Suppose participants in an experiment are given the following instruction: You will see a sequence of
words and pronounceable nonsense words presented one at a time on a computer screen. Whenever you see
a word, say “Yes”. The experimenter measures the speed of responding to each word using a voice
activated switch. The reaction time (RT) task measures
!
(a)Simple RT.
(b)Choice RT.
(c)Go/no go RT. **
(d)None of the above.
The part of the sentence in italics emphasizes the fact that the subject
is only to respond to a word. This implies that he or she must withhold a
response to a pronounceable nonsense word.
!
The task from the subjects’ point of view is unambiguous. They will consult
their orthographic lexicon to carry out the task (see the section on the tworoute model of reading in Chapter 2.1).
!
If the written stimulus matches an entry in their lexicon (e.g. SWAMP)
subjects are required to respond (i.e. Go), if no match occurs (e.g.
SWUMP) they are required to withhold a response (NoGo).
Suppose participants in an experiment are given the following instruction: You will see either a square or a
triangle appear on a given trial. If you see a square, say “YES”, if you see a triangle say “NO”. This task
measures
!
(a)Simple RT.
(b)Choice RT. **
(c)Go/no go RT.
(d)None of the above.
Subjects must identify the stimulus (square or triangle) and
select a response (yes or no).
!
So - - Choice RT task.
Consider the following stages of processing:
!
(1)Stimulus detection
(2)Stimulus identification
(3)Response selection
(4)Response Execution.
!
!
!
Which of these stages is required for a Simple RT task?
!
(a) 1, 2, 3.
(b)1, 2, 4.
(c)1, 2, 3, 4.
(d)1, 4. **
A Simple RT task only requires stimulus detection and response
execution (Chapter 3.2, lecture notes and study guide).
Consider the following stages of processing:
!
(1)Stimulus detection
(2)Stimulus identification
(3)Response selection
(4)Response Execution.
!
!
!
Which
!
of these stages is required for a Go/nogo task?
(a) 1, 2, 3.
(b)1, 2, 4. **
(c)1, 2, 3, 4.
(d)1, 4.
A Go/NoGo RT task requires stimulus detection, stimulus
identification, and response execution (Chapter 3.2, lecture notes
and study guide).
Suppose I carry out the following subtraction:
!
Choice RT - Simple RT.
!
The subtraction, according to Donders, should isolate
!
(a)Stimulus Identification. Stimulus
Response
Detection
Execution
Simple
(b)Stimulus Identification, Response Execution and Response Selection.
(c)Stimulus Identification and Response Selection. **
(d)Response Selection
Stimulus
Detection
Response
Execution
Response
Selection
Stimulus
Identification
Choice RT
From the lecture slides
Stimulus
Detection
RT
Stimulus
Identification
Response
Execution
Choice RT - Simple RT =
Choice RT - Go/Nogo RT =
Go/Nogo RT
Stimulus
Identification
Response
Selection
Response
Selection
Suppose I carry out the following subtraction:
!
Choice RT - Go/Nogo RT.
!
The subtraction, according to Donders, should isolate
!
Stimulus
Detection
Response
Execution
Simple RT
(a)Stimulus Identification.
(b)Stimulus Identification, Response
Selection.
Stimulus Execution and Response
Stimulus
(c)Stimulus Identification andDetection
Response Selection. Identification
(d)Response Selection. **
Response
Execution
Response
Selection
Choice RT
From the lecture slides
Stimulus
Detection
Stimulus
Identification
Response
Execution
Choice RT - Simple RT =
Choice RT - Go/Nogo RT =
Go/Nogo RT
Stimulus
Identification
Response
Selection
Response
Selection
Which of the following is true about peak force in reaction time tasks, as
investigated by Ulrich, Mattes and Miller to test the assumption of pure
insertion?
!
(a)Peak force establishes that the stage of response selection differs between
Choice and Simple RT tasks.
(b) Peak force establishes that the stage of response execution differs between
Choice and Simple RT tasks.
