The final exam will have 40 multiple choice questions, each worth 1 point. Students will complete four (4) out of the eight (8) short-written questions, each worth 5 points. Finally, students will complete two (2) of the four (4) longer-written questions, worth 10 points each. This makes the exam out of a total of 80 points.

Multiple-choice:

1. In statistical jargon, a significant difference between two groups is one that

A. is fairly large
B. probably did not occur by chance
C. both A and B
D. neither A nor B

2. Aristotle's rules of association included all of the following except

A. contiguity
B. recency
C. similarity
D. contrast

3. Which of the following statements is NOT an accurate summary of the findings from research on habituation in mammals?

A. Short-term and long-term habituation may involve different brain pathways
B. Cells in the auditory cortex may "habituate" to tones of specific pitches
C. The startle response habituates if a loud noise is presented repeatedly
D. Habituation is most evident in the later (motor) portion of the startle response pathway

4. The Rescorla-Wagner model predicts that in a series of trials with a single, novel CS, the increase in associative strength per trial

A. will be the same on every trial
B. will be greatest on the first few trials
C. will be greatest on the last few trials
D. will be greatest in the middle of training

5. The procedure of shaping usually involves

A. positive reinforcement
B. conditioned reinforcement
C. variability in behaviour
D. all of the above

6. A stop-and-go pattern of responding is most typical of performance on a

A. Fixed-ration schedule
B. Variable-ration schedule
C. Fixed-interval schedule
D. variable-interval schedule

7. Learned helplessness is likely to develop if

A. controllable shocks are preceded by uncontrollable shocks
B. uncontrollable shocks are preceded by controllable shocks
C. either A or B
D. neither A nor B

8. Tolman and Honzik concluded from their experiment with three groups of rats on latent learning that reinforcement

A. is necessary for both learning and performance
B. is not necessary for either learning or performance
C. is necessary for learning but not performance
D. is necessary for performance but not learning

9. Functional analysis of unusual behaviours, such as self-injurious behaviour, has shown that these behaviours sometimes occur because

A. they are reinforced with attention
B. they may produce automatic reinforcement
C. they may be reinforced by escape from unpleasent tasks
D. all of the above

10. Results of experiments on the intermediate-size problem
A. clearly favour the absolute theory of stimulus control
B. clearly favour the relational theory of stimulus control
C. do not clearly favour either theory
D. only favour the absolute position if one takes into account Spence's theory of inhibitory gradients

11. Herrnstein has applied the matching law to situations where a subject responds on VI schedules of different sizes, but only one schedule is presented at a time. He assumed that if the reinforcement for extraneous behaviours is increased

A. as the rate of reinforcement increases, response rate will approach asymptote more slowly
B. the subject's asymptotic response rate will be lower
C. both A and B
D. neither A nor B

12. Studies with animals have shown that in a self-control situation, the use of a precommitment procedure is more effective in increasing the number of large-reinforcer choices if

A. making a choice during the precommitment period is optional
B. there is a long delay between the precommitment period and the dleivery of either reinforcer
C. both A and B
D. neither A nor B

Short-written questions (5 point questions):

1. What is a response chain? Discuss the roles of discriminative stimuli and conditioned reinforcers.

2. What is peak shift? Overall, does this phenomena favour the absolute or relational theory of stimulus control?

1. B
2. B
3. D
4. B
5. D
6. A
7. A
8. D
9. D
10. B
11. A
12. B

Short-written questions

1. Response chains are used to shape complex behaviours with multiple steps. A discriminative stimulus (1) indicates the response (1) to be performed, which moves the subject towards the next discriminative stimulus (2). Discriminative stimulus 2 is both a stimulus indicating what the next response (2) should be, but it is also a conditioned reinforcer (1) for response 1. By making response 1 the subject moves itself closer to the ultimate goal (usually a primary reinforcer). So, each discriminative stimulus is both an S+ for a response and a conditioned reinforcer of the previous response.

2. In studies of stimulus generalization/discrimination, peak shift is when the maximum level of responding to the presented stimuli is not centred on the S+, but is displaced away from the S+ stimulus in a direction opposite to the S- stimulus. The theory of peak shift is generally seen as supporting the absolute theory of stimulus control; relational theory cannot explain why responding decreases with stimuli that are far removed from the S+ in the direction opposite to the S-. Additionally, inhibitory generalization gradients have been experimentally demonstrated when subjects are explicitly trained to avoid responding in the presence of an S-.

URL: www.psych.ualberta.ca/~msnyder/p281/assig/finsam.html
Page created: 20 Feb. 2003 --- Last modified: 11 June 2003