ATAR Notes: Forum
VCE Stuff => VCE Science => VCE Mathematics/Science/Technology => VCE Subjects + Help => VCE Psychology => Topic started by: darklight on August 10, 2013, 04:02:08 pm
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Hi guys,
Instead of starting a new topic each time I have a question, I decided to make a thread for us Unit 3/4ers! Feel free to post up any questions you have :)
Q1. I keep seeing the term "discriminative stimulus" around. What exactly does this mean (definition anyone?) and are we required to know it, as I cannot find it on the study design.
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Discriminative stimulus = stimulus in operant conditioning
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Q1. I keep seeing the term "discriminative stimulus" around. What exactly does this mean (definition anyone?) and are we required to know it, as I cannot find it on the study design.
Wouldn't hurt & there's really not much to it anyway, as Scooby concisely pointed out above. I wouldn't go researching it in great detail, since it's not mentioned in the study design, but knowing what it means is enough.
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Discriminative stimulus = stimulus in operant conditioning
Oh really, because in the VCAA sample exam (2011-2014) it said discriminative stimulus = antecedent condition...
Does observational learning = vicarious conditioning? Also I was doing a practice question which said observational learning does not always occur vicariously? Is this true/how else would it occur?
Thanks :)
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Oh really, because in the VCAA sample exam (2011-2014) it said discriminative stimulus = antecedent condition...
Does observational learning = vicarious conditioning? Also I was doing a practice question which said observational learning does not always occur vicariously? Is this true/how else would it occur?
Thanks :)
The antecedent stimulus/condition is another way of describing the stimulus, probably to throw off people who haven't heard of it. It's a bit less common but they used it in our exam last year
I don't know how observational learning could be anything but vicarious. The whole principle is that the learner observers a model's behaviour and then attempts to reproduce it. Obviously the motivation for learning the behaviour could be intrinsic and the reinforcement might not necessarily be from the environment (eg. self reinforcement), but yeah...
Did the answer for that question give any explanation?
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If a classical conditioning experiment had taken place and someone wanted to study stimulus discrimination, what could that person do? (3 marks)
This question was in my SAC and I was wondering if the correct answer would be for the student to simply introduce other stimuli similar to the CS and seeing if the participant still responded to the similar stimuli?
Or would it be to pair the CS with the CR and introduce other stimuli without pairing it with the CR, so the participant knows to discriminate other stimuli?
If that makes sense?
Thanks!
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You don't "pair" the CS and CR. The CS invokes the CR. You pair two stimuli (eg. you pair the UCS and the NS), not a stimulus and a response
To test for stimulus discrimination you'd introduce to the learner a stimulus similar to the CS and check to see if the CR is observed. If it is, we may be dealing with a degree of stimulus generalisation. If not, the learner may be discriminating the CS from other stimuli. That isn't to say that another stimulus similar to the CS won't invoke the CR though - you might have not chosen an appropriate stimulus
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Hey darklight,
In response to your question about observtional learning not occurring vicariously, the answer should be that it can also occur cognitively. For example, in the case of the Bobo doll experiments, vicarious learning can occur, but it can also be cognitive where children may have learnt how to hit the Bobo doll, but did not necessarily display or demonstrate the behaviour they learnt.
If you're not already, I would recommend reading the Oxford psychology textbook as this was stated in it :)
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You don't "pair" the CS and CR. The CS invokes the CR. You pair two stimuli (eg. you pair the UCS and the NS), not a stimulus and a response
To test for stimulus discrimination you'd introduce to the learner a stimulus similar to the CS and check to see if the CR is observed. If it is, we may be dealing with a degree of stimulus generalisation. If not, the learner may be discriminating the CS from other stimuli. That isn't to say that another stimulus similar to the CS won't invoke the CR though - you might have not chosen an appropriate stimulus
Yes, sorry I wasn't thinking when I wrote CR.
I meant pairing the CS with the UCS.
Thanks :)
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Can someone explain to me the effects of having split brain surgery, specifically in regards to vision?
Also, what tests can be given to a split brain patient using a tachistoscope to study the effects of the surgery?