(c)Peak force establishes that the stage of response selection differs between
Choice and Go/Nogo RT tasks.
(d)Peak force establishes that the stage of response execution differs between
Choice and Go/Nogo RT tasks. **
Why use response force as
an additional measure?
Stimulus
Detection
Stimulus
Detection
Response
Execution
Stimulus
Identification
Response
Selection
Thus, response force may specifically probe the motor system
and thus assess potential differences (if any) between the various
RT tasks devised by Donders. In sum, if the type of task affects
response execution, then response force should vary as a
function of task, providing evidence at odds with Donders’s
assumption of an invariant response execution stage.!
Response
Execution
From lecture
slides and
case study
on pure insertion.
What do we mean by saying that reading is a spatially parallel process?
!
(a)Word recognition is affected by top-down influences.
(b)Word recognition operates at the same time as letter recognition.
(c)Word recognition operates on multiple letters at the same time. **
From textbook
We can say that words are processed in parallel with letters, but be careful to note that the term parallel
processing in this sense means that several processing modules (in this case, the letter and wordlevel component) operate at the same time rather than in sequence to produce a response. The
other sense of the term parallel refers to the fact that a particular processing component (in this
example, the letter processing module) can operate on many spatial locations at the same time. Be
sure to distinguish between these two different ways in which the term parallel processing is being
used.
What do we mean by saying that letter processing and word processing operate in parallel?
(a)Word processing exerts a top-down influence on letter processing.
(b)Letter processing and word processing operate at the same time. **
(c)The operation of letter processing occurs independently of the operation of word processing.
From textbook
We can say that words are processed in parallel with letters, but be careful to note that the term parallel
processing in this sense means that several processing modules (in this case, the letter and wordlevel component) operate at the same time rather than in sequence to produce a response. The
other sense of the term parallel refers to the fact that a particular processing component (in this
example, the letter processing module) can operate on many spatial locations at the same time. Be
sure to distinguish between these two different ways in which the term parallel processing is being
used.
The logic of subtraction methodology requires us to assume which of the following:
!
a)The output of one processing stage acts as input to the next.
b)Only one process is active at any moment in time.
c)Both of the above. **
d)Neither of the above.
From textbook:
Despite its intuitive appeal, the logic of Donder’s subtraction methodology is not at all
straightforward. It rests on three assumptions:
(i) The mental processes of stimulus detection, stimulus identification, response selection
and response execution are arranged sequentially in the sense that the output of one
serves as the input to the next.
(ii) Only one process can be active at a given instant between stimulus input and
response output. Each process or processing stage takes a certain amount of time,
referred to as the stage duration. RT is equal to the sum of all the stage durations (the serial
processing assumption).
(iii) A stage can be added or omitted to a sequence of processes without altering the
duration of the other processing stages. This is termed the assumption of pure insertion.
Consider the following statement by Donders:
!
Some people give the response (in Task C) when they should have remained silent. And if this happens once, the
whole series must be rejected: for, how can we be sure that when they had to make the response and did make it,
they had properly waited until they should have discriminated?
What did Donders mean by Task C?
(a)Simple RT.
(b)Choice RT.
(c)Go/Nogo RT. **
From textbook and
lecture slides.
Consider the following experiment. The target on a given trial is either a square or a circle and is presented either in
direct vision (at fixation, in the center of the visual field) or quite far from fixation, in the left or right peripheral visual
field. Presenting the target in the peripheral visual field makes it hard to see. The task is to say “Square” when you see a
square and “Circle” when you see a circle. The speed of vocal responding is measured using a voice activated switch.
Subjects are required to keep their eyes fixated on the center of the computer monitor and this is ensured on each trial by
an eye movement monitoring device. Assume that each target occurs equally often in each of the three locations (center,
left or right). Assume that accuracy is near 100% in this experiment.
!
12) Which of the following is an experimental factor (or variable) in the experiment affecting performance?
!
a)
b)
c)
d)
Target location. **
Reaction time.
Square versus Circle.
All of the above.
The location of the target is being varied as an experimental
factor (see the case study on additive factors).
