PSY352 Cognitive Psychology
Week 1 Discussion
Hot Topics in Cognitive Psychology
(Please remember this is due Thursday of your first week of class, no late discussions will be given credit unless you have a valid accommodation on file. The goal of this discussion forum is to offer you an introduction to the field of cognitive psychology. Cognitive psychology is a discipline within psychology that is concerned with the scientific study of the human mind. The mind is responsible for a variety of functions and abilities, including perception, attention, consciousness, memory, reasoning, and decision-making. Most of our mental life is unconscious. If the objects of our attention are equated to the objects of our consciousness, it is reasonable to assume that we are aware of only a limited number of events in our daily lives.
For your initial post, complete the following steps:
Watch the video entitled, The Magic of the Unconscious: Automatic Brain (Links to an external site.). Don't forget to list this in your references!
Remember to include the question and THEN your response!!
A. Select a “hot topic” of cognitive psychology based on what you have heard and/or seen in the media and your personal interests. Consider using a topic that hasn't been in the news in the last few years, which we have heard a million times.
B. Look for a report in the media (e.g., newspapers, magazines, web pages of professional organizations, etc.) that refers to the selected topic such as “defendant cannot remember what happened,” “false memories explain UFO abduction stories,” and so forth.
C. Describe the content of the selected report and offer your own perspective. Namely, use your critical-thinking skills to examine the extent to which the claims made in the report and the evidence upon which the report relies are to be trusted.
D. Then, discuss the real-life consequences of the evidence reported.
In your post, include a link to the selected report, and explain to the members of the class why you have selected it. Support your points with evidence from at least one peer-reviewed research article. Your initial post must be a minimum of 300 words.
PSY352 Cognitive Psychology
Week 2 Discussion
Understanding Working Memory
The goal of this discussion forum is to deepen your understanding of how working memory operates. For your initial post, watch the Models of Memory 1 Atkins+ Shiffrons Multi Store Model (Links to an external site.)video. Then complete the following experiments:
Digit Span
Serial Position Effect
Keep in mind that each experiment illustrates a procedure or task that is used by scientists to understand how working (short-term) memory functions. Consider what your performance on the selected task tells you about working memory and its strengths and weaknesses. Also, consider the extent to which the results of the selected experiment apply to real-life experiences and settings. Support your points with evidence from at least one peer-reviewed research article. Your initial post must be a minimum of 300 words.
PSY352 Cognitive Psychology
Week 3 Discussion
How to Study More Effectively: Putting Knowledge of Memory Functioning to Work
In this discussion forum, you will explore the imperfect content of our memories of experiences. For your initial post, complete the following steps:
Watch the following videos:
False Memories (Links to an external site.)
Loftus Speaks: The Malleability of Memory (Links to an external site.)
In the videos, Loftus describes the ease with which false memories can be created or altered. Yet people like Paul Shanely are incarcerated, convicted of heinous crimes based on the testimony of men who have claimed to have repressed memories of years of childhood sexual abuse until adulthood. The two sides of the argument are referred to as “The Memory Wars.” For this discussion, choose one of the following prompts:
Analyze both sides of the Shanely case. Which side is best supported by the scientific evidence? Which one do you support and why?
Analyze the case of the Ramona family. How could the daughter repress such memories for so long? Does the fact that her father successfully sued the therapist prove that the memories are false?
Analyze the case of Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton. How is it possible to be so sure that you recognize a face when it is not the right person?
Provide an overview of Loftus’ research. How does that prove (or not) that memories can be created or altered?
Use your critical thinking skills and present a cogent analysis and argument for the position you choose to defend. Support your points with evidence from at least one peer-reviewed research article. Your initial post must be a minimum of 300 words.
PSY352 Cognitive Psychology
Week 4 Discussion
Problem Solving: Popular Beliefs and Evidence
In this discussion forum, you will assess the validity of popular assumptions and beliefs about problem solving. Please note that your answers need be supported by scientific evidence. For your initial post, complete the steps below:
Watch the video, Rory Sutherland: Sweat the Small Stuff (Links to an external site.), on how simplicity can benefit problem solving.
