Question 1

This form of learning has strong adaptive significance because if we responded continuously to every stimuli in the environment,we would quickly become fatigued and overwhelmed.This form of learning is called:

Accepted Answer

Habituation is the process of becoming accustomed to a stimulus and therefore decreasing responsiveness to it. This form of learning is important because it allows us to conserve mental and physical resources by ignoring repetitive or non-threatening stimuli, thus preventing exhaustion and overstimulation. One-trial learning, extinction, and negative reinforcement do not necessarily involve conservation of resources in response to repetitive stimuli.

Question 2

Under which of the following conditioned stimulus-unconditioned stimulus pairing conditions does learning usually occur most quickly?

Accepted Answer

Forward short-delay pairing is when the conditioned stimulus is presented and then is quickly followed by the unconditioned stimulus. This usually leads to the quickest learning as the association between the two is strongest when they are presented close together in time. The other types of pairing, forward trace, simultaneous, and backward, have varying degrees of effectiveness in terms of learning speed.

Question 3

Ahmen adopts a dog from the local animal shelter.When Ahmen's mother comes home that day,she runs to the dog to pet her,but the dog cowers and puts her tail between her legs.The dog continues to exhibit this response whenever Ahmen's mother approaches her.Eventually,after several weeks,the dog cowers less until finally,Ahmen's mother is able to pet the dog.What the dog has learned is that Ahmen's mother will not harm her; therefore,her response decreases with time.This is an example of:

Accepted Answer

The decrease in the dog's response over time indicates that this is a case of extinction. The dog has learned that Ahmen's mother is not a threat, and therefore, the fear response decreases through repeated exposure to her presence without any harm or punishment. Reward/punishment, tabula rosa, and habituation do not fully explain this scenario.

Question 4

A researcher in a classical conditioning experiment is attempting to condition a startle response to a green light.To do this,she illuminates the light at the same time that she plays a very loud noise.This experiment is utilizing what is called simultaneous pairing of the:

Accepted Answer

In this experiment, the very loud noise is the unconditioned stimulus (US) because it naturally elicits a startle response, which is the unconditioned response (UR). The green light is the conditioned stimulus (CS) because it is a neutral stimulus that is being paired with the US (loud noise) to elicit a conditioned response (CR), which is similar to the UR (startle response). Simultaneous pairing means the CS and US are presented at the same time.

Question 5

You are conducting an experiment in which you are trying to manipulate the immune response of rats by using the principles of classical conditioning.First for several days of an experiment,you give rats artificially sweetened water with an immune system-enhancing drug in it.You later remove the drug and notice that the immune systems of rats are boosted when they consume the sweetened water.In your experiment,what is the conditioned stimulus (CS)?

Accepted Answer

The conditioned stimulus is the sweetened water, as it is the stimulus that was associated with the immune system-enhancing drug during the classical conditioning phase of the experiment, and resulted in a boosted immune response when presented alone during the testing phase.

Question 6

Imagine that you wish to condition a dog to salivate in response to particular song that you play on your CD player.Prior to beginning the learning trials,the song would be considered a(n)_________ stimulus

Accepted Answer

Prior to beginning the learning trials, the song does not elicit a salivary response from the dog, therefore it is considered a neutral stimulus.

Question 7

Karen's boyfriend gets very excited whenever he smells pizza as he walks by the pizza place where she works because whether Karen is working then or not,he still associates the place with Karen.Which of the following correctly identify the unconditioned stimulus and the conditioned stimulus?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Karen's boyfriend gets very excited whenever he...

Question 8

Habituation has strong adaptive significance because it allows organisms to learn not to respond to _____________ stimuli.

Accepted Answer

Habituation allows organisms to conserve energy and resources by not responding to familiar and uneventful stimuli that are not important for their survival or well-being. By not wasting energy on unnecessary responses, organisms can focus on more important stimuli.

Question 9

In a research study,a dog learned to salivate in response to a tone presented alone.In this case,the salivation would technically be considered a(n):

Accepted Answer

The dog learned to salivate in response to a tone, which was initially a neutral stimulus. Once the tone became associated with the presentation of food (as an unconditioned stimulus), the tone was able to elicit salivation on its own, which is now considered a conditioned response.

Question 10

You have just settled down to begin studying for your exam in this course when your roommate decides to turn on some music.At first,the music distracts you from your studying,but after a short time,the music no longer bothers you even though it continues to play.This example most clearly demonstrates the process of:

Accepted Answer

This scenario describes habituation, which is a process where an organism becomes less responsive to a repeated stimulus over time. In this case, the music is the stimulus, and initially it is distracting the person from studying. However, because the music continues to play and does not change, the person's brain becomes habituated to the sound and no longer finds it distracting. This is not an example of extinction (A), negative reinforcement (B), or classical conditioning (C).