Which of the following processing stages will be affected by the experimental factor in this experiment?
!
a)Simulus Identification. **
b)Response selection.
c)Response execution.
The clue to this question is in red: Making a visual display easy versus hard to
see affects stimulus identification.
Consider the following experiment. The target on a given trial is either a square or a circle and
is presented either in direct vision (at fixation, in the center of the visual field) or quite far from
fixation, in the left or right peripheral visual field. Presenting the target in the peripheral visual
field makes it hard to see. The task is to say “Square” when you see a square and “Circle” when
you see a circle. The speed of vocal responding is measured using a voice activated switch.
Subjects are required to keep their eyes fixated on the center of the computer monitor and this is
ensured on each trial by an eye movement monitoring device. Assume that each target occurs
equally often in each of the three locations (center, left or right). Assume that accuracy is near
100% in this experiment.
The task just described is
!
a)A Simple RT task.
b)A Choice RT task. **
c)A Go/Nogo task.
d)None of the above.
The description of the task in the experiment is:
!
The task is to say “Square” when you see a square and “Circle” when
you see a circle. The speed of vocal responding is measured using a
voice activated switch.
!
This is a Choice RT task.
Suppose I change the previous experiment in the following way. All stimuli are presented at fixation.
On half the trials, the instruction is to say “Circle” when the target is a circle, and “Square” when the
target is a square. On remaining trials, the instruction is to say “Circle” when the target is a square,
and “Square” when the target is a circle. Which processing stage(s) will now be affected?
!
a)Identification only.
b)Response selection only. **
c)Both identification and response selection.
d)Neither identification nor response selection.
Examples of Compatible versus Incompatible Response Mappings.
Subject is instructed to:
Respond with your left hand to
Incompatible response mapping
Respond with your right hand to
See the section on
Additive Factors, especially
the example indicated by
the arrow.
Respond with your left hand to
Compatible response mapping
Respond with your right hand to
Say white to
Incompatible response mapping
Say black to
Varying response mapping affects the stage of Response Selection.
!
Note that all stimuli are presented at fixation, so the factor that was designed to
affect stimulus identification in a previous question (Target Location) is no
longer present in this experiment. So option C above is not correct.
Which of the following tasks produce more forceful motor responses, as determined by Ulrich, Mattes and Miller (1999)?
!
a) A Simple RT task.
b) A Choice RT task.
c) A Go/Nogo task. **
d) All of the above.
NI
Peak force is significantly greater for the Go/NoGo task
relative to Choice RT (p<0.05).
Choice versus Go/Nogo
From the lecture slides and the Case Study on Pure Insertion.
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When, according to Ulrich, Mattes and Miller (1999), do more forceful motor responses occur?
!
a) When the target objects are presented in such a way that they are difficult to discriminate.
b)When the selection of a particular response from two alternatives is difficult.
c)When the participant must attend to several locations at once.
d)When the distance between motor readiness and the threshold for action is large. **
Threshold
From the lecture slides
and the case study
on pure insertion.
Motor
preparation
Go/Nogo
Choice
To produce a “Go” response, the motor system needs a lot of
activation from its initial ‘ready’ or prepared state (more than
for a simple or choice RT). This bigger activation produces a
more
forceful action!
Which of the following, according to Lamarck, is responsible for evolutionary changes in a species?
!
a)Willing or striving towards goals.
b)Sensation of biological need. **
c)The mere exercise of repeated actions even in very simple creatures like jellyfish.
d)All of the above.
From the textbook and lecture slides on Darwin:
It is biological need, according to Lamarck, rather than will or volition that leads to
behavioral and ultimately physical changes.
A duckling can recognize the call of a mother duck from its own species even if the duckling has never
heard the sound before hatching. In our textbook, there was a description of how this ability develops.
The description provided is most consistent with the views of which of the following evolutionary
theorists?
!
a)Charles Darwin.
b)Lamarck.
c)Erasmus Darwin. **
d)James Baldwin.
