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GRE Psychology: Learning

Subjects : gre, psychology
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. John Garcia - Certain associations are learned more easily than others - Nausea & food can be paired easily - but light and nausea cannot be paired






2. Theory of association






3. Set of characteristics indicative of one'S ability to learn






4. Type of forward conditioning; CS presented and terminated before UCS presentation






5. Reinforcement delivered after a consistent number of responses; vulnerable to extinction






6. Need for achievement (nAch); need to pursue success or to avoid failure - goal is to feel successful






7. Animals strongly and automatically connect nausea and food - especially strong in children; preparedness






8. Teach to performance a desired behaviour to get away from a negative stimulus






9. Higher arousal for simple tasks (motivation) - lower arousal for complex tasks (concentration); optimal arousal is an inverted U on a graph - Y-axis: performance - X-axis: arousal - Difficult task --> upside-down U shape - Simple task --> reaches pea






10. later proved experimentally - Classical conditioning






11. Response that CS elicits after conditioning; UCR and CR will be the same (e.g. salivation)






12. Previous learning helps learning of another task later






13. In classical conditioning - the inability to infer a relationship between a stimulus and response due to the presence of a more prominent stimulus






14. Increased sensitivity to environment after exposure to a strong stimulus - Rubbing arm after pain?






15. How people learn in educational settings such as student and teacher attributes






16. 'learning' that a specific action causes an event - when in reality the two are unrelated






17. Previous CS now a UCS (e.g.*bell > [ light > food > ] salivation)






18. Accidental learning - unrelated items grouped together; opposite of intentional learning (e.g. dog associates car with vet)






19. Lewin - grouping based on co-occurence in time and space; associate certain behaviours with certain rewards and cues






20. By having an apparatus (e.g. lever) - an animal controls its reinforcements (e.g. food) through behaviours (e.g. pressing) - shaping its own behaviour






21. Removal of a negative event that increases likelihood of a particular response; while punishment introduces a negative event to decrease likelihood of a response






22. Not all correct responses met with reinforcement; slower but more resistant; fixed ratio - variable ratio - fixed interval - variable interval; variable is best because it is unexpected - ratio gives better response since based on # of correct behavi






23. Thorndike - precursor of operant conditioning - Cause-and-effect chain of behaviour; continue what rewards - stop what doesn'T






24. Decreasing responsiveness to a stimulus due to increasing familiarity






25. Motivation to reduce internal tension - once satisfied - back to homeostasis/ relaxation; against M.E. Olds electrical stimulation of pleasure centres






26. Natural reinforcement - without requirement of learning; food and water






27. Learned reinforce - often through society; money - prestige - rewards






28. Born with certain physiological needs - will be tension if not satisfied; when it is - return to state of homeostasis and relaxation






29. Operant conditioning






30. Empty box (with a rat and a lever) - later proved the influence of reinforcement






31. Linking a series of behaviours that result in reinforcement - one behaviour triggers the next (e.g. learning the alphabet)






32. Reversal of conditioning - dissociating behaviour from a cue - Repeatedly withholding reinforcement or disassociating the behavior from a cue






33. Fritz Heider'S balance theory - Charles Osgood and Percy Tannenbaum'S congruity theory - Leon Festinger'S cognitive dissonance theory; what about individuals who often seek stimulation - novel experience - or self-destruction?






34. Previous learning makes learning a new task more difficult






35. What a person learns in one state is best recalled in that state






36. Learning curve






37. Every correct response is met with reinforcement; quickest but most fragile learning - as soon as rewards stop coming - the animal stops performing






38. Links together chains of stimuli and responses - learns what to do in response to particular triggers (leaving a building in response to fire alarm)






39. Learning about something in general (history) for knowledge rather than learning-specific stimulus-response chains (e.g. Tolman'S experiments with animals forming cognitive maps of mazes rather than simple escape routes)






40. Teacher encourages independent learning - only provides assistance when needed






41. Opposite of stimulus discrimination; make same response to a group of similar stimuli (e.g. fire alarms may sound different but same response)






42. Primary/instinctual (hunger or thirst) - secondary/ acquired (money or other learned reinforcers) - exploratory (seek novelty or explore) - We are primarily motivated to maintain physiological or psychological homeostasis.






43. Ebbinghaus - when learning something new - rate of learning usually changes over time; can be positively or negatively accelerated






44. Pairing of the CS and the UCS in which the CS is presented before the UCS - delayed conditioning and trace conditioning






45. Previous CS now a UCS (e.g.*bell > [ light > food > ] salivation)






46. Does not produce a specific response on its own (e.g. light or bell)






47. Experiment shows that there is electrical stimulation of pleasure centers in the brain used as positive reinforcement - this is evidence against drive-reduction theory






48. Learn 3-20 - constant 20-50 - drops 50+






49. Reappearance of an extinguished response - even without further conditioning - after the child'S tantrum behaviour has been extinguished - the child may suddenly throw a tantrum again






50. Performance = Expectation x Value; expectancy-value theory; goals they expect they can meet and how important goal is