Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
Chapter Exam Questions
Course Introduction
This course explores the neurobiological mechanisms underlying learning and memory, integrating knowledge from molecular, cellular, and systems neuroscience. Students will examine how neurons and neural circuits change in response to experience, and how these changes contribute to the acquisition, storage, and retrieval of information. Topics include synaptic plasticity, long-term potentiation and depression, the roles of specific brain regions such as the hippocampus and amygdala, and the influence of genetics and environment on cognitive processes. The course also discusses the implications of neurobiological research for understanding learning disorders and memory-related diseases.
Recommended Textbook
Learning and Memory 2nd Edition by
Mark A. Gluck
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12 Chapters
1304 Verified Questions
1304 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: The Psychology of Learning and Memory
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116 Verified Questions
116 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Cancer patients can develop an aversion to foods they eat right before undergoing chemotherapy.Although the foods themselves do not initially cause feelings of illness,pairing them with chemotherapy,which does cause patients to feel sick,leads to the foods becoming associated with these same feelings.This is an example of:
A)classical conditioning.
B)instrumental conditioning.
C)the law of effect.
D)extinction.
Answer: A
Q2) That Ebbinghaus served as his own participant was problematic because:
A)his expectations might have influenced the results.
B)he could not manipulate an independent variable.
C)his studies were double-blind.
D)he didn't have any experimenter bias.
Answer: A
Q3) If you have to study for an exam,what are three things you can do that will help improve your memory for the material?
Answer: Grading criteria: Answer should discuss three of the "Top Ten Tips for a Better Memory."
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Page 3
Chapter 2: The Neuroscience of Learning and Memory
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109 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Phrenology was a systematic study of the brain that was pursued by: A)Galen.
B)Aristotle.
C)Paul Broca.
D)Franz Joseph Gall.
Answer: D
Q2) Incoming sensory information is passed from the thalamus to the: A)spinal cord. B)muscles.
C)primary motor cortex.
D)primary sensory cortices.
Answer: D
Q3) Explain why experimental brain lesions in animals allow for greater precision than is typically possible in humans.
Answer: Grading criteria: Explain that human brain lesions are usually due to accidents/illness and vary from person to person,and can involve many brain areas;in animals,can disable specific single brain regions.Note that a general explanation of why animal research is justified would not be sufficient to answer this question.
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4
Chapter 3: Habituation, Sensitization, and Familiarization:
Learning About Repeated Events
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Sample Questions
Q1) In studies of rats learning to find their way through a maze,Tolman & Honzik found that: rats that were:
A)rewarded every day learned the maze better than rats who started receiving rewards on the 11<sup>th</sup> day.
B)rewarded every day learned the maze as well as rats that were never rewarded.
C)rewarded every day learned the maze as well as rats who started receiving rewards on the 11<sup>th</sup> day.
D)never rewarded learned the maze better than rats who started receiving rewards on the 11<sup>th</sup> day.
Answer: C
Q2) Habituation and sensitization in aplysia are explained well by which theory?
A)dual-process theory
B)comparator models
C)differentiation theory
D)priming theory
Answer: A
Q3) Explain what a place cell is.
Answer: Grading criteria: A place cell is a neuron that responds when an organism is in a particular location in space.
Page 5
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Chapter 4: Classical Conditioning: Learning to Predict
Important Events
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Sample Questions
Q1) For humans performing a category learning task,Gluck and Bower's neural network model can:
A)account for people's ability to actively focus attention on one feature.
B)account for people's ability to shift their attention to different feature.
C)predict how the timing of presentation of the CS and US will affect learning.
D)predict how often a particular categorization will be made.
Q2) If the CREB-1 gene is inactivated:
A)no associative learning occurs.
B)associative learning is enhanced.
C)long-lasting associative learning is normal.
D)short-lasting associative learning is normal.
Q3) The results of Garcia & Koelling's taste aversion studies demonstrate that animals can:
A)not learn to associate tones with feeling sick.
B)learn most associations equally easily.
C)not learn to associate food with shock.
D)learn some associations more readily than others.
Q4) How does the Rescorla-Wagner model account for the phenomenon of blocking?
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Q5) Describe the neuronal changes that occur during classical conditioning of the gill-withdrawal reflex in aplysia.
Chapter 5: Operant Conditioning: Learning the Outcome of Behaviors
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Sample Questions
Q1) Six-year-old Timmy was misbehaving in class one morning.Which of the following punishments is likely to be the MOST effective in preventing Timmy from misbehaving again?
A)making Timmy stay after school
B)immediately Timmy to sit in the corner
C)taking Timmy aside at lunchtime and asking him to please stop misbehaving
D)giving Timmy a warning,and making the punishment more severe if he misbehaves again
Q2) Chaining involves ________,whereas shaping involves ________.
A)reinforcement;punishment
B)punishment;reinforcement
C)reinforcing successive approximations to a desired behavior;training individual components of a complex response
D)training individual components of a complex response;reinforcing successive approximations to a desired behavior
Q3) A teacher has a child in his class who never wants to stay seated,and instead tries to roam around the room during class.What are two alternatives to physical punishment that the teacher can use to reduce the child's roaming behavior?
Q4) Discuss the evidence suggesting that dopamine is involved in reinforcement.
Page 7
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Chapter 6: Generalization and Discrimination Learning
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Sample Questions
Q1) Chloe learned that babies who cry a lot also have trouble sleeping.When she later learned that babies who have trouble sleeping tend to be highly intelligent,she inferred that babies who cry a lot are also highly intelligent.This relationship is an example of:
A)acquired equivalence.
B)sensory preconditioning.
C)discrimination training.
D)negative patterning.
Q2) _______ representations use a unique node to represent each individual stimulus.
