AP Psychology Units 1-3 progress checks from the AP college board website. This is for the "academic workout". xoxo avachad

Mr. Gregg wants to help his second-grade students improve their reading skills. He tests the students with 20 reading comprehension questions at the beginning of the year. Every week throughout the year he gives the students 30 minutes of reading comprehension tips. He tests the students at the end of the year with 20 reading comprehension questions that are similar in difficulty to those on the original test. He finds that the students' reading comprehension has increased and concludes that his tips worked. Which of the following describes the most significant problem with Mr. Gregg's study?

Mr. Gregg failed to account for changes in the students' maturity. This is correct because students at this age will mature a great deal cognitively, and their reading skills in turn will typically grow even without extra skill training.

Helena did not recognize her English teacher when she unexpectedly saw him while traveling in Paris, even though she knew him well back in the classroom. The fact that Helena can recognize her teacher back home more easily than in Paris best demonstrates what concept?

Perceptual set this is correct because Helena's recognition of her teacher is facilitated by a context in which he would be expected.

In a study on taste, what would researchers need to do to test participants' ability to distinguish umami from similar sensations?

Place disks soaked in MSG on the participants' tongues. Then replace those disks with disks that have been soaked in water. Compare the participants' reactions this is correct because Umami has recently been identified as a fifth taste sensation that is related to savory, meaty tastes such as MSG. Additionally, comparing the participants' reactions to a placebo (the water-soaked disks) lets researchers know whether the participants can actually distinguish the taste.

Which of the following anatomical structures is involved in the vestibular sense?

Semicircular canals

Which of the following is the process of detecting environmental stimuli and converting them into signals that can be detected by the nervous system?

Sensation

Which of the following concepts refers to the diminished sensitivity to a stimulus that occurs due to constant exposure to that stimulus?

Sensory adaptation

Marlene had an infection that led to deafness in her left ear. Which of the following will be the most likely impact of losing her hearing in her left ear?

She will have trouble locating the source of sounds. this is correct because both ears are necessary for accurate sound localization.

The idea that there is a part of the mind that is not directly accessible to awareness but still drives a person's thinking and behavior is most directly attributable to

Sigmund Freud this is correct because Sigmund Freud developed theories on how behavior and thought are influenced by events even if we cannot remember them.

Denise has damaged her auditory nerve and now has difficulty understanding what people are saying. Which of the following descriptions explains how that damage impairs her hearing?

Sound messages fail to be transmitted directly to the brain. this is correct because the auditory nerve is in charge of transmitting messages from the ear to the brain.

Dr. Wilson, who teaches engineering classes, is interested in learning about how lack of sleep affects performance. What would be the best way to ensure that her findings are generalizable to all the students at her university?

Surveying every tenth student listed in the university directory about their sleep habits this is correct because this describes random selection, which leads to generalizability.

What is the primary advantage of conducting a survey rather than using other types of research methods?

Surveys can gather information from a diverse representation of and a large number of people This is correct because this describes one of the defining features of a survey.

Orville is talking with his friends at a cafeteria table when suddenly he is distracted by hearing his name at a neighboring table. Orville's shift of attention most clearly illustrates which psychological concept?

The cocktail party phenomenon this is correct because although Orville is generally filtering out the other conversations, salient information still gets through and gains his attention.

A researcher was interested in studying the effects of a new medication on depression. One group received the new medication and another group received a standard medication for depression. The researcher asked participants to answer a series of questions rating their mood levels before and after six weeks of taking the medications. Which of the following is the control condition in this study?

The group receiving the standard medication This is correct because a control condition is the standard condition against which other, new, conditions can be measured.

Which of the following is the best definition for absolute threshold?

The lowest strength of a stimulus that a person can detect 50% of the time

Which of the following describes what happens when a neuron sends a signal?

The neuron goes from being negatively charged to briefly being positively charged, and finally returns to being negatively charged again. The magnitude of the negative charge is fixed regardless of the strength of the input signal it receives. this is correct because neurons have an all-or-nothing response called an action potential, in which the neuron goes from being negatively charged at rest to being positively charged when it fires, then returning to its baseline negative.

If a body does not have enough potassium, how might that affect neuronal firing?

The neurons will struggle to fire because there will not be enough positively charged ions to trigger the firing of the neuron. This is correct because lack of potassium will lead neurons to fire less frequently because there will not be enough potassium ions to trigger neuronal firing.

At a synapse, neurotransmitters released by the sending neuron do which of the following?

They bind to receptors at the receiving neuron, which opens ion channels. This is correct because the ions that pass through the channel help to trigger an action potential in the receiving neuron.

What effect do agonists have?

