Deck 12: The Limits of Learning

Question 1

While walking in the woods, Larry happens to stumble across a nest of turkey eggs just as they are hatching.Larry watches the chicks as they emerge from their eggs and begin walking about.As he leaves the nest area, Larry finds the young birds are determined to go with him.Larry's new friends are victims of .

A)instinctive drift
B)imprinting
C)the nonhereditability of learning
D)low intelligence

Answer 1

B

Question 2

John has difficulty training a raccoon to pick up coins and put them in a bank.It is most likely that .

A)the raccoon lacks the intelligence to learn this task
B)the raccoon was contraprepared to learn this task
C)this task had to be learned during a critical period
D)raccoons lack the ability for insightful problem solving

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Armadillos curl up into a ball when attacked.Reginald teaches an armadillo to curl up into a ball when a buzzer sounds.Reginald is making use of the phenomenon known as .

A)intelligence
B)critical periods
C)overadaptability
D)preparedness

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Learning is of vital importance because so many problems that face society involve .

A)behavior
B)heredity
C)criminal impulses
D)unconscious motivation

Question 5

The person whose name is associated with the inheritance of acquired characteristics is .

A)Lamarck
B)Galton
C)Bannister
D)Copernicus

Question 6

Joseph Wolpe has raised doubts about the idea that people are prepared to acquire certain phobias.

Question 7

The psychologist who mistakenly believed that learned behavior could be inherited was .

A)McArthur
B)McConnell
C)McDougall
D)McEdwards

Question 8

Harry and Martha Frank found that on barrier problems dogs did not perform as well as .

A)wolves
B)coyotes
C)foxes
D)otters

Question 9

Learning does not always mean progress.

Question 10

Efforts to teach chimpanzees to talk probably failed because .

A)the researchers did not use the proper reinforcement procedures
B)chimps have their own language which they would not give up
C)the researchers did not begin instruction when the chimps were very young
D)chimps lack the biological structures for speech

Question 11

Allen and Beatrice Gardner taught a chimpanzee to .

A)use sign language
B)speak
C)read and write
D)communicate with geometric forms

Question 12

Keller and Marion Breland are known for their article, .

A)Prepared to Learn
B)The Misbehavior of Organisms
C)Learning at an Early Age
D)Animal Farm

Question 13

Louise goes to an outdoor rock concert at which she tries pizza for the first time, and listens to a new rock group.During the course of the concert she becomes nauseated.You predict that she will become nauseated the next time she .

A)attends an outdoor rock concert
B)hears the same rock group perform
C)eats pizza
D)eats dinner while listening to music

Question 14

Substances that damage the nervous system are called .

A)trace elements
B)neurotoxins
C)CNS inhibitors
D)cortical blockers

Question 15

Frances puts a hungry rat into an experimental chamber.Whenever the rat presses a lever, food falls into a tray.In about 30 minutes, the rat is pressing the lever steadily.Frances returns the rat to the training cage for one hour a day every day until the rat produces young.Frances then trains one of this rat's offspring in the same manner as its mother and repeats this procedure for generation after generation.You predict that when the twelfth generation rat is put into the training cage, it will press the lever steadily in about .

A)7 minutes
B)10 minutes
C)20 minutes
D)30 minutes

Question 16

An animal that can learn to perform one trick is sure to learn another trick of similar complexity.

Question 17

Sign tracking is also called .

A)sign monitoring
B)autotracking
C)autoshaping
D)autotrack

Question 18

In their study of conditioning, Garcia and Koelling paired water with radiation.They found that the rats later avoided .

A)water with a distinct odor
B)water with a distinct taste
C)water that was bright and noisy
D)any kind of water

Question 19

Skinner's efforts to teach pigeons to play ping pong demonstrate that the inability to learn a skill may sometimes be overcome by .

A)making allowances for physical limitations
B)breaking the task into small parts
C)lots of patient training
D)surgical procedures

Question 20

Robert Tryon's work demonstrates the role of heredity in .

A)maze learning
B)preparedness
C)critical periods
D)contingency traps

Question 21

was one of the first to study imprinting.

Question 22

Robert Tryon demonstrated that heredity plays a role in maze learning in rats.

Question 23

How might preparedness to learn be nonadaptive?

Question 24

Design an experiment that would determine whether there are genetic differences in the learning abilities of men and women.

Question 25

The tendency to revert to a fixed (or modal) action pattern is called instinctive drift.

Question 26

Suppose learning were passed on from generation to generation.How would your relationship with your parents be different?

Question 27

Does learning inevitably mean progress? Why or why not?