lecture 1 & 2 & 3

Question 1

Why are animals useful experimentally?

Answer 1

Can be used to explain human behaviour, we can manipulate events in ways you would not be able to on humans, the animal does not know that it is an experiment.

Question 2

Application of information gained through studying animal behaviour

Answer 2

Lesions of the brain
Pharmacological manipulations
Genetically modified organisms

Question 3

What is evidence for the evolutionary continuity between animals and humans?

Answer 3

Darwins theory of evolution through natural selection

Question 4

Romanes (1881)

Answer 4

worked on animal intelligence. Identified that animals are rational, empathetic and reason.

Question 5

Cornway Lloyd Morgan (1890)

Answer 5

Was against anthropomorphism and said that actions should be interpreted as an outcome of low psychological state.

Question 6

Anthropomorphism

Answer 6

The view that animals and people have the same capabilities, motivations and desires.

Question 7

Edward Thorndike

Answer 7

Understood that animals would learn. Experimented on the intelligence in cats- the ability of a cat to escape from modified orange crates (puzzle box) over successive trial. The cats learned through trial and error.

Question 8

Thorndikes law of effect

Answer 8

If a response leads to a satisfying outcome it will be strengthened.

Question 9

What did John B Watson advocate

Answer 9

Importance of learning
The science of behaviourism in which only observable behaviour can be studied
Use of animals

Question 10

What does instrumental conditioning (Skinner & Pavlov) involve?

Answer 10

A stimulus that initiates a response and a reinforcer

Question 11

What did Skinner believe the solution to the major problems today could be solved with?

Answer 11

Improving our understanding of human behaviour.

Question 12

What did Skinner add to Watson’s behaviourist views?

Answer 12

Experimentation focused on rats and pigeons as these are evolutionary diverse

Question 13

What is response shaping (Skinner)?

Answer 13

A technique developed to train animals to perform a particular behaviour to gain a reward.

Question 14

What is used to ensure animals keep performing a trained response without always receiving a reward (Skinner)?

Answer 14

Schedules of reinforcement

Question 15

What instrument did Skinner develop?

Answer 15

A conditioning chamber/Skinner box where levers were presented and could be pecked in response to certain cues to gain a food reward.

Question 16

What is operant/instrumental learning (Skinner)?

Answer 16

A response that leads to a reward.

Question 17

What conditioning did Colwill and Resocrla enforce?

Answer 17

Instrumental conditioning as animals had to respond to a problem with the outcome of food.

Question 18

Explain the steps to Colwill and Resocrla conditioning.

Answer 18

Stimulus: lever
Response: Lever press
Outcome: Food

Question 19

Explain the different stages involved in Colwill and Resocrla.

Answer 19

1. lever press = food
   chain pull = sucrose
2. food = illness
   sucrose = nothing
3. re-test with lever and chain

Question 20

Contamination in Colwill and Resocrla.

Answer 20

In stage 2 the food was contaminated with lithium chloride which would make the rats feel sick (they cannot vomit). An aversion for the food is created. In test the number of animals pulling the chain is significantly higher.

Question 21

Fixed interval reward testing.

Answer 21

Food dispensed at set intervals. Animals would press a level few times after a food reward but with increasing time they press the lever more.

Question 22

What are the different schedules of reinforcement?

Answer 22

Fixed ratio
Variable ratio
Fixed interval
Variable interval

Question 23

What did Pavlov study about dogs?

Answer 23

Initially the digestive system.
Then trained salivary action in response to the delivery of food. The dogs salivate when research assistants arrived to feed the dogs meat powder.

Question 24

Pavlov: what was conditional learning incorrectly translated to?

Answer 24

conditioning

Question 25

Pavlovian conditioning

Answer 25

Classical conditioning/ Type 1/ Respondent.
Neutral stimulus (bell) has no learned effect. When an unconditioned stimulus (food) is presented there is an unconditioned response (salivation). Pair the CS and US this eventually leads to a Conditioned response

Question 26

Pavlov conditioning 
Conditioned stimulus
Unconditioned stimulus
Unconditioned response
Conditioned response

Answer 26

Bell
Present Food
Salivation
Salivation

Question 27

Pavlov’s measurements of the number of drops of saliva.

Answer 27

Number of drops of saliva from the conditioned response plotted against successive conditioned stimulus.
The number of drops increased over trials until reaching an asymptote.
When only presenting the CS the number of drops decreased until there was no longer a response (Extinction).

Question 28

Pavlov: spontaneous recovery

Answer 28

After a 24 hour rest the re-presentation of CS will produce the CR.

Question 29

What did Pavlov show about the properties of a conditioned response?

Answer 29

CR is sensitive to the properties of the CS .
A tone of 1200 Hz used.
If 1000-1400 Hz used CR seen.

Question 30

Generalisation gradient and generalisation decrements (Pavlov).