They increase the likelihood that a postsynaptic neuron will fire. this is correct because agonists increase the effectiveness of a neurotransmitter at the receiving neuron.

Bryan perceived a duck instead of other animals when viewing an ambiguous image because he watched a documentary about ducks the previous night. Which of the following best explains why Bryan perceived a duck?

Top-down processing, because his perception of the duck was influenced by past experience.

Samantha experienced a traumatic brain injury and afterward began to exhibit bizarre symptoms that no one had ever documented before. The best research method to study Samantha would be

a case study This is correct because Samantha's symptoms are unique; therefore, it would be best to conduct an in-depth study of her

Dr. Rodriguez is interested in finding out if stress levels throughout the year have a relationship with students' grades. The research method she most likely used is

a correlational study. This is correct because evaluating the relationship between two naturally occurring variables is best done with a correlational study. The two variables are stress levels and grades. Grades could be affected by stress, or stress could be affected by grades, or there might be another variable affecting both.

An adult with a healthy sleep cycle is most likely to enter REM sleep

after cycling through the NREM sleep stages this is correct because REM sleep occurs after other NREM sleep stages have been cycled through.

When seeking approval to conduct an experiment using participants from her college psychology course, a student researcher should

apply to the institutional review board at the university. This is correct because the institutional review board (IRB) of a university serves to review and approve research conducted on human participants at that university.

A neuron sends a signal along its

axon this is correct because each signal is received by a neuron's dendrites and sent along its axon.

Antagonists function by

blocking receptors to prevent other neurotransmitters from binding to the neural receptors

The medulla oblongata is a part of the

brainstem This is correct because the medulla oblongata is part of the brain stem, which regulates basic body functions such as respiration and blood circulation.

Audra is working on a puzzle book and comes across the following figure. (The picture is on the back of this slide). The Gestalt law that would affect Audra's perception of the picture above is influenced by the law of

closure This is correct because the figure exemplifies the law of closure, which states that when a person sees an object that is broken apart, that person tends to close in the gaps.

The psychodynamic theory of dreaming would postulate that

dreams fulfill unconscious wishes this is correct because Psychodynamic theory is largely focused on the unconscious.

The hormone most associated with the fight or flight response is

epinephrine this is correct because Epinephrine has a number of effects on the body that prepare it for fight or flight

A person whose body is not producing enough testosterone is most likely to exhibit

fatigue this is correct because not enough testosterone often leads to fatigue.

Dr. Kovacs is conducting a study of how the brain responds to reading. He records subjects' brain activity using electroencephalography (EEG) while they read sentences. He is looking for the N400 signal, a negative EEG spike that occurs 400 milliseconds after someone processes something semantically surprising. There are two conditions in the study. The two figures below show average EEG activity for the subjects in the two conditions (Condition A on the left; Condition B on the right). The x-axis indicates time in milliseconds; time 0 indicates when the subjects first read the last word in each sentence. Which of the following pairs of conditions would produce results such as the ones Dr. Kovacs found?

Condition A included sentences such as "Strawberries are sweet," and Condition B included sentences such as "Strawberries are nervous." this is correct because the first condition contains a semantically unsurprising sentence, and the second condition contains a semantically surprising sentence (strawberries cannot be nervous).

Dr. Ramen recruited 100 adults to participate in her study. The taste buds of each participant were measured, and the participants tasted a number of foods. She found there was a relationship between the size of a participant's taste buds and the number of foods that a participant could taste. What research method did Dr. Ramen use, and what was she most likely studying?

Correlational; the sensitivity of supertasters this is correct because this is a correlational study. There was no random assignment or control group. Dr. Ramen was most likely studying the sensitivity of supertasters because supertasters tend to have larger taste buds.

Which hormone is released when a person is under stress?

Cortisol this is correct because Cortisol is released by the adrenal gland when people are stressed.

Kimmie stood on the sidewalk rather than crossing the street because she saw that the approaching car was quite close to her. Which of the following concepts is best illustrated in this example?

Depth perception

2, 2, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 16 What is the range of the numbers above?

14 This is correct because the range is the highest number minus the lowest number, so 16 minus 2 equals 14.

7, 5, 10, 4, 4 What is the median of the numbers above?

5 This is correct because the median is the number in the middle of the set after arranging the numbers in order.

Which of the following scenarios is the best example of synesthesia?

Anastasia sees swirls of color when she hears music because stimulation of one sensory pathway leads to the experience of another sensation. this is correct because Synesthesia is the phenomenon where stimulation of one sensory pathway leads to automatic experiences in a second pathway.

