Study Guide: TEST 2

TERMS TO KNOW from BOOK and LECTURE:

Chapter  4: Sensation, perception and attention

light                              monochromatic light                  dichromatic light                white light

cornea                          aqueous humor                         iris and pupil                      lens     

retina                            vitreous humor                           rods and cones                 fovea    

optic disk                    two theories of color vision            nearsightedness                blind spot  

farsightedness               astigmatism                              cortical blindness              

size constancy               interposition                               light/shadowing                perspective   

kinetic motion cues         motion parallax                         kinetic depth                   perceptual set

perceptual illusions         convergence                             binocular disparity            good figure

trichromatic theory        afterimage problem                     opponent process theory           

color blindness              common fate                             perceptual constancies              

perceived movement       dynamic qualities                    Gestalt rules of organization       

figure vs ground             proximity                                 similarity       

good continuation         contrast (edges)                         closure

depth perception monocular cues binocular cues pictorial cues

kinetic motion cues     motion parralax         kinetic depth         effect perceptual set

perceptual illusions convergence binocular disparity

Chapter 6: Learning and Reward

shaping                         continuous reinforcement            Pavlov  

Unconditioned stimulus   predictability and classical conditioning

conditioned stimulus    unconditioned. response               conditioned response

Extinction in CC            extinction in OC                          acquisition                               

 Reinforcement. schedules                Continuous Reinforcement.   

Fixed interval schedule (FI).               variable interval schedule (VI)

Fixed ratio schedule (FR)                    variable ratio schedule (VR)          

SSDR's                         Bright noisy water study                 Instinctive drift  

learning                         classical conditioning                     law of effect                             

Thorndike                      Skinner                                        asymptote                    

operant conditioning       acquisition in O.C.                        Generalization              

discrimination               adapattion as learning                   contingency    

disequilibrium model       response deprivation                     response satiation                   

spontaneous. recovery     delayed conditioning                      simultaneous conditioning

trace conditioning           backward  conditioning                   reinforcement 

punishment                    positive punishment                       positive reinforcement

negative reinforcement    negative punishment                      response cost                         

overcorrection               escape conditioning                    modeling     

4 processes in modeling

Chapters 7 and 8: Memory and Cognition

types of memory          memory                encoding                    sensory register memory   

short term memory       chunking              long term memory        retrieval

episodic memory         semantic memory  eidetic memory           mnemonics                  

maintenance rehearsal            elaborative rehearsal                    state-dependent memory            

flashbulb memory                      schema                                     constructive processes      

retroactive interference              proactive interference                   metacognition               

7 plus/minus 2                         metalinguistic awareness            Loftus research

decay vs interference                representations                          prepositional representation            concepts

defining attribute model            prototype model                         ill-defined problems                       

well defined problems               trial & error                                hypothesis testing             

gestalt or insight                      info. processing model                analogies                     

heuristic                                   algorithms                                 backward workers

forward workers                          problem set                              functional fixedness                    

mental/problem set                    Solution space                           deductive reasoning                     

inductive reason ing

Sample Essay Questions:

1. Describe the process that a visual image must undergo to be seen as a visual image by the eye.  That is, describe to me how this "electromagnetic radiation" can turn into an action potential in the brain!

 2. How do we see color? Be sure to include processing both at the retinal level and the cortical level.

 3. Describe the Gestalt laws of proximity, similarity, good continuation, and closure?  Why are these important when explaining how we see visual illusions?

 4.  Billy-Jim can only see out of one eye. His cousin, Jimmy-Joe can see with both.  Which has (most probably) binocular depth perception and which has only monocular depth perception?  What does this mean, and how would this make a difference if they want to play pro ball?

 5. How can habituation, classical conditioning and operant conditioning be thought of as "adaptive" for an organism? Give an example for each type of conditioning.

 6.  What is the equipotentiality principle?  Is it correct?  Show why or why not using evidence from research discussed in class or in your book.

 7. You are a member of an program committee, and it is your job to write and review guidelines for the use of reinforcement and punishment programs.  Based upon your reading and class lecture, discuss the difference between a) positive reinforcement; b) negative reinforcement; c) positive punishment and d) negative punishment.

 8. What is the most important characteristic of the CS if classical conditioning is to be successful (HINT: Think about meteorology and whether you carry your umbrella!)?

 9. Compare and contrast continuous reinforcement with partial reinforcement schedules.  Describe the four basic Partial reinforcement schedules.  Which type of schedule produces and supports the most amount of responding (ie the fastest response rate)?

 10. Define extinction and describe the two phenomena that usually occur with extinction in operant conditioning.  How is this different from classical conditioning?

 11. What are SSDR's and how might these be important for humans?

12. For each of the following examples, identify whether positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, negative punishment or extinction is being implemented.  Identify the response(s), the consequence(s) and discuss briefly how effectively the behavior(s) will be maintained or reduced. Hint: There may be more than one in each example.

a. Erin whines and tantrums for a candy at the grocery store.  To avoid embarrassment, Mom gives the child the candy bar.

b. Emily is (finally) learning to sleep through the night. My husband ignores the crying after checking to

make sure nothing is wrong.  I, on the other hand, give in after an average of 5 minutes.

c. Every time my cat gets on the counter I spray her with the water gun. 

d. My husband allows his students  to play the computer operant-conditioning simulation games if they complete their  lab assignment with 90% accuracy within the allotted time.

e. The kids must put 10 cents into the swearing fund every time they are caught swearing. At the end of the month, the kid  with the lowest rate of swearing wins the money.

13. Describe 4 ways that one can solve a problem (e.g. trial and error, etc.).  Which one do you believe YOU use most often, and why?

14.  Distinguish between well-defined and ill-defined problems.  Which might give a novice problem solver more problems?  An experienced problem solver?  Why?

15. Define problem set and functional fixedness.  Describe a time when you "got stuck" in each.  How did you finally solve the problem?

16. Distinguish between Sensory register memory, short term memory, and long term memory.  Describe how information gets into each.  That is, what do you need to do to ensure that you "remember" something?

17.  Why do we forget?  Name two processes which produce forgetting.  How can we prevent or at least limit the amount of forgetting when studying?