8.5.3 Habituation and learning Quiz: Pearson Edexcel Biology A (Salters-Nuffield), Unit 8

The 20 questions

1. What is habituation?

   • A decrease in response to a repeated, harmless stimulus, which is a simple form of learning
   • A permanent change in the structure of the brain, which occurs after any stimulus is repeated
   • An increase in response to a repeated stimulus, so that the animal reacts more strongly each time
   • A reflex that is triggered only by painful stimuli, which cannot be reduced by repetition

2. Why is habituation considered a useful form of learning?

   • It allows animals to ignore harmless, repeated stimuli and focus on important ones
   • It allows animals to stop all reflexes permanently, which saves them energy during the rest of their lives
   • It prevents any neurones from firing, which keeps the nervous system quiet during repeated events
   • It causes animals to respond more strongly to every stimulus, which keeps them alert to all changes

3. Which property of a habituated response distinguishes it from fatigue?

   • Response recovers when a different stimulus is presented, so the effector is still able to respond
   • Response recovers only after several weeks of rest, which shows the muscle has been permanently damaged
   • Response becomes stronger when the stimulus is repeated, which is the opposite of what fatigue causes
   • Response never recovers, which shows that habituation and fatigue are the same process in the nervous system

4. Which change at the synapse is thought to underlie habituation?

   • Increased release of neurotransmitter with each stimulus, which strengthens the response in the postsynaptic cell
   • Continuous hyperpolarisation of the axon, which prevents any impulse from reaching the synaptic knob
   • Permanent destruction of the postsynaptic neurone, which removes the receptor from the synapse for good
   • Decreased release of neurotransmitter from the presynaptic neurone with repeated stimulation

5. In a habituation experiment, a student repeatedly taps a Petri dish and the response of a snail falls over time. Which result would show the response is habituation rather than fatigue?

   • The response disappears with no possibility of recovery, which shows the snail has become permanently damaged
   • The response falls further after each tap, which shows the snail is becoming more and more tired
   • The response recovers when a different and stronger stimulus, such as a touch to the body, is given
   • The response stays low for ever, which shows the snail has lost the ability to respond to any touch

6. Which variable should a student keep constant in a habituation experiment?

   • The intensity and timing of the stimulus between trials, so that only the repetition changes
   • The colour of the dish, which is the only factor that could influence the snail's response to the tap
   • The number of trials only, since the number of repeats is the only factor that affects habituation
   • The name of the student, which can affect the way the snail responds to the touch of the dish

7. A student records response times of 5 trials of a stimulus at 30-second intervals: 2.0 s, 1.5 s, 1.0 s, 0.8 s, 0.8 s. What is the best description of this data?

   • The response increases steadily over the trials, which shows that the animal is becoming more sensitive to the stimulus
   • The response is unaffected by repetition, since the response time is the same in the first and last trials
   • The response decreases and then levels off, consistent with habituation to the repeated stimulus
   • The response is random with no pattern, so no conclusion about habituation can be drawn from these data

8. Why is it important to include a control in a habituation study?

   • It prevents the animal from learning, which keeps the response constant throughout the experiment
   • It allows the stimulus to be made stronger during each trial, which increases the effect that the study can detect
   • It removes the need for repeated trials, since a single control trial is enough to show the habituation
   • It shows that any decrease in response is due to repeated stimulation and not to other causes such as the environment

9. A student measures the percentage of mealworms that respond to a stimulus at each trial and gets 90, 70, 50, 40, 40 per cent. Which conclusion is best supported?

   • The data show no change at all, since the percentages are not identical in any two trials
   • The response is habituating, with a decreasing percentage response that levels off
   • The response increases with repeated trials, since more mealworms respond each time the stimulus is given
   • Mealworms cannot respond to any stimulus, so the data must be the result of an error in the recording

10. Which statement describes the role of habituation in a natural environment?

    • It makes animals less alert to all dangers, which is the main disadvantage of the process in the wild
    • It allows animals to avoid being distracted by harmless stimuli such as background noise
    • It prevents animals from responding to predators, since the response to any repeated sound is stopped
    • It is only found in plants, so it has no role for animals that live in a natural environment

