Confused on some Bio questions from Topscore...

[FatalExtraction]

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Hey so I'm going over my topscore exams and i cant find any explanations...could anyone of you guys explain to me why the following answers are right?

#1: Which of the following is not true concerning neurons?
A) At rest, a neuron is polarized
B) At rest, the inside of the neuron is more negative than the outside
C) At rest the intracellular concentration of K+ is greater than Na+
D) An action potential is generated when the outside of the cell beomes less negative
E) The nerve cell body recieves both excitatory and inhibitory impulses

Why is the answer D and not C? I thought there were more sodium ions WITHIN the cell and more potassium OUTSIDE the cell...if it was me i woulda picked C&D

#2: A dog's urine accidents are cleaned up with newspaper followed by harsh discipline. The dog hides under the bed any time the newspaper is brought out to read. This behavior illustrates:
A) Operant conditioning
B) Conditioned Reflex
C) Positive reinforcement
D) Imprinting
E) Classical Conditioning

I picked E because a stimulus triggers a response whereas operant conditioning promotes a behavioral response and can promote the extinction of a behavior through positive and neg. reinforcement. When the dog observes the newspaper - eg. the stimulus is present, hence triggering a response (just like pavlov's dog when they heard the bell - they started salivating)...why is this answer A?...the dog was being punished i get that but the way the question was worded focused on when the dog saw the newspaper not "what was the type of conditioning the dog recieved for peeing"

Thanks for all of your help.

 

[Hopin']

Hey so I'm going over my topscore exams and i cant find any explanations...could anyone of you guys explain to me why the following answers are right?

#1: Which of the following is not true concerning neurons?
A) At rest, a neuron is polarized
B) At rest, the inside of the neuron is more negative than the outside
C) At rest the intracellular concentration of K+ is greater than Na+
D) An action potential is generated when the outside of the cell beomes less negative
E) The nerve cell body recieves both excitatory and inhibitory impulses

Why is the answer D and not C? I thought there were more sodium ions WITHIN the cell and more potassium OUTSIDE the cell...if it was me i woulda picked C&D

#2: A dog's urine accidents are cleaned up with newspaper followed by harsh discipline. The dog hides under the bed any time the newspaper is brought out to read. This behavior illustrates:
A) Operant conditioning
B) Conditioned Reflex
C) Positive reinforcement
D) Imprinting
E) Classical Conditioning

I picked E because a stimulus triggers a response whereas operant conditioning promotes a behavioral response and can promote the extinction of a behavior through positive and neg. reinforcement. When the dog observes the newspaper - eg. the stimulus is present, hence triggering a response (just like pavlov's dog when they heard the bell - they started salivating)...why is this answer A?...the dog was being punished i get that but the way the question was worded focused on when the dog saw the newspaper not "what was the type of conditioning the dog recieved for peeing"

Thanks for all of your help.

Honestly, I don't know either one... I've already forgotten....
Anyways.... I thought Topscore was a good (or the best) way to study for the DAT. What I noticed on my DAT was that Topscore had tougher and confusing questions than what actual DAT had. I wish I had practiced enough using Topscore... I got the software at the last minutes and couldn't practice enough.....
Good luck

 

[4dat]

#1
At rest, the intracellular concentration of K is greater than Na whereas the extracellular concentration of Na is greater than K.
At rest, inside the cell is negaive whereas the outside of cell is positive. When an action potiential generated, the inside of cell become more positive whereas outside of cell become more negative...

# 2 In order for a condition to be classical conditioning, the initial response must be "innate"...For example, pavlov's dog. A dog will always saliva when they see food... In this question, hiding under the bed is not an innate response.. Under normal conditionl, a dog will not hide under the bed when they urinate.. In this case, the action hiding under the bed is reinforce by harsh discipline..

 

[armorshell]

# 2 In order for a condition to be classical conditioning, the initial response must be "innate"...For example, pavlov's dog. A dog will always saliva when they see food... In this question, hiding under the bed is not an innate response.. Under normal conditionl, a dog will not hide under the bed when they urinate.. In this case, the action hiding under the bed is reinforce by harsh discipline..

