Deck 11: Comparative Cognition I: Memory Mechanisms

Question 1

Which of these relationships is not assumed to reflect animal cognition?

A) S-O
B) S-R
C) R-O
D) S(R-O)

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Cognitive mechanisms are used to explain animal behaviors when

A) classical conditioning mechanisms are not sufficient to account for actions.
B) instrumental conditioning mechanisms are not sufficient to account for actions.
C) discriminative stimulus mechanisms are used to describe behavior.
D) S-R mechanisms are not sufficient to account for actions.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

In what order are stimuli usually presented in a delayed matching to sample task?

A) sample stimulus; delay; test stimuli; start cue
B) sample stimulus; test stimuli; delay; start cue
C) start cue; delay; sample stimulus; test stimulus
D) start cue; sample stimulus; delay; test stimulus

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Learning is not possible without memory.However,studies of learning do differ from those of memory.For example,in most studies of learning,_____,but in studies of memory,_____.

A) retention intervals vary; the retrieval phase is varied
B) the retrieval phase varies; the acquisition phase is varied
C) the acquisition phase varies; retention intervals are varied
D) retention intervals vary; the acquisition phase is varied

Question 5

Which of the following is true of the "internal representations" discussed in the study of animal cognition?

A) Like gravity, they are a theoretical construct.
B) They are investigated in some laboratories by "looking" into the central nervous system.
C) They are investigated in some laboratories by "looking" into the peripheral nervous system.
D) They reflect conscious reflection on a past experience.

Question 6

Steve is taught to work a difficult maze.The time it takes for him to work the maze is tested one day,three days,and ten days after training.This is likely a study of

A) retrieval.
B) retention.
C) acquisition.
D) extinction.

Question 7

In studies of learning,which stage of an experiment is usually varied?

A) retrieval
B) acquisition
C) retention
D) stimulus coding

Question 8

In a delayed matching to sample task,what event immediately precedes presentation of the test stimuli?

A) a sample stimulus presentation
B) a start cue
C) a delay interval
D) a discriminative stimulus presentation

Question 9

In studies of memory,which stage of an experiment is usually held constant?

A) retrieval
B) retention
C) acquisition
D) trace-delay

Question 10

Which of the following is not a factor that determines performance in a delayed matching to sample task?

A) the duration of the delay
B) the duration of the sample presentation
C) the nature of the stimulus to be remembered
D) None of the above; all are important determinants of performance.

Question 11

To receive reinforcement in a delayed matching to sample task,an organism must select

A) a test stimulus that is identical to the sample stimulus.
B) a sample stimulus that is identical to the test stimulus.
C) a test stimulus that is identical to the start cue.
D) a sample stimulus that is identical to the start cue.

Question 12

To successfully respond in a delayed matching to sample task,pigeons focus on

A) the correct stimulus.
B) the incorrect stimulus.
C) a combination of the correct and incorrect stimuli.
D) It cannot be determined.

Question 13

Animal cognition is most correctly defined as

A) the application of stimulus-response learning to explain complex chains of behavior.
B) the use of voluntary or conscious reflection to direct behavior.
C) the use of an internal representation, or model, of some past experience as a basis for behavior.
D) the use of overt classically or instrumentally conditioned responses to direct behavior.

Question 14

Susan,Debra,and Sally are serving as subjects in a psychology experiment.Each will be taught to ride a bicycle.Susan will be taught by an expert instructor,Debra will be taught by a video demonstration,and Sally will be given a book on bicycles.The amount of time it takes each student to learn to ride will be recorded.This is likely a study of

A) retrieval.
B) retention.
C) acquisition.
D) spatial memory.

Question 15

Your friend has volunteered for a psychology demonstration.She will be taught a list of words while wearing SCUBA gear at the bottom of a pool,and then she will be asked to remember the words when she returns to class.This demonstration is most likely exploring

A) retention.
B) acquisition.
C) spatial memory.
D) retrieval.

Question 16

To increase the likelihood that your subjects will make correct responses in a delayed matching to sample task,you should

A) present the sample for a brief period, followed by a short delay.
B) present the sample for a long period followed by a long delay.
C) present the sample for a long period followed by a short delay.
D) present the sample for a brief period followed by a long delay.