Thanks
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Quick question: is the General Adaptation Syndrome in the study design or not? I know the strength and limitations have been removed, but is the whole thing out?
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Can anyone tell me if there is any prominent differences between depression and major depression/major depressive disorder?
Apart from the fact that it is 'more serious', is there any particular differences?
My textbook (Macmillan) says MDD is characterised by 'one or more major depressive episodes', what do these episodes consist of in contrast to normal depression?
Thanks
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Can someone explain to me the effects of having split brain surgery, specifically in regards to vision?
Also, what tests can be given to a split brain patient using a tachistoscope to study the effects of the surgery?
Thanks
No effect on vision
You just have to know about Sperry and Gazaniga's research. You know, where they flashed images to the left and right visual fields and asked participants to identify the object both verbally and by touch. You need to be able to explain why those results were observed as well - how does severing the corpus callosum affect the transfer of information between the two hemispheres of the brain? You'll also have to recognise that the language centre (ie. Broca's and Wernicke's areas) is in the left hemisphere of most people when you're explaining Sperry's findings
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Hey guys,
Is remembering your name an example of "episodic" or "semantic memory"? What would VCAA accept considering this was a question in VCAA 2003, although no answer was stated.
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Can someone explain the difference between homeostasis and allostasis?
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Engage Education, Multiple Choice:
Which of the following is an example of negative reinforcement?
A. Giving a student a detention for being rude to a teacher
B. Not letting a child play until they put on sunscreen
C. Giving a child a smack for being naughty
D. Giving an evil ex-boyfriend a second chance
Is negative reinforcement the removal of an aversive stimulus in order to strengthen a desired response? Wouldn't:
A - Positive punishment
B - Negative punishment (removing their play time for not putting on sunscreen)
C - Positive punishment
D - Pos reinforcement
So none of the options are neg reinforcement? The answer stated B. I don't see how this is possible.
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Hey guys,
Is remembering your name an example of "episodic" or "semantic memory"? What would VCAA accept considering this was a question in VCAA 2003, although no answer was stated.
Semantic.
A key distinction between semantic and episodic memories is the dependence of episodic memories on context (a given time and place). On the other hand, semantic knowledge enables an indvidual to remember information without having to consciously recall the experience/event where that information was learned. So information about yourself isn't necessarily episodic, if it isn't remembered within a specific context then it's semantic. E.g. you probably can't remember when or where you learned your name.
Hope that helps :)
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Engage Education, Multiple Choice:
Which of the following is an example of negative reinforcement?
A. Giving a student a detention for being rude to a teacher
B. Not letting a child play until they put on sunscreen
C. Giving a child a smack for being naughty
D. Giving an evil ex-boyfriend a second chance
Is negative reinforcement the removal of an aversive stimulus in order to strengthen a desired response? Wouldn't:
A - Positive punishment
B - Negative punishment (removing their play time for not putting on sunscreen)
C - Positive punishment
D - Pos reinforcement
So none of the options are neg reinforcement? The answer stated B. I don't see how this is possible.
Seems like a typo to me, although you could over analyse it to make it correct...
Seeing as the child is allowed to play (pleasant consequence) after the risks of skin cancer (unpleasant stimulus) are removed, it can be seen as negative reinforcement.
If that is how the question is meant to be perceived, it was worded rather poorly.
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Semantic.
A key distinction between semantic and episodic memories is the dependence of episodic memories on context (a given time and place). On the other hand, semantic knowledge enables an indvidual to remember information without having to consciously recall the experience/event where that information was learned. So information about yourself isn't necessarily episodic, if it isn't remembered within a specific context then it's semantic. E.g. you probably can't remember when or where you learned your name.
Hope that helps :)
Thanks Slumdawg for clearing up the distinction!
Seems like a typo to me, although you could over analyse it to make it correct...
Seeing as the child is allowed to play (pleasant consequence) after the risks of skin cancer (unpleasant stimulus) are removed, it can be seen as negative reinforcement.
If that is how the question is meant to be perceived, it was worded rather poorly.
Hmm yeah maybe they meant neg punishment...
Can anyone explain the distinction between appraisal and information support to me? Also an example of appraisal support? Thanks!