From the textbook:
Erasmus Darwin’s argument that what appears to be innately determined
behavior may in some cases be habitual responses acquired before birth turned
out to be remarkably prescient (prescient means showing knowledge of events before they
take place). Modern research has confirmed this possibility. For example,
ducklings can recognize the calls of a mother duck from their own species even if
they have not heard the sound before hatching. It would certainly appear at this
first glance that the ducklings response is innate. However, in at least one species
it has been shown that during development while in the egg, the growing fetus
vocalizes repeatedly and so hears the sounds it generates. This self-produced
acoustic input tunes the auditory system of the ducklings which then allows them
to respond to the call of the mother after hatching.
Figure 1 illustrates the result of a recent experiment by Yap and Balota examining the effect of word
frequency and stimulus quality on reading speed. Word frequency refers to how commonly a word
occurs in written text. For example, a word like BOOK is quite common (High Frequency) while a
word like ROOK (Low Frequency) occurs less commonly in written text.
It is assumed that you know, given the lectures and the textbook, what the term Stimulus Quality
means. As far as this variable or factor is concerned, words are presented so that they are either easy
to see (Clear) or hard to see (Degraded).
!
How many factors are there in this experiment?
!
a)Two. **
b)Four.
c)Six.
d)One.
There are two factors: Stimulus Quality (Clear versus Degraded) and Word
Frequency (High versus Low). See the case study on additive factors
for a relevant discussion.
The value p=0.54 shown in Figure 1 represents a statistical test of whether there is a reliable difference between the
numbers 53.85 and 57.18, show on the graph. Which of the following statements is true, given this value (p=0.54).
!
a)The difference between 53.85 and 57.18 is statistically reliable.
b)There is no statistically reliable difference between these numbers.**
c)If you carried out this experiment 100 times, then 5 times you would obtain the difference by chance.
The minimally acceptable level of significance in an experiment
is p=0.05 (5/100 times, the experimental result will be obtained by chance alone;
see the case study on Pure Insertion).
!
P=0.54 means that the experimental result will be due to chance
54 times out of 100 (54/100=0.54). This is far bigger than the 0.05
cutoff (much bigger than the minimum 0.05 probability value that would allow
us to claim the difference is statistically reliable).
Which of the following would you conclude from this
experiment?
!
a) The stimulus quality of a word and its frequency of
occurrence affect different processing stages of the reading
mechanism. **
b)The stimulus quality of a word and its frequency of
occurrence affect the same processing stages in the reading
mechanism.
c)Stimulus quality affects the reading mechanism but not word
frequency.
d)Word frequency affects the reading mechanism but not
stimulus quality.
The effects of the two factors, Stimulus Quality and Word Frequency, on RT are additive. In other words, the
dotted line and the bold line are parallel (or to put this another way, the difference 53.85 and 57.18 is not
statistically reliable, so the distance between the two lines is constant).
!
Parallel lines indicate that the two factors affect processing stages that are functionally independent (see the
case study on the logic of additive factors). Note: if the difference between 53.85 and 57.18 had been
statistically reliable, then we would conclude that the effect of the two factors on RT is over-additive, in which
case we would indeed conclude that the two factors of interest (another term for factor is variable) affect the
same processing stage.
Which of the following is true given the data shown in the graph?
!
a)Subjects are about 55 ms slower to read a clear versus a visually degraded word.
b)Subjects are about 55 ms slower to read a low frequency than a high frequency word.**
c)Subjects are equally fast at reading a low frequency word and a high frequency word if the letters in the
word are presented in a clearly visible form.
!
!
Low frequency words yield slower RT’s
than high frequency words (this makes
sense!),
!
These values (53.85 and 57.18) refers to
the difference in RT between high and
low frequency words (the difference
between the dotted line (high) and the
bold line (low), when the word is clearly
displayed (53.85) and degraded (57.18).
!
!
!
The two values (53.85 and 57.18) are
averaged to obtain the overall effect
(53.85+57.18=111.03/2= 55 (actually
55.5, but the question says “about 55
ms”).
