Question 1

What are two areas of the brain in which neurons die off in old age? What memory systems are affected by this neural loss?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What are two areas of the brain...

Question 2

In an emotional memory test,elderly adults remembered:

Accepted Answer

A) more negative than positive images. 
B) more positive than negative images. 
C) more of all kinds of images than young adults did. 
D) the same number of all kinds of images as young adults did.

Question 3

Studies of the effects of sex hormones in adults have shown that:

Accepted Answer

A) testosterone improves rats' ability to find the platform in a water maze. 
B) women tested at points in their menstrual cycle when estrogen is high outperform women tested when their estrogen is low. 
C) recall of words is worse in women than in male-to-female transsexuals undergoing estrogen therapy. 
D) testosterone may promote learning on tasks requiring recall of specific verbal information.

Question 4

A person with ____ would perform best on tests of learning and memory.

Accepted Answer

A) two copies of the Met allele 
B) two copies of the Val allele 
C) one copy of the Met allele 
D) one copy of the Val allele

Question 5

A fetus is sufficiently developed to start perceiving and learning about sounds by about ___ gestational age.

Accepted Answer

A) 1 week 
B) 2 weeks 
C) 10 weeks 
D) 25 weeks

Question 6

Give an example of something a young child should be able to learn or remember as well as a young adult,and something a young child should not be able to learn or remember as well as a young adult.Identify the memory systems involved in each of these memories.

Accepted Answer

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Question 7

Which gene has been implicated in both early-onset Alzheimer's disease and Down syndrome?

Accepted Answer

A) APOE 
B) APP 
C) PS1 
D) PS2

Question 8

What are three reasons that gestures might help accelerate acquisition of verbal language?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What are three reasons that gestures might...

Question 9

Which of the following supports the idea that age-related improvement in working memory capacity at least partially reflects exposure to and familiarity with the material to be remembered?

Accepted Answer

A) Ten-year-old chess experts can remember more pieces than adults who do not play chess,even though the children's digit spans were lower. 
B) Young children can remember only 3-4 digits,whereas teenagers can remember 7 -8 digits. 
C) Performance on working-memory tasks increases throughout adolescence before leveling off. 
D) All of the answers are correct.

Question 10

During apoptosis:

Accepted Answer

A) neurons die as a result of accidents or disease. 
B) neurons with fewer connections to other neurons are more likely to survive. 
C) there is an increase in neurotrophic factors such as BDNF. 
D) about 1/3 of the neurons die.

Question 11

Discuss the various ways in which genes have been shown to influence the ability to learn.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Discuss the various ways in which genes...

Question 12

During adolescence,a person's digit span:

Accepted Answer

A) declines from a higher-than-adult capacity. 
B) has already reached typical adult capacity. 
C) is still only 3 or 4 digits. 
D) increases until it reaches typical adult capacity.

Question 13

Give an example of a sensitive period for learning.

Accepted Answer

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Question 14

What kinds of brain abnormalities are seen in children with Down syndrome? Which of these abnormalities seems to result in memory impairment?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What kinds of brain abnormalities are seen...

Question 15

The technique in which infants are shown an action and tested for their ability to mimic this action later is known as:

Accepted Answer

A) imprinting. 
B) mutation. 
C) neurogenesis. 
D) elicited imitation.

Question 16

Research has demonstrated that humans:

Accepted Answer

A) begin showing habituation to sounds at about two months of age. 
B) show evidence of working memory abilities before they are born. 
C) can demonstrate learning of basic sounds and language before they are born. 
D) do not demonstrate operant conditioning until they are about a year old.

Question 17

Which of the following is a possible reason for the slow maturation of episodic memories in children?

Accepted Answer

A) The hippocampus is immature at birth and takes time to develop. 
B) Very young children do not have a sense of self. 
C) Very young children cannot express their memories verbally. 
D) All of the answers are correct.

Question 18

Which of the following is true regarding gender differences in learning and memory?

Accepted Answer

A) They are almost entirely due to gender stereotypes. 
B) Adult rats show the same kinds of differences as adult humans do. 
C) Infant rats show the same kinds of differences as adult humans do. 
D) Differences emerge much later than the time when sex hormones begin increasing.

Question 19

In children,the dominant process in language learning is _____,while in adults it is _____.

Accepted Answer

A) semantic memory;social imitation 
B) semantic memory;episodic memory 
C) social imitation;semantic memory 
D) social imitation;episodic memory

Question 20

Men would be expected to outperform women when trying to remember:

Accepted Answer

A) a list of words. 
B) landmarks in a new town. 
C) the way to navigate through a maze. 
D) pairs of words.

Exam 12: Development and Aging: Learning and Memory Across the Lifespan