Select one of the following topics:
Laypersons and scientists alike often report that after having tried to solve a problem for an entire day, “sleeping on it” led to a solution. Does sleep indeed promote problem solving?
Laypersons and scientists alike often report that a solution to a problem may come to mind after having taken a break from thinking about the problem. Does incubation really work?
Select a theoretical view/model of problem solving (e.g., Gestalt psychology, information processing approach, etc.). What is the evidence that supports it? What evidence, if any, does not fit the model?
Are experts better at solving problems than non-experts? If so, what is responsible for experts’ superior performance? Is their superiority general or limited to their field of expertise?
Are there individual differences in problem-solving abilities? For instance, is working memory’s capacity linked to one’s ability to solve problems?
After you select a topic, access the University of Arizona Global Campus Library and Google Scholar and review the literature on problem solving. Then select a research article that answers the questions related to the selected topic. Finally, share the evidence you have uncovered and your critical examination of such evidence with the class. Your initial post must be a minimum of 300 words.
PSY352 Cognitive Psychology
Week 5 Discussion
Language, Perception, and Cognition
In this discussion forum, you will examine what language says about how the human mind works. More specifically, you will consider whether the language people speak (including the words that are available to them and the way words are organized to convey meaning) merely offers a window into human cognition or it can actually affect the way people perceive and understand the world. Please note that your answer to this question needs be supported by scientific evidence. For your initial post, complete the steps below:
Watch the videos, Steven Pinker: What our Language Habits Reveal (Links to an external site.) and Keith Chen: Could your Language Affect your Ability to Save Money? (Links to an external site.) on the links between language and cognition.
Read The New York Times article Does Your Language Shape How You Think? (Links to an external site.) to further your understanding of the links between language and cognition.
Access the University of Arizona Global Campus Library and Google Scholar, review the psycholinguist literature, and then select a research article that offers an answer to the question about whether language shapes perceptions and thoughts or merely reflects them. Share the evidence you have uncovered and your critical examination of such evidence with the class. Your initial post must include a minimum of 300 words.
PSY352 Cognitive Psychology
Week 1 Assignment
Attention and Perception
Prior to completing this assignment, please read Chapter 3 carefully. View the video The Study of Attention (Links to an external site.), and review the article Driven to Distraction: Dual-Task Studies of Simulated Driving and Conversing on a Cellular Telephone. Then complete the following experiments:
Stroop
Selective Attention
Ambiguous Figures
Muller-Lyer
Attention in its different forms (e.g., selective attention, divided attention, etc.) and perception are both essential aspects of cognition. The goal of this assignment is to introduce you to the topics of attention and perception and the procedures used to study them. Keep in mind that each experiment illustrates a procedure or task that is used by scientists to understand attention and/or perception.
Your paper must begin with an introduction to the topic and must address the four bullet points below. In your paper,
Reflect on your experience as the subject in the experiments—did your performance surprise you? Why or why not?
Describe what your performance on the selected task tells you about attention and perception.
Describe the extent to which the results of each experiment or procedure apply to real-life experiences and settings. Support your points with evidence from at least one peer-reviewed research article.
The Attention and Perception Paper
Must be two to three double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA Style (Links to an external site.) as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA Formatting for Microsoft Word (Links to an external site.) resource.
Must include a separate title page with the following:
Title of paper
Student’s name
Course name and number
Instructor’s name
Date submitted
Must use at least one peer-reviewed source in addition to the course text.
The Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
Must document all sources in APA style as outlined in the Writing Center.
Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Writing Center.
Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.
PSY352 Cognitive Psychology
Week 2 Assignment
Understanding Memory Loss
Memory loss is frightening. The purpose of this assignment is to make you think of memory loss realistically. Complete the steps listed below:
Watch the video, Living Without a Memory (Links to an external site.), which provides an overview of memory and discusses actual cases of memory loss.
Select a movie that has featured a character with memory loss. Describe the main features of the impairment exhibited by the movie character.
Engage your critical thinking skills. How accurately is memory loss featured in the selected movie? Specifically, does the memory loss in the movie resemble actual cases? Is appropriate terminology used? Is the prognosis realistic?