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Hey guys,
I stumbled upon this question and got it wrong.
Luke's parents want to encourage him to get up earlier in the morning so he doesn't miss the train to get to school. At the end of each week, if Luke has caught the train each of the five school days his parents give him $10 pocket money.
Luke's parents are applying a schedule of reinforcement known as:
A) fixed interval
B) Fixed ratio
C) Variable interval
D) Variable ratio
The answer is B) Fixed ratio and I chose fixed interval instead. This question is confusing me because it has it in terms of time ("end of each week") and also ratio ("five school days"). Can anyone explain this to me in simplified terms? :(
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If you went to school 4 days out of 5, even if the time interval of a week elapsed, you get no money.
The condition of getting $10 is dependent on attending 5/5 (this ratio) school days.
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Ohhh that makes sense, thanks!!
And also I hope someone can also explain this to me.
Question 5:
Using two pieces of evidence from the graph above, explain what age group this sleeping pattern represents.
The graph/hypnogram is in this link: http://pavelfatin.com/images/sleeptracker/sleeptracker-pro-sleep-cycle-large.gif
The answer says its an adolescent because
- approx. 20% of time is spent in REM sleep (unlike infants with 50%)
I don't get how you'd come to this conclusion, how do you just automatically assume that 20% of the graph is in REM sleep?
- shorter time spent in stages 3&4 (older people spend a longer time in these stages)
I thought older people spend less time in stages 3&4 sleep, or is that just individuals 60 years old and older?
- Sleep is continuous and not broken (unlike infants)
I'm guessing this just means that they constantly sleep and wake up? So if I were given a graph of an infant's sleep cycle, would this mean that there'd be gaps because the infant would wake up?
Thanks in advance!
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Just have a question in regards to referencing which needs to go on my mental health report,
- Does it matter if websites or books go first?
- When being put in alphabetical order, is it the title of the book that has to be alphabetical or the name of the author, as that goes first.
Thanks in advance.
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Hi Everyone!!!!
Just finished a Trial Exam today and I'm pretty sure I didn't do too well...
Does it contribute to your indicative grade? Do the VCAA examiners correct it? And if so does that mean my teacher will see it?
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Hey lizzy7,
By trial exam I assume it is simply your school's own internal assessment. If this is the case then it will depend entirely on your school. In many cases, your teacher may be the one correcting it, or they may hire an external assessor (these will not be the real VCAA examiners) but your teacher will definitely see it.
Once again it depends on your school, but it should definitely count towards your indicative grade to an extent (my school emphasises on SAC grades, as this year is combined and it is hard to predict due to lack of time doing practice exams).
However, trial exams are not always reflective of how well you will do in the actual exam! I have heard of people failing the trial exam and receiving study scores of 40+ at the end because they aced the real vcaa exam. So don't stress, it is just a trial and your indicative grade is hardly relevant to what you will actually get :)
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Hey lizzy7,
By trial exam I assume it is simply your school's own internal assessment. If this is the case then it will depend entirely on your school. In many cases, your teacher may be the one correcting it, or they may hire an external assessor (these will not be the real VCAA examiners) but your teacher will definitely see it.
Once again it depends on your school, but it should definitely count towards your indicative grade to an extent (my school emphasises on SAC grades, as this year is combined and it is hard to predict due to lack of time doing practice exams).
However, trial exams are not always reflective of how well you will do in the actual exam! I have heard of people failing the trial exam and receiving study scores of 40+ at the end because they aced the real vcaa exam. So don't stress, it is just a trial and your indicative grade is hardly relevant to what you will actually get :)
Thank You !! I was just so super stressed today; I wish we get the results back soon so I know how well/bad I did... Do you think we'll have them back before the holidays end?
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Just have a question in regards to referencing which needs to go on my mental health report,
- Does it matter if websites or books go first?
- When being put in alphabetical order, is it the title of the book that has to be alphabetical or the name of the author, as that goes first.
Thanks in advance.
This all depends on the style of referencing. All these styles actually do have guides on how to do it. If you dont know what style you're meant to use, i suggest either trying to find out or simply adopting one. Personally i like Harvard.