Question 17

Items in working memory

A) are, by definition, held there only long enough to complete a given task.
B) are held only for a short (10-25 seconds) time.
C) are held for a long time, and are necessary for successful use of incoming and recently acquired information.
D) are useful only when other means of behavior acquisition fail.

Question 18

Of the following behaviors,which would not be included in a study of animal cognition by experimental psychologists?

A) consciousness
B) forgetting
C) stimulus coding
D) cognitive maps

Question 19

A simultaneous matching to sample task differs from a delayed matching to sample task because

A) delayed matching to sample tasks do not require working memory, and simultaneous matching to sample tasks do.
B) in a simultaneous matching to sample task, there is no test stimuli presentation.
C) in a delayed matching to sample task, there is no test stimuli presentation.
D) the interval between the sample stimulus and test stimuli presentations is different.

Question 20

Reference memory is

A) a store of items held only long enough to complete a given task.
B) long term retention of information necessary for successful use of incoming and recently acquired information.
C) short (10-25 seconds) term retention of information used for comparisons to items in long-term memory.
D) defined as memory for items located in space.

Question 21

Which of the following is true of delayed matching to sample tasks?

A) Pigeons learn only specific stimulus-response relations; chimps can learn general rules.
B) Trials-unique procedures increase the likelihood of stimulus-response learning in pigeons, but not in chimps.
C) Pigeons and chimps can learn "same-as rules."
D) Pigeons often solve delayed matching to sample tasks by orienting their bodies towards the sample stimulus; chimps use general rules.

Question 22

A pigeon is presented with a brief presentation of a red key light,followed by a delay,and then a choice between a red key light and a green key light.If the pigeon pecks the red key light,a food reinforcer is delivered.In order to correctly perform in this task,the pigeon will

A) respond to the red light and inhibit responding to the green light.
B) respond to the red light.
C) inhibit responding to the green light.
D) In cannot be determined.

Question 23

Which of the following has been determined to most influence the behavior of rats in a radial arm maze?

A) odor cues
B) the presence or absence of food
C) a fixed sequence of responses
D) visual cues in the testing room

Question 24

Long-term depression

A) weakens synaptic connections.
B) strengthens synaptic connections.
C) can either strengthen or weaken synaptic connections.
D) can both strengthen and weaken synaptic connections.

Question 25

Stimulus coding is primarily a task that occurs during

A) retention.
B) retrieval.
C) extinction.
D) acquisition.

Question 26

Which of the following is not a challenge to the trace decay hypothesis?

A) Increasing the number of training trials improves performance in delayed matching to sample tasks.
B) Increasing exposure to the sample improves performance in delayed matching to sample tasks.
C) Making the sample surprising improves performance in delayed matching to sample tasks.
D) Memory processes can be brought under external stimulus control.

Question 27

According to the trace decay hypothesis,which of the following is not likely to increase the duration of memory in a delayed matching to sample task?

A) increasing the number of training trials
B) increasing the exposure time to the sample
C) increasing the intensity of the sample
D) decreasing the delay interval

Question 28

The trace decay hypothesis is challenged by findings that suggest that performance on a delayed matching to sample task can be improved by

A) increasing the exposure time to the sample.
B) increasing the intensity of the sample.
C) decreasing the delay interval.
D) increasing the number of training trials.

Question 29

Which of the following serve as coincidence detectors on the neuron's surface?

A) mossy fibers
B) perforant receptors
C) NMDA receptors
D) AMPA receptors

Question 30

The duration of spatial memory in rats appears

A) to be for about as long as the rat remains in a maze.
B) to be about 5 to 10 minutes.
C) to be about 3 to 4 hours.
D) to last for over a day.

Question 31

The available evidence suggests that rats navigate correctly in radial arm mazes by

A) marking visited arms with urine.
B) relying on visual cues in the testing room.
C) choosing the arms in a fixed order.
D) All of the above

Question 32

Long-term potentiation

A) weakens synaptic connections.
B) strengthens synaptic connections.
C) can either strengthen or weaken synaptic connections.
D) can both strengthen and weaken synaptic connections.

Question 33

Radial mazes are used primarily to test

A) performance in spatial memory tasks.
B) performance in delayed matching to sample trials.
C) performance in food preference trials.
D) performance in locomotor preference trials.

