Deck 8: Becoming Self-Directed Thinkers: Problem Solving and Memory

Question 1

Infants cannot be said to solve problems until they demonstrate

A)theory of mind.b perspective taking.
B)goal-directed behavior.
C)cognition.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Some researchers suggest that the most proficient tool users while in captivity are

A)orangutans.
B)gorillas.
C)chimpanzees.
D)capuchin monkeys.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Chimpanzees have been observed using objects as grooming tools, including

A)toothbrushes.
B)dental picks.
C)hairbrushes
D)ear cleaners.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Young children do not select a tool based solely on its properties to solve a problem but also on

A)their interest in a tool.
B)the similarity of a tool to other familiar objects.
C)their past history with a tool.
D)the simplicity of a tool

Question 5

Which of the following suggests that all great apes evolved from a common tool-using ancestor and that different ecological conditions fostered tool use for some species?

A)the fact that intelligence required for effective tool use is quite sophisticated
B)the fact that all great apes have hands similar to human hands
C)the fact that great apes develop a design stance similar to human infants
D)the fact that not all great apes use tools in the wild but can in captivity

Question 6

Reasoning that involves the generation of hypotheses and the systematic testing of those hypotheses is called

A)deductive reasoning.
B)inductive reasoning.
C)scientific reasoning.
D)analogical reasoning.

Question 7

The similarity on which an analogy is based is

A)proportional.
B)relational.
C)perceptual.
D)intuitive.

Question 8

A 9- or 10-month-old infant would be most likely to use the correct tool to retrieve a toy if

A)the toy is one of the infant's favorites.
B)there are no other toys nearby.
C)the toy and the tool are the same color.
D)the tool is in close proximity to the toy.

Question 9

Which of the following serves as the foundation for children to learn about tools?

A)They are intrinsically goal-oriented.
B)They understand that some objects can affect changes in other objects.
C)They like to mimic the behavior of adults.
D)They understand that all events happen for a reason.

Question 10

Research has shown that the more time boys spent in object-oriented play,

A)the lower their tool-use scores were.
B)the higher their tool-use scores were.
C)the lower their creativity scores were.
D)the higher their creativity scores were.

Question 11

Reasoning is a special type of problem solving that usually requires one to make

A)an inference.
B)a decision.
C)a deduction.
D)an implication.

Question 12

One of the most widely cited examples of tool use in chimpanzees is

A)cracking open mollusks by smashing them on stones.
B)dropping snails onto rocks to crack them open.
C)fishing for termites by poking a stick into a termite mound.
D)fishing for fish by scooping them up with pieces of coconut shells.

Question 13

Research has found that, in regard to tool use,

A)there is no difference between males and females.
B)the differences favor males.
C)the differences favor females.
D)the differences are unclear.

Question 14

Children's eventual use of tools to solve problems have their origins in infants'

A)manipulation of their physical world.
B)familiarity with the actions of adults in their world.
C)desire to have sensory experiences.
D)formation of goals.

Question 15

Using something you already know to help you understand something you do not know yet is

A)deductive reasoning.
B)inductive reasoning.
C)scientific reasoning.
D)analogical reasoning.

Question 16

Humans' assumption that tools are designed for an intended function is called

A)finalism.
B)the design stance.
C)objectivism
D)perspective taking.

Question 17

In addition to having a goal, all of the following are steps of problem solving except

A)determining obstacles to the goal.
B)eliminating obstacles to the goal.
C)developing strategies for overcoming the obstacles.
D)evaluating the results.

Question 18

Which of the following has not been found to be true of tool use?

A)Boys tend to be more motivated than girls to use objects to solve problems.
B)Girls are less likely than boys to spontaneously use an object to achieve a goal.
C)Girls are not as capable of using a tool to solve simple problems.
D)Boys tend to select the correct tool for a task more often than girls.

Question 19

Functional fixedness is

A)the ease with which humans can use tools.
B)the efficient selection of tools.
C)the tendency to transfer strategies to new tools.
D)the tendency not to identify alternative uses for tools.

Question 20

Humans tend to recognize what a tool is used for

A)very easily.
B)with much difficulty.
C)with instruction.
D)with trial and error.

Question 21

Regarding cultural differences in how children learn to attend to objects and events, some have proposed that East Asians

A)are socialized to focus their attention on key features of objects.
B)are socialized to divide their attention between objects and events in their environments.
C)have analytic styles of reasoning.
D)tend to focus on differences between objects.