If youre using say Harvard, look up the style guide for it (or any website about it) and it should tell you all you need to know. If that still doesnt work, i have software that does referencing automatically and knows all the rules. I can plug in a few references and check for you.
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Hey,
Quick question: the serial position effect does not occur when participants are asked to use serial recall right? Because then by the time, they get to the last words - the last words would no longer be in the STM? Therefore, are the TSSM 2010 solutions incorrect, because they stated "Archer is participating in a study on memory. In the first trial, he is shown 15 different items and then required to recall the items in the same order they are presented. Sketch the graph.
Their graph showed the typical serial position effect...
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Hi darklight,
By 'typical serial position effect' I assume you just mean the normal U-shape? Not sure how the graph looks like in TSSM, but I believe the graph would be the typical U-shaped graph, except there would be no recency effect i.e. the beginning of the graph would be higher than the end of the graph.
When you use serial recall, the serial position effect still occurs, but the recency effect does not occur. This is because of exactly what you said - since STM only holds items for 18-20 seconds, by the time we get to the end of the list, these items will no longer be in our memory. This means that the primacy effect will still occur, because the items have been transferred to our long-term memory.
I don't know if this is what you're looking for, but I hope I helped. :)
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Hi darklight,
By 'typical serial position effect' I assume you just mean the normal U-shape? Not sure how the graph looks like in TSSM, but I believe the graph would be the typical U-shaped graph, except there would be no recency effect i.e. the beginning of the graph would be higher than the end of the graph.
When you use serial recall, the serial position effect still occurs, but the recency effect does not occur. This is because of exactly what you said - since STM only holds items for 18-20 seconds, by the time we get to the end of the list, these items will no longer be in our memory. This means that the primacy effect will still occur, because the items have been transferred to our long-term memory.
I don't know if this is what you're looking for, but I hope I helped. :)
Hey, yep that's what I meant - but in TSSM they had the typical U-shaped graph in the sense that they demonstrated that both recency and primacy effect occur. I think it should be more of an exponential decreasing function since no recency effect will occur, so extremely unlikely to remember the last couple of words!
Another question: is the fact that sleep allows us to conserve energy evidence for the survival or restorative theory of sleep? Or is it both?
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@ darklight
Sleep conserving energy is evidence for the survival theory of sleep. Sleeping allows for slower metabolic rates, therefore reducing the need for food e.g. when animals hibernate in the winter months when food is scarce in order to survive.
It makes sense when you think of it in a way that survival theory = conserving energy because restorative theory replenishes your energy (there is no need to conserve).
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Question 4, Multiple-choice VCAA
Which one of the following statements about short-term memory is true?
A. Simple rehearsal is the best method for guaranteeing that material will transfer from short-term memory to long-term memory.
B. The capacity of short-term memory can be increased by chunking and elaborative rehearsal.
C. The capacity of short-term memory for individual letters is fixed at a certain number.
D. Most material in sensory memory makes its way into short-term memory.
I thought that elaborative rehearsal does not increase the capacity of the short-term memory, but rather increases the limited duration. For example, if we are learning a list of 7 names, usually we can only hold it for 18 to 20 seconds but if we used elaborative rehearsal we can increase the duration we hold it in there for, whilst elaborative rehearsal also has the benefit of being more effective in transferring it to LTM.
Also, question 15:
While I am studying for my examinations, my brother plays the same loud music over and over again in the next room.
According to the principle of state dependency
A. the music will interfere with the material entering my short-term memory.
B. I should recall the material better when tested in conditions of total silence.
C. being tested in conditions where there is a similar type of loud noise should not improve my recall of the material.
D. I should recall the material better when tested in conditions where the same music is being played.
"State dependency" - doesn't that refer to an individual's INTERNAL physiological/psychological state? Not their external environment, which is context-dependent cues. D is in accordance with context dependency, not state dependency...
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Question 4, Multiple-choice VCAA
Which one of the following statements about short-term memory is true?
A. Simple rehearsal is the best method for guaranteeing that material will transfer from short-term memory to long-term memory.
