Question 1

Which of the following is NOT likely to be the result of learning?
A) Your pet bird repeats your words and phrases.
B) A dog opens the cupboard door to get into the dog food.
C) A man drives a new route when road construction blocks his route.
D) A baby can reach the table after growing tall enough.

Accepted Answer

Growing taller is not considered learning. It is a natural biological process.

Question 2

Sarah is trying to study, but the loud noise from her neighbor's party distracts her. However, after some time, Sarah finds that she can concentrate on her work, even though the noise is as loud as it ever was. What process has likely occurred?
A) sensitization
B) habituation
C) classical conditioning
D) instrumental conditioning

Accepted Answer

Sarah has habituated to the noise, which means that her nervous system has become accustomed to the constant stimulation and is no longer responding to it.

Question 3

__________ occurs when one fails to respond to stimuli that have become familiar due to repeated exposure.
A) Acclimation
B) Assimilation
C) Response control
D) Habituation

Accepted Answer

Habituation occurs when one fails to respond to stimuli that have become familiar due to repeated exposure.

Question 4

Which of the following philosophers would NOT be considered an empiricist?
A) Rene Descartes
B) George Berkeley
C) John Locke
D) All the above are empiricists.

Accepted Answer

Rene Descartes is not considered an empiricist because he believed that knowledge comes from innate ideas and reasoning, rather than sensory experience. Empiricists, on the other hand, believe that knowledge comes from sensory experience. George Berkeley and John Locke are both considered empiricists.

Question 5

Who is credited with the discovery of classical conditioning?
A) John B. Watson
B) Ivan Pavlov
C) B. F. Skinner
D) Edward L. Thorndike

Accepted Answer

Ivan Pavlov is credited with the discovery of classical conditioning. He conducted experiments with dogs where he rang a bell before presenting them with food. After a while, the dogs began to salivate at the sound of the bell alone, demonstrating that they had learned to associate the bell with the food.

Question 6

Which of the following may occur as you learn?
A) The axons on your neurons grow longer and stronger.
B) The dendrites on your neurons grow more sensitive.
C) The dendrites on your neurons form new connections.
D) All of the above.

Accepted Answer

As you learn, all of these changes can occur in the brain. The axons on your neurons can grow longer and stronger to improve communication between neurons. The dendrites on your neurons can also grow more sensitive, making them more responsive to neurotransmitters. Additionally, the dendrites on your neurons can form new connections, allowing you to create new pathways in your brain and to make new associations between different pieces of information.

Question 7

Which of the following would be an accurate reflection of a learning theorist's viewpoint regarding learning?
A) All learning depends on essentially the same mechanism; thus general conclusions may be made about learning across organisms.
B) Each kind of animal learns in its own unique way; thus general conclusions cannot be made about learning across organisms.
C) Some animals learn in similar ways, thus general conclusions can only be made for particular groups or kinds of animals.
D) Learning depends on highly similar mechanisms for nonhuman animals, and thus conclusions from animal studies can be applied to animals, but not humans.

Accepted Answer

A learning theorist would likely view learning as a universal mechanism that operates similarly across different organisms. This viewpoint is consistent with a behaviorist perspective, which assumes that behavior is shaped by the environment and that learning occurs through stimulus-response associations. Thus, general conclusions can be made about learning across different kinds of animals.

Question 8

Unconditioned responses by definition occur __________.
A) independent of any learning
B) only in lower organisms
C) only in conditions of deprivation
D) only in response to secondary reinforcers

Accepted Answer

Unconditioned responses are natural, instinctual responses that occur independently of learning or conditioning. They are not dependent on deprivation or the presence of secondary reinforcers.

Question 9

An infant presented with the same visual stimulus over and over again will eventually lose interest in it, not responding with the same degree of curiosity as he did initially. This gradual drop-off in responding has been called __________.
A) the learning curve
B) the law of effect
C) habituation
D) stimulus generalization

Accepted Answer

This gradual drop-off in responding to a repeated stimulus is known as habituation. It is a normal process that allows infants (and other organisms) to conserve their attention and energy for new or potentially important stimuli. Option A (learning curve) refers to the pattern of an individual’s learning progress over time, option B (law of effect) refers to the idea that behavior that is followed by positive consequences is more likely to be repeated, and option D (stimulus generalization) is the tendency to respond to similar stimuli in the same way as the original stimulus. None of these options accurately describe the phenomenon in question.

Question 10

A(n) __________ is elicited by a stimulus regardless of an animal's history of experiences.
A) unconditioned response
B) unconditioned stimulus
C) conditioned reflex
D) conditioned response

Accepted Answer

An unconditioned response is a natural, automatic reaction to a stimulus that occurs without any prior learning or conditioning.

Question 11

More than anything else, when the early empiricist philosophers sought to offer an account of learning, they focused on __________.
A) associations
B) the creation of belief systems
C) how learning leads to the creation of new skills
D) the creation of elaborate belief systems

Accepted Answer

Early empiricist philosophers such as John Locke and David Hume believed that learning is primarily based on the formation of associations between ideas or experiences. They argued that the mind starts as a blank slate (tabula rasa) and that knowledge is gained through sensory experiences and the associations formed between them.

Question 12

What is an object or event called that elicits a response without prior learning?
A) an unconditioned response
B) a conditioned response
C) an unconditioned stimulus
D) a conditioned stimulus

Accepted Answer

An unconditioned stimulus is an object or event that elicits a response without prior learning. This response is called an unconditioned response.

