Learning/Motivation Final Exam
1. nearly everything an animal does involves a : choice
2. reinforcement predicts : behavior
3. higher magnitude of enforcement usually means its..: more, better, or longer
4. which will produce more behavior change, a high or lower magnitude?:
5. matching law: predicts consistent relationship between the proportion of rein- forcers and
the proportion of responses emitted
b1/b2 = r1/r2
6. what is the formula for the matching law?: b1/b2 = r1/r2 where r is
reinforcement rate
and b is behavior
7. (r) should predict (B): rein-
forcement rate; behavior
8. if one button was fr50 and the other fr75 what does the matching law say about it?: 50/75=.67,
where .67 is the reinforcement rate for r1 compared to r2
if there were 100 trials b1=100*.67= 67
trials would be fr50
100-67=33, b2 would be 33 of those trials
9. How do you use the matching law to find how many
trials for b1
how many trials for b2: r1/r2=Reinforcement rate b1=number of
trials*reinforcement rate
b2=number of trials-b1
10.behavior goes where reinforcement : flows
11.the relative rate of responding equals: the relative rate of reinforcement
12.in the Salwiczek et al study why were primates bad at learning to pick
the orange plate?: because they were following the matching law, for half the time they would pic
orange and get no reinforcement, the other time they would pick orange and get double
reinforcement, however with blue they were being reinforced no matter what
therefore, according to the matching law, when randomly selected blue plates
were reinforced 100% and orange 50%
r(blue)=1 r(orange)=.5
1/.5=2
therefore, B1 should be chosen twice as often as B2, since they will 100% always get
, Learning/Motivation Final Exam
rewarded with blue, it tooks hundreds of trials for primates to learn that sometimes if you pick
orange they will get rewarded twice as much
13.what does reinforcement rate predict?: behavior
14.in the Salwiczek et al study why were wrasse fish good at learning to pick the orange plate?:
wrasse have a symbiotic with fish, where they open their mouthes and fish swim in them to
clean/eat
when picking from fish, they either have resident fish or nomad fish
they are first inclined to have the nomad fish clean their mouthes since they will move on quickl
while resident fish will remain relatively permanent and be there consistently
therefore, based on their ecology, the wrasse will choose the moving plate, which is the orange
plate
15.name some issues with the matching law: 1. risk aversion
2. self control
16.why is risk aversion an issue with the matching law?: it can get in the way, if someone is risk
prone they will always choose the high stakes situation contrastingly, if someone is risk averse
they will always choose low stakes
the matching law works when someone is looking for reward maximization, where they choose
high variability when payouts are higher and lower when payouts are lower
17.How does risk affect the matching law for...?
-capuchin monkeys
-chimpanzees: capuchin monkeys followed the matching law in all three conditions, because they
are little economists
however chimps mostly chose the low risk (variability) low reward situation, they are risk averse
and have emotional responses to losing
18.why are chimps risk averse?: they have more emotional responses to losing in variable
conditions, which drives them
19.why is self-control an issue with the matching law: sometimes the choice outcomes are not
always immediate, which makes it harder to identify which is the best choice, usually to earn a
larger reward you must delay your gratification. this waiting can be tedious and hard, so people
may give into smaller rewards.
ex: marshmallow study with kids, or going to college
20.what is needed to optimize outcomes?: self-control
, Learning/Motivation Final Exam
21.what is the SS LL rule of thumb: its the smaller soon, larger later rule of thumb, where if you
choose to get your reward sooner it will be smaller, but as time goes on this reward grows to a
larger reward that comes later
22.draw the smaller soon larger later curves, describe where the preference reverses: the first line
is the larger later line, which swoops longs and goes until the end of the x axis (time) in an
upward curve
the second line is the smaller sooner line, which is steeper but stops much before LL in time and
value, about 1/3 of the way into the graph
the preference reverses once the smaller sooner line crosses the larger later one in time
23.what does the ability to better delay gratification correlate with: -better school performance
-higher salary
-higher standardized test scores
-etc.
24.in the marshmallow study, which kids exhibited
-self control
-poor ability to delay gratification?: -the ones who waited for the second marsh- mellow exhibited
self control by not eating the marshmellow and was able to delay their graitfication and earn
twice as much reward
-the ones who ate their marshmallow were not able to wait or delay their gratification, they
accepted half the reward right then and exhibited poor self control
25.children can learn to longer in the marshmallow study: wait
26.what would happen if the kids is led to mistrust the experimenter in the marshmallow
study?: they will grab the treat earlier, if they dont think the experimenter will honestly
give it up
this shows that CIRCUMSTANCES matter
27.what are ways people delay gratification?: college, roth IRA investment, ordering something
online for cheaper but takes longer, not eating on thanksgiving until dinner so you can eat more
delicious food, saving up money for vacation
28.how does age play a role in the marshmallow test for...
