2007 Practice Exam - Short Answer Question Answers

Question 1

She would picture (visualise) each of the endangered Australian animals placed at a certain significant location on a well-known journey. For example, a rock wallaby at her front door and a tree kangaroo climbing on the gate. When giving the talk, she would take the journey in her mind and as she imagined each of the locations, it would form a cue to enable her to remember the associated animal.

Keyword: Picture (visualise)

Full Marks: Describing method (including the words picture or visualizing) of how information is encoded and stored, and how to retrieve the information.

Question 2

Some answers include:

·      integrating information from the phonological loop and visuo-spatial sketchpad; for example, in reading where a word is identified and sounded.

·      planning a course of action to solve a problem; for example, deciding how to open a door when one has one’s hands full of shopping bags

·      deciding which items require attention and which are to be ignored; for example, picking out relevant stimuli when searching a location in a street-directory.

Question 3

‘Organic cause’ refers to a physiological (biological) reason for memory loss. This may be a physical trauma or fading of the memory trace through decay when the memory is not revisited over time.

Keyword: Physiological (biological)

Question 4

a.     Retrograde amnesia

b.     Possible answers include:

·      he is likely to permanently forget events immediately prior to the accident

·      different aspects of memory recover at different rates, for example, episodic faster than semantic

·      a gradual increase in the rate of recovery as newly rediscovered memories cue (or trigger) recall of other items from the semantic network

·      possible initial rapid recovery then slower (or sporadic) recovery.

Full Marks: Two of the above points were required to get full marks

Question 5

Constable Phillips is relying on context dependent cues to assist recall by the witnesses (cued recall is more sensitive than free recall).

The more closely retrieval cues match the external environment (physical context) in which learning occurred (the location where they saw the fight), the greater the chance of recalling the details of the fight.

Full Marks: Both of the points above were required to get full marks – ALSO referring to the example in the answer was required to get full marks.

Question 6

The greatest rate of forgetting would occur immediately after learning.

Memory loss would then slow to a steady decline and after a few days, little or no more forgetting would occur.

Full Marks: Both points were required. Specific amounts (times and percentages) were not essential, descriptive terms were acceptable – however specific amounts were given full marks.

Question 7

7i.

Pain from the needle (pain)

7ii.

Approach of nurse (nurse/sight of approaching nurse)

7iii.

Fear of pain from injection (scream because of pain)

7iv.

Fear of nurse (scream at approach of nurse)

One mark was given per correct answer

Question 8

a.     In observational learning we learn through observing the consequences of others’ behaviours, whether they are reinforced or punished. Learning in which behaviour becomes controlled by its consequences is called operant conditioning.

b.     Elements of observational learning were required, with reference to the example:

Attention: Her daughter should actively watch when Jodie is cooking. Jodie should point out her actions.

Retention: The daughter must remember the actions that Jodie performed in her cooking, especially by doing a step at a time.

Reproduction: Her daughter must have the ability to perform the cooking. It must not be too complex for her.

Motivation: The daughter must want to cook. Jodie should encourage her to repeat the cooking behaviour she has seen.

Reinforcement: When her daughter cooks something, Jodie should praise her to encourage her to cook again.

Full Marks: One mark given to each of the bolded words above – they ALL need to relate to the example (Jodie), if they weren’t then no marks would be given.

Question 9

Trial and Error Learning

Question 10

Similarities:

·      Taste aversion and classical conditioning both involve the pairing of the unconditioned stimulus with the conditioned stimulus to elicit a conditioned response.

·      Both taste aversion and classical conditioning involve reflexive responses.

·      In both taste aversion and classical conditioning the learner is passive.

Differences:

·      It takes only one pairing of the unconditioned stimulus with the conditioned stimulus to elicit a long lasting conditioned response in taste aversion, whereas in classical conditioning it usually takes repeated pairings.

