Question 1

Suppose you want your goldfish to swim to the top of the tank only when you shine a red light, and no other color, into the water.Assuming the fish can see most colors, to condition the fish you should

Accepted Answer

A) train it only with the red light. 
B) use red, blue, and yellow lights, and only reward the fish for swimming to the surface when the red light is used. 
C) use red, orange, and purple lights, and only reward the fish for swimming to the surface when the red light is used. 
D) withhold training until the testing phase.

Question 2

The configural-cue approach asserts that the overshadowing effect is due to

Accepted Answer

A) the type of instrumental response required. 
B) the ease with which one of the stimuli can be conditioned. 
C) the type of reinforcer delivered. 
D) the generalization decrement from training to test trials.

Question 3

Describe the phenomenon of overshadowing and describe how it may be explained by elemental and configural approaches to stimulus control.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Describe the phenomenon of overshadowing and describe...

Question 4

When pigeons are trained to earn access to food in the presence of a combined light/tone stimulus, the  is most likely to control the instrumental behavior.

Accepted Answer

A) light 
B) tone 
C) combined light/tone stimulus 
D) Stimulus control is likely to vary widely across individuals.

Question 5

After eating a foot-long spicy chili dog at the homecoming game, your friend becomes violently ill.Now he cannot stand to eat chili, but still loves hot dogs.His ability to eat hot dogs was likely spared because of

Accepted Answer

A) discrimination training. 
B) stimulus generalization. 
C) overshadowing. 
D) contextual conditioning.

Question 6

In driving school, you are reinforced for driving into an intersection when the light is green, but not reinforced when the light is red.This is an example of

Accepted Answer

A) a stimulus discrimination procedure. 
B) a stimulus generalization procedure. 
C) the peak-shift phenomenon. 
D) the configural-cue approach.

Question 7

Describe the role of contextual cues in the control of a common human behavior.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Describe the role of contextual cues in...

Question 8

The extent to which an organism learns about a stimulus depends on how easily other stimuli in the environment can become conditioned.This phenomenon is called

Accepted Answer

A) stimulus generalization. 
B) discrimination. 
C) sensitization. 
D) overshadowing.

Question 9

You are attempting to train your dog to sit.Every time you say the word sit and raise your hand, a friend pushes the dog into a sitting position.After a week of training, your dog sits when you speak the command, but still does nothing when you raise your hand.There may be a problem with in this training.

Accepted Answer

A) generalization 
B) overshadowing 
C) discrimination 
D) context

Question 10

Describe two changes that take place at the level of the synapse in long-term potentiation.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Describe two changes that take place at...

Question 11

Which of the following is not true of a modulator?

Accepted Answer

A) A modulator signals a CS-US relationship. 
B) When a modulator is presented alone, the facilitory properties gradually extinguish. 
C) A stimulus can be a modulator without itself eliciting visible conditioned responding. 
D) The effects of a modulator can transfer to new target CSs.

Question 12

A pigeon is trained to peck in the presence of a 500 nm wavelength light and is not reinforced for pecking in the presence of a 510 nm wavelength light.After training, most performance will be demonstrated in response to a

Accepted Answer

A) 400 nm light. 
B) 490 nm light. 
C) 500 nm light. 
D) 505 nm light.

Question 13

According to Spence's theory of discrimination learning, discrimination training results in

Accepted Answer

A) only the development of an excitatory generalization gradient around the S+. 
B) the development of an excitatory generalization gradient around the S+, but an inhibitory generalization gradient around the S-. 
C) the development of an excitatory generalization gradient around both the S+ and S-. 
D) only the development of an excitatory generalization gradient around the S-.

Question 14

When the S+ and S- differ only in terms of one stimulus feature, the training procedure is called

Accepted Answer

A) intradimensional discrimination. 
B) interdimensional discrimination. 
C) extradimensional discrimination. 
D) hypodimensional discrimination.

Question 15

Which of the following pairs of stimuli is least likely to result in a peak-shift effect?

Accepted Answer

A) S+ = red light: S- = yellow light 
B) S+ = 900 Hz tone: S- = 990 Hz tone 
C) S+ = 90 degree line: S- = 45 degree line 
D) S+ = red square: S- = blue triangle

Question 16

A flat stimulus generalization gradient indicates that subjects are

Accepted Answer

A) not responding to conditioning. 
B) responding similarly to several stimuli. 
C) responding mostly but not exclusively to the test stimulus. 
D) responding only to the test stimulus.

Question 17

Context is an important determinant of learned behavior performance

Accepted Answer

A) only when the contingency requires the subject to attend to the context. 
B) when the context is more than background cues. 
C) only when the context serves as a discriminative stimulus. 
D) even when it is truly background.

Question 18

If a researcher is interested in determining with rat subjects whether the effects of alcohol are similar to the effect of opiates, she could use a procedure employing

Accepted Answer

A) discrimination training using interoceptive cues. 
B) discrimination training using transfer cues. 
C) salience training using drug cues. 
D) salience training using non-drug cues.

Question 19

Which of the following stimuli could be used in an intradimensional discrimination procedure?

Accepted Answer

A) S+ = bright red light: S- = no light 
B) S+ = bright red light: S- = bright yellow light 
C) S+ = bright red light: S- = tone 
D) S+ = bright red light: S- = white key light with black bar

Question 20

Which of the following is not true of Spence's theory as applied to the peak shift phenomenon?

Accepted Answer

A) It is an absolute stimulus learning model basing behavior on the net excitatory properties of individual stimuli. 
B) It assumes that organisms learn to respond to a stimulus based on the relation of that stimulus to other cues ᵖʳᵉˢᵉⁿᵗ. 
C) It predicts the peak shift phenomenon will only occur when the excitatory and inhibitory generalization gradients overlap. 
D) The excitatory and inhibitory stimulus generalization gradients do not depend on one another.

Exam 8: Stimulus Control of Behavior