Unit 2: Elicited behaviour, Habituation and Sensation

Question 1

Are nativists or empiricists more accurate?

Answer 1

nativists were overall closer to the truth

Question 2

Is behaviour infinitely flexible?

Answer 2

no, it depends on the pre-exisitng behaviour systems

Question 3

What are examples for genetics and the environment influencing characteristics and traits?

Answer 3

Intelligence
Addiction
Mental health

Question 4

Genetic determinism vs free will

Answer 4

genes predispose behaviours
environment, life and capacity for choice are important as well

Question 5

How are behaviours complex?

Answer 5

result from the interaction between genes and environment
-> identifying each role difficult

Question 6

plasticity/ adaptability

Answer 6

brain plasticity and our ability to adapt ourselves to the environment helps overcome some genetic predispositions

Question 7

What is learning according to the nativist position?

Answer 7

equal to shaping a wooden statue
-> most successful when considering preexisting behavioural structures

Question 8

Whats the most simple form of elicited behaviour and what does it involve? Is it learned?

Answer 8

reflex
stimulus - response
not all relations between s- r learnt, some phyiological

Question 9

Why can you say that S and R are linked?

Answer 9

S is (often) followed by R
R rarely occurs without S

Question 10

Which type of neuron transmits a signal from an afferent neurone to an efferent neurone (in most cases)?

Answer 10

interneurone

Question 11

What is the purpose of reflexes?

Answer 11

necessary for survival
e.g. feeding reflex, respiratory occlusion reflex, milk-letdown reflex

Question 12

What are Modal action patterns (MAPs) and what do they include?

Answer 12

response sequences specific to a species or group of species
-> some only occur in certain species (e.g.gull pecking dot on parents beak)
involve many aspects of behaviour (sexual, territorial, aggressive, …)

Question 13

What did Tinbergen and Perdeck conduct and what did they find out?

Answer 13

test: pecking in chicks with artificial models of gull adults and changed beak characteristics (other characteristics fixed)
-> beak must be long, thin, pointed downward with red patch near tip
-> colour, shape and noises irrelevant

Question 14

What’s a supernormal stimulus?

Answer 14

sign stimulus exaggerated to produce larger response
-> also plays major role in social and sexual behaviour (e.g. cosmetic and perfume)

Question 15

What are individual actions usually organised into?

Answer 15

functional behaviour sequences

Question 16

What were behaviour sequences originally divided into in behavioural psychology?

Answer 16

appetitive and consummatory behaviour
appetitive: brings organism in contact with stimulus, releases consummatory behaviour
consummatory: completes action

Question 17

Which part of the original behaviour sequence can vary more?

Answer 17

appetitive behaviours

Question 18

How can elicited behaviour be modified?

Answer 18

through experience
-> increases of decreases via sensitisation or habituation

Question 19

What is habituation?

Answer 19

the reduction of an elicited response due to repeated presentation of the stimulus

Question 20

Is habituation universal?

Answer 20

No, it is stimulus specific

Question 21

Apart from being stimulus specific, what else does habituation depend on?

Answer 21

attention

Question 22

How does habituation relate to obesity?

Answer 22

normal-weight participants showed habituation to taste stimulus
overweight participants didn’t
-> lack of habituation may be related to obesity

Question 23

What were the results of Bashinki et al. study about visual attention in infants?

Answer 23

visual attention changes with familiarity (which depends on the nature of the stimulus)
complex stimuli produce initial sensitisation, then habituation
infants distinguish between complex and simple stimuli

Question 24

What’s the startle response and what are some characteristics?

Answer 24

defensive response to a potential or actual attack
sudden jump, tensing of upper body muscles, raised shoulders, pulling back of head into shoulders

Question 25

Why has the startle response been extensively investigated?

Answer 25

because of its role in fear and defensive behaviour

Question 26

How can the startle response be measured?

Answer 26

in rats
measured by putting rat on surface with pressure sensor
-> startle response increases pressure against floor

Question 27

Which types of habituation are there?

Answer 27

Long-term habituation: when stimuli are widely spaced in time
Short-term habituation: stimuli presented closely together

Question 28

What’s sensitisation?

Answer 28

stimulus producing greater elicited response due to state of arousal

Question 29

How does arousal relate to our experiences?

Answer 29

it intensifies them

Question 30

What’s the adaptive function of habituation and sensitisation?

Answer 30

habituation helps us ignore what’s benign
sensitisation helps us attend to what’s important

Question 31

What’s the relation between sensory adaptation and behaviour?

Answer 31

change in elicited response due to decreases in sensitivity

Question 32

What’s the relation between fatigue and behaviour?

Answer 32

changes in elicited behaviour due to decreased ability to contract and relax muscles

Question 33

Habituation and sensitisation on a biological level

Answer 33

habituation inhibits the activity of sensory neurones while sensitisation facilitates the activity of motor neurones

Question 34

What does the dual process theory want to explain?

Answer 34

changes in responses to stimuli due to habituation and sensitisation

Question 35

Habituation process

Answer 35

neural process producing decreases in responsiveness

Question 36

Sensitisation process

Answer 36

neural process producing increases in responsiveness

Question 37

Habituation vs habituation process & sensitisation vs sensitisation process

Answer 37

effects: observable behaviours
processes: underlying mechanisms
-> behavioural outcome is the net effect of both processes

Question 38

In which part of the NS does the habituation process occur?

Answer 38

S-R system
activated every time stimulus is presented
-> each presentation causes build-up of habituation

Question 39

In which part of the NS does the sensitisation process occur?

Answer 39

state system
determines organism’s general level of responsiveness
activated by arousing events

Question 40

Complex, emotional behaviours

Answer 40

biphasic (primary and secondary response/ effect)
change with experience
-> primary resonses decrease while secondary responses increase

Question 41

Which process causes people to build up a tolerance against drugs?

Answer 41

habituation

Question 42

What does oponent process theory state?

Answer 42

elicited emotional responses push emotional states away from normality in one directon
-> triggers counter-acting response in opposite direction