·      In classical conditioning, both the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli are contemporaneous. In taste aversion there is a long delay between the conditioned stimulus (sight/smell/taste of the food) and the effective unconditioned stimulus (bacteria in the bloodstream).

·      There is a large time lapse between the unconditioned stimulus and unconditioned response in taste aversion, whereas in classical conditioning there is a short period of time between the unconditioned stimulus and the unconditioned response.

·      The learning response is more difficult to extinguish in taste aversion as compared to classical conditioning.

·      The conditioned response (dislike of the taste/food) is much stronger in taste aversion than in classical conditioning.

IMPORTANT: In the differences – you must mention both! Do not just list the characteristics of one.

Question 11

Operational Hypothesis needs to include:

• a statement of the population

• a statement of the independent variable

• a statement of the dependent variable

• operationalisation of the dependent variable (Exactly how it is measured)

Question 12

Independent variable

Whether the participants listen to no background noise, loud instrumental music or a loud verbal conversation while completing a logic puzzle

Dependent variable

Time taken to complete the logic puzzle

Question 13

This question referred to ‘strata’ so it was expecting you to describe the process of random stratified sampling.

·      placing the name of each person in the population into the appropriate category of age and gender.

·      deciding on the size of the sample to be used and calculating the number of participants required to form the same proportions of each cohort in the sample as found in the population

·      selecting participants at random using a random number generator or table or other appropriate method (such as drawing names from a hat) so that each person has the same chance of being selected as the others in the stratum.

Full Marks: All three points were required in order to get full marks

Question 14

a.     Repeated Measures Design

b.     It eliminates the effect of participant variables

Question 15

Name: Experimenter Bias

Description: The influence or bias of the experimenter may affect the data and influence the results.

Question 16

Order Effect - The researcher should have included counterbalancing in her research design, where the order of the conditions was varied for each third of the participants. For example, in conditions a, b and c they could be arranged in any of the following orders: abc, acb, bac, bca, cab or cba.

Full Marks: One mark for stating order effect and one mark for stating and explaining counterbalancing.

The questions just asked you to STATE the possible confounding variable of the research design NOT explain – it wanted you to explain how to overcome the order effect which is counterbalancing.

Question 17

Yes, this is a valid conclusion to make. The level of significance was set at 0.05 and Denise calculated a p value less than 0.05 for her study. This meant that the probability was less than 5 in 100 (5 per cent, or 1 in 20) that her results were due to chance.

Question 18

Informed

Parents and students are given detailed information about:

• process and intent of the research

• the rights of the participants

• any risks involved.

Consent

Participants and their parents then agree that the students may take part in the study.

Since participants in this study are under 18 years old, a correct answer needed to refer to the consent of parents.

Full Marks: Need to comment on both informed and consent to get full marks.

Question 19

It is important to repeat this study at another school to:

·      determine if the results can be generalised to a different population

·      test the validity of the results.

Either one of these points will gain the mark.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW FOR EXAM

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW FOR MEMORY:

Anterograde amnesia

Atkinson-Shiffrin model

Central Executive

Chunking

Consolidation Theory

Context-Dependent Cues

Decay Theory

Declarative Memory

Echoic Memory

Elaboration

Elaborative Rehearsal

Encoding

Episodic Memory

Forgetting

Forgetting Curve

Iconic Memory

Interference Theory

Long-Term Memory

Maintenance Rehearsal

Method of Loci

Method of Savings (Relearning)