Note that statements regarding the accuracy or inaccuracy of the memory loss illustrated in the movie are to be supported by evidence collected by cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists (i.e., experts). Thus, review the literature on memory loss and use at least two peer-reviewed articles that can answer the questions above. Although your opinion is valuable and always welcome, it needs to be supported by scientific evidence.
Express your thoughts about how the movie could have more realistically depicted memory loss, its cause(s), time-course, and prognosis.
Describe the memory loss featured in the selected movie as well as discussing its accuracy Keep in mind that accuracy refers to the description of symptoms, potential cause(s), prognosis and actual time-course.
Your paper must begin with an introduction to the selected topic in which you define all concepts that will be discussed in the paper. You must also include a conclusion expressing your thoughts about how the movie could have more realistically depicted memory loss, its causes, time-course, and prognosis.
The Understanding Memory Loss Paper:
Must be four to five double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA Style (Links to an external site.) as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA Formatting for Microsoft Word (Links to an external site.) resource.
Must include a separate title page with the following:
Title of paper
Student’s name
Course name and number
Instructor’s name
Date submitted
Must use at least two peer-reviewed source in addition to the course text.
The Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
Must document all sources in APA style as outlined in the Writing Center.
Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Writing Center.
Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.
PSY352 Cognitive Psychology
Week 3 Assignment
Memory Errors in Real Life
Laypersons are often unaware of the extent to which memory errors (including memory of events that did not occur and memory distortions) are commonplace and widespread. The purpose of this assignment is to make you think of not only memory errors in real life, but also the reasons behind their occurrence. Consider the steps listed below:
Read the “Adaptive Constructive Processes and the Future of Memory” and “A Range of Memory Possibilities: The Challenge of the false Memory Debate for Clinicians and Researchers” articles, which offer an overview of memory errors and their origins.
Keep in mind that your textbook is another valuable source of information regarding memory errors.
Select a case mentioned in a news article where memory errors have been known or can be assumed to have occurred (e.g., eyewitness testimony, instances of recovered memories of traumatic experiences, etc.).
Describe the main features of the errors, their consequences, and their possible sources (i.e., what are the features of human memory that make the errors possible?).
Engage your critical thinking skills:
Explain what cognitive psychology suggests that people do to decrease the occurrence of the memory errors that you discuss in your paper. If these errors cannot be avoided, what does cognitive psychology suggest that people do to prevent the often damaging consequences of such errors?
Note that statements regarding the inaccuracy of human memory, and strategies to decrease the occurrence of errors and their consequences are to be supported by scientific evidence collected by experts. Thus, review the literature on memory errors and use at least two peer-reviewed articles that can answer the questions above.
Must begin with an introduction to the selected topic in which you define all concepts that will be discussed in the paper.
Include a brief description of the memory errors featured in the selected news article as well as discussing potential sources and known or likely consequences according to the guidelines described above.
Include a conclusion expressing your thoughts about how these memory errors can be prevented or reduced, and the extent to which their often dreadful consequences can be minimized. Keep in mind that although your opinion is valuable, it needs to be supported by scientific evidence.
The Memory Errors in Real Life Paper
Must be three to four double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA Style (Links to an external site.) as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA Formatting for Microsoft Word (Links to an external site.) resource.
Must include a separate title page with the following:
Title of paper
Student’s name
Course name and number
Instructor’s name
Date submitted
Must use at least two additional scholarly sources in addition to the course text. The articles that you are asked to read for this assignment (Madill, 2004; Schacter, 2012) can be mentioned in your paper and can be included in the reference section, but a minimum of two additional articles is required.
The Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
Must document all sources in APA style as outlined in the Writing Center.
Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Writing Center.
Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.
PSY352 Cognitive Psychology
Week 4 Assignment
Understanding Experiments in Cognition
It is reasonable to admit that in four weeks you have been exposed to a great deal of information about the human mind! This assignment will give you the opportunity to examine how the knowledge that you have acquired during the past weeks may tie together. You will explore a phenomenon that interests you, highlight the methodologies used to study it, uncover the results obtained, and assess the validity of the knowledge acquired. These activities will make you aware of the intrinsic relationship between knowledge of specific mental and behavioral phenomena, as well as the limitations of the techniques used to study them. Knowledge in cognitive psychology is largely gathered by means of experiments. Thus, it is important that you become intimately familiar with this data-gathering method. The goal of the assignment is to ensure that you have a good understanding of specific cognitive psychological phenomena as well as experiments that are often used to investigate such phenomena. Abide by the instructions listed below:
Watch the video, Experimental Research Methods in Psychology (Links to an external site.), on the experimental method.