11. Which statement best describes the relationship between habituation and dishabituation?

    • Dishabituation is the permanent loss of all responses, which occurs when habituation has lasted too long
    • Dishabituation is the same as habituation, since both terms describe the same loss of response to a stimulus
    • Dishabituation is a return of the response when a new stimulus is presented after habituation
    • Dishabituation only occurs in plants, which is why it is not found in any animal nervous system

12. Which of the following is an example of habituation?

    • A person stops noticing a ticking clock after some minutes, since the sound is harmless and repeated
    • A knee jerks when the patellar tendon is tapped for the first time, which is a simple reflex response
    • A person pulls their hand away from a hot object, which is a rapid protective reflex
    • A person increases heart rate during a race, which is a response to exercise rather than repeated stimulus

13. A researcher suspects that a neurone's habituation is due to reduced calcium entry into the synaptic knob. Which result would support this idea?

    • The axon is broken, which stops the impulse from reaching the synaptic knob at all
    • More calcium is released into the cleft, which increases the amount of neurotransmitter in the synapse
    • The myelin sheath is thicker, which increases the insulation and so speeds up the impulse
    • Less neurotransmitter is released as calcium entry falls with repeated stimulation

14. A student claims that habituation shows the animal has forgotten the stimulus. Which evaluation is correct?

    • Incorrect, because habituation never involves the nervous system, so it cannot involve any form of memory
    • Correct, because habituation only occurs in fish, which have poor memories and so forget stimuli quickly
    • Correct, because habituation is a permanent loss of memory, so the animal no longer knows the stimulus exists
    • Incorrect, because the animal still detects the stimulus; it has reduced its response to it, which is a form of learning

15. In a habituation study, why should the stimulus be presented at the same intensity each time?

    • To prevent the animal from detecting the stimulus, which is the main aim of a habituation study
    • To allow the animal to fatigue, since a constant stimulus is needed to tire the effector quickly
    • To make the stimulus stronger each time, which increases the chance that the animal will respond
    • To ensure that the decline in response is not caused by a change in stimulus strength

16. Which statement about habituation in humans is most accurate?

    • Only newborn babies habituate, since adults lose the ability to habituate once they have grown up
    • Humans cannot habituate to any stimulus, since the human nervous system does not show learning of this kind
    • Humans habituate to repeated harmless stimuli, such as background noise, reducing their response
    • Habituation in humans always causes harm, since the reduced response leaves people unprotected from danger

17. A student measures the time for a woodlouse to turn away from a light after repeated trials. The time falls from 4 s to 1 s after 10 trials. What is the percentage fall?

    • 300 per cent, found by dividing the fall of 3 s by the final time of 1 s and multiplying by 100
    • 4 per cent, found by dividing the starting time of 4 s by 100 and taking the result as the percentage
    • 75 per cent, found by dividing the fall of 3 s by the starting time of 4 s and multiplying by 100
    • 25 per cent, found by dividing the final time of 1 s by the starting time of 4 s

18. What is the best evaluation of the claim that habituation shows learning?

    • Correct, because habituation requires a reward, which is the defining feature of all learning in animals
    • Incorrect, because habituation is a simple reflex and cannot be learning, since no change occurs in the animal
    • Incorrect, because habituation only occurs in plants, which cannot learn from any form of experience at all
    • Correct, because the animal changes its response based on experience of the stimulus, a basic form of learning

19. Which pair correctly matches a term with its definition?

    • Fatigue: a recovery of response after a rest period with a new stimulus, which restores the effector
    • Learning: a permanent loss of the ability to respond to any stimulus at all
    • Habituation: decreased response to a repeated harmless stimulus
    • Dishabituation: decreased response to a new stimulus, which is the opposite of habituation

20. Which mechanism would most likely reduce habituation rate in a neurone?

    • Increasing calcium influx with each stimulus, which keeps neurotransmitter release going for longer
    • Adding more ATP to the presynaptic neurone with no effect on release, since ATP is not used at the synapse
    • Blocking calcium channels in the synaptic knob, so less neurotransmitter is released
    • Removing the myelin sheath, which speeds up impulses but does not affect the release of neurotransmitter

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