Mnemonic Device

Motivated Forgetting

Narrative Chaining

Primacy Effect

Proactive Interference

Procedural Memory

Recall

Recency Effect

Recognition

Rehearsal

Relearning

Repression

Retrieval

Retrieval Cue

Retrieval Failure Theory

Retrograde Amnesia

Retroactive Interference

Semantic Memory

Semantic Network Theory

Sensory Memory

Serial Position Effect

Short Term Memory

State-Dependent Cues

Storage

Suppression

Working Memory

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW FOR LEARNING

Acquisition

Association

Attention

Aversion Therapy

Classical Conditioning

Cognitive Representatives

Conditioned Response

Conditioned Stimulus

Continuous Reinforcement

Extinction

Fixed Action Pattern

Garcia Effect

Instrumental Learning

Law of Effect

Learning

Learning Curve

Learning Set

Maturation

Modelling

Motivation Reinforcement

Negative Reinforcement

Neutral Stimulus

Observational Learning

One Trial Learning

Operant Conditioning

Partial Reinforcement

Positive Reinforcement

Punishment

Reinforcer

Reinforcement

Reflex Action

Reproduction

Response

Retention

Shaping

Skinner Box

Spontaneous Recovery

Stimulus

Stimulus Discrimination

Stimulus Generalisation

Systematic Desensitisation

Taste Aversion

Trial and Error Learning

Unconditioned Response

Unconditioned Stimulus

Vicarious Conditioning

Vicarious Reinforcement

Vicarious Punishment

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW FOR RESEARCH METHODS

Ethics

Confidentiality

Confounding Variables

Control Group

Counterbalancing

Debriefing

Deception

Descriptive Statistics

Dependent Variable

Double Blind Study

Experiment

Experimental Condition

Experimental Group

Experimenter Effect

Experimenter Bias

Extraneous Variables

Generalisation

Hypothesis

Independent Variable

Independent Groups Design

Inferential Statistics

Matched Participants Design

Null Hypothesis

Operational Hypothesis

Participants

Placebo Effect

Population

Probability

P value

Random Sampling

Random Stratified Sampling

Repeated Measures Design

Sample

Sampling

Scientific Method

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Single Blind Study

Statistical Significance

Stratified Sampling

Variables

Voluntary Participation

Withdrawal Rights

Observational Learning - Bobo Doll Experiment

·      Often called ‘modelling’

·      Observational learning occurs when someone uses their observations of another person’s actions to guide their future actions.

·      The person who you are observing is referred to as the ‘model’

Vicarious Conditioning

This occurs when an individual watches another person displaying behaviour that is either reinforced or punished, and then subsequently behaves in the same way, or a slightly modified way, or they may refrain from a certain behaviour due to what they have observed.

EXAMPLE: Mr Tippet – How I thought that I was in love with Mr Tippet, my grade 2 teacher and I had seen on television how a girl got a guy to fall in love with her by swinging her hips and fluttering her eyelashes. SO I thought that if I imitated this behaviour it would get Mr Tippet to propose to me. So I did. I swung my hips and fluttered my eyelashes (In a slightly modified way). Needless to say, it did not work.

Vicarious Reinforcement

When a model’s behaviour is reinforced, this increases the likelihood that the observer will behave in a similar way.

EXAMPLE: If you see a student in class get reinforced with praise or a reward when they help the teacher clean the whiteboard at the end of the day, this will increase the LIKELIHOOD that you will behave in similar way in the future.

Vicarious Punishment

When the model is punished for a certain behaviour, the likelihood of the observer performing that behaviour is decreased.

EXAMPLE: If you see a student get a detention for swearing at another student in class, this will decrease the likelihood that you perform that behaviour in the future.

Albert Bandura – Bobo Doll Experiment

AIM: To see if children who saw a model behave aggressively would be more likely to imitate that behaviour.

AIM: To see if the behaviour had been learnt, even though the children did not imitate the behaviour.

Participants:

·      72 children (Stanford University nursery school)

·      36 boys & 36 girls

·      Age range 3 years – 5  ½ years

·      Mean age  4 ½ years

There were three conditions:

24 children in each condition.

12 males and 12 females.

In ALL three conditions the participants saw a film of a model beating and yelling at a blow up clown (Bobo).

However all three conditions had a different ending to the film….

Condition One:

The aggressive model was rewarded with lollies, soft drink and praise by another adult.

Condition Two:

The aggressive model was punished with a spanking and verbal criticisms such as:

‘Hey there you big bully! Quit picking on that clown!’