Go to the University of Arizona Global Campus Library or Google Scholar and select a peer-reviewed article on a topic of interest among those discussed in our class. If you prefer, you may select an article from the recommended resources.
Describe the main research questions that the study attempts to answer. Keep in mind that a description of the main question of the study entails an explanation of the importance of the question (i.e., illustrates the gap in the existing literature).
State the main hypothesis (prediction) made by the researchers.
Identify the key variables.
Describe the critical characteristics of both the participants and the procedures used.
Summarize the main findings. How do these findings answer the question that the researchers formulated in the introductory section of the article?
Explain the extent to which the findings answer the research question. Do the findings support their research question (or prediction)?
Illustrate the weaknesses and strengths of the selected study. For instance, ask yourself questions such as the following:
Is the technique used to understand the selected phenomenon able to gather adequate information about it?
How does this technique compare to other techniques used in cognitive psychology?
Do the findings of the selected study generalize to individuals who may be different from those who participated (young versus older adults)?
Please note that research articles often contain more than one study. Thus, in this assignment, you are given the opportunity to describe each experiment separately or focus on what you believe to be the most significant experiment.
Your paper must begin with an introduction to the selected topic in which you define the research question and all concepts that will be discussed in the paper. For instance, let us assume you select the article by Strayer and Johnston “Driven to Distraction: Dual-Task Studies of Simulated Driving and Conversing on a Cellular Telephone” as the topic of your paper. Then your task is to state the question the researchers want to answer and define the terms attention, divided attention, and distraction.
Your paper requires a brief summary of the content of the selected article according to the guidelines described above. It also requires a conclusion expressing your thoughts about the strengths and weaknesses of the available evidence. If possible, suggest the course that future research should take if the answer to the selected question is less than conclusive.
The Memory Errors in Real Life Paper
Must be four to five double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA Style (Links to an external site.) as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA Formatting for Microsoft Word (Links to an external site.) resource.
Must include a separate title page with the following:
Title of paper
Student’s name
Course name and number
Instructor’s name
Date submitted
Must use at least one peer-reviewed source (the article you chose) in addition to the course text.
The Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
Must document all sources in APA style as outlined in the Writing Center.
Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Writing Center.
Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.
PSY352 Cognitive Psychology
Week 5 Assignment
Questions in Psycholinguistics
Language is an important tool for storing, organizing, and retrieving information that has been acquired throughout one’s life, as well as for thinking, modifying, and sharing such information with others. Thus, researchers ask many questions about language and its use. For this assignment, complete the steps listed below:
Select one of the following topics:
Recent research has shown that bilingualism shapes the human mind. What are some of the short-term and/or long-term consequences of bilingualism on information processing? Include at least two sets of findings (e.g., speed of processing and vocabulary size) in your paper.
Human language is more than a communication system. What are the unique properties of human language that make it different from communication systems used by other species?
Most of language use in adults relies on reading, an ability that is often acquired later in life than the ability to speak and understand speech in one’s primary language. Why is learning how to read more challenging than learning how to speak in one’s primary language?
Ambiguities in the meaning of words and phrases are far from rare occurrences. Yet, both speakers and listeners (or readers) often do not appear to notice them. What are these ambiguities, and why do they often go unnoticed?
Can you “forget” words in your first language while you are learning a second language? Summarize the available evidence to explain your answer.
More than half a century ago, two researchers, Noam Chomsky and B. F. Skinner, debated the role of nature and nurture in language acquisition. What was the viewpoint of each researcher? What was the evidence upon which their contrasting viewpoints relied?
Review the literature on the selected topic. For your selected topic, use at least three peer-reviewed articles that can answer the questions related to it.
