Psyco 281 Midterm Sample Questions

Midterm Sample Questions

Note that the midterm is covering chapters 1-5 and the first part of chapter 6 (up to page 134; that is, the end of the section titled "Versatility of the Shaping Process") in the text and material covered up to and including the 22 May class.

The midterm exam will have 20 multiple choice questions, each worth 1 point. Students will complete two (2) out of the four (4) provided short-written questions, each worth 5 points. Finally, students will complete one (1) of the two (2) provided longer-written questions, worth 10 points. This makes the exam out of a total of 40 points.

Here are some example questions.

Multiple-choice:

1. Aversive counterconditioning has been used to treat all of the following except

a. nocturnal enuresis
b. smoking
c. fetishes
d. alcoholism

2. In Kamin's blocking experiment, it might be said that the added or "blocked" stimulus is

a. uninformative
b. not conditioned
c. redundant
d. all of the above

3. Pavlov believed that generalization was

a. an automatic by-product of the conditioning process
b. dependent on discrimination training along the relevant dimension
c. partly a and partly b
d. neither a nor b

4. A limitation of the Rescorla-Wagner model is that it cannot predict

a. the overexpectation effect
b. the CS preexposure effect
c. inhibitory conditioning
d. the weak excitatory conditioning that is sometimes observed on the first compund trial of a blocking experiment

5. B.F. Skinner used white rats in his early experiments because

a. they exhibit only the simplest learning abilities
b. they had been frequently used in medical research
c. he felt it did not matter what species he studied
d. none of the above

6. In an Ebbinghaus-style study, if a subject memorizes a list perfectly in 10 trials, and then takes 6 trials to relearn the list the next day, the amount of savings, is

a. 33.3 percent
b. 40 percent
c. 60 percent
d. 66.7 percent

7. Kandel's research on Aplysia has shown that the habituation of the gill-withdrawal response

a. always occurs in a single trial
b. dissipates with time
c. is completely different from habituation in higher organisms
d. both a and b, but not c

8. To show that an instance of taste-aversion learning is not simply a case of sensitization, one can

a. demonstrate that the aversion does not disappear with the passage of time
b. demonstrate that the aversion does not extinguish rapidly
c. demonstrate that the aversion is specific to the food paired with illness
d. all of the above

Short-written questions (5 point questions):

1. What properties do kinesis and taxis have in common? How do they differ? Give an example of each.

2. Explain the relationship between simple sensations, simple ideas, complex ideas, and duplex ideas, according to the Associationist school of thought.

Longer-written questions (10 point questions):

1. Compare and contrast the ways in which the Rescorla-Wagner model and Mackintosh's theory of attention account for the blocking effect. How does each theory account for the small amount of excitatory conditioning that occurs on the first trial when the new CS is presented together with the already-conditioned CS?

Answers

Multiple-choice

1. a
2. d
3. a
4. b
5. c
6. b
7. b
8. c

Short-written questions

1. Similarities: Both tropisms; involves movement or change in orientation of entire animal. (1 point)
Differences: Kinesis is movement in a "random" direction; i.e., movement without directional reference to a specific stimulus. Taxis is movement that bears a relationship to a stimulus. (2 points)
Examples: any reasonable explanations. (2 points)

2. Simple sensations: basic, low level sensory experiences (e.g., from 5 senses) (1 point)
Simple ideas: simple sensations stored in memory; 1:1 relation between simple sensation and simple idea. (1 point)
Complex ideas: multiple simple sensations that repeatedly occur together join together to form complex ideas. (1 point)
Duplex ideas: two or more complex ideas that have come to be associated. (1 point)
The activation of one simple idea will serve to activate representation of associated simple ideas within complex idea group, for example. Similarly, activation of one complex idea will activate other associated complex ideas within duplex idea group. (1 point)

Longer-written question

1. Similarities (3 points)

Both are accounts of classical conditioning.
Both work on a trial-by-trial exposure.
Both can make mathematical predictions of the rates of learning.
Both offer and account of how/why blocking works.

Differences (3 points)

RW uses differences in expectation and occurrence; M looks at the most informative stimulus.
RW is based on associative strength; M is based on attentional salience.
RW says blocking is due to the first CS acquiring most of the associative strength (or that a full expectation of the US is met by the first CS) and so little conditioning is acquired by the second CS; M says that CS1 is more salient than CS2 because it is more informative (therefore, the subject won't pay much attention to CS2).
RW says salience is a constant; M says salience is a variable term.

RW says there will be some conditioning to the new CS because there is always some (although perhaps very little) associative strength left, and that the new CS can acquire some of this. M says any stimulus has some salience, especially new stimuli, so some attention will be paid to the new CS on the first trial. However, due to the previous conditioning to the CS1, CS1's salience will continue to increase, whereas CS2's salience will decrease on subsequent trials. (4 points)

URL: www.psych.ualberta.ca/~msnyder/p281/assig/m1sam.html
Page created: 20 Feb. 2003 --- Last modified: 25 May 2003