Condition Three:

The model was neither rewarded or punished.

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT:

Each child was placed in a room with a Bobo doll by themselves.

They were monitored behind two-way glass.

In each condition (rewarded/punished/no consequence) half of the participants were offered a reward for imitating the aggressive behaviour.

WHAT THEY FOUND:

·      Children who were offered a reward for imitating the behaviour were more likely to act aggressively and imitate the models behaviour (even those who saw the model getting punished).

·      Learning can occur regardless of whether the model is punished or rewarded.

·      The differences in aggressive behaviours was very small when the offer of a reward was made.

·      Suggests that learning may have taken place even though the observer did not imitate the aggressive behaviour (performance).

·      This can be seen by how the children were more likely to act aggressively when offered a reward.

·      Some children did not show that they have learnt the behaviour until they were offered a reward.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE GENDERS:

Males were more likely to act aggressively across all conditions, even when they were in the condition in which the model was punished.

HOWEVER, when the children were offered rewards of juice and stickers (in all conditions), the females all showed an increase in aggressive behaviours IN ALL CONDITIONS. 

Key Processes in Operant Conditioning Summary

Acquisition: This refers to the establishment of a response through reinforcement.

THINK – When Skinner’s rat is first placed in the box, when it first starts hitting the lever it is accidental. During the acquisition phase, the rat is learning the appropriate response in order to receive reinforcement.

·      The speed at which the establishment occurs depends on whether continuous (constant reinforcement for every response) or partial (fixed-interval, fixed-ratio, etc) reinforcement.

Complex Behaviours (Such as training a pigeon to turn around):

When complex behaviours are required to learnt, SHAPING is used.

Shaping: Refers to a procedure in which reinforcement is given for any response that ultimately leads to the final desired response or target behaviour (Also known as the method of successive approximations).

EXAMPLE: When training the pigeon to turn around in a circle, Skinner first started reinforcing the pigeon whenever it took a step to the left. It would reinforce this behaviour until the pigeon had associated the behaviour with being reinforced, then he would cease reinforcement. The pigeon would then happen to turn slightly more to the left and then the reinforcement would begin again for that behaviour. This process would continue until the pigeon had turn in a full circle.

Extinction: Is the gradual decrease in the strength or rate of a conditioned response (learned response) following consistent non-reinforcement of the response.

SO – in other words, Skinner would stop reinforcing the rat or the pigeon for its response, and eventually the strength or rate of that response would decrease.

·      Extinction is less likely to occur when partial reinforcement is used. WHY? Because when continuous reinforcement is used, the organism is used to being reinforced for every single correct response, and when it stops getting reinforced for correct responses the behaviour will extinguish very quickly. Partial reinforcement is more resistant to extinguish because the organism is used to making correct responses without getting reinforced, so they can hold out for longer.

·      WHICH IS THE MOST RESISTANT TO EXTINCTION? Variable-Ratio schedule of reinforcement (Think Pokie machines – people will continue to play even thought they rarely get reinforced).

Spontaneous Recovery: Once the response appears to be extinct, the organism will once again show the response in the absence of reinforcement.

EXAMPLE: The pigeon could turn around in a circle again or the rat could push down on the lever again, even though this behaviour/response had been extinguished due to the absence of a reinforcer.

Stimulus Generalisation: This occurs when the correct response is made to another stimulus that is similar to the stimulus that was present when the conditioned response was reinforced.

EXAMPLE: Skinner operantly conditioned rats to press a lever for a reinforcer (food) every time that a light flashed in the Skinner Box. This light could be a variety of colours which flashed at various times. The rat could show stimulus generalisation by pressing the lever for reinforcement whenever any coloured light was flashed.

Stimulus Discrimination: This occurs when an organism makes the correct response to a stimulus and is reinforced, but does not respond to any other stimulus, even when the stimuli are similar.

