Department of psychology - UiO
PSY4302 – Human Cognitive Neuropsychology
Final Exam - Spring 2012
Written school exam, Thursday 10th of May, 14.30 hrs. (3 hours).
Examination results will be announced on the 1th of June.
No aids are permitted.
Answer 3 out of the 4 questions from Part I and 1 out of the 2 questions from Part II.
Part I is related to the lectures and the assigned readings from the textbook. You should spend
approximately 2 hours 15 mins answering Part I. It is recommended that you use
approximately 3 pages (handwritten) for each of the questions you choose to answer from
Part I.
Part II is related to the articles presented in the seminar component of the course. You should
spend approximately 45 mins answering Part II. It is recommended that you use
approximately 2 pages (handwritten) for the question you choose to answer from Part II.
Part I: Lectures and textbook
1. How do we encode new declarative memories and what processes affect encoding
efficacy? Moreover, account for what brain regions are implicated and their role in building
declarative memories.
2. How do representations distributed across the brain become integrated to establish category
knowledge?
3. There is no single, generally aggreed upon definition of executive functions. However,
descriptions of executive functioning tend to involve a few (e.g. 3-5) processes. Describe
these.
4. How can emotional activation be manipulated and measured in experimental research?
Part II: Seminar component
For your chosen research question, explicitly state a hypothesis and design ONE
experiment/study that aims to test this hypothesis.
When designing your experiment you may draw on the materials and procedures that were
applied in the research articles presented in the seminars. Provide a general outline of your
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Department of psychology - UiO
chosen experimental design, and clearly state your variables and how these are
operationalized. Give a concise explanation of your expected results, including figures and/or
tables where appropriate, and provide a very brief discussion of the reason(s) for your
predictions and the implications of these results.
Research Question 1:
In a typical Extinction preparation, Conditioning, Extinction and Test occur on three separate
days. Surprisingly, however, despite the fact that Extinction is frequently cited as the
laboratory analogue of exposure therapy, little effort has been made to investigate the effects
of manipulating the Conditioning – Extinction time intreval.
Do the benefits of rapid intervention apply to Extinction? Specifically, does Extinction
produce a more robust reduction of learned fear if it is administered almost immediately (for
example, 3 minutes) following the conditioning phase, as compared to a “standard”
Conditioning – Extinction interval of 24 hours?
Research Question 2
A range of cognitive processes, including attention, decline with old age. Attentional deficits
are associated with impairments in goal-directed behaviour, with potentially serious
consequences for the individual concerned as well as for others (for example in the case of
traffic accidents). The aim of the present study is therefore to develop a simple intervention
that can improve attention in an at-risk population.
Does an aerobic exercise intervention reduce the occurence of momentary lapses in attention
in older adults? If so, can this improvement in function be related to specific neuroanatomical
regions?
Good Luck!
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