it will respond indiscriminately to any and all stimuli presented.

Question 45

What occurs when an organism responds to one specific CS but not to other similar stimuli?

A) assimilation
B) generalization
C) extinction
D) discrimination

Question 46

Conditioning works best when __________.

A) the conditioned stimulus precedes the unconditioned stimulus by half a second or so
B) the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus are presented simultaneously
C) the unconditioned stimulus is presented before the conditioned stimulus (this is referred to as the "backward procedure")
D) none of the above answers is correct

Question 47

Which word or phrase best captures the meaning of the term contingency?

A) comes after
B) supports
C) precedes
D) depends upon

Question 48

Based on what you know about contingencies, what does the CS predict in classical conditioning?

A) the CR
B) the US
C) the UR
D) extinction

Question 49

When does the most effective conditioning occur?

A) when the CS follows the US by about 0.5 seconds
B) when the CS precedes the US by about 0.5 seconds
C) when the CS and US occur simultaneously
D) when the CS and US occur on a variable ratio schedule

Question 50

What do we know about the speed of relearning as compared with the original speed of learning?

A) It begins faster, then slows to a stop.
B) It is slower.
C) It is faster.
D) It begins slower, then grows substantially faster.

Question 51

Little Jimmy has met his grandmother only once, but that experience was very positive. In fact, the experience was so wonderful that every time he sees an older-looking woman, he runs over to her with a big smile and his arms outstretched. Which conditioning phenomenon does Jimmy demonstrate?

A) shaping
B) stimulus generalization
C) second-order conditioning
D) reconditioning

Question 52

Surprise appears to play an important role in classical conditioning. In terms of surprise, which of the following is most important if effective conditioning is to occur?

A) the extent to which the US is surprising
B) the extent to which the UR is surprising
C) the extent to which the CR is reflexive
D) the extent to which the UR provides redundant information

Question 53

A phenomenon called the blocking effect demonstrates the key role played by __________ in conditioning.

A) intelligence
B) genetics
C) desire
D) surprise

Question 54

How is a conditioned emotional response (CER) acquired?

A) through dishabituation
B) through classical conditioning
C) through avoidance learning
D) through latent learning

Question 55

What is indicated by the fact that conditioning is most effective when the US immediately follows the CS?

A) Classical conditioning involves learning that the CS is a predictive signal for the occurrence of the US.
B) Classical conditioning will not produce an association between the CS and US in early training.
C) Classical conditioning depends on the salience of the CS US pairing.
D) Extinction is a major factor that weakens conditioned responses.

Question 56

Research on which of the following best shows the importance of surprise in classical conditioning?

A) spontaneous recovery
B) intermittent reinforcement
C) blocking
D) latent learning

Question 57

Tom has a strong phobia of motorcycles after nearly being killed by riding his Harley-Davidson too fast. When Tom hears or sees a motorcycle, he starts to sweat, his heart races, and he trembles. To what phenomenon can Tom's phobia best be attributed?

A) classical conditioning
B) sensitization
C) successive approximation
D) latent learning

Question 58

What is true of backward conditioning?

A) The CS fails to serve as a signal for the onset of the US.
B) The CR is presented shortly after the UR.
C) There is a fairly high ratio of unreinforced trials.
D) The CR differs from the UR.

Question 59

When does stimulus generalization occur?

A) When an organism responds to a range of stimuli that are similar to the original CS
B) When an organism produces several slightly different responses to the same CS
C) When an organism responds only to a particular CS
D) When an organism responds to second-order conditioning

Question 60

What occurs in a backward conditioning situation?

A) The US is presented after the CS.
B) The US is presented before the CS.
C) The US is presented with the CS.
D) The US is presented without the CS.

Question 61

George failed to pay his Visa bill, and as a result he receives frequent phone calls from a bill collector. George comes to associate the sound of a ringing telephone with a feeling of dread. After he pays his Visa bill, the threatening telephone calls stop, and George no longer reacts with dread to the sound of a ringing telephone. What does this exemplify?

A) extinction
B) second-order conditioning
C) reconditioning
D) discrimination

Question 62

What learned contingency is most important in classical conditioning?

A) if CS, then US and if not CS, then not US
B) if CS, then CR and if not CS, then not CR
C) if US, then UR and if not US, then not UR
D) if US, then CS and if not US, then not CS

Question 63

If an animal undergoes an extinction procedure, then is left alone for a rest interval, what often occurs when the CS (conditioned stimulus) is again presented (after the rest period)?

A) Nothing-the animal fails to recognize it as meaningful.
B) The animal orients but does not respond.
C) The animal responds even more strongly than it did initially.
D) The CS will usually elicit the CR (conditioned response) again.

Question 64

Which is an important factor in how strongly a CS will elicit the CR?

A) the number of CS-US pairings
B) the number of times the US has elicited the CR
C) the intensity of the CR
D) the intensity of the CS

Question 65

In the context of discrimination learning, what is a CS^-?

