Lecture 1

Question 1

What are goal directed behaviours?

Answer 1

set responses of an organism (usually in relation to environment stimuli)

Question 2

Two types of goal directed behaviour?

Answer 2

1. instinctual

2. learned

Question 3

What is instinctual behaviour?

Answer 3

genetically programmed behaviours (no learning required)

e.g. reflex

Question 4

What is a learned behaviour?

Answer 4

behaviours adapted to the environment, relatively flexible and open to modifications
- more complex interpretation of instinct behaviour

Question 5

Psychological theory

Answer 5

instincts are motivators of behaviour

- impulses coming from within organism that lead to initiation of behaviour

Question 6

Biological theory

Answer 6

instincts are behaviours

• they exist because they have or had survival value
• controlled by genes (therefore not learned)
• instinctive behaviours differ in terms of degrees of sensitivity to changes in environment –> appetitive and consummatory

Question 7

Ethology

Answer 7

is the study of behaviour (but in a natural setting)

Question 8

Appetitive behaviour

Answer 8

searching behaviours that are flexible, adapted to environment and subject to modifications through learning (variable behaviour)

Question 9

Consummatory behaviour

Answer 9

fixed patterns of responding to specific stimuli
- rigid behaviours
- insensitive to environment
- highly stereotyped and independent form of learning
= fixed action patterns

Question 10

Sigh stimuli

Answer 10

maintain basic characteristics but amplifying stimuli - activate fixed action pattern (e.g. nesting)
- usually objects

Question 11

Social releasers

Answer 11

somebody’s behaviour (e.g. facial expressions or yawning)

- ability to recognize; not learned (genetically based)

Question 12

Homeostasis

Answer 12

the tendency of an organism to maintain an internal equilibrium

• set point; perfect state
• the body’s thermostat

Question 13

Drive

Answer 13

motivational construct associated with maintenance of the homeostatic balance of an organism

Question 14

What is responsible for the disturbance of homeostasis?

Answer 14

Need

- activates motivational state

Question 15

What is the need that induces motivational state?

Answer 15

Drive (energizes behaviour)

Question 16

True or false - reduction of need reduces the drive?

Answer 16

True

Question 17

What and who describes the “Drive Theory”?

Answer 17

Clark Hull - explained learning and motivation by scientific laws of behaviour

• mechanistic and based on homeostatic drive reduction
• habits (S-R) become stronger as a function of how often they are followed by a satisfying event
• the reduction of drive is satisfying

Question 18

Link between stimulus and response

Answer 18

stimulus –> need –> drive –> response (satisfaction)

Question 19

What is Hull’s model

Answer 19

sER = sHR x D
Where:
sER = strength of behaviour
sHR = strength of learned response 
D = strength of drive

Question 20

What is referred to a general pool of energy that can activate innate and learned behaviours?

Answer 20

Drive

- pain, lack of nutrients, excessive nutrients = all needs that activate the same energy

Question 21

2 characteristics of drive?

Answer 21

non-specific and non-directive

Question 22

What happens to need and drive when behaviour is performed?

Answer 22

= satisfaction

- both reduced

Question 23

Sd

Answer 23

stimulus drives - direct body toward appropriate response

Question 24

Incentive motivation

Answer 24

Hull eventually realized that the characteristics of the goal object influence the motivation of the organism

Question 25

What formula explains incentive motivation?

Answer 25

sER = sHR x D x K
where:
K = incentive value of the goal object (extra added factor)

Question 26

What does K depend on?

Answer 26

• characteristic of object

- quantity of object

Question 27

Is the value of K learned?

Answer 27

Yes - incentive learning

Question 28

Is the value of K relative?

Answer 28

Yes - incentive relativity

Question 29

Central motive state describes?

Answer 29

the general motivational state of the body (S activates motivation)

Question 30

What explains the optimal level of motivation?

Answer 30

Yerke’s-Dodson Law

Question 31

Explain the Yerke’s Dodson Law

Answer 31

Inverse relationship between task difficulty and optimum motivation

• with simple problems, increasing motivation enhances learning
• with more difficult tasks, high motivation impairs it

Question 32

Does increasing drive always lead to a positive outcome?

Answer 32

No
E.g. writing an exam:
Drive = energy to write exam
- varying from falling asleep to a caffeine high (not enough or too much isn’t good)

Question 33

Is drive reduction necessary for learning?

Answer 33

No - Latent learning

Question 34

What is latent learning?

Answer 34

learning that occurs in the absence of drive reduction, but remains unused until stimulus provides incentive for using i
E.g. remembering running trails (remember without satisfaction)
- stimulus that provides incentive is when you are biking and recognize the trail and know where it leads

= the process of creating memories without experiencing satisfaction

Question 35

Habituation

Answer 35

decrease in strength of a response after repeated presentation of a stimulus that elicits the response

Question 36

What causes habituation?

Answer 36

decrease in the release of neurotransmitters from the sensory neutron due to:

• reduction of pool synaptic vesicles
• inactivation of calcium channels by calcium itself

Question 37

Sensitization

Answer 37

refers to the increment in response occurring upon repeated presentation of a stimulus that reliably elects a response

Question 38

What causes sensitization?

Answer 38

• more neurotransmitters (more vesicles)
• involves facilitatory interneurons - serotonin

One shock:

• more Ca
• more vesicles in sensory neuron
• -> lasts minutes

Five shocks:

• growth of new synapses in sensory neutron
• -> can last days

Question 39

Which response involves serotonin - habituation or sensitization?

Answer 39

Sensitization

Question 40

Who studied aplysia?

Answer 40

Eric Kanel

Question 41

What did Eric Kanel study?

Answer 41

How aplysia displayed learning and created memories

• ->habituation and sensitization are not associative
• both occur by being repeatedly exposed to the same stimulus
• reaction to either habituation/sensitization depends on level of arousal of subject

Question 42

Experiments performed in the Aplysia have demonstrated that habituation is caused by?

Answer 42

reduction of pool of synaptic vesicles

Question 43

Repeated presentation of a stimulus will cause which of the following?

Answer 43

either habituation or sensitization effects, depending on the subject’s level of arousal

Question 44

Learning that occurs in the absence of drive reduction, but remains unused until a S provides an incentive for using is known as?

Answer 44

Latent learning

Question 45

The central motive state:

Answer 45

• indirectly modulates learning
• influences the aversive value of a goal
• has an impact on the strength of behaviour

Question 46

According to Hull’s drive theory:

Answer 46

Reduction of drive is satisfying

Question 47

Which of the following does not belong?

Fixed action patterns, sign stimuli, learned behaviours, social releasers

Answer 47

Learned behaviours

Question 48

Appetitive behaviours are most correctly described by which of the following?

Answer 48

early components of behaviour sequence

Question 49

Of the following which is not a reflexive behaviour?
a baby pulling away when its nose/mouth are covered, maintaining attention when driving, turning to the location of a loud noise, sneezing in response to dust

Answer 49

maintaining attention while driving