Back to AI Flashcard MakerPsychology /GRE® Psychology Biological: Physiological/Behavioral Neuroscience Part 11
GRE® Psychology Biological: Physiological/Behavioral Neuroscience Part 11
This deck covers key concepts in physiological and behavioral neuroscience, including studies on animal behavior, sensory systems, and neural mechanisms.
What are three major topics Harry Harlow used to study with rhesus monkeys?
1. social isolation 2. contact comfort 3. learning to learn
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Term
Definition
What are three major topics Harry Harlow used to study with rhesus monkeys?
1. social isolation 2. contact comfort 3. learning to learn
What did Harlow's studies on social isolation show about monkeys?
Monkeys raised in isolation were never socialized, so when they were around other monkeys, they did not act normally, particularly with sexual and mat...
What did Harlow's wire monkey/cloth monkey experiment suggest about maternal attachment?
Baby monkeys could spend time with a wire 'mother' who provided food or a terrycloth 'mother' who did not provide anything but comfort. Baby monkeys r...
Describe Harlow's theory of 'learning to learn.'
As monkeys increased their total learning experiences, they were able to learn novel things more quickly.
Briefly explain R.C. Tyron's rat experiment.
To test how behavioral differences are affected by genetics, Tryon ran rats through a maze and bred the ones that made the fewest mistakes to make 'ma...
What did Cooper and Zubek add to Tyron's rat experiment?
They raised genetically maze-bright and maze-dull rats in different environments: normal, enriched, and impoverished. They found a difference in maze ...
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| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
What are three major topics Harry Harlow used to study with rhesus monkeys? | 1. social isolation 2. contact comfort 3. learning to learn |
What did Harlow's studies on social isolation show about monkeys? | Monkeys raised in isolation were never socialized, so when they were around other monkeys, they did not act normally, particularly with sexual and maternal behaviors. |
What did Harlow's wire monkey/cloth monkey experiment suggest about maternal attachment? | Baby monkeys could spend time with a wire 'mother' who provided food or a terrycloth 'mother' who did not provide anything but comfort. Baby monkeys ran to the cloth mom when scared, suggesting that comfort is imperative to attachment. |
Describe Harlow's theory of 'learning to learn.' | As monkeys increased their total learning experiences, they were able to learn novel things more quickly. |
Briefly explain R.C. Tyron's rat experiment. | To test how behavioral differences are affected by genetics, Tryon ran rats through a maze and bred the ones that made the fewest mistakes to make 'maze-bright' rats and the most mistakes to make 'maze-dull' rats. He then tested the bright- and dull-bred rats to see if they made as few or as many mistakes as their parents. His research supported the hypothesis that genetics affect behavior. |
What did Cooper and Zubek add to Tyron's rat experiment? | They raised genetically maze-bright and maze-dull rats in different environments: normal, enriched, and impoverished. They found a difference in maze performance only in the normal condition. In the enriched and impoverished conditions, the performance difference was not significant. |
What are the three prongs of Edward Thorndike's instrumental learning theory? | 1. trial 2. error 3. accidental success |
What is Thorndike's law of effect? | Stemming from the concept of instrumental learning, Thorndike posited that animals repeat successful behaviors. He tested this with cats in puzzle boxes. While it took the cats a while in the beginning to find the escape button, they pressed it nearly immediately in later trials. |
How do cross-fostering experiments help glean whether traits are due to nature or nurture? | Siblings are separated at birth and raised by different parents, then compared to see what traits persisted, suggesting heredity, and which traits differed, suggesting environment. |
What was Eric Kandel's contribution to the concept of plasticity? | Kandel studied the sea slug Aplysia, and showed that learning actually changed the synapses and neural pathways of the slug, supporting the idea of neural plasticity. |
What did Keller and Marion Breland find when they tried to teach a raccoon to deposit coins in a piggy bank? | They observed the raccoon treating the coins like they would crayfish, trying to remove a shell. This showed an instinctual drift, meaning the raccoon couldn't help behaving instinctually. |
Ethology now mainly rests within the realm of sociobiology. Who is the most recognized sociobiologist? | E.O. Wilson Wilson believes behavior is formed by the mingling of environment and genetics. |
What are the main types of photoreceptors in the human eye? | • Rods • Cones Rods are responsible for vision in low light conditions, while cones are responsible for color vision and function best in bright light. |
True or false: Hair cells are involved in the auditory transduction mechanism. | True Hair cells in the cochlea convert sound wave vibrations into electrical signals that the brain interprets as sound. |
Fill in the blanks: Mechanoreceptors are primarily responsible for detecting ______ and ______. | touch; pressure Mechanoreceptors are sensitive to mechanical stimuli such as pressure, vibration, and texture, enabling the sense of touch. |
Describe the function of taste buds. | Taste buds detect chemical substances in food and transmit taste information to the brain. Taste buds are clusters of receptor cells located on the tongue, each detecting different taste sensations such as sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami. |
What is the role of the olfactory epithelium in the sensory system? | It houses olfactory receptors that detect odor molecules, enabling the sense of smell. The olfactory epithelium is a specialized tissue inside the nasal cavity that plays a crucial role in the detection of airborne chemical stimuli. |
Differentiate between the dorsal column-medial lemniscal pathway and the spinothalamic pathway. | Dorsal column-medial lemniscal: Carries fine touch and proprioception Spinothalamic: Transmits pain and temperature These pathways are key components of the somatosensory system, conveying different types of sensory information from the body to the brain. |
What is a receptive field in sensory systems? | It's the specific region of sensory space where a stimulus will modify the firing of a neuron. Receptive fields are critical for sensory perception as they determine how neurons respond to stimuli in their environment. |
Explain the concept of lateral inhibition in sensory processing. | It enhances contrast and sharpens sensory perception by inhibiting neighboring neurons. This process helps improve the accuracy of sensory information by reducing noise and emphasizing differences in stimulus intensity. |