Concordia University Department of Psychology
Psych 346/2/51 ψ Learning I
Class Test 1 September 27, 2005
Choose the response that BEST answers the question or completes the phrase. Do not
omit any questions; there is no penalty for guessing.
1. If an unconditioned stimulus is presented repeatedly by itself, and the result is a
weakening in the strength of the response, this is most clearly an example of
a. habituation*
b. extinction
c. generalization
d. selective attention
e. none of the above
2. The term that MOST PRECISELY describes learning about the relationship between
two stimuli is
a. classical conditioning*
b. operant conditioning
c. reinforcement
d. associative learning
e. none of the above
3. According to the text, which of the following is the best definition of memory?
a. the conscious reliving of experiences
b. stored factual knowledge
c. the retrieval of information
d. the coding, storage and retrieval of experiences*
e. none of the above
4. The view that the primary data of psychology should be observations of people’s
behavior, rather than reports of their mental state, is known as
a. cognitivism
b. behaviourism*
c. introspectionism
d. determinism
e. none of the above
5. This course is based on the study of learning founded on knowledge acquired for the
most part by
a. case studies
b. anecdotal evidence
c. the experimental method*
d. syllogistic studies using animals
e. none of the above
6. Plato’s concept of associative learning was based on the
a. CS-UR associations
b. common sense*
c. law of contingency
d. law of frequency
e. none of the above
7. Which of the following was NOT one of the “laws” developed by the British
associationists?
a. contiguity
b. frequency
c. intensity
d. contingency*
e. none of the above
8. Which of the following indicates that repeated presentation of the CS with the US
results in inhibition learning?
a. Extinction
b. Acquisition
c. Spontaneous recovery*
d. Decay
e. none of the above
9. According to what we know about contiguity, which of the following has the potential
for producing maximum association between a CS and US?
a. 10 trials of CS followed by the US 0.5 seconds later*
b. 15 trials of the CS presented at the same time as the US
c. 10 trials of the US followed by the CS 0.5 seconds later
d. 25 trials of the CS followed by the CR 0.5 seconds later
e. none of the above
10. A dog receives a tone on some trials and a tone-light compound on other trials,
randomly intermixed. The tone by itself is followed by food but the tone-light
compound is not. Which of the following outcomes would be the most likely?
a. the tone would not elicit salivation
b. the tone would elicit as much salivation as the light
c. the tone would elicit some salivation but not as much as the light
d. the tone would inhibit salivation*
e. none of the above
11. One can stop a person from cigarette smoking by pairing the inhalation of cigarette
smoke with nausea.This procedure is called
a. transference
b. generalization
c. counterconditioning*
d. inhibitory conditioning
e. none of the above
12. Insulin reduces levels of blood sugar. If a rat is given repeated injections of insulin, a
subsequent injection of saline will probably
a. increase blood sugar*
b. reduce blood sugar
c. have no effect on blood sugar
d. first decrease and then increase blood sugar
e. none of the above
13. If a stimulus that elicits no fear is presented in a CER test, the suppression ratio is
likely to be
a. 0.00
b. 0.50*
c. 1.0
d. -1.0
e. none of the above
14. A young child is taught that a ball is “round”. The child later calls the earth “round”.
This is an example of:
a. Generalization
b. Discrimination
c. Two differently learned responses*
d. Syllogistic association of two unconditioned stimuli
e. none of the above
15. Which of the following is thought to be the main neural mechanism responsible for
learning?
a. changes in synaptic connections*
b. faster conduction of impulses along axons
c. the growth of new neurons
d. the growth of new synaptic connections
e. none of the above
16. A CS-US contingency of +1.0 means that
a. the US always occurs in the presence of the CS and never in its absence*
b. the US occurs more often in the presence of the CS than in its absence
c. the US occurs equally often in the presence of the CS and in its absence
d. the US occurs less often in the presence of the CS than in its absence
e. none of the above
17. Garcia and Koelling (1966) paired a taste-light-noise compound with illness. In a
subsequent test, they found that the rats avoided the taste but not the light and
noise. The most likely explanation is that
a. the noise and light were too faint
b. taste is a highly salient stimulus for rats
c. rats are selectively prepared to associate tastes with illness*
d. rats stop eating when they become ill
e. none of the above
18. If a compound stimulus (A&B) is paired with a US, the amount of conditioning to A
is reduced by prior conditioning to B. This phenomenon is called
a. summation
b. blocking*
c. an interaction effect
d. preparedness
e. none of the above
19. Research on taste-aversion learning suggests that contiguity is ____ for classical
conditioning.
a. necessary
b. sufficient
c. necessary and sufficient
d. neither necessary nor sufficient*
e. none of the above
20. Assume that a dog has received one pairing of a CS and US per day for 100 days and
has reached Vmax. based on the acquisition and extinction graphs presented in class, how
many days would it take to reach Vmax=0 if we present the CS without the US twice per
day?
a. 100
b. 200
c. 50*
d. 10
e. none of the above
21. The term in the Rescorla-Wagner model which corresponds most closely to "surprise"
is
a. Vmax
b. c
c. V
d. (Vmax - V)*
e. none of the above
22. In the Rescorla-Wagner model, changes in the value of c would affect
a. the slope of the acquisition or extinction graph*
b. the asymptotic value of conditioning
c. the strength of the association prior to conditioning
d. whether associative strength increased or decreased
e. none of the above
23. According to the Rescorla-Wagner model's account of blocking, the main reason why
there is no conditioning to the blocked stimulus is that _____ when the compound
conditioning trials began.
a. Vab = Vmax*
b. c = 0
c. Vmax = 0
d. (Vmax - V) > 0
e. none of the above
24. The two-system hypothesis states that
a. conditioning can occur in both the spinal cord and the brain
b. conditioning can occur in both the amygdala and the cortex
c. conditioning involves both associative and cognitive processes*
d. associative learning involves both classical and operant conditioning
e. none of the above
25. When a CS is paired with a US,
a. the CS becomes a signal for the US
b. the CS becomes a substitute for the US
c. the CS acts like a signal in some experiments but like a substitute in others*
d. the CS elicits the same response as the US
e. none of the above
26. If a stimulus is presented by itself prior to conditioning trials, conditioning is
impeded. This phenomenon, which the Rescorla-Wagner model has difficulty
explaining, is called
a. conditioned inhibition
b. latent inhibition*
c. habituation
d. learned helplessness
e. none of the above
27. Assume that in Rescorla-Wagner’s model c=0.5, Vmax=0.9, and V=0 before trial 1 of
CS-US pairing. What will be the value of Vmax after the third trial of pairings?
a. 0.45
b. 0.69
c. 0.80
d. 0.90*
e. none of the above
28. Assume that an animal has received three trials of acquisition of a CS-US
contingency and that V=.8 after the three trials. If c=0.5, using the Rescorla-Wagner
model, predict V after two trials of extinction.
a. 0.8
b. 0.4
c. 0.2*
d. 0.0
e. none of the above
29. If the probability of a US in the presence of a CS is +0.40, and its probability in the
absence of the CS is +0.40, then the likely result is
a. strong excitatory conditioning
b. weak excitatory conditioning
c. no conditioning*
d. inhibitory conditioning
e. none of the above
30. In the following two line graphs,
= shock.
= tone and
A
B
Line A represents _____ while line B represents _________
a. Contingency: contiguity
b. Contiguity: contingency*
c. Contiguity: blocking
d. Counterconditioning: contiguity
e. None of the above