Biology

Behavioral Psychology and Physiology

1,324 Questions

Behavioral psychology and physiology explore cognitive processes, attention, memory, and learning mechanisms like conditioning. These concepts are frequently tested in general science and psychology sections of various competitive exams. Prepare thoroughly using these practice questions covering key behavioral theories and physiological functions.

Cognitive processesMemory and learningAttention and focusDevelopmental milestonesSensory perception

Behavioral Psychology and Physiology Questions

Multiple choice

Which of the following is not a reflex action?

  1. Salivation on sight of food

  2. Pulling of hand when pricked with a needle

  3. Withdrawal of hand on touching a hot plate

  4. Running fast to win a race
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Reflex is an action that occurs automatically and involuntarily. Running fast to win a race is a voluntary action. 

Multiple choice

Which of these fits gap 21?

Directions: Complete this passage by selecting the most suitable option for the corresponding gap.

Yawning is an involuntary ______ (21) ______ in which your mouth opens up wide and you inhale deeply followed by exhaling. When you say involuntary, this means that you have no _____ (22) ____ over this action much like other reflexes such as blinking or sneezing. Yawns are not _____ (23) ______ only to human beings as all other animals do this. Although there is no _____ (24) _____ proof as to why we yawn, some researchers have a theory that yawning is a process used to cool our brains off.

  1. condition

  2. behaviour

  3. exercise

  4. disease
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Yawning is not an exercise, disease or even a condition.

Multiple choice

An involuntary response to a sensory stimulus requires the help of:

  1. superficial reflex

  2. reflex arc

  3. stretch reflex

  4. deep reflex

  5. visceral reflex
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

A reflex arc is a neural pathway that controls an action reflex. A reflex arc represents a mechanism by which a physiological function is automatically managed or regulated. Reflex arcs can be found throughout the body ranging from skeletal muscles to smooth muscles in glands.

Multiple choice

Which of these fits gap 21?

Directions: Complete this passage by selecting the most suitable option for the corresponding gap.

Yawning is an involuntary ______ (21) ______ in which your mouth opens up wide and you inhale deeply followed by exhaling. When you say involuntary, this means that you have no _____ (22) ____ over this action much like other reflexes such as blinking or sneezing. Yawns are not _____ (23) ______ only to human beings as all other animals do this. Although there is no _____ (24) _____ proof as to why we yawn, some researchers have a theory that yawning is a process used to cool our brains off.

  1. condition

  2. behaviour

  3. exercise

  4. disease
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Yawning is not an exercise, disease or even a condition.

Multiple choice

In Pavlov's experiments with dogs, salivation was the

  1. conditioned response

  2. unconditioned stimulus

  3. conditioned stimulus

  4. unconditioned response
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

In Pavlov's experiment, the dog's natural, unlearned response to food (the unconditioned stimulus) is salivation, making it the unconditioned response.

Multiple choice

In classical conditioning, learning is evident when a

  1. stimulus automatically produces a response without a prior history of experience

  2. stimulus which did not initially produce a response now elicits that response

  3. spontaneously emitted response increases in frequency as a result of its consequences

  4. subject repeats an action he or she has observed in another and is praised for it
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Classical conditioning occurs when a neutral stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus until it elicits a conditioned response.

Multiple choice

Behavioral studies on animals have shown that there is relationship between mechanism of reproduction and male parental care (protecting eggs or the young ones). In aquatic invertebrates, fishes and amphibians for example, the species that practice internal fertilization rarely show male parental care while a majority of species that practice external fertilization tend to exhibit male parental care. This is likely due to

  1. the male sex in species that practice internal fertilization are unable to defend against the predators

  2. the male sex in species that practice internal fertilization live on female as parasite

  3. the fact that the females of species that practice external fertilization die soon after laying the eggs

  4. the certainty of paternity in species that practice external fertilization and this behavior is reinforced over generation by natural selection
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

External fertilization leaves paternity uncertain for internal fertilization species, but external fertilization in aquatic environments allows males to guard eggs with high certainty of paternity, reinforcing male parental care through natural selection.