B. The capacity of short-term memory can be increased by chunking and elaborative rehearsal.
C. The capacity of short-term memory for individual letters is fixed at a certain number.
D. Most material in sensory memory makes its way into short-term memory.
Well, we know that A isn't right - elaborative rehearsal is more effective in transferring information to LTM. C isn't right because it's absolute - the STM capacity of different individuals isn't necessarily going to be the same. D is wrong too - for a stimulus to be transferred to STM we have to be attend it to. Think about how many stimuli there are in the environment at any given time, then think about how many of those you're actually paying attention to.
B is definitely the most correct answer. Yeah, we can increase the capacity of STM using chunking. As for elaborative rehearsal, well, I'm not too sure what they're on about there, but again, B is definitely the most correct.
Also, question 15:
While I am studying for my examinations, my brother plays the same loud music over and over again in the next room.
According to the principle of state dependency
A. the music will interfere with the material entering my short-term memory.
B. I should recall the material better when tested in conditions of total silence.
C. being tested in conditions where there is a similar type of loud noise should not improve my recall of the material.
D. I should recall the material better when tested in conditions where the same music is being played.
A, B and C are clearly wrong. D has to be the right answer. As for why... this is extrapolating the information beyond what you should usually do, but since we already know D has to be right... playing music may induce certain neurological changes (eg. increased dopamine activity in some reward pathways) that are associated with the information being learned. Playing this music again should stimulate the same neurological changes and hence will enable greater recall of the learned information.
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Describe fight/flight response, referring to the role of the autonomic nervous system.
Is this answer appropriate ...?
When a threat is perceived, the autonomic nervous system is activated and the sympathetic nervous system is subsequently activated allowing thr organism to respond the the that threatening stimulus by either confronting it (fight) or escaping (flight).
***or should i write about adrenal glands and how some organs' acitivty is increased and others decreased?
A sample response would be appreciated!
Edit: another question. If there is a q on the semantic network...are we allowed to draw a diagram ie network , to support our answer?
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Yes, you can certainly draw a network.
I'm on my phone and haven't slept so Ceebs with sampe answer right now. I'll come back later if someone else doesn't answer before ne
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Describe fight/flight response, referring to the role of the autonomic nervous system.
Is this answer appropriate ...?
When a threat is perceived, the autonomic nervous system is activated and the sympathetic nervous system is subsequently activated allowing thr organism to respond the the that threatening stimulus by either confronting it (fight) or escaping (flight).
***or should i write about adrenal glands and how some organs' acitivty is increased and others decreased?
A sample response would be appreciated!
Edit: another question. If there is a q on the semantic network...are we allowed to draw a diagram ie network , to support our answer?
As Brencookie said, you can draw diagrams. Examiners do accept them. :)
Basically, the Sympathetic Nervous System heightens the body for action (Fight Response), and the Parasympathetic Nervous System will relax the body after stress or action (Flight Response).
I like to think of it as Parachute for Parasympathetic. Both have "Para" in it, and what happens to a Parachute? It goes down, and so does the Parasympathetic Nervous System when it calms the body. :)
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Describe fight/flight response, referring to the role of the autonomic nervous system.
Is this answer appropriate ...?
When a threat is perceived, the autonomic nervous system is activated and the sympathetic nervous system is subsequently activated allowing thr organism to respond the the that threatening stimulus by either confronting it (fight) or escaping (flight).
***or should i write about adrenal glands and how some organs' acitivty is increased and others decreased?
You could probably express this a bit better. The sympathetic nervous system is just a subdivision of the autonomic nervous system, so if you say that the "autonomic nervous system" activates you're implying that the sympathetic division also has activated. I'd just stick with something like "the sympathetic nervous system is activated", or if you wanted to, "the sympathetic nervous system - a subdivision of the autonomic nervous system - is activated".
Depending on how many marks the question was worth I'd write something along the lines of...