-4 year olds
-5+ year olds: younger kids do not have as much self control, so all of the four year olds in the
study ate thier marshmallow, showing that they cant delay gratification
around five we begin to be able to delay gratification
29.what brain structure is delayed gratification run by? when is it fully devel- oped?: prefrontal
cortex
fully develops in mid-twenties
1. nearly everything an animal does involves a : choice
2. reinforcement predicts : behavior
3. higher magnitude of enforcement usually means its..: more, better, or longer
4. which will produce more behavior change, a high or lower magnitude?:
5. matching law: predicts consistent relationship between the proportion of rein- forcers and
the proportion of responses emitted
b1/b2 = r1/r2
6. what is the formula for the matching law?: b1/b2 = r1/r2 where r is
reinforcement rate
and b is behavior
7. (r) should predict (B): rein-
forcement rate; behavior
8. if one button was fr50 and the other fr75 what does the matching law say about it?: 50/75=.67,
where .67 is the reinforcement rate for r1 compared to r2
if there were 100 trials b1=100*.67= 67
trials would be fr50
100-67=33, b2 would be 33 of those trials
9. How do you use the matching law to find how many
trials for b1
how many trials for b2: r1/r2=Reinforcement rate b1=number of
trials*reinforcement rate
b2=number of trials-b1
10.behavior goes where reinforcement : flows
11.the relative rate of responding equals: the relative rate of reinforcement
12.in the Salwiczek et al study why were primates bad at learning to pick
the orange plate?: because they were following the matching law, for half the time they would pic
orange and get no reinforcement, the other time they would pick orange and get double
reinforcement, however with blue they were being reinforced no matter what
therefore, according to the matching law, when randomly selected blue plates
were reinforced 100% and orange 50%
r(blue)=1 r(orange)=.5
1/.5=2
therefore, B1 should be chosen twice as often as B2, since they will 100% always get
, Learning/Motivation Final Exam
rewarded with blue, it tooks hundreds of trials for primates to learn that sometimes if you pick
orange they will get rewarded twice as much
13.what does reinforcement rate predict?: behavior
14.in the Salwiczek et al study why were wrasse fish good at learning to pick the orange plate?:
wrasse have a symbiotic with fish, where they open their mouthes and fish swim in them to
clean/eat
when picking from fish, they either have resident fish or nomad fish
they are first inclined to have the nomad fish clean their mouthes since they will move on quickl
while resident fish will remain relatively permanent and be there consistently
therefore, based on their ecology, the wrasse will choose the moving plate, which is the orange
plate
15.name some issues with the matching law: 1. risk aversion
2. self control
16.why is risk aversion an issue with the matching law?: it can get in the way, if someone is risk
prone they will always choose the high stakes situation contrastingly, if someone is risk averse
they will always choose low stakes
the matching law works when someone is looking for reward maximization, where they choose
high variability when payouts are higher and lower when payouts are lower
17.How does risk affect the matching law for...?
-capuchin monkeys
-chimpanzees: capuchin monkeys followed the matching law in all three conditions, because they
are little economists
however chimps mostly chose the low risk (variability) low reward situation, they are risk averse
and have emotional responses to losing
18.why are chimps risk averse?: they have more emotional responses to losing in variable
conditions, which drives them
19.why is self-control an issue with the matching law: sometimes the choice outcomes are not
always immediate, which makes it harder to identify which is the best choice, usually to earn a
larger reward you must delay your gratification. this waiting can be tedious and hard, so people
may give into smaller rewards.
ex: marshmallow study with kids, or going to college
20.what is needed to optimize outcomes?: self-control
, Learning/Motivation Final Exam
21.what is the SS LL rule of thumb: its the smaller soon, larger later rule of thumb, where if you
choose to get your reward sooner it will be smaller, but as time goes on this reward grows to a
larger reward that comes later
22.draw the smaller soon larger later curves, describe where the preference reverses: the first line
is the larger later line, which swoops longs and goes until the end of the x axis (time) in an
upward curve
the second line is the smaller sooner line, which is steeper but stops much before LL in time and
value, about 1/3 of the way into the graph
the preference reverses once the smaller sooner line crosses the larger later one in time
23.what does the ability to better delay gratification correlate with: -better school performance
-higher salary
-higher standardized test scores
-etc.
24.in the marshmallow study, which kids exhibited
-self control
-poor ability to delay gratification?: -the ones who waited for the second marsh- mellow exhibited
self control by not eating the marshmellow and was able to delay their graitfication and earn
twice as much reward
-the ones who ate their marshmallow were not able to wait or delay their gratification, they
accepted half the reward right then and exhibited poor self control
25.children can learn to longer in the marshmallow study: wait
26.what would happen if the kids is led to mistrust the experimenter in the marshmallow
study?: they will grab the treat earlier, if they dont think the experimenter will honestly
give it up
this shows that CIRCUMSTANCES matter
27.what are ways people delay gratification?: college, roth IRA investment, ordering something
online for cheaper but takes longer, not eating on thanksgiving until dinner so you can eat more
delicious food, saving up money for vacation
28.how does age play a role in the marshmallow test for...
-4 year olds
-5+ year olds: younger kids do not have as much self control, so all of the four year olds in the
study ate thier marshmallow, showing that they cant delay gratification
around five we begin to be able to delay gratification
29.what brain structure is delayed gratification run by? when is it fully devel- oped?: prefrontal
cortex
fully develops in mid-twenties