Summarize the evidence you have found and then critically examine it. Engage your critical thinking skills. For instance, ask yourself if the available evidence is sufficient to support the interpretations that researchers have proposed, and/or whether there are ambiguities and unknowns.
Begin your paper with an introduction to the selected topic in which you define all concepts that will be discussed in the paper. Include a brief summary of the content of the selected article according to the guidelines described above.
Analyze the key findings, illustrating the consistencies and inconsistencies.
Include a conclusion expressing your thoughts about the strengths and weaknesses of the available evidence. If possible, suggest the course that future research should take if answers are less than conclusive.
The Questions in Psycholinguistics Final Paper
Must be five to six double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA Style (Links to an external site.) as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA Formatting for Microsoft Word (Links to an external site.) resource.
Must include a separate title page with the following:
Title of paper
Student’s name
Course name and number
Instructor’s name
Date submitted
Must use at least three peer-reviewed sources in addition to the course text.
The Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
Must document all sources in APA style as outlined in the Writing Center.
Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Writing Center.
Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.
PSY352 Cognitive Psychology
Week 1 Quiz
Question 1Which theory of attention posits that selection occurs after all incoming stimuli have been identified?
ention.
attenuation theory
late selection theory
early selection theory
All theories of attention make this assumption.
Question 2The term ________ is typically associated with the physiological processes that underlie information intake, while the term ________ is typically associated with the interpretation and organization of incoming information.
top-down processing; bottom-up processing
bottom-up processing; top-down processing
sensation; perception
perception; sensation
Question 3The higher cognitive processes, such as remembering, planning, and deciding are located in:
the cerebral cortex.
the midbrain.
the hindbrain.
none of the above.
Question 4Metacognition refers to:
the role that emotion plays in cognition.
the fact that we have evolved particular cognitive tendencies and abilities.
the role that the body plays in thinking.
the knowledge we have about our own cognitive processes.
Question 5The notion of an affordance - - that certain objects or structures offer particular “action possibilities” (i.e., sitting) — fits nicely with which theoretical approach?
constructive view of perception
direct view of perception
Gestalt principles of organization
top-down processing
Question 6You set out from your living room to go down to the basement to get something. When you get to the basement, you forget what you have walked down there to get. What kind of action slip is this?
description error
associative activation error
capture error
loss of activation error
Question 7Our tendency to group elements that occur at the same time is called:
common fate.
similarity.
closure.
synchrony.
Question 8Noam Chomsky:
proposed that language can be accounted for solely based on S-R principles.
sharply criticized Skinner's view of language learning.
proposed that language learning is dependent on automatic self-reinforcement.
saw no need for the concept of mental representations in explaining language.
Question 9Drifting toward the center line while trying to retrieve the cell phone you dropped on the car floor would be an example of a deficit in what level of task, as described by the Groeger (1999) framework?
operational
tactical
strategic
planning
Question 10The identification of a stimulus with the help of context, previous knowledge, and/or expectations is called:
top-down processing.
bottom-up processing.
materialism.
phenomenal consciousness.
Question 11The sense of subjective awareness of what our mind is currently doing is termed:
access consciousness.
phenomenal consciousness.
metacognition.
unconsciousness.
Question 12A speech perception effect in which visual information conflicts with auditory signals, changing the perceived speech sound is called:
the averaging effect.
synesthesia.
the ventriloquist effect.
the McGurk effect.
Question 13The behaviorists claimed that in order for learning to take place, you need to have________ and ________. It turns out ________ is (are) absolutely necessary.
mental representations; motivation; neither
mental representations; motivation; only mental representations
response and reinforcement; neither
response and reinforcement; only reinforcement
Question 14Post-attentive processes:
require little attention.
occur before attention is focused.
are effortful and conscious.
would include the perceptual grouping processes proposed by Gestalt psychologists.
Question 15Research on split-brain patients reveals that:
the left hemisphere typically specializes in verbal processing, while the right hemisphere specializes in spatial tasks
the left hemisphere typically specializes in spatial tasks, while the right hemisphere specializes in verbal processing
people who have had their corpus callosum severed have a great deal of difficulty functioning in everyday life
for normal people, there is no difference between the functioning of the left and right hemispheres
The answer can be found in Section 1.4 Psychology A.D.
