Deck 1: Introduction to Cognitive Psychology

Question 1

In Donders's research on human decision making, he found that it took ____________ to decide which of two buttons to push in response to a stimulus.

A) less than one second
B) between one and two seconds
C) two to five seconds
D) more than five seconds

Answer 1

less than one second

Question 2

Ebbinghaus's "memory" experiments were important because they

A) described complex decision making.
B) plotted functions that described the operation of the mind.
C) were the first to combine basic elements of experience called sensations.
D) showed how positive reinforcers strengthen behavior.

Answer 2

plotted functions that described the operation of the mind.

Question 3

By comparing reaction times across different tasks, Donders was able to conclude how long the mind needs to perform a certain cognitive task. Donders interpreted the difference in reaction time between the simple and choice conditions of his experiment as indicating how long it took to

A) perceive the stimulus.
B) process the stimulus.
C) attend to the stimulus.
D) make a decision about the stimulus.

Answer 3

make a decision about the stimulus.

Question 4

The first experiments in cognitive psychology were based on the idea that mental responses can be

A) measured directly.
B) inferred from the participant's behavior.
C) measured by comparing the presentation of the stimulus and the participant's response.
D) measured by comparing responses among different participants.

Question 5

The relationship between the ____________ is NOT measured directly by cognitive psychologists.

A) physiological response and the behavioral outcome
B) cognitive task and the behavioral outcome
C) cognitive task and the physiological response
D) cognitive task and the mental response

Question 6

How is the term mind used in this statement: "If you put your mind to it, I'm sure you can solve that math problem"?

A) The mind as involved in memory
B) The mind as problem solver
C) The mind as used to make decisions or consider possibilities
D) The mind as valuable, something that should be used

Question 7

Consider the following definition of the mind: The mind is a system that creates representations of the world so that we can act within it to achieve our goals. Which element of the mind does this definition emphasize?

A) Functioning and survival
B) Attention
C) Routine
D) Cognition

Question 8

Reaction time refers to the time between the _______ of a stimulus and a person's response to it.

A) sensation
B) transduction
C) change in intensity
D) presentation

Question 9

In Donders's experiment on decision making, when participants were asked to press one button if the light on the left was illuminated and another button if the light on the right was illuminated, they were engaged in a

A) memory recall task.
B) simple reaction time task.
C) choice reaction time task.
D) operant conditioning task.

Question 10

Wundt's procedure in which trained participants describe their experiences and thought processes in response to stimuli presented under controlled conditions is known as

A) information processing.
B) analytic introspection.
C) functional analysis.
D) behavioral analysis.

Question 11

What is the study of mental processes that includes determining the characteristics and properties of the mind and how it operates?

A) Psychology
B) Cognitive psychology
C) Sociology
D) Psychopathology

Question 12

Attention, perception, memory, and decision making are all different types of mental processes in which the mind engages. These are known as different types of

A) models.
B) cognition.
C) reaction times.
D) savings.

Question 13

The branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of the mind is called

A) cognitive psychology.
B) introspection.
C) behaviorism.
D) memory consolidation.

Question 14

The main point of the Donders's reaction time experiments was to

A) show that reaction times can be measured accurately.
B) measure the amount of time it takes to make a decision.
C) determine differences in the way people react to stimuli.
D) show that our cognitions are often based on unconscious inferences.

Question 15

Which of the following methods, often associated with structuralism, was used in the psychology laboratory established by Wilhelm Wundt?

A) Analytic introspection
B) Measuring reaction times
C) Operant conditioning
D) Classical conditioning

Question 16

In Donders's experiment on decision making, when participants were asked to press a button upon presentation of a light, they were engaged in a

A) sensory memory task.
B) simple reaction time task.
C) choice reaction time task.
D) classical conditioning task.

Question 17

Donders's main reason for doing his choice reaction time experiment was to study

A) sensation.
B) childhood attachment styles.
C) decision making.
D) personality development.

Question 18

According to Ebbinghaus's research on memory, savings is a function of

A) word familiarity.
B) sensory modality.
C) elapsed time.
D) reaction time.

Question 19

With which of the following sentences would the author disagree?

A) The mind creates and controls mental processes such as language and emotions.
B) The mind can create representations of the world.
C) The mind is a problem solver.
D) We can consider the mind extraordinary if it is used for extraordinary purposes.

Question 20

How is the term mind used in this statement: "When he talks about his encounter with aliens, it sounds like he is out of his mind"?