A)Discrete-component
B)Distributed
C)Topographic
D)Consequential
Q3) In a ______ representation,nodes or neurons responding to physically similar stimuli are near each other.
A)discrete-component
B)distributed
C)topographic
D)consequential
Q4) Give an example from everyday life that demonstrates acquired equivalence.
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Chapter 7: Episodic and Semantic Memory: Memory for
Facts and Events
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Sample Questions
Q1) The type of amnesia that results from psychological causes rather than from any obvious physical causes is called:
A)transient global amnesia (TGA).
B)functional amnesia.
C)retrograde amnesia.
D)source amnesia.
Q2) In a 1972 study,Bransford and Johnson read an abstract passage aloud to participants,who then had to recall as much information as possible.Some participants were also shown a picture that was described by the passage,either before or after they heard the passage read.Which group remembered the MOST information?
A)people who saw the picture after hearing the passage
B)people who saw the picture before hearing the passage
C)people who did not see any picture
D)people who drew their own picture while the passage was being read
Q3) Explain why the shape of the typical forgetting curve implies that there is a consolidation period for memories.
Q4) Describe the effect of repeated exposure on semantic memory and on episodic memory.
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Q5) Describe how episodic memory was demonstrated in either gorillas or scrub jays,.
Chapter 8: Skill Memory: Learning by Doing
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Sample Questions
Q1) The cerebellum is:
A)important for learning motions that involve precise timing.
B)only present in a few species.
C)particularly important for linking sensory events to motor responses.
D)involved in performing skills but not in learning them by watching others perform them.
Q2) Which of the following is an example of a cognitive skill?
A)running up the stairs
B)buttoning your coat
C)organizing your class schedule
D)opening a door
Q3) People with apraxia:
A)have a genetic disorder.
B)have trouble performing perceptual-motor skills,but not cognitive skills.
C)have usually suffered a head injury or a stroke.
D)do not usually understand the instructions they are given.
Q4) Describe how the cerebellum,cerebral cortex,and basal ganglia are each involved in learning to dive from a diving board.
Q5) Provide an example of a motor program.
Q6) What is the difference between having talent and being an expert?
Page 10
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Chapter 9: Working Memory and Cognitive Control
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Sample Questions
Q1) Brain imaging studies show that people with ______ show _____ prefrontal cortex activity during a 2-back task.
A)1 or 2 copies of the COMT allele;lower
B)1 or 2 copies of the COMT allele;higher
C)0 copies of the COMT allele;lower
D)0,1,or 2 copies of the COMT allele;equal amounts of
Q2) Which of the following is a task used to study task-shifting in working memory?
A)an N-back task
B)the Tower of Hanoi
C)the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test
D)the Stroop task
Q3) The most abstract plans depend on the _____ areas of the frontal lobes,and the most concrete plans depend on the _____ areas of the frontal lobes.
A)posterior;lateral
B)anterior;posterior
C)lateral;anterior
D)posterior;anterior
Q4) Provide an example of an automatic process and an attentional process.
Q5) Describe what limits your ability to hold information in your short-term memory.
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Chapter 10: Emotional Influences on Learning and Memory
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to the two-factor theory of avoidance learning,the first stage of avoidance learning involves _____ and then the avoidance response involves _____.
A)reinforcement of escaping the US;reinforcement of escaping the CS
B)reinforcement of avoidance of the fear CR;reinforcement of escaping the CS
C)classical conditioning of the conditioned emotional response;reinforcement of avoidance of the fear CR
D)reinforcement of escaping the US;classical conditioning of the conditioned emotional response
Q2) The psychological syndrome that can develop after a person is exposed to a horrific event is called:
A)conditioned avoidance.
B)learned helplessness.
C)a phobia.
D)posttraumatic stress disorder.
Q3) The failure to extinguish a conditioned response is known as:
A)perseveration.
B)conditioned avoidance.
C)a conditioned emotional response.
D)piloerection.
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Page 12
Chapter 11: Social Learning and Memory: Observing,
Interacting, and Reenacting
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Sample Questions
Q1) The third phase of song learning in songbirds involves:
A)memorizing songs.
B)practicing songs.
C)comparing their own songs to memories of songs they have heard in the past.
D)learning when it is appropriate to sing.
Q2) Give an example of something you seem to have learned through social (observational)learning.Explain why you think this involves social learning rather than other forms of learning.
Q3) What types of imitation impairments are seen in children with autism?
Q4) John's friends don't smoke,but many of John's favorite movie stars do smoke.John has decided to take up smoking.His behavior demonstrates that people are more likely to copy models:
A)who are similar to themselves.
B)whom they admire.
C)when the outcome is desirable.
D)when they have stored a memory of the model performing the behavior.
Q5) Give an example of a behavior that appears to be imitation but can also be explained by stimulus enhancement.Explain how stimulus enhancement would give rise to this behavior.
Q6) Describe how one can study the existence of mirror neurons in humans. Page 13
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Chapter 12: Development and Aging: Learning and Memory
Across the Lifespan
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Sample Questions
Q1) A person with ____ would perform best on tests of learning and memory.
A)two copies of the Met allele
B)two copies of the Val allele
C)one copy of the Met allele
D)one copy of the Val allele
Q2) In children,the dominant process in language learning is _____,while in adults it is
A)semantic memory;social imitation
B)semantic memory;episodic memory
C)social imitation;semantic memory
D)social imitation;episodic memory
Q3) People who _____ have a decreased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
A)watch lots of TV
B)sleep a lot
C)have a high education level
D)spend most of their time alone
Q4) Explain how sensitive periods are beneficial to learning and memory in the brain.
Q5) Describe the processes of neurogenesis,apoptosis,synaptogenesis,and pruning of synapses,and how they all impact learning.
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