Cognitive Psychology Chapter 1

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

computers

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

simple reaction time task

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

Analytic introspection

Behaviorists believe that the presentation of_______ increases the frequency of behavior

positive reinforcers

Using behavior to infer mental processes is the basic principle of

cognitive psychology

Which of the following cannot be explained well based on the behaviorism? Aha experience (Bandura's) Observation learning Tolman's cognitive map Chomsky's idea of language learning All of the above

All of the above

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

Classical conditioning

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

IP supports the principle of behaviorism that behavior is a stimulus-response relationship

Which of the following is a criticism of analytic introspection?

It produces variable results from person to person.

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

an inborn biological program

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

analytic introspection

In Donders' 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

choice reaction time task

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

cognitive map

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

decision making

According to Ebbinghaus's savings curve, savings is a function of

elapsed time

Ebbinghaus's "memory" experiments were important because they

followed the principles of cognitive psychology: estimated mind (memory/forgetting) based on behavior (how much re-study was required)

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

inferred from the participant's behavior

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

make a decision about the stimulus

John Watson believed that psychology should focus on the study of

observable behavior

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

operant conditioning