A) The mind as involved in memory
B) The mind as problem solver
C) The mind as a healthy mind being associated with normal functioning, a nonfunctioning mind with abnormal functioning.
D) The mind as valuable, something that should be used

Question 21

Who introduced the flow diagram to represent what is happening in the mind?

A) Donald Broadbent
B) Colin Cherry
C) Newell and Simon
D) Wilhelm Wundt

Question 22

Who proposed that children's language development was caused by imitation and reinforcement?

A) Noam Chomsky
B) John Watson
C) Keller Breland
D) B. F. Skinner

Question 23

Wundt's approach, which dominated psychology in the late 1800s and early 1900s, was known as

A) structuralism.
B) analytic introspection.
C) sensations.
D) cognitive psychology.

Question 24

Which of the following is a criticism of analytic introspection?

A) It infers mental processes based on objective data.
B) It produces results that are too easy to verify.
C) It produces variable results from person to person.
D) It requires no training.

Question 25

Colin Cherry's experiment in which participants listen to two messages simultaneously, one in each ear, found all but which of the following?

A) People can focus on one message and ignore the other one.
B) People can focus on the message they were repeating.
C) People take in very little information about the ignored message.
D) People who are deaf process auditory information on a nonconscious level.

Question 26

The investigation of how behavior is strengthened by presentation of positive reinforcers (e.g., food) or withdrawal of negative reinforcers (e.g., shock) is best known as

A) classical conditioning.
B) the method of savings.
C) choice reaction time.
D) operant conditioning.

Question 27

Which of the following does NOT characterize the information processing (IP) approach to the study of cognition?

A) IP depicts the mind as processing information in a sequence of stages.
B) IP emphasizes stimulus-response relationships in cognitive processes.
C) IP involves the use of computers as a metaphor to understand human cognition.
D) IP traces the sequence of mental operations involved in cognition.

Question 28

A technique in which trained participants described their experiences and thought processes in response to stimuli is known as

A) structuralism.
B) analytic introspection.
C) sensations.
D) cognitive psychology.

Question 29

A mental conception of the layout of a physical space is known as a(n)

A) cognitive map.
B) mental model.
C) artificial intelligence.
D) memory consolidation.

Question 30

Donald Broadbent was the first person to develop which of the following?

A) A flow diagram depicting the mind as processing information in a sequence of stages
B) A computer program for solving logic problems
C) An experimental procedure for studying the way people process information
D) The first textbook of cognitive psychology

Question 31

Watson became dissatisfied with the method of analytic introspection in which context?

A) Behaviorism
B) Results were interpreted in terms of invisible inner mental processes
C) It produced same results from person to person
D) Results were easy to verify

Question 32

Regarding children's language development, Noam Chomsky noted that children generate many sentences they have never heard before. From this, he concluded that language development is driven largely by

A) an inborn biological program.
B) cultural influences.
C) classical conditioning.
D) operant conditioning.

Question 33

Which of the following events is most closely associated with a resurgence in interest in the mind within the study of psychology?

A) Watson's "Little Albert" experiment
B) Skinner's publication of the book, Verbal Behavior
C) Development of the technique of analytic introspection
D) Tolman's proposal of cognitive maps

Question 34

The "Little Albert" experiment involving the rat and the loud noise is an example of which of the following types of experiments?

A) Reaction time
B) Unconscious inference
C) Classical conditioning
D) Operant conditioning

Question 35

Behaviorists believe that the presentation of ____________ increases the frequency of behavior.

A) positive reinforcers
B) discriminative stimuli
C) backward conditioning
D) inhibitory neurotransmitters

Question 36

Who founded the first laboratory of scientific psychology at the University of Leipzig in Germany?

A) Erik Erikson
B) Sigmund Freud
C) Wilhelm Wundt
D) Ivan Pavlov

Question 37

Which of the following psychologists is known for research on operant conditioning?

A) Franciscus Donders
B) Wilhelm Wundt
C) John Watson
D) B. F. Skinner

Question 38

John Watson believed that psychology should focus on the study of

A) observable behavior.
B) mental processes.
C) consciousness.
D) attention.

Question 39

Who developed the concept of the cognitive map?

A) Raynor
B) Sanders
C) James
D) Tolman

Question 40

Your text describes the occurrence of a "cognitive revolution" during which dramatic changes took place in the way psychology was studied. This so-called revolution occurred parallel to (and, in part, because of) the introduction of

A) cognitive psychology textbooks.
B) analytic introspection.
C) Skinner boxes.
D) computers.