A) a stimulus that is presented only before an aversive US
B) a stimulus that is presented only before an appetitive CS
C) a stimulus that briefly precedes the US
D) a stimulus that precedes negative reinforcement

Question 66

In order to condition a response to a neutral stimulus (say, the sound of a bell), the best approach is to present the unconditioned stimulus (say, meat powder) __________.

A) just before the neutral stimulus
B) several seconds before the neutral stimulus
C) just after the neutral stimulus
D) several minutes after the neutral stimulus

Question 67

A human research participant is touched on the shoulder immediately before he receives an electric shock. This pairing occurs over many trials. Subsequent tests show that he will give a more vigorous galvanic skin response when touched on the shoulder, less vigorous when touched on the lower back, still less vigorous when touched on the thigh, and least when touched on the calf. The results are plotted with the galvanic skin response on the y-axis and the parts of the body on the x-axis. What is the resulting curve called?

A) an acquisition curve
B) an excitation gradient
C) a spread of inhibition curve
D) a generalization gradient

Question 68

__________ can be viewed as being the opposite of discrimination learning.

A) Spontaneous conditioning
B) Backward conditioning
C) Stimulus generalization
D) Second-order conditioning

Question 69

In determining whether two events are contiguous, what must one consider?

A) the number of times the two events have co-occurred
B) the number of times the two events have not co-occurred
C) how closely paired in time the two events are
D) both a and b

Question 70

In determining whether two events are contingent, what must one consider?

A) the number of times the two events have co-occurred
B) the number of times the two events have not co-occurred
C) how closely paired in time the two events are
D) both a and b

Question 71

What phenomenon is a rat most likely to exhibit when he is initially rewarded for lever pressing in one operant box, but then is moved to a new, but highly similar, operant box?

A) generalization behavior
B) intrinsic motivation
C) insight learning
D) behavioral contrast

Question 72

According to learning theories, what may be one crucial difference between fear and anxiety?

A) Fear can't be learned; it is innate.
B) Anxiety partly results from an absence of safety signals.
C) Fear is harder to extinguish than is anxiety.
D) Fear generally lacks an object.

Question 73

To what does the term stimulus generalization refer?

A) The term refers to the fact that the conditioned response can be elicited by a stimulus that resembles the original CS used during acquisition.
B) The term refers to the fact that, in general, any stimulus can be used as a CS in any classical conditioning situation.
C) The term refers to the fact that, after extinction of a conditioned response, presentation of the CS on the next day will still lead to some conditioned responding.
D) The term refers to the fact that the reason classical conditioning works is because the UR generalizes to the CS.

Question 74

Which of the following phenomena demonstrates conclusively that an extinguished CR is not forgotten?

A) the presence of higher-order conditioning
B) reconditioning
C) spontaneous recovery
D) both b and c

Question 75

A male rat was repeatedly exposed to female rats in heat that were sprayed with the scent of wintergreen. He was also repeatedly exposed to female rats who were not in heat and who were sprayed with the scent of oil of cloves. When tested later, the male rat's testosterone levels rose whenever he smelled oil of wintergreen but not when he smelled oil of cloves. What did the male rat exhibit?

A) extinction
B) generalization
C) discrimination
D) shaping

Question 76

An animal hears 100 tones and experiences 100 shocks. Shock follows the tone closely in time on two trials only. According to a contingency view, what does the animal most likely learn?

A) nothing, since tone is both paired and not paired with shock
B) a weak tone-shock relationship
C) a contrast effect, because shock was expected but not delivered on many trials
D) that tone is a safety signal predicting that shock is unlikely to occur

Question 77

A dog is conditioned so that it secretes 10 drops of saliva to a 1,000 hertz tone. Knowing what you do about the phenomenon of generalization, hypothetically, how many drops of saliva should you expect if you then present the dog with a tone of 750 hertz and 500 hertz respectively?

A) about 7 drops; about 7 drops
B) about 3 drops; about 7 drops
C) about 7 drops; about 3 drops
D) about 2 drops; about 3 drops

Question 78

Of the options listed here, what is the most important thing that animals learn in classical conditioning?

A) the contingency between the CS and the US
B) the motivational significance of the US
C) the degree of contiguity between stimuli and particular responses
D) the predictive power of the US

Question 79

Biff had always thought of himself as a great student until Professor Merlin began failing him on every paper. Gradually, the sight of Professor Merlin caused Biff to suffer anxiety. Soon, even when he saw the professor's car, Biff got anxious. What is Biff's anxious response to Professor Merlin's car an example of?

A) stimulus generalization
B) second-order conditioning
C) discriminative learning
D) shaping

Question 80

What is true of the relationship between the CS and the US in the typical classical conditioning experiment performed by Pavlov?

A) The CS and the US are contiguous only.
B) The CS and the US are contingent only.
C) The CS and the US are both contiguous and contingent.
D) The CS and the US are neither contiguous nor contingent.