A drug that is used to treat seizures functions by preventing inhibitory neurotransmitters from returning to the presynaptic neuron. This slows the rate of neurons firing by increasing the amount of the inhibitory neurotransmitter in the synapse. The drug is most likely to be classified as a

GABA reuptake inhibitor (GRI) This is correct because GRIs function by blocking the reuptake of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which means more GABA stays in the synapses and inhibits neurons from firing. This state is helpful in reducing seizures because seizures are caused by overactivity of neurons.

Which of the following best illustrates the most predictable effect of schemas on perception?

Grant has more difficulty recognizing a penguin as a bird than he does a blue jay. this is correct because Blue jays manifest more elements of the "bird" schema than penguins.

Which of the following is true of the American Psychological Association?

It addresses a number of ethical guidelines for the practice of psychology. This is correct because the American Psychological Association addresses a number of professional practice guidelines.

Which of the following best describes a major role of the thalamus?

It relays most sensory signals to the cortex. this is correct because all sensory signals, except for olfactory signals, reach the cortex by first passing through the thalamus.

Madeline has previously been diagnosed with major depressive disorder. She has an identical twin sister, Josephine, and a nonidentical sister, Abigail. Neither of Madeline's sisters have previously been diagnosed with major depressive disorder. Which of the following statements is true of Madeline's sisters?

Josephine is more likely to be diagnosed with major depressive disorder than Abigail in response to a stressful or traumatic event. this is correct because Josephine likely has a higher predisposition for major depressive disorder because she shares all her genes with Madeline, who has previously been diagnosed.

Which of the following scenarios best illustrates the opponent-process theory of color vision?

Kayla sees afterimages of opposing colors when she stares at a poster for a long time. this is correct because the opponent-process theory accounts for afterimages as being determined by the activity of opponent-color systems.

Which of the following examples best illustrates the concept of interposition?

Because the chair partially obscured his view of the sofa, Brendan perceived the chair as being closer than the sofa.

In a study mimicking Roger Sperry's work, Dr. Kornhauser compared the responses of split-brain patients against a control group of neurotypical participants. In his study, participants focused on a dot in the center of a computer screen and objects are presented in either the left or right visual field. After seeing the object, the participants named the object. The results of the experiment are presented below. What is the most appropriate conclusion Dr. Kornhauser can draw from the results?

Because the connection between the right visual cortex and language center has been severed, split-brain patients are not able to retrieve the name of objects seen in the left visual field. This is correct because, In split-brain patients, information in the left visual field is processed by the right visual cortex, which cannot access the language processing part of the brain located in the left hemisphere (in the majority of people). So, split-brain patients are unable to name objects that are seen only by the right visual cortex.

Human tactile sense is actually a mix of which of the following distinct skin senses?

Pressure, warmth, cold, pain

Julie is interested in developing a test to measure achievement levels of middle school students. Which of the following domains of psychology is most applicable to Julie's interest?

Psychometric This is correction because Psychometrics is the study of tests and measurement

Which of the following is the correct order of the eye-to-brain pathway of vision?

Retina, optic nerve, thalamus, occipital lobe

A researcher wants to study the human sense of taste over a life span. The researcher has a group of participants taste foods that are salty, bitter, sweet, sour, and umami. Which study would best allow the researcher to test the sensation of taste as people age, and what is the likely outcome?

The researcher follows the same group of people over the course of 40 years. The researcher also measures the number of the people's taste buds throughout the 40 years. The researcher finds that as people grow older, their sense of taste diminishes and their number of taste buds decreases. this is correct because a longitudinal study would be the best way to study changes in taste over time because it would allow the researcher to avoid cohort effects. Research shows taste sensitivity and the number of taste buds decreases with age.

According to the gate control theory of pain, which of the following contains a neurological gate that controls the transmission of pain messages to the brain?

The spinal cord this is correct because according to the gate control theory of pain, the spinal cord contains a neurological gate that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain.

Kara works as a dog trainer. She reads a new book that describes some unusual training methods, and she wants to test them out on the dogs she works with. She assigns each dog to one of two groups by picking a number out of a hat. Half the dogs are assigned to one group, and half the dogs are assigned to the other group. For a month, she trains one group using her old methods and the other group using the unusual methods. At the end of the month, Kara records that the dogs that were trained with her old methods obey her 80 percent of the time and those that were trained with the unique methods obey her 90 percent of the time. Kara concludes that the unique methods work better. Kara can best improve her experimental design by

having someone else test the dogs. this correct because Kara was aware of which dogs were trained by which methods, so there could have been experimenter bias in this study, which would affect her results.