Question 41

In which year was positron emission tomography (PET) introduced and made it possible to see which areas of the human brain are activated during cognitive activity?

A) 1969
B) 1984
C) 1991
D) 1976

Question 42

The use of the term artificial intelligence was coined by

A) B. F. Skinner.
B) Colin Cherry.
C) Edward Tolman.
D) John McCarthy.

Question 43

What does the field of neuropsychology study?

A) Behavior of people with brain damage
B) Electrical responses of the nervous system
C) Higher mental processes
D) Sequences of mental operations involved in cognition

Question 44

Neuroimage, a journal devoted solely to reporting neuroimaging research, was founded in which year?

A) 1975
B) 1984
C) 1992
D) 2000

Question 45

Which of the following terms is correct in context with "Pairing one stimulus with another"?

A) Cognitive mapping
B) Paradigm shift
C) Classical conditioning
D) Behaviorism

Question 46

Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin's (1968) model of memory, which was introduced a year after the publication of Neisser's book, described the flow of information in the memory system as progressing through three stages. Which memory holds incoming information for a fraction of a second and then passes most of this information to short-term memory?

A) Long-term memory
B) Sensory memory
C) Episodic memory
D) Semantic memory

Question 47

Which memory is used for physical actions?

A) Long-term memory
B) Procedural memory
C) Episodic memory
D) Semantic memory

Question 48

Explain how Donders's and Ebbinghaus's pioneering methods, though very different from each other, allowed for behavior to determine a property of the mind.

Question 49

How does classical conditioning differ from operant conditioning? How might cognition play a role in the process of operant conditioning? Give an example to support your thinking.

Question 50

Verbal Behavior was written by

A) Noam Chomsky.
B) Watson.
C) Tolman.
D) B. F. Skinner.

Question 51

Why can we consider Tolman one of the early cognitive psychologists?

A) Because he used behavior to infer mental processes
B) Because of his focus on measuring behavior
C) Because he focused on the stimulus-response connections in the rat's mind during his maze experiment
D) Because of his interest in operant conditioning

Question 52

Which book was written by Thomas Kuhn?

A) Verbal Behavior
B) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
C) Cognitive Psychology
D) Sensory Memory

Question 53

As a result of gaps in the behaviorist paradigm, the new cognitive paradigm began to emerge in which decade?

A) 1950s
B) 1930s
C) 1940s
D) 1920s

Question 54

The "cognitive revolution"

A) occurred rapidly, within a period of a few years, in response to the attacks on Skinner and the development of computers.
B) extended over a long period of time, beginning in the early part of the century, in reaction to Wundt's introspection experiments.
C) was a gradual process that occurred over a few decades.
D) was not really necessary because the study of the mind has been a constant part of experimental psychology since the founding of the first psychology laboratory.

Question 55

At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Symposium on Information Theory, George Miller presented a paper suggesting that

A) the human ability to process information is unlimited.
B) there are limits to the human ability to process information.
C) intelligent machines can be successfully created.
D) memory consolidation is enhanced by REM sleep.

Question 56

Endel Tulving, one of the most prominent early memory researchers, proposed that long-term memory is subdivided into all of the following components EXCEPT

A) Short-term memory.
B) Procedural memory.
C) Episodic memory.
D) Semantic memory.

Question 57

Describe analytic introspection and explain two limitations to this method.

Question 58

Which of the following terms is correct in context with "conception within the rat's mind of the maze's layout"?

A) Cognitive mapping
B) Paradigm shift
C) Classical conditioning
D) Behaviorism

Question 59

Which of the following is NOT true of positron emission tomography (PET)?

A) It replaced functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) because it was less expensive.
B) It shows which areas of the human brain are activated during cognitive activity.
C) It provides a lower-resolution image than fMRI.
D) It involved injecting radioactive tracers into a person's bloodstream.

Question 60

Newell and Simon were among the first to use computers for artificial intelligence. Their computer program

A) simulated human attention.
B) created proofs for problems in logic.
C) controlled presentation of visual stimuli.
D) produced the first flow diagram.

Question 61

Describe Atkinson and Shiffrin's model of memory and how it works. Also, describe Tulving's components of memory and give an example of each component.

Question 62

Describe how Tolman's maze experiment worked. What concept was developed based on the results of this research, and how is it connected to the broader theme of cognitive psychology?