EXAMPLE: With the rats pressing for reinforcement when lights are flashed, stimulus discrimination could occur if the rat only pressed the lever for reinforcement whenever the ‘red’ light, or a specific colour was flashed and would not respond when other coloured lights were flashed. Skinner was able to do this deliberately by only providing reinforcements when a certain coloured light was flashed.

Examples of Reinforcement/Punishment

Operant Conditioning

•Operant conditioning - the learning of voluntary behavior through the effects of pleasant and unpleasant consequences to responses.

The study of how behavior is affected by its consequences.

•Investigates the learning of voluntary responses.

•Reinforcement - any event or stimulus, that when following a response, increases the probability that the response will occur again.

•Reinforcer – Any object or event that changes the probability that an operant behaviour will occur again.

•Positive reinforcement - the reinforcement of a response by the addition or experiencing of a pleasurable stimulus.

•Negative reinforcement - the reinforcement of a response by the removal, escape from, or avoidance of an unpleasant stimulus.

Example: Taking aspirin for a headache is negatively reinforced – removal of headache!

Schedules of Reinforcement: Refers to the frequency and manner in which a desired response is reinforced.

•Partial reinforcement effect - the tendency for a response that is reinforced after some, but not all, correct responses to be very resistant to extinction.

•Continuous reinforcement - the reinforcement of each and every correct response.

Four Main Schedules of Partial Reinforcement

TERMS YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Fixed: Always the same

Ratio: Number of responses

Interval: Time

Variable: Always different

•Fixed ratio schedule of reinforcement - schedule of reinforcement in which the number of responses required for reinforcement is always the same.

Eg: Getting paid for every 10 strawberries picked.

•Variable ratio schedule of reinforcement - schedule of reinforcement in which the number of responses required for reinforcement is different for each trial or event.

Eg. Poker machines

•Fixed interval schedule - of reinforcement schedule of reinforcement in which the interval of time that must pass before reinforcement becomes possible is always the same.

Eg. Pedestrian crossing

•Variable interval schedule of reinforcement - schedule of reinforcement in which the interval of time that must pass before reinforcement becomes possible is different for each trial or event.

Eg. Fishing

Punishment: is the delivery of an unpleasant stimulus following a response, or the removal of a pleasant stimulus following a response.

When closely associated with a response, punishment weakens the response, or decreases the chance of that response occurring again over time.

Taste Aversion - One Trial Learning

žA taste-aversion is a conditioned response that results from a person or animal establishing an association between a particular food and being or feeling ill after having consumed it at some time in the past.

žThe association is usually the result of a single experience & the particular food will be avoided in the future.

žSimilar to CC as there is an association between a CS( smell/taste of food) and the UCS (nausea producing substance).

žThis tends to happen with one trial.

žOne-trial learning is a form of learning involving a change in behaviour that occurs with only one experience.

žWhether one-trial learning is a particular type of CC is still a topic of some debate.

CC vs. One-trial learning

žCC responses usually take a number of associations or pairings to occur & can extinguish relatively quickly.

žIn CC, the CR occurs immediately after the CS is presented.

žOne trial learning is quickly acquired & considerably resistant to extinction (because UCR, feeling sick, is very powerful.

žIn one-trial learning, the CR could occur as much as a day or so after the food (CS) was consumed.

*CC and one-trial learning both involve automatic, involuntary responses that are acquired in a passive manner, i.e., the person or animal does not make a deliberate decision to perform a behaviour for an intended outcome.

Aversion Therapy/Systematic Desensitisation/Enuresis

Aversion Therapy

žWhen people develop behaviours that are habitual and harmful to themselves or to others, such as substance dependence, it is difficult to help them permanently stop the unwanted behaviour.

Aversion therapy is a form of behaviour therapy that applies CC principles to inhibit or discourage undesirable behaviour by associating it with an aversive stimulus.

žThe aim of aversion therapy is to suppress or weaken undesirable behaviour.

žE.g. to stop unwanted behaviour such as nail biting, we might paint our nails with a foul-tasting substance.

