Psy 440 quizzes
In a groundbreaking research project, Hubel and Wiesel wanted to understand the receptive fields of individual cells in the primary visual cortex. Which of the following methodological techniques did they use?
Single Cell Recording
Which of the following statements provides the most serious obstacle to the use of introspection as a source of scientific evidence?
When facts are provided by introspection, we have no way to assess the facts themselves, independent of the reporter's perspective
A behaviorist, like John Watson, is LEAST likely to believe which of the following statements?
When it comes to collecting data, introspection is as valuable as behavior.
Which of the following is INCORRECT about Beiderman's Recognition by Components model (i.e., with geons)?
When you see an object your perception system uses top down processing to make a best guess about the object (i.e., it's a plane) and then breaks it down into geons based on past experience with similar objects (planes)
Which of the following correctly describes the "choice reaction time (RT)" condition in Donder's classic study reviewed in chapter 1.
Which of the following correctly describes the "choice reaction time (RT)" condition in Donder's classic study reviewed in chapter 1.
According to lecture or text, reaction time is an example of:
an indirect measure of cognition
A bigram detector fires in response to the
appropriate letter pair.
In tachistoscopic recognition, participants often make overregularization errors. These are errors in which participants
are shown a pattern such as MJLK but perceive it as MILK
One important difference between classical behaviorism and cognitive psychology is that cognitive psychology
argues that unobservable mental states can be scientifically studied
Compared to detectors that have not fired recently, a detector that has fired recently is likely to
have a higher activation level.
Shadowing can provide a cue for depth. For example, if a shadow appears on the bottom of a circle, the object appears convex. However, if the shadow appears on the top of the object, it appears concave. This happens because
in the real world, light comes from above more often than from below.
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 times between the simple and choice conditions of his experiment as indicating how long it took to:
make a decision about the stimulus.
Biederman's recognition by components (RBC) model
makes use of geon detectors, which in turn trigger detectors for geon assemblies.
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
In class, we watched Joe (an individual who had "split brain" surgery) do a series of tasks. Imagine an experiment in which Joe is asked to look at the center of a computer screen as words or pictures are presented on the left or right side. If you wanted to present Joe with a word and ask him to read it successfully, where should the word appear on the screen.
on the right side of the screen
Moore and Egeth (1997) asked participants to rate which of two lines was longer. Background dots were presented with the lines. On some trials, the dot pattern was a visual illusion, designed to manipulate the perceived length of the lines. Moore and Egeth found that
one can be influenced by visual stimuli even when the stimuli are presented too quickly for conscious awareness
An early selection view of attention suggests that
only the attended input is analyzed; the unattended input receives little analysis.
Which of the following is true of early selection?
only the attended input is analyzed; the unattended input receives little analysis.
In attention we studied early and late selection. Which of the following concepts from the memory chapters is most conceptually related to late selection?
priming
The term "introspection" refers to the
process of each person looking within, to observe his or her own thoughts and ideas.
In order to summarize the Gestalt psychologists' movement in a few words, one might say,
"The perceptual whole is different than the sum of its parts."
Research has suggested that, among its other functions, the amygdala serve as a(n)
"emotional evaluator" or threat detector.
Suppose you conduct a reaction time (RT) experiment. In each trial, participants are presented with a letter string that flashes on and off screen very quickly. They are then presented with two letters (T and P in this example) and asked to identify which of these two letters appeared in the fourth position of the string. The following three stimulus sets are tested: 1) QRSTE 2) TRATE 3) CRATE Which of the following is the correct order of RTs from fastest to slowest that the results would most likely show? HINT: Remember the easiest condition goes with the fastest RT and the hardest condition goes with the slowest RT
1. CRATE 2. TRATE 3. QRSTE
How many different features are in the following visual stimulus: I V W LE F T
4
In class, we used the Arial font type as part of an illustrative model of feature perception. Following our classwork, how many different kinds of features are in the following visual stimulus: HAVE
4
In class, we used the Arial font type as part of an illustrative model of feature perception. Following our classwork, how many different kinds of features are in the following visual stimulus: HAVE FAITH
4
Which of the following scenarios illustrates late selection?