Johnny often hits his brother even though his brother does not do anything to antagonize him. Johnny's aggression is most likely due to a combination of

his genetic makeup, the environment he grew up in, and the fact that aggression can be evolutionarily adaptive this is correct because Johnny's genetic makeup, the environment he grew up in, and the fact that aggression can be evolutionarily adaptive probably all played a part in his aggressive behavior.

The advantage of an experiment is that it allows a researcher to

infer cause and affect This is correct because experiments demonstrate cause and effect.

Deception can be used in research when

it is appropriate for what is being studied This is correct because deception is appropriate in this case as long as the research is ethical and approved by the IRB and the participants are debriefed immediately after the experiment.

Carl Wernicke discovered the region of the brain that is responsible for

language comprehension this is correct because Carl Wernicke identified an area of the brain for which damage produced a deficit in the comprehension of language but not in the production of language.

Ruth and Debbie are identical twins who were raised by the same family. Vince and Frankie are identical twins who were separated at birth and raised by different families. According to research on the heritability of personality traits, Ruth's and Debbie's personalities are statistically

likely to be as similar and dissimilar to one another as are Vince's and Frankie's personalities This is correct because this was the main conclusion of the large-scale Minnesota twin study and has been further supported by more recent research studies about twins. Identical twins raised apart have the capacity to be just as similar and dissimilar as twins raised together.

The benefit of using inferential statistics is that it allows a researcher to

make generalizations about a population this is correct because the use of inferential statistics allows one to make inferences about the population from which the sample was drawn.

The fatty casing that helps speed up the neural transmissions of a neuron is called the

myelin sheath this is correct because the myelin sheath surrounds the axon and helps to speed the neural transmission along the axon.

Researchers trained monkeys to perform two tasks: an object-matching task and a location task. In the object-matching task, the monkeys are given an object and must choose a matching object from two objects placed in front of them. In the location task, an object is placed near one of two locations, and the monkeys must reach toward the location the object is closest to. Separating the monkeys into two groups, researchers created a lesion in one area of the brains of the monkeys in one group and a lesion in a different area of the brains of the monkeys in the second group. The researchers then tested the monkeys' performance on the two tasks. The figures below show the monkeys' accuracy on the two tasks. The lesions were most likely performed in the

parietal lobe for Group 1 and the temporal lobe for Group 2 This is correct because the temporal lobe plays a role in object recognition, and the parietal lobe plays a role in spatial processing. When Group 1 has a lesion in the parietal lobe, the monkeys can no longer perform the location task because it relies on spatial processing, but they can still do the object-matching task. When Group 2 has a lesion in the temporal lobe, the monkeys can no longer perform the object-matching task because it relies on object recognition, but they can still do the location task.

Dr. Sampson follows the structuralist school of thought. Her techniques would most likely include

presenting a participant with an object, such as a can of soda, and having the subject report his or her perceptions or experience of the can This is correct because this description depicts introspection, which is associated with structuralism.

The parietal lobe is most involved in

processing sensory information this is correct because the parietal lobe processes and integrates sensory information, including taste, hearing, sight, touch, and smell.

Waking up frequently, loud snoring, silent pauses in breathing, and sleepiness during the day are symptoms of

sleep apnea this is correct because sleep apnea is a sleep disorder that occurs when a person's airway collapses at night causing a halt in breathing, which leads to frequent waking, chronic fatigue, and loud snoring.

Michael Gazzaniga is best known for

studying split-brain patients this is correct because Michael Gazzaniga's research with split-brain patients helped to provide evidence of the lateralization of functions in the brain.

Tracey was in pain from an ear infection, which her doctor said was in her inner ear. Which of the following is the most likely location of the infection?

the cochlea

Ms. Li, a principal, is interested in the differences in student behavior between two of the third-grade classrooms at her school. She asks the teachers, Mr. Williams, whose class meets at 9:00, and Ms. Walsh, whose class meets at 1:00, to record over a week the number of times students in their classrooms act out. Mr. Williams' class has 31 students, and Ms. Walsh's class has 32 students. "Acting out" is defined as students speaking without raising their hand or getting out of their seats without being given permission. At the end of the week, Mr. Williams reports that on average, his students acted out 73 times a day, and Ms. Walsh reports that, on average, her students acted out 27 times a day. Ms. Li decides that the students in Ms. Walsh's classroom act out more often than those in Mr. William's class. The results of this study are inconclusive because

the time of day was a confounding variable this is correct because the fact that the time of day was different for the two classes is a confounding variable. The differences in acting out behavior could be because of the time of day rather than the classroom the students were in.

The phenomenon of declining physiological effects of taking a drug after sustained use is referred to as

tolerance this is correct because drug tolerance refers to the process by which sustained use of a drug results in weaker effects over time. This is believed to be due in part to conditioning.