See the case study on Additive Factors
Which of the following played a role in altering beak size in a population of finches struggling to
survive during a drought in the Galapagos Islands?
!
a)Sexual selection.
b)Natural selection.
c)Both of the above. **
From our textbook:
The situation gave finches with a heavier beak a slight advantage, so that over time they invested
significantly less energy and effort in obtaining seeds than finches with a smaller beak. Survival of each
bird under these harsh conditions ultimately depended on its ability to gain access to a limited supply of
food. In addition, beak size plays a role in sexual selection; females tend to mate with male finches that
have the same beak size. Also, beak size differs between finches in much the same way that height differs
between humans; variation is partly under genetic control. The result of this process of selection was that by
1978, the average beak size of finches on Daphne Major had increased by around 3%, a tiny,
imperceptible amount (about 1mm) that made a crucial difference to the finch’s survival when food was
scarce.
According to Darwin, our ability to interpret and produce emotional expressions
!
a)evolved by natural selection.
b)does not depend on context.
c)Both of the above.
d)Neither of the above. **
From our textbook:
Darwin had come up with a remarkably modern insight; that much of perceptual cognition depends on context.
A further surprise in Darwin’s book on emotional expression is that he applied Lamarckian ideas to developing an
account of how expressions evolved. There are no arguments of the evolution of emotional expressions based
on natural selection, consistent with Darwin’s assumption that expressions have no function and so confer no
advantage to the survival of an animal or its community.
What view was John Ray expressing when he wrote in 1693 that ‘....species preserve their
distinctive traits forever’? (The quote is taken from page 57 of our textbook).
!
a)A view consistent with the Natural State Model. **
b)A view consistent with Galton’s view of population differences.
c)A view consistent with Lamarck’s theory.
d)A view consistent with John Locke’s argument on the nature of species.
From our textbook:
Notice the view expressed in this passage by Ray that peculiarities differentiating individual
members of a species can be considered ‘accidental’ (produced by interfering forces) and that there
are ‘distinctive traits’ (a natural state) that species preserve forever. In other words, there is a
genuine essence to a species -- a natural state -- which does not change, regardless of variation
between individual members.
Are the following statements True or False? A=True; B=False.
!
Charles Darwin’s theory of how instincts develop was based on the notion that any learned action will become
habitual with enough practice. True
From our textbook:
Darwin’s theory of how instincts develop was based on the notion that any learned
action will become habitual with enough practice.
Locke denied the possibility that animals had the ability to reason.
False
From our textbook:
For example, Locke wrote that if animals ‘have any ideas at all and are not bare machines (as some
would have them) we cannot deny them to have some reason.’
David Hume (1711-1776) argued that animal reasoning differed only in degree from human abilities.
!
True
From our textbook:
David Hume (1711-1776) argued that animal reasoning differed only in degree from human
abilities. People ‘….surpass animals in reasoning and one person can surpass another…. in the giving of
attention, in memory, and in observation. One mind may be larger and better able to comprehend, or better
able to remember a chain of consequences, or better able to discern between ideas, not mistaking one for
another.’
For Charles Darwin, like his grandfather Erasmus, there was a fundamental distinction between instinct
and reason. False
From our textbook:
For Charles Darwin, like his grandfather Erasmus, there was no fundamental distinction between instinct and reason
According to Charles Darwin, the parental instincts of animals (as well as the moral intuitions of people) were innate and unselfish.
True
From our textbook:
Darwin viewed our moral sense as grounded in the kind of instincts that animals display when (i) raising their
offspring, (ii) seeking and interacting with a mate or (iii) dealing with other members of their group. These
animal instincts (as well as the moral intuitions of people) he considered to be innate, unselfish and socially
binding.
