18) Time

Question 1

What is Distinguish periodic?

Answer 1

Learning to respond at a particular time of day

Question 2

What is interval timing?

Answer 2

Learning to respond after a particular interval of time

Question 3

What is an example of periodic timing?

Answer 3

Circadian rhythms

Question 4

What did Roberts (1965) find when studying cockroaches?

Answer 4

Increased activity at dusk. When
removed visual cues cycle drifted until increased activity started
15 hours before dusk

Question 5

What created a further change of behaviour in Roberts (1965)?

Answer 5

Restoring visual cues produced a gradual shift back to correct time

Question 6

What did Bolles & Stokes (1965) test?

Answer 6

Subjects born and reared under either 19, 24 or 29 hour light/dark cycles.
Then fed at a regular point in their own particular cycle
Food delivery signalled a few hours before by a change in lighting

Question 7

What did Bolles & Stokes (1965) find?

Answer 7

Animals on 24 hr cycle could learn to anticipate food
BUT all other conditions couldn’t

Question 8

What is a potential physiological system that could provide the 24hr clock?

Answer 8

The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus

Question 9

How can the SCN be linked to periodic timing?

Answer 9

-The metabolic rate in the SCN appears to vary as a function of the day-night cycle.
-Receives direct/indirect inputs from the visual system

Question 10

What occurs with lesions of the SCN in rats?

Answer 10

Abolish the circadian regularity of foraging and sleeping

Question 11

What has recent wok about physiological basis of periodic timing suggested?

Answer 11

Every cell in the body has a circadian rhythm, which are all under the control of the SCN

Question 12

What can disruptions in Circadian rhythm create?

Answer 12

-Physical illness
-Mental illness

Question 13

What can occur within Alzheimer’s disease?

Answer 13

Sundowning refers to the worsening of symptoms in afternoon/evening

Question 14

What did Church & Gibbon (1982) find?

Answer 14

Higher peaks of lever pressing for 2 and 4 second intervals compared to 7 second

Question 15

What is the Just noticeable difference is proportional to?

Answer 15

Initial intensity/magnitude of the changed stimulus

Question 16

What is the critical point of Weber’s Law when applying to time?

Answer 16

Percentage change is more important than absolute change

Question 17

What are the 4 aspects of Scalar timing theory (Gibbon, Church & Meck, 1984)?

Answer 17

-Pacemaker (pulses per second)
-Working memory
-Reference memory
-Comparator

Question 18

What are the 3 processes of Scalar timing theory?

Answer 18

-Storing duration of a stimulus in
Short term memory
-Storing duration of a stimulus in
Reference memory
-Using stored value in reference memory to decide whether or not to respond to the next trial

Question 19

What occurs in process 1 of Scalar timing theory?

Answer 19

Successive pulses are stored in working memory

Question 20

What occurs in process 2 of Scalar timing theory?

Answer 20

When the reinforcement occurs,
pulses stop accumulating and the number of pulses is stored In working memory
BUT this storage is not accurate

Question 21

Why is the storage not accurate in process 2?

Answer 21

Memory distortion

Question 22

What occurs after serval trials in process 2?

Answer 22

There will be several numbers stored in reference memory

Question 23

What happens in process 3 of Scalar timing theory?

Answer 23

On each trial, the animal compares the number of pulses in working memory with a random number from their reference memory

Question 24

How does the comparator work out how close the values are in process 3?

Answer 24

Using a ratio rule

(not a difference rule)

Question 25

What should occur when using a ratio rule in process 3?

Answer 25

Short intervals to improve accuracy

Question 26

What are the problems with Scalar timing theory?

Answer 26

-There is no physiological evidence for a pacemaker - Conditioning and timing supposedly occur at the same time, and yet are controlled by completely different learning mechanisms.

Question 27

What was the first alternate suggestion instead of a pacemaker?

Answer 27

Timing can be achieve with a series of oscillators, each of which can be turned on/off

Question 28

What will happen if each oscillator switches after a different period of time?

Answer 28

The entire pattern of activation could be used to determine the exact time

Question 29

What was the other alternative solution to no physiological evidence?

Answer 29

Behavioural theory of timing (Killeen & Fetterman, 1988)

Question 30

What is the Behavioural theory of timing?

Answer 30

When an animal gets a reward, it stimulates behaviour A pulse from internal pacemaker will change the behaviour from one class to another. The behaviour that is occurring when the next reinforcer occurs become a signal for that reinforcer

Question 31

How does Gibbon & Balsam (1977) try to explain the occurrence of conditioning and timing of scalar timing theory?

Answer 31

Calculate rate of reinforcement during stimulus and background If rate of reinforcement for stimulus is higher than background it leads to conditioning

Question 32

What can't Gibbon & Balsam (1977) theory explain?

Answer 32

Blocking

Question 33

What are real time models (Sutton & Barto, 1981)?

Answer 33

The stimulus is assumed to change over the course of its presentation and this allows the animal to learn about when a reinforcer occurs