Deck 2: Methodological Approaches

Question 1

Primarily, what does fMRI measure?

A)Action potential circuits
B)The activity of neurons
C)Virtual "slices" of the brain
D)A three-dimensional image of the brain
E)Concentrations of blood

Answer 1

Concentrations of blood

Question 2

Which statement below is not true about an electroencephalogram (EEG)?

A)It tells us how neural activity changes over a very brief period of time
B)It picks up minute electromagnetic activity generated by the electro-chemical processes occurring at the surface of the cortex of the brain
C)It is more precise in telling us the location of activity in the brain compared with MRI
D)It can be a net of 128 or 256 tiny electrodes
E)Usually, an EEG system is less expensive than an MRI system.

Answer 2

It is more precise in telling us the location of activity in the brain compared with MRI

Question 3

Which two techniques have been used to good effect with infants for investigating aspects of cognitive and perceptual development? (I) nonnutritive sucking; (II) familiarization phase; (III) video recording; (IV) preferential looking?

A)I and III
B)I and IV
C)II and III
D)I and II
E)III and IV

Answer 3

I and IV

Question 4

Which of the following is an unfair criticism of Piaget's investigation of object permanence in infancy?

A)Potential biases in observation
B)Small sample size
C)Observation methods were used
D)Possibilities of other explanations were not ruled out
E)The findings were over-interpreted

Question 5

What did Piaget mean by the term conservation?

A)Creating a reservoir of water to ensure that there is sufficient water to supply the inhabitants of cities with all that they need
B)Failing to understand that an underlying property remains invariant despite changes in appearance
C)Preserving the natural resources of the earth such that future generations will have enough food, water, and materials to sustain civilization as we know it
D)Understanding that an underlying property remains invariant despite changes in appearance
E)Protecting rain forests against encroaching deforestation for the purpose of agriculture and building housing developments

Question 6

The most basic source of bias is the yes bias (Ackerman, 1982), which occurs while children are asked a question that requires an answer of either "yes" or "no". What is the meaning of yes bias?

A)Children are biased to answer "yes" when the correct answer is yes
B)Children are biased to answer "no" irrespective of what is actually the correct answer
C)Children are biased to answer "yes" irrespective of what is actually the correct answer
D)Children are biased to answer "yes" when the correct answer is no
E)Children are biased not to give any answer when the correct answer is yes

Question 7

Performative bias (Ackerman, 1981) states that:

A)There is a strong tendency for children to answer questions not verbally but by carrying out a relevant action
B)There is a strong tendency for children to answer questions verbally and by carrying out a relevant action
C)There is a strong tendency for children to answer questions not verbally but by carrying out an irrelevant action
D)There is a strong tendency for children to answer questions verbally and by carrying out an irrelevant action
E)There is a strong tendency for children to answer nonverbally by miming or "mouthing" the answer

Question 8

"... we should abandon the notion of 'mind' altogether and concentrate instead only on understanding the principles of behavior" was an idea of:

A)Charles Darwin
B)Jean Piaget
C)B)F. Skinner
D)Noam Chomsky
E)Sigmund Freud

Question 9

B.F. Skinner and his followers were utterly dissatisfied with psychoanalysis as an approach and felt that the discipline should be more (I) systematic (II) ethical (III) technical (IV) scientific

A)I, II, III
B)I, II, IV
C)I, III, IV
D)II, III, IV
E)None of the above

Question 10

Which technique provides the most accurate information about the speed of attention at the level of the cortex?

A)fMRI
B)EEG
C)X-ray
D)Structural MRI
E)TMS

Question 11

Which is NOT true about mirror neuron hypothesis (Rizzolatti & Craighero, 2004)?

A)It predicts that it is quite easy for a person to imagine being in the same situation as another whom they are observing
B)It explains why yawning is contagious
C)Neurons in one brain resonate with those in another brain
D)It is consistent with the possibility that we understand other people's minds by applying rules but not by imaginatively projecting ourselves into the shoes of another person
E)It has become very well known among the community of cognitive neuroscientists

Question 12

What is the meaning of counterbalancing?