Answer 30

Using a variety of Hz and plotting this on a graph shows a generalisation gradient.
The generalisation decrement is when a R presented is different to the CR due to the alteration in stimulus presented.

Question 31

Define learning

Answer 31

A relatively permanent change in behaviour that results from experience.
This can be observed in animals as opposed to an acquisition of knowledge.

Question 32

Results when Banks and Flora asked students to rank the intelligence of animals.

Answer 32

Humans scored 10

Fish (last) ranked 1.68

Question 33

Aristotle: Scala naturae

Answer 33

The great chain of being where there is an ordered sequence of complexity and intelligence from simple animals to complex animals.

Question 34

Romanes view on learning

Answer 34

The intelligence of animals was ordered in linear progression as a result of natural selection.
Problem: all animals have a long evolutionary history with many common ancestors so cannot rank mammals higher than birds when the evolutionary history is shared.

Question 35

Jerison views on learning

Answer 35

The larger the brain the greater the intellect. But much of the brain is involved in controlling motor function so a larger body correlates to a larger brain.
Jerison generated a ratio of brain weight to body weight (cephalisation index). Humans and dolphins had a high index, elephants were lower.

Question 36

Anazogora’s views on learning

Answer 36

Animals were equally intelligent but some are better able to express their intelligence.

Question 37

Macphail’s views on learning.

Answer 37

Differences in intelligence can be explained by:
motivation
perception
motor skills

Question 38

Skard’s experiments on rats.

Answer 38

Compared rats and humans in their ability to navigate through a maze. Found that rats were as quick as humans as learning the route

Question 39

Angermeier research into learning

Answer 39

Trained various animals to make a response to gain a food reward.
Mammals had to press a lever, birds had to peck a disk and fish had to push a rod.
Fish (fastest), rabbits (slowest)

Question 40

Jeff Bitterman’s explanation of animal learning

Answer 40

Difficult to equate perceptual demands of tests (some species may not see a lever)
Difficult to equate motivational demands
Discrepancies of intelligence within species so large sample size needed.

Contextual variables (perception & motivation)

Question 41

Gracia and Koelling experiments (saline) into animal learning

Answer 41

Rats trained to drink from a water dispenser. 2 groups then given saline to drink followed by a mild food shock or mild poison.
Rats that were made ill avoided the saline. Rats that were shocked drank the saline.

Question 42

Gracia and Koelling experiments (light and clicker) into animal learning

Answer 42

2 groups received water in the presence of a light and clicker. Rats made ill or given foot shock. Group that were shocked avoided the water in the presence of light and clicker, but those made ill drank lots.

Question 43

Define memory in animals

Answer 43

Current behaviour is under the influence of past experience

Question 44

Periodic timing

Answer 44

The ability of animals to respond at a particular time

Question 45

Interval timing

Answer 45

The ability of animals to respond on the basis of specific durations

Question 46

Vander wall’s work in animal learning

Answer 46

Clark’s nutcracker lives in high-altitude pine forest where there is lots of food in the autumn but little in the winter. Can store 30000 seeds in 4000 locations known as caches. Bird relies on memory to relocate the caches.

Question 47

Vaughan & Greene experiments of animal learning

Answer 47

pigeons required to peck on a key in response to the presentation of stimuli and withhold response from other stimuli.
Shown pairs of photographs and received a reward for pecking on the key in front of one of the photographs. Position of photos were changed between trials. Birds could discriminate 320 photographs.

Question 48

Church & Deluty experiments on learning

Answer 48

Trained rates to press on levers in a conditioning change.
Interval = 4 seconds & left lever pressed, food reward
Interval = 16 seconds & right lever pressed, food rewarded

Question 49

Clever Hans

Answer 49

Horse able to tap his hoof to count/ solve arithmetic questions.
Unable to answer Q if questioner was not visible or if they did not know the answer to the Q.
Clever Hans was reading the questioner’s body language which was tense while the horse was tapping but relaxed when the answer was reaches. Tense = keep tapping. Relaxed = stop tapping.

Question 50

Meek & Church experiments into animal learning

Answer 50

4 tones presented to rats, left lever pressed, food rewarded.
16 tones, right lever pressed, food rewarded.
Time taken to present the tones was controlled.

Question 51

Bannon & Terrace experiments into animal learning

Answer 51

Monkeys were able to remember numbers represented by particular stimuli then would touch squares on the screen with different numbers of dots. Monkeys had to touch the squares in numerical order to be awarded food.

Question 52

Rugani, Regotin & Vallortigara experiments into animal learning

Answer 52

5- day old chicks were able to remember the serial position of food in a row of 9 wells. Wells rotated to rule out the chicks learning the location. Birds would check the 4th well in from both sides.

Question 53

Pepperberg and Alex (parrot)

Answer 53

Alex the African grey parrot could name the number of coloured blocks up to 7 or 8.