Question 22

All of the following is true of scientific reasoning except

A)sixth graders are capable of reasoning from evidence, but they rarely do so spontaneously.
B)only the most highly educated adults consistently solved problems using scientific reasoning.
C)it is taught explicitly in school and can improve with practice.
D)scientific reasoning comes easily to adults.

Question 23

The speed with which children can identify and articulate ________ is related to the length of their memory span and working-memory span.

A)the math problems they were asked to solve
B)the childhood experiences they remember
C)words from other languages
D)the words they are asked to remember

Question 24

Age differences in ______ are central to all other aspects of cognition.

A)speed of processing
B)IQ
C)short-term memory
D)response inhibition

Question 25

Which of the following is not true of resistance to interference?

A)It occurs in dual tasks, when performing one task interferes with performance on a second task.
B)It continues to increase over childhood and into adolescence.
C)It occurs in selective attention, when one must focus on central information (and ignore peripheral information.
D)It is defined as "susceptibility to performance decrements under conditions of a single stimulus."

Question 26

The length of a child's memory span is most influenced by which of the following?

A)the speed of processing
B)the knowledge base
C)the difficulty of the task
D)the child's interest in the task

Question 27

Regarding cultural differences in how children learn to attend to objects and events, in looking at pictures, Westerners tend to

A)group items together on the basis of category membership.
B)tend to focus on the background as much as on the target object.
C)tend to group items together on the basis of relational-contextual criteria.
D)tend to view things in a holistic manner.

Question 28

Before children can solve complicated problems using complex strategies, they need to develop some semblance of

A)scientific reasoning.
B)analogical reasoning.
C)self-concept.
D)self-regulation.

Question 29

Which of the following is not true of speed of processing?

A)It is related to performance on many cognitive tasks.
B)It is hypothesized to be a measure of mental capacity.
C)Its development is not necessarily age related.
D)It is directly related to underlying differences in brain development.

Question 30

Chinese speaking children have longer digit spans than English-speaking children because

A)The digits 1 through 9 can be articulated more rapidly in Chinese than in English.
B)The Chinese language is a less-complex language than English.
C)Chinese people place a greater emphasis on education than English-speaking countries.
D)Chinese people generally have a greater memory capacity than English-speaking children.

Question 31

Consistent with the divided-versus-focused-attention hypothesis, in research findings, which were more accurate in performing an absolute task?

A)Japanese adults
B)Welsh adults
C)American adults
D)Chinese adults

Question 32

Children's developmental patterns of speed of processing increase with age for which of the following?

A)mental addition
B)name retrieval
C)both mental addition and name retrieval
D)neither mental addition nor name retrieval

Question 33

How much information one can hold in the short-term store and think about at a time is called

A)selective attention.
B)cognitive flexibility.
C)resisting interference.
D)working memory.

Question 34

The ability to focus only on chosen stimuli and not to be distracted by other noise in the environment is called

A)memory span.
B)attention span.
C)selective memory.
D)working memory.

Question 35

Which of the following is true of the active process of inhibition?

A)It is the inability to prevent oneself from making some cognitive or behavioral response.
B)It is the process of responding or activating some set of cognitive operations.
C)It is detrimental to sophisticated thought because it blocks key ideas.
D)It is often as vital to sophisticated thought as activating some mental mechanism.

Question 36

The processing of information quickly and efficiently, maintaining some information in consciousness long enough to evaluate it and keeping irrelevant information out is called

A)executive function.
B)cognitive flexibility.
C)adaptive strategy
D)metacognition.

Question 37

How easily individuals can switch between different sets of rules or different tasks is called

A)selective attention.
B)cognitive flexibility.
C)resisting interference.
D)working memory.

Question 38

A measure of how many items a person can hold in immediate memory while also doing some processing, or thinking, about those items is called

A)long-term memory.
B)working memory span.
C)mnemonics.
D)short-term memory.

Question 39

Children and adults seem to have particular problems with scientific reasoning when the evidence they collect

A)produces good outcomes.
B)matches their pre-existing beliefs.
C)produces negative outcomes.
D)does not match their perception of what others believe.

Question 40

Children generally have difficulty with scientific reasoning, and

A)they are not very interested in science.
B)they still have a keen interest in science.
C)they learn difficult science concepts from their parents.
D)their parents do not encourage interest in science.

Question 41

A frequently studied memory strategy that refers to the structure discovered or imposed on a set of items is

A)classification.
B)differentiation.
C)clustering.
D)organization.