Question 13

How would an empiricist explain how you learned that dogs are both mammals and animals, that is, both animals belong in many categories?
A) You formed multiple synaptic connections to each neural circuit.
B) This more complex learning was the result of more associations that were built layer upon layer.
C) Your maturing brain allowed these connections to be formed.
D) You formed cognitive maps that linked these concepts together.

Accepted Answer

Empiricists believe that learning occurs through the accumulation of experiences and associations. Learning that dogs are both mammals and animals involves building multiple associations between the concepts of dogs, mammals, and animals, and these associations become more complex as they are layered on top of each other. This aligns with the explanation provided by choice B.

Question 14

Learning often includes changes in behavior or the development of new skills. But it can also involve __________.
A) the acquisition of new knowledge without clear implications for behavior
B) simple associations ("She finally realized, where there's smoke, there's fire")
C) the creation of elaborate belief systems
D) all of the above answers are correct

Accepted Answer

All of the options are correct. Learning can involve the acquisition of new knowledge without necessarily leading to changes in behavior or the development of new skills. It can also involve the formation of associations, such as realizing that smoke usually indicates a fire, and the creation of complex belief systems.

Question 15

A(n) __________ response is elicited by a US.
A) conditioned
B) learned
C) secondary
D) unconditioned

Accepted Answer

An unconditioned response is an automatic or natural response that is elicited by an unconditioned stimulus (US) without prior learning or conditioning.

Question 16

Which of the following is the best example of one of the simplest forms of learning, called habituation?
A) You see something you've never seen before and immediately orient toward it.
B) After watching a lot of violent TV, the violence depicted bothers you less and less.
C) You work near a stove, accidentally touch a hot burner, and then make the connection: Stoves are hot.
D) If you are involved in a well-rehearsed task, such as washing the dishes, you go through the same steps each time you perform the task.

Accepted Answer

Habituation is a decrease in response to a stimulus after repeated presentations. Choice B, where exposure to violent TV leads to being less bothered by violence, is an example of habituation because the individual's emotional response decreases as they become accustomed to the stimulus.

Question 17

What is the adaptive significance of habituation?
A) It greatly intensifies the effects of sensitization.
B) It allows organisms to ignore familiar but harmless stimuli.
C) It paves the way for associative conditioning.
D) It keeps neurons active when they might otherwise degenerate.

Accepted Answer

Habituation allows organisms to conserve energy by not responding to familiar but harmless stimuli, such as ignoring the vibration of a fan in a room. This adaptation is beneficial as it allows the organism to allocate energy towards high priority stimuli and important behaviors.

Question 18

Professor James was hoping to get a lot of work done on the train. Unfortunately, he was seated next to a bunch of rambunctious children. At first he found it difficult to concentrate, but gradually he was able to ignore the noise completely. In terms of learning terminology, what type of process has occurred?
A) sensitization
B) habituation
C) extinction
D) shaping

Accepted Answer

Habituation is the process by which an organism becomes less responsive to a repeated stimulus over time. In this case, Professor James initially found the children's noise distracting, but he gradually became less responsive to it and was able to ignore it completely.

Question 19

Rosetta sets her alarm clock to "medium loud" at the start of the semester. The first few times it rings, she hears it and jumps out of bed immediately. By the second week of classes, Rosetta sleeps right through the alarm until she resets it to "really loud." What is this an example of?
A) shaping
B) successive approximations
C) secondary reinforcement
D) habituation

Accepted Answer

This is an example of habituation, which is the decrease in responsiveness to a repeated stimulus over time. Rosetta has become accustomed to the sound of the alarm and no longer responds to it at its original volume.

Question 20

An obvious benefit of habituation is that __________.
A) it narrows the range of stimuli that elicit alarm
B) it guarantees that we will respond to novel inputs
C) it leads to enduring brain changes in the hippocampus
D) both a and b

Accepted Answer

The answer of An obvious benefit of habituation is that...

Quiz 7: Learning

Which of the following is NOT likely to be the result of learning?

Sarah is trying to study, but the loud noise from her neighbor's party distracts her. However, after some time, Sarah finds that she can concentrate on her work, even though the noise is as loud as it ever was. What process has likely occurred?

__________ occurs when one fails to respond to stimuli that have become familiar due to repeated exposure.

Which of the following philosophers would NOT be considered an empiricist?

Who is credited with the discovery of classical conditioning?

Which of the following may occur as you learn?

Which of the following would be an accurate reflection of a learning theorist's viewpoint regarding learning?

Unconditioned responses by definition occur __________.

An infant presented with the same visual stimulus over and over again will eventually lose interest in it, not responding with the same degree of curiosity as he did initially. This gradual drop-off in responding has been called __________.

A(n) __________ is elicited by a stimulus regardless of an animal's history of experiences.

More than anything else, when the early empiricist philosophers sought to offer an account of learning, they focused on __________.

What is an object or event called that elicits a response without prior learning?

How would an empiricist explain how you learned that dogs are both mammals and animals, that is, both animals belong in many categories?

Learning often includes changes in behavior or the development of new skills. But it can also involve __________.

A(n) __________ response is elicited by a US.

Which of the following is the best example of one of the simplest forms of learning, called habituation?

What is the adaptive significance of habituation?

Rosetta sets her alarm clock to "medium loud" at the start of the semester. The first few times it rings, she hears it and jumps out of bed immediately. By the second week of classes, Rosetta sleeps right through the alarm until she resets it to "really loud." What is this an example of?

An obvious benefit of habituation is that __________.