A)Counterbalancing is an experimental technique in which all possible orders of presenting the variables are included
B)Counterbalancing is an experimental technique in which all possible orders of presenting the variables are not included
C)Counterbalancing is an experimental technique in which some possible orders of presenting the variables are included
D)Counterbalancing is an experimental technique in which some possible orders of presenting the variables are not included
E)Counterbalancing is an experimental technique used in between-groups designs to ensure unbiased allocation of participants to conditions

Question 13

In Thouless' (1931) study:

A)It was found that participants drew an oval shape that was too thin
B)Adult participants drew a soccer ball as an oval shape
C)Children participants were asked to draw a cup with the handle out of view
D)It was found that participants did not exaggerate circularity
E)It was found that participants exaggerated circularity

Question 14

Which of the following is not a benefit of brain-imaging techniques?

A)To enable us to identify areas of brain damage.
B)To enable us to understand how cognitive functions are represented in the architecture of the brain
C)To enable us to test theories
D)To enable us to address questions on how we can acquire an understanding of the mind
E)To enable us to read minds

Question 15

Which of the following is not a limitation of brain-imaging techniques?

A)Testing conditions might not resemble a real-world environment
B)Only indicates the location of a cognitive process
C)Peparation for testing can be complicated and time consuming
D)Enables us to test theories
E)Testing can be costly

Question 16

Which of the following techniques is most commonly used to observe the behavior of infants?

A)Electroencephalogram (EEG)
B)Preferential looking
C)Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)
D)Transcranial Magnetic Simulation (TMS)
E)Question and answer sessions

Question 17

The preferential looking procedure is based on the principle that:

A)All things being equal, babies prefer looking at familiar rather than novel objects
B)All things being equal, babies prefer looking at novel rather than familiar objects
C)Neurons in one brain resonate with those in another brain
D)Babies encode objects according to their projected size and not their true size
E)Babies can perceive depth

Question 18

Which of the following is a challenge for preferential looking?

A)Babies don't have strong systematic preferences in where they look
B)It is not versatile and sensitive for investigating babies' development
C)It cannot be applied to a wide variety of problems of investigation
D)There are no ways to record looking preferences
E)Data coding is difficult

Question 19

Which of the following is not true of the recording of eye movements using an eye tracker?

A)It measures the direction of the baby's gaze in relation to the scene that lies before the baby
B)Calibrating a baby's eye movements is easy
C)It tells us fairly precisely which object the baby looked at
D)Some eye trackers can provide information about pupil dilation
E)The eye tracker will generate a recording of the scene that the baby observed

Question 20

What method can be employed to solve the problem of extraneous effects associated with the positioning of objects in the preferential looking procedure?

A)Counterbalancing
B)Removing extra objects
C)Adding more positions of objects
D)Conducting the experiment in a quiet environment
E)Always keep the objects in the same position

Question 21

According to Piaget, children at about what age gave a nonconserving answer?

A)Age 7 and below
B)Age 7 and above
C)Age 10 and below
D)Age 14 and below
E)Age 14 and above

Question 22

Which of the following is the most basic form of bias when children respond to questions?

A)Experimenter bias
B)"Yes" bias
C)Availability heuristic
D)Representativeness heuristic
E)"No" bias

Question 23

Which of the following is not true about intellectual realism?

A)It is measurable in adults as well as children
B)Perception is likely to be influenced by our previous experience and knowledge
C)Adults' judgment of appearance is contaminated by their knowledge
D)Children's drawings are based on what they see rather than what is stored in their memory
E)It can be investigated by asking participants to draw what they see

Question 24

In a study by Mitchell and Robinson (1992), it was discovered that children will give an accurate judgment of their state of ignorance regarding Simon's identity if:

A)There are pictures presented in front of them
B)There are no words presented in front of them
C)There are words presented in front of them
D)There are no pictures presented in front of them
E)There are picture and words presented in front of them

Question 25

If children exaggerated circularity when they were asked to draw a dinner plate that they were viewing squarely, the following statement would be accurate:

A)Exaggeration is due to a characteristic in perception
B)Exaggeration is not due to a characteristic in perception
C)Exaggeration is due to a limitation in skill
D)Exaggeration is not due to their stored knowledge about past experiences
E)Exaggeration is due to misundertanding of the instructions