Which of the following, according to Darwin, is (are) necessary for the development of a moral conscience?
a) Reason.
b) Passion.
c) Social and sexual instincts.
d) All of the above. **
From our textbook:
Social instincts (for example, the urge of a mother bird to care for her fledglings) might come into
conflict with other competing instincts (for example, the urge to flee from a predator). Given such
conflict, Darwin proposed an intriguing argument for the development of a moral conscience. A
mentally sophisticated being would inevitably experience the conflict between a social instinct (e.g.
caring for one’s young) and another competing urge (e.g. the impulse to react with anger) as the
promptings of a troubled conscience, a sense of guilt. As Darwin wrote: ‘Therefore I say, grant reason to
any animal with social and sexual instincts and yet with passion (..then...) he must have conscience -- this is a
capital view’ (The emphasis on ‘must’ is Darwin’s). In other words, moral conscience in humans is
built on our social instincts and would emerge in any creature with a mind sufficiently complex to
become aware of the tug of urges.
Conscience would become increasingly refined over
generations as civilization and greater intellectual ability combine to strengthen our sense of moral
obligation to others.
While developing his theory on the evolution of morality, Charles Darwin wrote when thinking about bees: ‘Neuters do
not breed! How is ...(this)... instinct acquired?’. How did he eventually arrive at an answer to this question?
a) He argued that natural selection could be applied to entire families rather than to an individual.
b) He argued that natural selection would favour parents who produce offspring with instincts that are beneficial to an
entire community or family rather than to the individual who possesses them.
c) Both of the above. **
The quote from Darwin in our textbook is as follows:
In the eighth chapter, I have stated the fact of a neuter insect often having a widely different structure and instinct from both
parents, and never yet breeding and so never transmitting its slowly acquired modification to its offspring, seemed at first to
me an actually fatal objection to my whole theory. But after considering what can be done by artificial selection, I concluded
that natural selection might act on parents, and continually preserve those which produce more and more aberrant offspring,
having any structure or instinct advantageous to the community.
And my comments on this quote in the next paragraph:
Here then is the explanation, according to Darwin, as to why social instincts (such as the need for a
mother bird to care for her fledglings) can emerge by the process of natural selection even when the selected
attributes cannot confer any direct advantage to the individuals who possesses them. In some contexts,
natural selection will favor parents who produce offspring with instincts that are beneficial to an entire
community or family rather than to the individual who possesses them
Is the following statement True or False?
!
Darwin argued that only a few emotional expressions could generally be taken to reflect unambiguous
information about internal mental states. True
From our textbook
Surprisingly, he argued that only a few emotional expressions could generally be taken to reflect
unambiguous information about internal mental states.
Is the following statement True or False?
Darwin agreed with the popular view that emotional expressions were a kind of natural language that signalled a large number of feelings.
False
From our textbook:
Darwin disagreed with the popular view that emotional expressions were a kind of natural language that signaled a
large number of feelings (one of Darwin’s contemporaries, Sir Charles Bell, argued there were as many as 60
emotional expressions that we could identify).
Is the following statement True or False?
Darwin inferred that much of perceptual cognition (including identification of emotional expression) depends on context.
!
True
From our textbook:
Darwin had come up with a remarkably modern insight; that much of perceptual cognition depends on context.
Is the following statement True or False?
Darwin assumed that emotions served no definite communicative function.
True - a surprising fact!
From our textbook:
There are no arguments of the evolution of emotional expressions based on natural selection,
consistent with Darwin’s assumption that expressions have no function and so confer no advantage to
the survival of an animal or its community.
Is the following statement True or False?
Darwin assumed that emotions evolved by a process of natural selection.
False - another surprising fact!
The same sentence in the textbook.
There are no arguments of the evolution of emotional expressions based on natural selection, consistent with
Darwin’s assumption that expressions have no function and so confer no advantage to the survival of an animal
or its community.
Is the following statement True or False?
In Darwin’s book on emotional expression, he applied Lamarckian ideas to developing an account of how expressions evolved.
True
From our textbook:
A further surprise in Darwin’s book on emotional expression is that he applied Lamarckian ideas to
developing an account of how expressions evolved.
Is the following statement True or False?
According to Darwin’s Principle of Antithesis, certain emotional expressions are the result of powerful nervous energy
overflowing into and thereby influencing the activity of other neural pathways.