- A threat is perceived, triggering the release of neurohormones (ie. CRH) from the hypothalamus
- These neurohormones trigger release of ACTH into the bloodstream from the anterior pituitary gland
- ACTH stimulates release of adrenaline and cortisol from the adrenal glands
- Adrenaline activates the sympathetic nervous system, which triggers a variety of responses (eg. dilation of the pupils to allow more light into the eyes, increase in heart rate to increase blood flow to muscles)
- Cortisol increases release of glucose into the bloodstream from the liver
- More rapid transport of glucose to muscles and other organs allows cellular energy to be generated more rapidly and hence allows the organism to more effectively confront the perceived threat or flee
You'd only be expected to write that much if the question were worth 4-5 marks (which I really doubt would happen :P)
It's also important that you write "perceived" threat
Hope that helps :)
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Thank you all ;D
And Scooby, did doing Bio assist you when answering some Psych qs?
Edit:
Another question
A psychologist monitored the sleep of 20 people who had just run a marathon (group a) and compared the avg length of time they slept to that of 20 people who had been passive during the previous day(group b)
A) according to the restoration theory of sleep, which group wpuld be expected , on avg, to have a longer period of sleep?
My answer is Group A
B) explain your answer
Is this ok as an answer...
The restoration theory of sleep proposes that due to depleting activities in the day (marathon completed by group a), organisms will sleep longer than on avg. therefore it Is group a that will sleep longer compared to group B who had been passive on the previous day
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Hey guys,
Just checking, does VCAA accept that graduated exposure therapy and systematic desensitisation can be used interchangeably? So in both you are taught relaxation strategies in order to replace your anxiety response?
Thanks :)
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Do you need to know 'learning set'?? ;D
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Can someone explain the difference between homeostasis and allostasis?
To put it quite simply, allostasis is the maintenance of stability by CHANGING. Whereas, homeostasis is the maintenance of stability by keeping your physiological environment at optimal levels or within set limits.
Allostasis= through CHANGING
Homeostasis= by keeping your internal environment CONSTANT
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Hello everyone,
Correct me if I'm wrong, but when a question asks whether a reinforcement schedule is LEAST RESISTANT to extinction as opposed to SLOWEST RATE OF EXTINCTION, these are different things right?
I just did a question and it says that fixed-ratio is the least resistant to extinction. So does the variable-ratio have the slowest rate of extinction?
Thankyou :D
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Hello everyone,
Correct me if I'm wrong, but when a question asks whether a reinforcement schedule is LEAST RESISTANT to extinction as opposed to SLOWEST RATE OF EXTINCTION, these are different things right?
I just did a question and it says that fixed-ratio is the least resistant to extinction. So does the variable-ratio have the slowest rate of extinction?
Thankyou :D
whats the difference between least resistant to extinvtion vs slowest rate?
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Do you need to know 'learning set'?? ;D
Nope
whats the difference between least resistant to extinvtion vs slowest rate?
The behaviour that is least resistant to extinction will extinguish at the fastest rate. Behaviours acquired by continuous schedules of reinforcement are generally extinguished quite rapidly, as are those acquired by fixed partial schedules (especially fixed ratio)
Hey guys,
Just checking, does VCAA accept that graduated exposure therapy and systematic desensitisation can be used interchangeably? So in both you are taught relaxation strategies in order to replace your anxiety response?
Thanks :)
They're not exactly the same thing. Graduated exposure just involves constructing that hierarchy of fears and then being exposed to them one by one. A relaxation technique isn't necessarily paired with the phobic stimuli. In systematic desensitisation a relaxation technique is paired with these stimuli. I wouldn't use them interchangeably, but I doubt you'll lose marks if you do use the wrong one anyway
Thank you all ;D
And Scooby, did doing Bio assist you when answering some Psych qs?
Edit:
Another question
A psychologist monitored the sleep of 20 people who had just run a marathon (group a) and compared the avg length of time they slept to that of 20 people who had been passive during the previous day(group b)
A) according to the restoration theory of sleep, which group wpuld be expected , on avg, to have a longer period of sleep?
My answer is Group A
B) explain your answer
Is this ok as an answer...
The restoration theory of sleep proposes that due to depleting activities in the day (marathon completed by group a), organisms will sleep longer than on avg. therefore it Is group a that will sleep longer compared to group B who had been passive on the previous day
Yeah, that's fine :)
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did doing Bio assist you when answering some Psych qs?
Yes, doing Biology definitely helps, especially when doing Neurons and Plasticity.