Learning and Cognition
Sensation & Perception
Behavioural Neuroscience
Research Modules
Randomised mix w6-11
100
What is the focus of operant conditioning?
(Give 1 point)
The shaping of voluntary behaviours by association with their consequences.
100
What is Gestaltism?
(Give 1 point)
Gestaltism (opposite of structuralism) claims that conscious awareness is more than the sum of the elementary sensations. (Conscious awareness can have characteristics not present in any elementary sensations.)
100
What is Long Term Potentiation (LTP)?
(Give 1 point)
If activation at one synapse is repeatededly accompanied by an action potential at the post-synaptic neuron, the synaptic connection becomes stronger.
The post-synaptic neuron will become more sensitive to neurotransmitter release from presynaptic neuron and more likely to reach threshold for activation.
"Neurons that fire together wire together"
100
What are deductive arguments?
(Give 1 point)
Start from broad to specific, to derive suitable hypothesis to test a theory.
100
What is 'ipsilateral'?
(Give 1 point)
On the same side of the midline.
(Contralateral means on the opposite side of the midline)
200
How do serial positions affect the transfer to long-term memory?
(Give 2 points)
Primacy effect provides evidence for transfer to long- term memory for items that receive more rehearsal
Recency effect reflects availability of information still in short-term memory
200
What is the Binding Problem? How is it sovled?
(Give 2 points)
The binding problem is the question of how an object’s individual features are combined (bound) to create a coherent percept.
(If I see a green egg and ham, how does my brain know that its the egg that is green, and not the ham?)
Feature Integration Theory suggests that this is solved by attending to one location at a atime - then they are processed by location, so that only those features are boudn together.
(Solution: I look at the egg by iteself, process that it is green, then look at the ham.)
200
What are two ways drugs can act on receptors?
(Give 2 points)
Agonists - Agnoistic drug effectes- Drug increases synthesis of neuotransmitter molecules.
Antagonists - Antagonistic drug effects- Drug blocks synthesis of neurotransmitter moleculues
200
What do correlational research designs investigate? How do they do this?
(Give 2 points)
Correlational research designs - investigation of relationships between variables. There is no manipulation, variables are observed as they naturally exist, and the presence of an association between the variables is assessed. Each participant must provide 2 pieces of data - to see if changes in values in one variable are systematically and predictably accompanied by another variable. (Eg. Potential relationship between exercise and happiness)
Note: Cannot make determinations about cause and effect (may be a third fact at play too!)
200
Identify the 2 main types of colour deficiency and give a brief explanation of each.
(Give 2 points)
Monochromatism - very rare, usually have no functioning cones, only functioning rods. Only see world in shades of gray and very sensitive to light.
Dichromats - lacking one of the three types of cones. Includes 3 types: protanopes (L), deuteranopes (M), tritanopes (S). Each of the three types will be unable to distinguish 2 of red, green, and blue.
300
What did Bandura's modelling aggression study demonstrate?
(Give 3 points)
Bandura’s study demonstrated vicarious reinforcement and vicarious punishment
- That learning can occur socially through observation, in the absence of directly experienced consequences.
- Performance of aggressive acts is influenced by mental representations of observed consequences.
- Knowledge remained latent in the model-punished group until a reward was introduced.
More explanation:
Direct personal experience of reinforcement or punishment was not necessary for learning to occur in children who observed the model. All children, regardless of which condition they had been in, subsequently demonstrated learning from the model when they were later rewarded for performing the acts they had witnessed – even those who had witnessed no consequences. Rather, the results show that it is the expectation for reinforcement or punishment as a consequence of behaviour that affected whether the children would demonstrate what they had learned through observation.
300
Identify the three difficulties/factors that contribute to misclassification.
1. The stimulus on the retina is ambiguous
2. Objects can be hidden or blurred
3. Objects look different from different viewpoints and in different poses
300
Where is the primary somatosensory cortex, what information does it receive, and how does it function?
(Give 3 points)
Located immediately posterior to the central sulcus (grove between prontal and parietal lobe).
Receives sensory information from skin (temp, touch, pain)
Different regions of skin surface represented by different areas along cortex, allowing formation of a somatotopic map, where face and hands are overrepresented.
300
How can reseach be conducted with beneficience?
(Give 3 points)
Consider risks and benefits, research should result in likely benefits to participants or the community, such that should justify any risk or discomfort to participants.
Potential risks are minimised and controlled.
Researchers responsible to give clear explanations of risks and benefits of research, must be provided prior to involvement in study.
Aids in informed consent to participate in study.
300
What are size illusions and why do they occur? Give an example.