It still doesn't seem like operant conditioning to me though. If the question said "The dog no longer urinates in the house." then I would have chosen Operant conditioning when I took the test, but this still seems like classical conditioning, as the dog is responding to the newspaper, a neutral stimulus with a fear response.

Either way it's a very tricky question.

 

[4dat]

I agree this is a very tricky question... just need to remember the in classical conditioning, the initial response must be innate.

 

[4dat]

In classical conditioning, there must be uncontitioned stimulus, unconditioned response, condtioned response.

In Pavlov's experiments:
Unconditoned stimulus: Food
Unconditioned response: salivation
Conditioned stimulus: Bell
Conditioned response: salivation without the present of food

In this question, the dog is responding to the newspaper due to fear. however, there is no conditioning here...

does this make any sense?? it's kinda hard to explain.. hope i don't get you too confused..

 

[armorshell]

I thought operant conditioning was supposed to reinforce or prevent a certain behaivor? My point is the question talks about the dog hiding when the newspaper comes out, which doesn't have anything to do with reinforcing or preventing the behaivor of peeing on the rug.

Are they suggesting that the behaivor being reinforced is hiding under the bed?

Because it seems to me this hierarchy is seen in the question:

Unconditioned Stimulus: Attacking dog
Unconditioned Response: Fleeing
Conditioned Stimulus: Newspaper weapon
Conditioned Response: Flee when newspaper is seen

 

[FatalExtraction]

I thought operant conditioning was supposed to reinforce or prevent a certain behaivor? My point is the question talks about the dog hiding when the newspaper comes out, which doesn't have anything to do with reinforcing or preventing the behaivor of peeing on the rug.

Are they suggesting that the behaivor being reinforced is hiding under the bed?

Because it seems to me this hierarchy is seen in the question:

Unconditioned Stimulus: Attacking dog
Unconditioned Response: Fleeing
Conditioned Stimulus: Newspaper weapon
Conditioned Response: Flee when newspaper is seen

If the unconditioned stimululs was "dog peeing" (b/c i dont think there was an attacking dog in the question) then id think the sameeee thinggg...but im sure we can all agree on this question being really tricky (at least for me)...hopefully its not as tricky as this on the real thing...as for the neuron sodium/potassium thing...right when i woke up this morning it hit me - i do remember in fact that potassium is within the neuron at first and sodium is outside...the outside would then become more negative - sigh...

Thanks for all of your help guys! =B

 

[armorshell]

If the unconditioned stimululs was "dog peeing" (b/c i dont think there was an attacking dog in the question) then id think the sameeee thinggg...but im sure we can all agree on this question being really tricky (at least for me)...hopefully its not as tricky as this on the real thing...as for the neuron sodium/potassium thing...right when i woke up this morning it hit me - i do remember in fact that potassium is within the neuron at first and sodium is outside...the outside would then become more negative - sigh...

Thanks for all of your help guys! =B

The dog peeing doesn't have anything to do with it. The dude is attacking the dog, the dog flees. The dude attacks the dog with a newspaper, the dog learns to fear the newspaper.

 

[4dat]

"A dog's urine accidents are cleaned up with newspaper followed by harsh discipline."


neither harsh discipline nor urine accidents are unconditional stimulus.. the reason the dog was being punished is because the dog had urine accidents..harsh discipline is the action used to prevent urine accidents.


unconditional stimulus must be natural without any condition.. for example, food... a dog will saliva when food is present regardless the dog is hungry or not...

 

[Zabispurs]

I've noticed in questions like these when it says "harsh treatment" or a "gift given" it is operant conditioning. Actually that's how Operant conditioning is defined in the Kapland book. It is very straightforward.

 

[FatalExtraction]

wow really? i never came across any of those key words suggested in kaplan...thanks for the tip though ill keep that in mind...4dat - thanks for putting up with my constant muddling of definitions...its been a while since i took psych. so thanks for clearing that up