PSY352 Cognitive Psychology
Week 2 Quiz
Question 1The classic measure used to assess immediate memory capacity limits is termed:
the Stroop task.
memory span.
the Brown-Peterson task.
the juggling task.
Question 2We tend to think in terms of and talk about:
basic level categories.
superordinate categories.
subordinate categories.
category hierarchies.
Question 3In image-based approaches to object recognition:
objects are recognized holistically through comparison with a stored analog representation.
identification of the object is viewpoint independent.
a rotated image can be recognized just as quickly as an image in its normal orientation.
an object must first be broken down into components.
Question 4The olfactory-verbal gap is:
the inability of people to label an odor given a choice of labels.
the ability of people to name similar odors.
the indirect connection of olfaction and verbal labels, through an emotional process.
the difficulty people have in correctly identifying odors.
Question 5The ________ approaches to object recognition might also be termed feature analysis, and propose that recognition ________ depend on the particular perspective we have on the object to be recognized.
image-based; does
image-based; does not
parts-based; does
parts-based; does not
Question 6The case where later information interferes with the ability to retain information that occurred earlier is called:
anterograde amnesia.
retroactive interference.
proactive interference.
retrograde amnesia.
Question 7Semantic memories:
are generally retrieved in the absence of a recollective experience.
tend to be more vulnerable to forgetting than episodic memories.
typically include an affective (i.e., emotional) component.
aren't all that important in day-to-day living.
Question 8The most conservative estimate of the limits on immediate memory is:
1 or 2.
3 or 4.
7.
9.
Question 9Deaf individuals:
show effects of similarity, but not word length.
have no articulatory loop at all.
show effects of word length, but not similarity.
show effects of word length and similarity, just like hearing individuals.
Question 10A problem with the prototype approach that can be explained by the exemplar approach is:
sensitivity to context.
similarity to the standard example.
typical examples are generated first when people are asking to name a category member.
that the exemplar approach is more economical.
Question 11Mind-wandering:
requires no mental effort.
is associated with increased awareness of the surrounding environment.
rarely occurs in daily life.
usually occurs without intention.
Question 12Which of the following types of processing would result in the best memory?
thinking about how many syllables are in the word you are trying to remember
thinking of a rhyming word
evaluating whether the word fits into a sentence
thinking about how the word relates to you
Question 13Categories that are formed “on the fly” in the service of some goal are termed:
natural categories.
artifact categories.
ad hoc categories.
metaphorical concept categories.
Question 14A problem with an extreme version of the exemplar approach is that:
people are not sensitive to the biasing effects of context.
it is not based on the idea of similarity to an example.
it uses only the average examples, not all of the examples in memory.
it is not economical to store every single example in memory.
Question 15If people are given unorganized information to process, they will attempt to:
use distinctiveness processing to aid memory
impose their own structure and use subjective, idiosyncratic categories
use material-appropriate processing to aid memory
remember it using maintenance rehearsal
PSY352 Cognitive Psychology
Week 3 Quiz
Question 1Research in everyday memory issues is usually higher in _______ and lower in _______ than typical laboratory memory research.
ecological validity; internal validity
internal validity; ecological validity
internal validity; external validity
ecological validity; external validity
Question 2The results of laboratory studies of illusory memory indicate that:
participants often consciously recollect the theme words around which each list is constructed, even
though these words were never presented.
participants don’t generally recollect that the theme word had been presented; they just KNOW that it was presented.
participants often recognized that the theme words as having been in the lists but rarely recalled those theme
words.
false memories can not be created in a list learning paradigm.
Question 3The Proust phenomenon is:
the power of odors to elicit memories that are especially old and vivid
the ability of odors to generate more detailed memories
using olfactory odors to generate autobiographical facts
the ability of odors to generate very early memories in life
Question 4Which of these is an example of autobiographical memory?
Dan remembers his first date.
Susan plans for the two papers she has to write this week.
Zoe recalls that her mom hates it when she bites her nails.
Brant tells someone that he has season tickets to his college's games.
