Ch. 1:Background and Rationale For The Study Of Learning

Question 1

What is empiricism?

Answer 1

A philosophy according to which all ideas in the mind arise from experience.

Question 2

What is dualism?

Answer 2

The view of behavior according to which actions can be separated into two categories: voluntary behavior controlled by the mind and involuntary behavior controlled by reflex mechanisms.

Question 3

What is a reflex?

Answer 3

A mechanism that enables a specific environmental event to elicit a specific response.

Question 4

What is nativism?

Answer 4

A philosophy according to which human beings are born with innate ideas.

Question 5

What is association?

Answer 5

A connection between the representations of two events (two stimuli or a stimulus and a response) such that the occurrence of one of the events activates the representation of the other.

Question 6

What are nonsense syllables?

Answer 6

A three-letter combination (two consonants separated by a vowel) that has no meaning.

Question 7

What is nervism?

Answer 7

The philosophical position adopted by Pavlov that all behavioral and physiological processes are regulated by the nervous system.

Question 8

What is hedonism?

Answer 8

The philosophy proposed by Hobbes according to which the actions of organisms are determined by the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain.

Question 9

What is performance?

Answer 9

An organism’s activities at a particular time.

Question 10

What is maturation?

Answer 10

A change in behavior caused by physical or physiological development of the organism in the absence of experience with particular environmental events.

Question 11

What is learning?

Answer 11

An enduring change in the mechanisms of behavior involving specific stimuli and/or responses that results from prior experience with similar stimuli and responses.

Question 12

What is fatigue?

Answer 12

A temporary decrease in behavior caused by repeated or excessive use of the muscles involved in the behavior.

Question 13

What is depolarization?

Answer 13

A reduction in the electrical charge across the neural membrane, typically caused by the inward flow of the ion Na+. Depolarization causes the inside of the neuron to be less negative, which can initiate an action potential.

Question 14

What are neurons?

Answer 14

A specialized cell that functions to transmit, and process, information within the nervous system by means of electrical and chemical signals.

Question 15

What are dendrites?

Answer 15

The branched projections of a neuron that receive electrochemical input from other cells (e.g., sensory receptors or neurons).

Question 16

What is an axon?

Answer 16

A slender projection of a neuron that allows electrical impulses to be conducted from the cell body to the terminal ending.

Question 17

What is a synapse?

Answer 17

A structure that allows a neuron to pass a chemical signal (neurotransmitter) to another cell.

Question 18

What is an action potential?

Answer 18

An electrical impulse caused by the rapid flow of charged particles (ions) across the neural membrane. The nerve impulse conducts an electrical signal along the axon of a neuron and initiates the release of neurotransmitter at the synapse.

Question 19

What is a neurotransmitter?

Answer 19

A chemical released by a neuron at a synapse. Neurotransmitters allow communication across cells and can have either an excitatory or inhibitory effect.