Question 42

All of the following are associated with active rehearsal except

A)better memory performance.
B)working on one word or segment of information at a time.
C)increasing age and cognitive development.
D)changes in rehearsal apparently causing increases in recall.

Question 43

Strategies are usually viewed as being all of the following except

A)potentially available to consciousness.
B)deliberately implemented.
C)nonobligatory.
D)mentally effortless.

Question 44

The fact that children do not produce strategies spontaneously but can be trained to use them and enhance their performance as a result is called

A)production deficiency.
B)utilization deficiency.
C)direct instruction.
D)emulation.

Question 45

According to Barkley, the principal cause of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is deficits in

A)behavioral inhibition.
B)resistance to interference.
C)memory span.
D)cognitive reasoning.

Question 46

Many of the tasks used to assess inhibition abilities also require children to do all of the following except

A)have cognitive flexibility.
B)shift, or change, between a set of rules.
C)formulate rules.
D)use switch trials.

Question 47

Which of the following is not a reason for a utilization deficiency?

A)Children lack the mental resources needed to both execute a strategy and attend to the problem at hand.
B)Children may not realize that a strategy is not working for them.
C)Children may use a new strategy just for the sake of trying something new.
D)Children may not use a strategy because they tend to underestimate their abilities.

Question 48

Children gain increasing conscious control over their problem solving, as reflected by children being able to think about the contents of their own thoughts, which is called

A)reflection.
B)executive functioning.
C)introspection.
D)self-concept.

Question 49

Some potentially serious side effects of stimulant drugs prescribed for children with ADHD include all of the following except

A)curbing appetites.
B)disrupting sleep cycles.
C)activating inhibitory circuits.
D)reducing the desire to play.

Question 50

What is primarily responsible for individual differences in executive functioning?

A)cognitive flexibility
B)heredity
C)intelligence
D)education

Question 51

Mnemonics are

A)linguistic devices.
B)symbolic images.
C)counting strategies.
D)memory strategies.

Question 52

________ is most critically important to the development of higher-level cognition and to the regulation of one's emotions and behaviors.

A)Working memory
B)Executive function
C)Resistance to interference
D)Memory span

Question 53

In environmental terms, executive functioning is significantly affected by

A)culture.
B)peer support.
C)family structure.
D)physical fitness.

Question 54

Which of the following best describes Siegler's adaptive strategy?

A)Development occurs as a series of overlapping waves.
B)Development occurs as a series of discrete steps.
C)Development occurs in well-defined stages.
D)Development occurs as bursts of enlightenment.

Question 55

An effective memory strategy to sort the items into groups during a study phase and to recall them according to their category membership is called

A)classification.
B)differentiation.
C)clustering.
D)organization.

Question 56

Young children's difficulty in inhibiting some behaviors

A)is affected by their ability to keep the to-be-forgotten information out of mind.
B)might impede their ability to deceive others in some situations.
C)can be explained by young children's difficulty with ignoring task-irrelevant stimuli.
D)is related to their understanding that other people can hold false beliefs.

Question 57

Children's ability to selectively forget information

A)is affected by their ability to keep the to-be-forgotten information out of mind.
B)might impede their ability to deceive others in some situations.
C)can be explained by young children's difficulty with ignoring task-irrelevant stimuli.
D)is related to their understanding that other people can hold false beliefs.

Question 58

Siegler's adaptive strategy choice model basically adopts ________ and applies it to cognitive development.

A)Piaget's theory of cognitive development
B)Freud's psychoanalytic method
C)the idea of natural selection from Darwin's theory of evolution
D)the information processing idea of children as computers

Question 59

Age differences in children's selective attention

A)is affected by their ability to keep the to-be-forgotten information out of mind.
B)might impede their ability to deceive others in some situations.
C)can be explained by young children's difficulty with ignoring task-irrelevant stimuli.
D)is related to their understanding that other people can hold false beliefs.

Question 60

Research suggests that young children fail to use strategies as much as older children for all of the following reasons except that

A)young children have increasing recall only as a result of organizing items as they are instructed to.
B)young children have fewer mental resources available to them.
C)young children consume too much of their limited mental resources, leaving too little for performing tasks.
D)young children find dual tasks to difficult.

Question 61

Which of the following best represents the fuzzy-trace theory?

A)fragmentation
B)information processing
C)intuitionism.
D)finalism

Question 62

Which of the following most commonly occurs?

