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Content: Approaches to understanding behaviour practice questions.

135 exam-style questions on Content: Approaches to understanding behaviour with answers and explanations. Six real samples below — the full set is free with an account.

Syllabus

Topics covered

Key terms

Definitions you need

neuroplasticity
The brain's ability to change its structure and function in response to experience, learning or injury, for example by forming or pruning synaptic connections.
schema (cognitive approach)
A mental framework of knowledge, built from experience, that organises information and guides how we interpret and remember new information.
localisation of function
The idea that specific areas of the brain are responsible for particular psychological functions or behaviours, for example a region involved in language production.
the misinformation effect
A distortion of memory that occurs when misleading information presented after an event becomes incorporated into a person's recollection of that event.
heuristic (in thinking and decision making)
A mental shortcut or 'rule of thumb' that simplifies decision making. Heuristics are fast and often useful but can lead to systematic errors or cognitive biases.
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Sample questions

The case study of patient HM (Scoville & Milner, 1957) most directly demonstrated the role of which structure in forming new long-term memories?

  • The amygdala
  • The hippocampus
  • Broca's area
  • The cerebellum

Answer: The hippocampus

HM had his medial temporal lobes, including the hippocampus, removed bilaterally to treat epilepsy. Afterwards he could not form new long-term declarative memories (anterograde amnesia) but retained procedural learning, showing the hippocampus is critical for consolidating new explicit memories.

In Martinez & Kesner (1991), rats given scopolamine (an acetylcholine antagonist) before running a maze showed which result?

  • Faster learning with fewer errors
  • Slower learning with more errors
  • No change in performance
  • Complete inability to move

Answer: Slower learning with more errors

Martinez & Kesner (1991) injected rats after they had learned a maze: the scopolamine group, whose acetylcholine receptors were blocked, took longer to find the food and made more errors. Rats given physostigmine (which increases acetylcholine) ran the maze faster with fewer errors, showing acetylcholine's role in memory.

Baumgartner et al. (2008) found that intranasal oxytocin affected behaviour in a trust game by:

  • Increasing aggression toward partners
  • Sustaining trust even after being betrayed
  • Eliminating all cooperative behaviour
  • Improving mathematical reasoning

Answer: Sustaining trust even after being betrayed

Baumgartner et al. (2008) found that participants given oxytocin continued to invest in a trust game even after receiving feedback that they had been betrayed, whereas placebo participants reduced trust. fMRI showed reduced activity in the amygdala and caudate, linking oxytocin to reduced fear and adaptation in trust.

Caspi et al. (2003) found that the risk of depression following stressful life events depended on:

  • Blood type
  • A 5-HTT gene variant
  • Handedness
  • The number of siblings

Answer: A 5-HTT gene variant

Caspi et al. (2003) found that people carrying one or two short alleles of the 5-HTT (serotonin transporter) gene were more likely to develop depression after stressful life events than those with two long alleles. This is a classic example of gene-environment interaction (diathesis-stress).

Sharot et al. (2007) used fMRI to study 9/11 memories and found that greater amygdala activation during recall was linked to:

  • Participants who were far uptown from the World Trade Center
  • Participants who were closer to the World Trade Center
  • Participants with no memory of the event
  • Left-handed participants only

Answer: Participants who were closer to the World Trade Center

Sharot et al. (2007) scanned people who had been in Manhattan during the 9/11 attacks. Those who had been closer (downtown) reported more vivid 'flashbulb' memories and showed greater amygdala activation when recalling the event, linking emotional arousal and the amygdala to vivid memory.

Antonova et al. (2011) gave participants scopolamine and used fMRI during a virtual navigation task. What did they find?

  • Increased hippocampal activation
  • Reduced hippocampal activation
  • No effect on the brain
  • Damage to Broca's area

Answer: Reduced hippocampal activation

Antonova et al. (2011) found that scopolamine (which blocks acetylcholine) reduced hippocampal activation while participants navigated a virtual arena, supporting the idea that acetylcholine is involved in the encoding of spatial memory.

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