Question 34

A trials-unique procedure results in an organism learning

A) an S-R relationship.
B) a general rule.
C) an R-O relationship.
D) an S(R-O) relationship.

Question 35

Which of the following is a general rule?

A) Select red after exposure to red.
B) Select blue after exposure to yellow.
C) Select horizontal lines after exposure to vertical lines.
D) Select a stimulus that is the same as the sample.

Question 36

When the radial arm maze is placed on the floor instead of being elevated,

A) rats demonstrate wall hugging behavior as they acquire the food.
B) rats minimize the distance traveled as they acquire food.
C) rats demonstrate random search patterns as they acquire food.
D) rats demonstrate behavior similar to that on elevated mazes as they acquire food.

Question 37

Sign tracking is an example of

A) beacon following.
B) landmark navigation.
C) using the relations between landmarks to guide behavior.
D) a complex cognitive map.

Question 38

Retrospective memory refers to memory of

A) spatial cues.
B) events that have happened in the past.
C) events that still must occur.
D) visual cues in the environment.

Question 39

Stimulus coding refers to

A) the literal record of past events in memory.
B) creating a neural representation of an experience.
C) the use of current stimuli to decode or understand previous events.
D) creating a stimulus that can be perceived and used by a given species.

Question 40

In order for a rat to transfer learning from one set of stimuli in a matching to sample task to another set of stimuli,the rat must learn

A) an S-R relationship.
B) an R-O relationship.
C) an S(R-O) relationship.
D) a general rule.

Question 41

The retrieval failure hypothesis of retrograde amnesia suggests that amnesia results from

A) retention failure.
B) general memory loss.
C) loss of information from short-term memory
D) altered coding of relatively recent memories.

Question 42

NR2B is typically found

A) as a subunit of NMDA that interferes with LTP in adulthood.
B) as a subunit of NMDA that interferes with LTP in juveniles.
C) as a subunit of NMDA that promotes LTP in adulthood.
D) as a subunit of NMDA that promotes LTP in juveniles.

Question 43

Monkeys are presented with a series of stimuli in a delayed matching to sample task.First a white light signals the start of the trial.Then a green light is presented,followed by the red sample light,a delay,and then the test stimuli of a green light and a red light.This experiment is designed to explore

A) proactive interference.
B) reference memory coding.
C) retroactive interference.
D) retrograde amnesia.

Question 44

When he first begins shopping,Peter is able to remember what he has in his cart without referring to his list.He is using

A) retrospective memory.
B) prospective memory.
C) introspective memory.
D) rehearsal memory.

Question 45

Animals have been found to use different coding strategies depending on the task demands.For example,at the beginning of a long series of behaviors,an animal would likely use _____,whereas near the end of the series it would likely use _____.

A) prospective memory; retrospective memory
B) retrospective memory; prospective memory
C) reference memory; introspective memory
D) rehearsal memory; prospective memory

Question 46

Describe the delayed matching to sample task.What are three procedural aspects critical to determining the accuracy of performance in this task?

Question 47

To determine the memory load when rats perform in a radial arm maze,a researcher

A) notes the total number of correct choices made when the subject was running the maze.
B) notes the total number of errors the subject made when it was running the maze.
C) notes the subjects' relative error rates after they had visited different numbers of places.
D) notes the number of adjunctive behaviors that occur after subjects had visited different numbers of places.

Question 48

Prospective memory refers to memory for events

A) that must happen in the future.
B) that have occurred in the immediate past.
C) that have occurred in the distant past.
D) that are no longer stored in working memory.

Question 49

When rats and humans were both required to perform in a radial arm-type spatial memory task,researchers determined that

A) rats use retrospective coding strategies, and humans use prospective strategies.
B) rats use retrospective coding strategies, and humans are able to switch between coding strategies.
C) rats use prospective coding strategies, and humans are able to switch between coding strategies.
D) rats and humans are able to switch between retrospective and prospective coding strategies.

Question 50

Directed forgetting studies support all of the following conclusions except

A) rehearsal processes in animals can be brought under stimulus control.
B) memory processes in animals can be brought under stimulus control.
C) memory processes in animals involve the passive storage of information.
D) memory processes in humans can be brought under stimulus control.

