Attention, Perception, Learning and Memory Questions and Answers

Answer: C

The key gives the processing model.

Craik and Lockhart's levels-of-processing model (1972) holds that how well something is remembered depends on how deeply it is processed: shallow physical or structural processing (what the word looks like), intermediate acoustic or phonemic processing (what it sounds like), and deep semantic processing (what it means), which gives the best retention.

The structural (multi-store) model divides memory into sensory, short-term and long-term stores. Connectionist models describe memory as patterns across networks of units, and non-declarative memory is a type of long-term memory, not a model of processing levels.

Answer: B

The activated portion of long-term memory is working memory.

In views such as Cowan's embedded-processes model, working memory is the part of long-term memory that is currently activated, with a small focus of attention within it. Information is held and manipulated there while it is in use, for example during reasoning or mental arithmetic.

Declarative and procedural memory are divisions of long-term memory by type of content (facts and events versus skills), not by activation. Sensory memory is the very brief store of raw sensory input that precedes short-term processing.

Answer: C

Observational learning shows a behaviour can be acquired by observing another individual's behaviour and its reinforcement.

Bandura's Bobo doll studies showed that children learned aggressive acts simply by watching an adult model, without being reinforced themselves. Seeing the model rewarded (vicarious reinforcement) made them more likely to perform the behaviour, and seeing the model punished made them less likely. Learning took place without direct reinforcement of the learner.

Punishment weakens behaviour rather than producing new behaviour. Classical conditioning pairs stimuli to produce reflexive responses. Instinctive drift is the tendency of conditioned behaviour to slip back towards instinctive patterns.

Answer: C

Behaviour modification programmes may be designed to either increase or decrease response strength.

Behaviour modification applies learning principles to change behaviour. Some programmes strengthen desirable behaviour, such as studying or social skills, through positive reinforcement, shaping and token economies. Others weaken undesirable behaviour, such as aggression or smoking, through extinction, punishment, time-out or reinforcing incompatible behaviour. Many programmes do both at once.

Saying they only increase or only reduce response strength describes half the field, and a programme that changes neither would have no purpose.

Answer: A

Priyanka's behaviour illustrates stimulus generalization.

In stimulus generalization a response learned in the presence of one stimulus is also made to similar stimuli. Priyanka learned to wash her hands before snack-time at preschool, and now makes the same response before eating at home, a similar situation in which she was not trained.

Response generalization would be making a different but related response, such as wiping her hands instead of washing them. Discrimination is the opposite of generalization: responding in one situation but not another, which is not what she is doing.

Answer: A

The grandmother is acting as a discriminating stimulus.

A discriminative stimulus signals that a particular response will be reinforced. The child has learned that asking for candy pays off when the grandmother is present and does not when the mother is, so the grandmother's presence sets the occasion for the behaviour.

Observational learning is learning by watching others, not a stimulus. Variable-interval and fixed-ratio are schedules describing when reinforcement is given, by time or by number of responses; they do not describe a cue that controls when a behaviour occurs.

Answer: A

The mnemonics are (1) imagery and (2) the method of loci.

Mnemonics are special techniques for making material easier to remember. Imagery turns words into vivid mental pictures, such as linking items in a bizarre interactive image. The method of loci places the items to be remembered at familiar locations along an imagined route and recalls them by walking the route in the mind.

Organisation (grouping material into categories) improves memory, but it is a general encoding strategy rather than a mnemonic device. Closure is a Gestalt principle of perception, not a memory technique. So the options with (3) or (4) are wrong.

Answer: C

Such a response shows high resistance to extinction.

Resistance to extinction is the persistence of a conditioned response after reinforcement stops. A response that lasts long and is hard to extinguish has high resistance. Responses learned under partial (intermittent) reinforcement, especially variable-ratio schedules, show the most, as gambling illustrates.

Low resistance would mean the response disappears quickly. 'High' or 'low association with reinforcement' are not the standard terms; the durability of a response is described by its resistance to extinction.

Answer: B

Saying 'no' when only noise is presented is a correct rejection.

Signal detection theory has four outcomes:

• signal present, 'yes': hit
• signal present, 'no': miss
• noise only, 'yes': false alarm
• noise only, 'no': correct rejection

When the trial contains noise alone and the observer says no signal is present, the response is correct, so it is a correct rejection. A hit and a miss need a signal to be present, and a false alarm (printed 'fabe alarm') is saying 'yes' to noise.

Answer: B

Weber's fraction is a measure of the difference threshold.

Weber's law states that the just noticeable difference (JND) in a stimulus is a constant fraction of the original stimulus intensity: \(\Delta I / I = k\). The constant k, Weber's fraction, is about 0.02 for lifted weights, so a change of about 2 per cent is needed to be noticed. The JND is the difference threshold.

The absolute threshold is the smallest intensity detectable at all, which Weber's fraction does not describe. Sensory adaptation is the decline in sensitivity with constant stimulation. 'Approximate threshold' is not a technical term.