!
False
The principle described (“…powerful nervous energy overflowing into and thereby influencing the activity of other neural
pathways”) is termed “spilling over”.
!
!
!
!
From
our textbook:
!
Spilling over. This last principle is of considerable interest, because as we will see, it was later borrowed by Freud to
explain the adverse effect of unconscious emotions on conscious mental life. The idea is that certain emotional
expressions are the result of powerful nervous energy overflowing into and thereby influencing the activity of
other neural pathways. For example, trembling produced by fear.
Which of the following is (are) an example of a vehicle, according to Richard Dawkins’ definition?
a) The human body.**
b) The height of an individual.
c) A digital musical recording.
d) Both b and c.
e) All of the above.
From the lecture
notes as well as the
case study on selfish genes.
A vehicle, according to Dawkins, is any unit,!
discrete enough to be worth naming, which!
houses a collection of replicators and which !
works as a unit for the preservation and
propagation of those replicators.
Individual bodies are vehicles not replicators.
A digital recording is copied (whenever we download a song) so it is a
replicator, not a vehicle.
!
The height of an individual is an attribute of his or her body. The body itself
is a vehicle, but an attribute of the body (height) is not a vehicle (any
more than the color of your Ipod can be the vehicle for its contents).
!
The vehicle for the digital music files is the hard drive inside the Ipod.
A vehicle, according to Dawkins, is analogous to a
a) genotype.
b) phenotype. **
c) Neither of the above.
d) Both of the above.
From the lecture slides:
The distinction between replicator and vehicle!
corresponds to the distinction between genotype!
and phenotype.!
!
Variations in the genome cause variations in the!
body, but the reverse is not true. Variations in the!
body due to development cannot affect variations in!
the gene.
Which of the following is (are) examples of the “phenotypic” effect of a meme?
!
a) The particular form of a facial expression.
b) Styles of clothing.
c) The accepted meaning of a hand gesture.
d) All of the above.
From the lecture slides:
The phenotypic effect of a meme may be in the!
form of words, music, visual images, styles of
clothes, facial expressions, hand gestures, etc.
They are the outward and visible manifestations!
of the memes within the brain. They may be
perceived by the sense organs of other individuals!
Is the following statement True or False? “Selfish memes” can sometimes increase in frequency even though they compromise the welfare of their vehicles.
!
a) True. **
b) False.
From the lecture slides:
Just as a “selfish gene” can undermine the!
survival and reproductive success of its vehicle (as
in the case of altruistic behaviour that leads to
increased likelihood of falling victim to a predator)
so “selfish memes” can increase in frequency yet!
compromise the welfare of their vehicles (e.g. the
meme for smoking continues to proliferate in!
teenagers).!
Which of the following is (are) true if biological determinism accounts for our moral judgements.
!
a) Human moral judgements depend on physical and biological laws.
b) Our conscious will actively chooses from competing moral alternatives.
c) It does not make any sense to claim that we could have acted differently than we actually did.
d) a and c only.**
e) All of the above.
Darwin’s view of moral judgment was very different than William
James’!
!
From our textbook:
Darwin’s account of moral judgement raised important questions about free will, he realized. If conscience
is based on instincts, our decisions may often be determined by biological laws rather than free will. ‘Shake ten
thousand grains of sand together and one will be uppermost, so in thoughts, one will rise according to law’, he wrote in one
of his notebooks. People may be under the impression that their decisions are based on a freedom of choice,
because their actions are accompanied by a sense of agency. In reality, though, our moral choices are based
on biological imperatives (an imperative is an unavoidable obligation or requirement), according to Darwin’s
account, predetermined by our instincts as well as by our personal history. He believed that while some
might find this view of human cognition disquieting, a more informed perspective would discover that there
is a kind of grandeur in the idea. Furthermore, his theory encouraged a sympathetic attitude towards
immorality or criminal behavior. As Darwin suggested ‘...one’s disgust at a villain ought to be nothing more than
disgust at one under foul disease’.