(Give 3 points)
Most size illusions occur when people to mistake the distance to an object so it looks larger/smaller than in reality. Thinking an object is closer than reality will make it appear smaller, thinking an object appears further will make it appear larger.
Examples include Ames Room, mini Eiffel Tower/Leaning Tower of Pisa in photos, etc.
400
Why did Sperling devise the partial-report method for the iconic memory experiment, and what did he discover?
(1 - What about the full-report method made him devise partial-report method
2- What was he trying to prove with partial-report method
3 - What were the results
4 - Overall conclusion)
- Sperling felt that the full-report method was likely to have underestimated the true capacity of the iconic trace.
- He devised the partial-report method to test his theory that the capacity of the visual icon was much greater than just 4 items.
- The results of the partial report method provided a much larger estimate of iconic memory capacity, as participants could recall all of the letters from any cued row this demonstrated that all 12 items were available.
- The full report method underestimated the capacity of the iconic trace by confounding the reporting method with the duration of the iconic trace.
400
What are the four factors that determine the quality of architectural acoustics? Give a short explanation for each.
Reverberation time - time taken for sound to decrease by 60dB (concert hall ~ 2sec, opera hall ~1.5sec)
Intimiacy time - temporal difference between when the direct sound and when the first indirect sound arrives (concert halls ~ 20ms)
Bass ratio - ratio of low frequencies to middle frequencies for indirect sound (higher is more ideal)
Spaciousness factor - ratio of indirect sound to total sound (higher is more ideal)
400
How did Paul Broca contribute to behavioural neuroscience? What evidence did he provide? Why was this important?
First to provide solid evidence of brain modularity.
First desrcibed in a patient called Leborgne - unable to speak after damage to left frontal lobe, but normal chewing and language comprehension.
Similiar patients subsequently seen with damage in same area.
400
Identify the four scales of measurement and their key features.
(Give 4 points)
Nominal - based on a set of categories. No intrinsic order. Just membership, not value. (Gender identity)
Ordinal - values are assigned to indicate an order, not magnitude of difference between points on a scale. (Podium places for race)
Interval - equal units of measurement separating 2 scores on a scale, but there is no real zero (Celsius for temperature)
Ratio - numbers that indicate real values with equal intervals, and there is a real zero point (Ruler for distance between)
400
Identify 4 functions of motion perception.
(Give 4 points)
- Help break camouflage
- Help attract attention
- Help segregate objects from background
- Help interpretation of events
- Help to determine the structure of objects
- Help to dtermine what actions people are performing
500
What is the multi-store model of memory? Name the 3 "stores" of memory.
The model was first proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) in the early days of the “cognitive revolution’.
The three stores can be distinguished based on how long memory is retained (duration), and how much information can be stored (capacity)
Memory consists of three “stores”
1. Sensory memory
2. Short-term memory (working memory).
3. Long-term memory.
500
How are afterimages evidence for the opponent-process theory of colour vision?
Afterimgaes are direct evidence for redgreen & blue/yellow coloud opponent processing:
When viewing red stimulus, L cones more stimulated than M cones ➝ red percept more activated than green percept. Red is originally seen.
Over time, L cones habituate and become less sensensitive to stimulus ➝ when white stimulus is shown, green cones respond more strongly than red cones. Green after image is seen.
500
Describe 6 of the divisions of the nervous system and how they are differentiated.
Nervous system ➝ Peripheral Nevous System (cranial and spine nerves) and Central nervous system (brain and spinal cord)
Peripheral Nercous system ➝ Somatic system (connects CNS to sensory input and voluntary motor output) and Autonomic system (Connects central system to non-voluntary muscles and glands)
Autonomic system ➝ Parasympathetic system (rest and digestion response) and Sympathetic system (fight or flight)
500
Identify the 5 defining features of a good hypothesis.
(Give 5 points)
- Should logically follow from your literature review (there is a supporting logical argument)
- Narrow and specific in contrast to a research question
- Testable - involve observable and measurable phenomenon
- Falsifiable - can provide support or not
- Should be predictive of an effect - should state or predict that something will happen (should never state that nothing will be observed) - should be a positive statement of effect
500
Discuss the importance of functional connectivity and integration in behavioural and psychological processes with the example of motor control. Give an example.
The brain is required to integrate information from different regions within the brain that are specialised for different functions.
Example: hitting a cricket ball.
Eyes and ears provide important visual and auditory cues.
Some sensory signals may be important for successful execution of the task, while other signals may be distracting.
The brain must select for the important and relevant sensory cues depending on the tasks/goals maintained in working memory.
Appropriate motor actions need to be executed, eg. balance maintained, arm strikes out at x angle, swing at x time, etc.