Question 51

To keep memory load at a minimum while performing a long list of tasks,you should use _____ coding strategies near the beginning of the task list and _____ strategies near the end.

A) rehearsal, retrieval
B) retrieval, rehearsal
C) prospective, retrospective
D) retrospective, prospective

Question 52

In a 12-arm radial maze,a rat makes a correct response if it visits an arm it has not previously explored.After 10 arms have been explored,the rat is most likely using which coding strategy to make the last choices?

A) introspective
B) prospective
C) retrospective
D) rehearsal

Question 53

Doogie mice differ from normal mice in that

A) they produce NR2A into adulthood.
B) they produce NR2B into adulthood.
C) they have more difficulty in the Morris water maze.
D) they have more difficulty in stimulus discrimination tasks.

Question 54

After three right-hand turns,Sally remembers that to get to Beth's house she must next make a left-hand turn.To remember the left-hand turn,Sally is using

A) prospective memory.
B) retrospective memory.
C) introspective memory.
D) rehearsal memory.

Question 55

Infants were trained to kick in order to move a mobile.24 hours later,one group of these infants was tested in the presence of the same contextual cues; another group was tested in the presence of a context familiar to them,but different from the training situation.The infants tested in the training context performed much better,probably because of

A) rehearsal cues.
B) retrieval cues.
C) prospective cues.
D) retrospective cues.

Question 56

If a hamster in a radial maze is keeping in mind where it has been,it is using

A) prospective memory.
B) introspective memory.
C) retrospective memory.
D) reference memory.

Question 57

The important difference between the memory consolidation and retrieval failure hypotheses of retrograde amnesia is that

A) the memory consolidation hypothesis assumes that amnesia reflects altered coding of new memories, whereas the retrieval failure hypothesis assumes that amnesia reflects a vulnerability of information in the short-term store.
B) the memory consolidation hypothesis assumes that amnesia reflects memory loss, whereas the retrieval failure hypothesis assumes that amnesia reflects altered coding of new memories.
C) the memory consolidation hypothesis assumes that amnesia reflects memory loss, whereas the retrieval failure hypothesis assumes that amnesia reflects a vulnerability of information in the short-term store.
D) the memory consolidation hypothesis assumes that amnesia reflects a vulnerability of information in the short-term store, whereas the retrieval failure hypothesis assumes that amnesia reflects memory loss.

Question 58

Evidence to support the retrieval failure hypothesis of retrograde amnesia comes from studies in which

A) memory deficits can be overcome by reminder treatments.
B) hypothermia causes retrograde amnesia.
C) memory deficits occur in response to ECT.
D) memory in the short-term store is shown to be vulnerable.

Question 59

CaMKII enhances synaptic efficacy by activating

A) CaM receptors.
B) NMDA receptors.
C) AMPA receptors.
D) KII receptors.

Question 60

CaMKII is engaged by which ion?

A) NMDA+
B) Ca++
C) AMPA++
D) KII+

Question 61

Compare the memory consolidation and retrieval-failure hypotheses of retrograde amnesia.What evidence allows researchers to decide between the two hypotheses?

Question 62

Sometimes training results in conflicting memories.What role do contextual cues play in retrieval of conflicting memories?

Question 63

Describe the delayed matching-to-sample procedure and alternative strategies that can be used to respond accurately in such a procedure.How can these response strategies be distinguished experimentally?

Question 64

What is spatial memory? Describe two procedures that demonstrate spatial memory in animals.

Question 65

Compare proactive and retroactive interference.

Question 66

Compare the learning of a general rule to the learning of specific rules.Under what circumstances will general rules be learned? What causes specific rules to be learned?

Question 67

Describe the phenomenon of directed forgetting and what it tells us about memory processes.

Question 68

Describe how long-term potentiation occurs in the hippocampus.What is the evidence that LTP has a role in learning and memory?

Question 69

Compare retrospective memory to prospective memory.When is each used?

Question 70

Describe how retrospective and prospective coding can be differentiated experimentally.

Question 71

Compare and contrast working and reference memory.

Question 72

Describe spatial learning tasks and mechanisms that have been used to explain efficient performance in this situation.

Question 73

Describe the memory consolidation and retrieval failure explanations of retrograde amnesia and what evidence can be used to support one or the other hypothesis.