Which of the following theorists provided the basis for James’ functionalist approach to human cognition?
!
a)
b)
c)
d)
Charles Darwin. **
John Locke.
Renée Descartes.
Wilhelm Wundt.
From our textbook:
In the United States, Darwin’s influence emerged via a branch of psychology termed ‘Functionalism’,
where the primary interest, as the name implies, was on the function of mental processes, including
consciousness and volition. From a biological standpoint the question is whether consciousness confers
any advantage on its possessor, and whether it evolved. This is a difficult issue which occupied William
James, a great theoretician who is widely considered as the most famous early proponent of the
functionalist approach.
Charles Darwin noted that a person who feels very strongly about something — such a feeling can be termed
outrage — will clench his fists and his face will adopt a tense attitude, while someone who is rather indifferent
to the same event adopts a relaxed posture and his features will be composed. The principle that accounts for
the emotional expression of outrage is
!
a) spilling over.
b) antithesis. **
c) associated habits.
From our textbook:
The principle of antithesis. When certain actions were linked to a particular internal state, the
contrasting mental state would tend to evoke behavior that was also opposite. For example, an
angry cat might stand with hair bristling and raised back while the opposite emotion will
produce the reverse posture; smooth hair and a flattened back.
Which emotional response, according to Charles Darwin, is ‘…of no service, often of much disservice, and cannot have been at
first acquired through the will, and then rendered habitual in association with any emotion’?
!
a) Closing your eyes when confronted by a terrible sight.
b) The raised back and bristling fur of an angry cat.
c) Trembling when in the grip of fear. **
d) All of the above.
From our textbook:
Spilling over. This last principle is of considerable interest, because as we will see, it was later
borrowed by Freud to explain the adverse effect of unconscious emotions on conscious mental
life. The idea is that certain emotional expressions are the result of powerful nervous energy
overflowing into and thereby influencing the activity of other neural pathways. For example,
trembling produced by fear. According to Darwin, this kind of emotional response is ‘..of no
service, often of much disservice, and cannot have been at first acquired through the will, and then rendered habitual
in association with any emotion’.
380
JAMES L. MCCLELLAND AND DAVID E. RUMELHART
Which of the following include(s) feed-forward/feedback connections in the modern processing account of the WSE?
average
yieldare
a netfamiliar
input to with
Thethe
net acronym
input to a node
drives the acti(Note: Itpieisweighted
expected
thattoyou
WSE).
!
the unit, which may be either excitatory vation of the node up or down, depending
(greater than zero) or inhibitory. In math- on whether it is positive or negative. The
notation,between
if we let visual
«,(<) represent
degree
the effect of the input on the node
a) The ematical
connections
features
andofletters.
the net input to the unit, we can write the is modulated by the node's current activity
b) Theequation
connections
between
letters and words.
for its value
as
level to **
keep the input to the node from drivc) The connections between word units. ing it beyond some maximum and minimum
- 2 yikik(t), (1) values (Grossberg, 1978). When the net in= 2
d) All of the above.
put is excitatory, n,(0 > 0, the effect on the
where ej(t) is the activation of an active ex- node, fj(t), is given by
citatory neighbor of the node, each ik(t) is
(2)
the activation of an active inhibitory neighbor of the node, and a,j and yik are associated where M is the maximum activation level of
weight constants. Inactive nodes have no in- the unit. The modulation has the desired
fluence on their neighbors. Only nodes in an effect, because as the activation of the unit
active state have any effects, either excit- approaches the maximum, the effect of the
input is reduced to zero. M can be thought
atory or inhibitory.
From the lecture slides and case study:
Words
Letters
Features
Figure 3. A few of the neighbors of the node for the letter T in the first position in a word, and their
interconnections.
TRIP
Note there are only feed-forward
connections between visual
Top-down
features and letters.
!
The connections between words
are inhibitory.
!
Feedforward and feedback
connections
refer to connections
Feed-!
between
back levels (say, between letters
and words) not within a level.
!
There are 3 processing levels in this
architecture: features, letters, words.