Question 5Wang (2006) compared the early recall of Taiwanese and U.S. adults in terms of the age of their early
childhood recollections and the degree of autonomy reflected in the memories. She found that U.S. participants
had ____ memories than Taiwanese participants, and that memories of U.S. participants were ____ likely to reflect autonomy.
earlier; more
earlier; less
later; more
later; less
Question 6The phenomenon of imagination inflation:
is an instance in which the less a memory is imagined, the more real it seems.
is an instance in which the more a memory is imagined, the more real it seems
is present only in young children.
only works in a laboratory setting.
Question 7Which of these autobiographical memory research techniques was introduced by the same individual who came up with the statistical technique of correlation?
cue-word technique
targeted event recall
diary technique
flashbulb memories
Question 8Nash, Wadem, and Brewer (2009) investigated what they termed the doctored evidence effect and propose all but one of these as a possible source of the effect. Which one did they not propose?
imagination
familiarity
credibility
elaboration
The answer can be found in Section 8.3 Illusory Memories.
Question 9Currently, flashbulb memories seem to be explained by:
encoding specificity
special memory mechanisms due to the emotion involved
the Now Print! Theory
the intensification of basic memory mechanisms by emotion
Question 10All of these are typically a component of a flashbulb memory except for:
what you were doing at the time
what you were wearing that day
what you did next
how you felt when you heard
Question 11Autobiographical memory helps us to organize, reflect on, and think through important life events. This assertion relates to which function of autobiographical memory?
informational
communicative
directive
emotional
Question 12Relating details of personally experienced events makes us seem more believable and truthful, and tends to make us more persuasive. This assertion relates to which function of autobiographical memory?
emotional
informational
communicative
directive
Question 13People often tout the power of smells as cues for autobiographical memories. How does empirical research
stack up on this issue?
Olfactory cues produce more detailed memories than do non-olfactory cues.
Olfactory cues produce more recent memories than do non-olfactory cues.
Olfactory cues produce more vivid memories than do non-olfactory cues.
Olfactory cues tend to produce flashbulb memories.
Question 14Which of these autobiographical memory research techniques allows a researcher to plot the autobiographical retention function?
cue-word technique
targeted event recall
diary technique
flashbulb memories
Question 15The "general events" level of representation in autobiographical memory bears a strong resemblance to:
the subordinate level of category representation
the superordinate level of category representation
the basic level of category representation
the notion of an exemplar in category representation
PSY352 Cognitive Psychology
Week 4 Quiz
Question 1Inductive reasoning:
involves reasoning from specific instances to a general rule.
leads to a certain conclusion.
involves using premises to justify a conclusion.
is often associated with a bias to avoid confirming evidence.
Question 2According to the mere effort
account of the stereotype threat effect, invoking a stereotype:
disrupts cognitive performance in all circumstances.
pushes people away from their prepotent response, disrupting performance.
pushes people toward their prepotent response, which can enhance performance under some circumstances.
pushes people toward their prepotent response when it’s inappropriate, and away from it it when it’s appropriate.
Question 3 Using problems that have already been solved as aids for representing and solving the problem currently being
faced is termed:
an algorithm.
reasoning by analogy.
means-end analysis.
working backwards.
Question 4“Correct specification of the problem space” would be the way in which the General Problem Solver framework describes:
functional fixedness.
creativity.
problem representation.
problem solution.
Question 5Which of the following is NOT generally considered to be a component of a problem?
a goal
a reward
a set of constraints
a set of obstacles to overcome
Question 6If you want someone to be willing to take a risk, you can make it more likely by:
telling them what they stand to gain if they don’t take the risk.
telling them what they stand to lose if they don’t take the risk.
pitting the risk against a sure gain.
doing nothing special; risk-taking is people’s “default mode.”
Question 7The ________ view of inductive reasoning states that inductive reasoning involves updating the strengths of one’s beliefs based on the recall of specific instances.
experience based
rule-based
categorization
confirmatory
Question 8According to the Gestalt psychologists, the sudden and successful restructuring of problem elements is termed:
the law of effect.
subgoal analysis.
insight.
problem space restructuring.