žThe association between nail biting and the unpleasant taste is learned quickly.

When was aversion therapy first used?

ž1930s to treat alcoholism.

žAlcoholics were administered painful electric shocks whenever the could smell, see or taste alcohol.

žToday, nausea-inducing drugs are paired with alcohol consumption to make the alcoholic feel ill.

Association becomes so strong that the person beings to anticipate nausea as an inevitable result of consuming alcohol.

Limitations of aversion therapy

žThe learned aversion often fails to generalise.

žThis may be due to conditioning being dependent on cues that indicate the aversive stimulus will follow.

žPeople may experience the aversion only when they know that the UCS is going to coincide with alcohol consumption.

Systematic desensitisation

žDeveloped on the 1950s by psychiatrist Joseph Wolpe, systematic desensitisation is a kind of behaviour therapy that attempts to replace an anxiety or fear response with a relaxation response through a classical conditioning procedure.

žThe client associates being relaxed with the anxiety or fear-arousing stimulus by means of a series of graded steps.

žBasic principle is that the client is gradually desensitised to anxiety or fear-arousing objects, activities or situations.

Wolpe’s procedure:

1.Person is taught to relax.

2.Break down the fear arousing situation into a logical sequence of steps (steps are ranked from least to most fear-inducing).

žOnce the steps are ranked, the therapist then teaches the person deep muscle relaxation and asks them to imagine the least frightening scene on the list and so on…

žIn the end the person learns to imagine the most frightening scene without becoming afraid.

žThe best results seem to occur using real life desensitisation, such as the therapist sitting in a plane with the person or introducing them to the pilot for reassurance.

žBy allowing the client to confront the phobia under such supportive circumstances, the fear of flying is eventually overcome.

Enuresis (bedwetting)

žSome children continue to wet their beds long after they are toilet trained and out of nappies.

žThis is known an enuresis (persistent involuntary discharge of urine after the age of when bladder control is expected)

žSome cases of enuresis are caused by physiological problems (e.g. weakness of muscles near bladder), yet the condition is mostly associated with:

›problems during toilet training

›stressful situations such as hospitalisation

›underlying emotional problems relation to entering school or the birth of a sibling.

Treatment of persistent bedwetting

žCC procedures have been successfully applied in treating enuresis.

žE.g. Wickes (1958) and a team of research assistants successfully treated 100 cases of enuresis in participants aged between 5 & 17.

žWickes believed the individual had simply failed to learn to wake up in response to the stimuli arising from a full bladder and that this necessary learning could be brought about by CC.

žWickes decided to use the sound of a buzzer as a UCS to reliably awaken a person sleeping.

žThe sound would follow the stimulation from a full bladder (CS).

žAfter a series of such paired presentations, the response of waking up – buzzer (UCR) – should begin to occur in response to stimulation from a full bladder (CR)

žThen the person would go to the toilet instead of wetting the bed while asleep.

žProblem – to arrange for a buzzer to sound shortly after the person’s bladder was full.

žSolution – have the person sleep with a gauze pad appropriately positioned so that the first drop of urine closed a circuit that set off the buzzer.

žWickes found that his treatment proved to be an effective method for curing enuresis, as many children and adolescents began to wake up in response to the stimulation from a full bladder- before wetting the bed.

žThe recent modification of using a small ultrasonic monitor mounted on an elastic belt worn around the abdomen, has been made to Wickes’ method.

žThe belt triggers an alarm when the bladder capacity reaches a certain level.

Ethical issues in conditioning behaviour

žAll research with human participants must abide by a set of ethical principles and guidelines called the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Research Involving Humans.

žCC research demands particular attention as learning happens passively and a participant might unknowingly and unwillingly acquire new behaviours.

žWatson and Rayner’s research with Little Albert would not be approved by an ethics committee today for various reasons, such as:

›Beneficence

›Respect for persons

›Participant’s rights

›Voluntary participation

›Confidentiality