Question 11

Shannon is used to eating dinner every night about 7:00 pm,but now that she is away at college she eats earlier because the dining hall is open from 4-6pm every night for dinner.Shannon eats dinner without feeling hungry for several weeks.Then one day while walking to the dining hall,Shannon starts feeling very hungry.Those first several weeks of eating early are considered the _________________ phase of her conditioned response.

Accepted Answer

The acquisition phase is when the conditioned response is first learned or acquired, and in this scenario, Shannon's first several weeks of eating early is when she learned to associate the time with dinner and not feel hungry at her usual time of 7:00 pm.

Question 12

All of the following are circumstances under which conditioned responses are typically acquired more rapidly EXCEPT:

Accepted Answer

Conditioned responses are typically acquired more rapidly when the conditioned stimulus is presented before the unconditioned stimulus, not after it. The other answer choices (A, B, and D) all describe circumstances that would typically result in more rapid conditioning.

Question 13

Usually,learning through classical conditioning occurs more quickly with:

Accepted Answer

Forward trace pairing, where the conditioned stimulus (CS) is presented and then removed before the unconditioned stimulus (US) is introduced, tends to facilitate quicker learning in classical conditioning. This method allows the organism to associate the CS with the US more effectively than simultaneous pairing, where the CS and US are presented at the same time.

Question 14

A child probably only needs to burn her hand on a hot stove once to learn to avoid doing this in the future.Psychologists involved in classical conditioning would most likely consider this an example of:

Accepted Answer

One-trial learning refers to instances where a single exposure to a stimulus is enough for an organism to learn to associate it with a particular response. In this case, the child learns from the painful experience of burning her hand on the hot stove and does not need to be exposed to it multiple times to develop the association.

Question 15

A learning process in which the organism learns to associate two stimuli such that a previously neutral stimulus comes to elicit a response is called:

Accepted Answer

Classical conditioning is the process in which an organism learns to associate two stimuli, such that a previously neutral stimulus comes to elicit a response. This was first studied by Ivan Pavlov in his experiments with dogs.

Question 16

Learning is typically slowest under which of the following conditioned stimulus-unconditioned stimulus pairings.

Accepted Answer

Backward pairing involves presenting the unconditioned stimulus before the conditioned stimulus, which is the least effective pairing in terms of learning.

Question 17

You are conducting an experiment in which you are trying to manipulate the immune response of rats by using the principles of classical conditioning.First,for several days of an experiment,you give rats artificially sweetened water with an immune system-enhancing drug in it.You later remove the drug and notice that the immune systems of rats are boosted when they consume the sweetened water.In your experiment,what is the unconditioned response (UCR)?

Accepted Answer

The unconditioned response (UCR) is the natural response that occurs without any conditioning. In this experiment, the UCR is the enhanced immune system functioning in response to the drug. The sweetened water is the conditioned stimulus (CS), which was paired with the drug to create a conditioned response (CR) of enhanced immune system functioning.

Question 18

Pavlov determined that a tone triggered salivation more quickly when the size of the _________ was more intense or greater.

Accepted Answer

Pavlov's experiment involved pairing an unconditioned stimulus (UCS), which naturally triggers a response, with a neutral stimulus (NS), which initially does not trigger a response. Over time, the neutral stimulus becomes associated with the UCS and becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS) that triggers the same response. In this case, the UCS was the presence of food that naturally caused salivation (unconditioned response or UCR), while the NS was a bell ringing that initially did not cause salivation. As the bell was consistently paired with the food, the bell became a CS that triggered the same response of salivation (conditioned response or CR). However, Pavlov found that the size of the food (UCS) affected how quickly the dogs salivated in response to the bell (CS). Therefore, the correct answer is B) unconditioned stimulus.

Question 19

Shannon is absorbed in the latest novel and is surprised when she looks at the clock and sees that it is dinnertime.Normally,Shannon starts feeling hungry about 5:30 pm every night but now it is 6:00 pm and her stomach just started to rumble.On her way to the dining hall,Shannon starts feeling very hungry.In Shannon's case,the unconditioned stimulus is:

Accepted Answer

The unconditioned stimulus in this scenario is the food at the dining hall, as it is what naturally and automatically causes Shannon to feel hungry around dinner time. The walk to the dining hall (A) and the time on her clock (B) may be associated cues or conditioned stimuli that remind her it is time to eat, but they are not the primary cause of the hunger response. The novel she was reading (C) is not a relevant factor in this scenario.

Question 20

When Pavlov was conditioning his dogs to salivate in response to a tone,he first paired the tone with the presentation of food until the tone alone could induce salivation.In his experiments,which of the following was considered to be the unconditioned stimulus?

Accepted Answer

The unconditioned stimulus is the naturally occurring stimulus that triggers an unconditioned response without conditioning. In Pavlov's experiment, the food is the unconditioned stimulus as it automatically triggers salivation in the dogs without any conditioning.

Quiz 7: Learning and Adaptation: the Role of Experience