Question 9According to the dual-process view of reasoning, judgment and decision making, which mode of thinking
operates relatively slowly, deliberately and in a controlled manner?
heuristic mode
rational mode
bounded mode
analytic mode
Question 10“All toads are animals. All men are animals. Therefore, all men are toads.” Many would evaluate this as a valid syllogism, due to its ALL ALL ALL form. This is because:
of belief bias.
people have trouble reasoning about familiar objects.
people have more trouble with universal quantifiers (e.g., ALL) than with particular ones (e.g., SOME).
of an atmosphere effect.
Question 11Which approach to problem solving attempts to minimize the “distance” between an initial state and a goal state by breaking the problem down into a series of subgoals?
Gestalt approach
Behaviorist approach
GPS approach
Structuralist approach
Question 12Coincidences are extremely striking, and often lead people to believe in ________. The ease with which we think of coincidences makes them important players in the ______ heuristic.
illusory correlations; availability
illusory correlations; representativeness
stereotypes; availability
stereotypes; representativeness
Question 13People tend to ignore the base rate of some occurrence in the population in making their judgments. For example, they assume anyone over 6’6” must have played a lot of basketball, even thought the majority of individuals have not played much basketball. This is a prime example of:
regression to the mean.
the availability heuristic.
the representativeness heuristic.
anchoring and adjustment.
Question 14Reasoning from a stereotype is most closely related to this heuristic:
the representativeness heuristic.
simulation.
the availability heuristic.
anchoring and adjustment.
Question 15Which of the following is NOT one the three sources of difficulty in solving insight problems according to Kershaw and Ohlsson?
Perceptual factors
Experience factors
Process factors
Knowledge factors
PSY352 Cognitive Psychology
Week 5 Quiz
Question 1Which of these is a garden-path sentence?
They are cooking rocks.
The horse raced past the barn fell.
John went to the grocery store and bought a car.
Susan walked up the garden path.
Question 2The sentence, “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously” violates:
the rules of both syntax and semantics.
the rules of syntax but not semantics.
neither the rules of syntax nor semantics.
the rules of semantics, but not syntax.
Question 3The story grammar approach basically applies which notion (from sentence comprehension) to the
comprehension of stories and larger units of discourse?
case grammar
parsing
morphology
constraint-based grammar
Question 4Which of these describes the bottom-up processes in reading?
Reading is aided by expectations.
Reading is aided by context.
Reading is aided by other words.
Reading requires analysis of the printed symbols.
Question 5The sentences, “John is easy to please,” and “It is easy to please John” are:
identical in both surface and deep structure.
identical in deep structure, but differ in surface structure.
identical in surface structure, but differ in deep structure.
different in both deep and surface structure.
Question 6Chomsky’s approach to how we engage in language is termed:
transformational grammar.
constraint-based grammar.
phonetic grammar.
syntactic based grammar.
Question 7Place of articulation is to manner of articulation as ________ is to ________.
release; vibration
vocal cords; air flow
interrupt; stop
where; how
Question 8Anaphors are more likely to result in the successful retrieval of an appropriate antecedent when:
the antecedent has occurred recently.
the antecedent received first mention.
both factors mentioned in a and b are important.
neither factor mentioned in a and b are important.
Question 9What is parsing?
the process of accessing word meaning
the process of converting syntax into semantics
the process of identifying the component elements of a sentence
the process of mapping the look of a word onto the sound of a word
Question 10Misheard word boundaries, which often make understanding song lyrics difficult on the first few times you hear a song (and sometimes longer!) have been dubbed:
Singing Bees.
Mondegreens.
Lyrical Errors.
Earbugs.
Question 11Recent research comparing the number of words used by male and female speakers:
reveals that males use over three times as many words in their speech as females.
reveals that females use over three times as many words in their speech as males.
reveals little difference in the number of words used by males and females.
The number of words in natural conversation has never been measured.
Question 12About how many phonemes make up American English?
10
25
45
105
Question 13A ______ is the smallest unit of language that carries meaning.
phone
phoneme
morpheme
word
Question 14Word fixations typically last around ____.
2 seconds
1 second
¾ second
¼ second
Question 15This structure-building process involves using world knowledge and linguistic knowledge to relate new
information to information that's already been encoded:
laying a foundation
mapping
shifting
suppression