A)People have vivid memories from early childhood.
B)People have early memories based on hearing others retelling a family story.
C)People have no memories from childhood.
D)People have complete, though fuzzy, memories from early childhood.

Question 63

Which of the following is not necessarily associated with children who have good metacognitive knowledge?

A)They have good metamemories.
B)They perform cognitive tasks well.
C)They use strategies effectively.
D)They monitor their task performance.

Question 64

Which of the following refers to our knowledge of language, rules, and concepts?

A)episodic memory
B)semantic memory
C)implicit/procedural memory
D)metamemory

Question 65

What were the results of the study in which researchers showed 27- to 39-month-old children sequences of actions and interviewed them 6 and 12 months later for their memories of the event?

A)Only those who had the vocabulary to describe the events at the time of the interview did so.
B)Only those who had the vocabulary to describe the events at the time of the original experience did so.
C)None of the children could describe the events at the time of the interview.
D)Only the older children could describe the events at the time of the interview.

Question 66

According to the fuzzy-trace theory, a verbatim-to-gist shift occurs

A)in infancy.
B)during the early preschool years.
C)during the early elementary school years.
D)during the early adolescent years.

Question 67

Personal and long-lasting memories, which are the basis for one's personal life history, are called

A)historic memories.
B)spectrum memories.
C)reminiscent memories.
D)autobiographical memories

Question 68

The process of bringing the contents of one's mind to consciousness is

A)metamemory.
B)memory.
C)remembering.
D)reminiscing.

Question 69

All of the following are true of children's metamemories except that they

A)think they can remember more than they actually can.
B)are in touch with their memory abilities.
C)think they never forget.
D)think that learning pairs of unrelated words is just as easy as learning pairs of opposites.

Question 70

Which of the following is not true of Freud's theory of infantile amnesia?

A)Experiences of infancy are rife with sexual overtones toward one's father.
B)We protect our adult egos by preventing disturbing childhood memories from rising to consciousness.
B) Experiences from infancy are generally so traumatic that they are actively repressed.
C)Modern behavioral psychologists reject his theory.

Question 71

How does memory play a central role, particularly in relation to our personal lives?

A)It allows us to activate solutions for problems we learned to solve in the past.
B)It allows us to use relevant knowledge to solve new problems.
C)It defines the boundaries of our self-concepts and relationships with others.
D)It defines ourselves to ourselves and maintains critical information about social relationships.

Question 72

According to the fuzzy trace theory, at one extreme are fuzzy traces, while at the other extreme are

A)gist traces.
B)verbatim traces.
C)vague traces.
D)degenerated traces.

Question 73

Knowledge of one's own thinking is referred to as

A)reflection.
B)metacognition.
C)executive function.
D)strategy use.

Question 74

Remembering the first-grade class in which you first learned about George Washington is an example of

A)episodic memory.
B)semantic memory.
C)implicit/procedural memory.
D)metamemory.

Question 75

Some people document the beginning of autobiographical memory with

A)the onset of infantile amnesia.
B)the offset of infantile amnesia.
C)the onset of the inability to remember events from infancy.
D)the offset of long-lasting memories.

Question 76

Which of the following is an example of nondeclarative memory?

A)remembering where you parked your car this morning
B)remembering the trip you took to Disney World when you were 8 years old
C)remembering the definition of a difficult word
D)remembering how to tie your shoes

Question 77

The main basis for the relationship between knowledge base and strategy use seems to be that

A)a strong knowledge base can be applied to all domains.
B)a strong knowledge base results in effortless processing
C)a detailed knowledge base results in faster processing of information within a domain
D)a detailed knowledge base expands mental resources.

Question 78

Karmiloff-Smith's developmental theory includes all of the following concepts except

A)Explicit representations are transformed into implicit representations.
B)Infants' knowledge is all implicit knowledge.
C)With consciousness, experiences are redescribed.
D)Consciousness allows an infant to reflect on a piece of knowledge and make inferences.

Question 79

Which of the following refers to knowledge of procedures and feelings that are integrated but unconscious?

A)episodic memory
B)semantic memory
C)implicit/procedural memory
D)metamemory

Question 80

All of the following are true of implicit memory except that

A)age differences in implicit memory are relatively small.
B)it is associated with the temporal lobe of the brain.
C)its memories are not in conscious awareness.
D)its associated part of the brain develops later that the part(s) associated with explicit memory.