A dichotic listening experiment in which the meaning of a sentence presented in a shadowed message is influenced by a word presented in the non-attended message.
In class, I provided an overview of history that leads up to the cognitive revolution and the teaching of cognition in a course like PSY440. I stressed that specific dates are not so important. However, understanding what event comes before or after another event can be important. Below are some events listed in alphabetical order. Please choose the answer that puts them in chronological order (i.e., the correct historical order, 1st, 2nd,...). Donders' RT study Miller's Magic Number 7 the Rise of Behaviorism Tolman's Rat Maze Study
A. Donders's RT study B. Rise of Behaviorism C. Tolman's Rat Maze Study D. Miller's Magic Number 7
The duration of short term memory (or working memory) is closest to which of the following?Note: this question assumes the participant is NOT engaging in maintenance rehearsal.
About 25 to 30 seconds
Imagine a digit recall experiment in which a number of digits are presented and the participant is asked to recall as many as possible (with no more than a few seconds delay after the final digit in the list is presented). Suppose experimenters devise an experimental manipulation that prevents chunking. How many digits would you expect the average participant to correctly recall?
About 5 to 8
The duration of sensory memory is closest to which of the following?
About a second or less
In class we talked about the rise of behaviorism. Which of the following reflects a strong criticism that the behaviorists made about the work of Wilhelm Wundt and others of the time?
All of the above
Participants are shown a visual stimulus for just 30 ms and are then asked, "Was there an E or a K in the stimulus?" We would expect the best performance if the stimulus is
BARk
In class, I reviewed some points that I wanted you to think about if you wish to be successful in this class. (Note that these points also appear on your syllabus). I discussed them as basic points that you should think about as you consider whether or not you are committed to doing well in the course. I did not intend this to be a complete exhaustive list of all of the things a good student might do. Rather, I meant it to be a fairly basic list that covers general expectations. I think all of the items below are important for excelling in this class. However, they did not all make my basic list. Which of the following items below is NOT on this list? NOTE: my wording for the possible answers below is NOT identical to the wording of the syllabus. However, I think you should not have trouble with this question if you consult your syllabus.
Because this course is comprehensive you are likely to retested on many concepts. Therefore you should make sure to look at your quizzes and exams in order to restudy the questions you get wrong.
Which of the following is CORRECT about Beiderman's Recognition by Components model (i.e., with geons)?
Biederman's model does not provide a good explanation of why we show an inversion effect with human faces.
Based on the evidence from both the film clip and chapter 1, Capgras Syndrome seems to involve damage in few different areas. Which of the following statements about brain damage in Capgras is NOT CORRECT
Capgras Syndrome involves damage that prevents communication between the V1 (a.k.a., the primary visual cortex) in the occipital lobe and the fusiform face area.
In Baddeley's working memory model, which part of the system is "in charge" of the system's operation?
Central Executive
A participant who is asked to recall a series of numbers chooses to think about the numbers as though they were years (e.g., 2, 0, 1, 6 becomes "The year I turned 16"). The participant is organizing information into the memory unit known as a(n)
Chunk
In lectures I have tried to emphasize what I ve called a contemporary localization point of view. Which of the following statements most clearly demonstrates this contemporary position that most cognitive scientists would agree with?
Cognitive processes are localized. However, most complex processes can be broken up in sub-processes that are each likely to localized to different brain regions.
Suppose we conduct an experiment in which strings of letters are presented very very quickly (e.g., about 40 milliseconds), so fast the letter strings are just barely perceivable. As soon as each letter string goes offscreen, participants are asked to identify which of two letters appeared within a specific position. Using this paradigm, you test the following stimuli and you are asked to identify the fourth letter (K)i: 1. DEAK 2. KRNK 3. KKKK 4. NKXK Which of the above stimuli would yield the highest accuracy?
DEAK
Deep processing may lead to improved memory performance because it facilitates retrieval. How exactly does this happen?
Deep processing forms many connections between the current item and previous knowledge.
Which of the following demonstrations highlights a weakness of the original concept of short term memory (in the modal model). HINT: think about why Baddeley updated the STM concept with the more modern notion of working memory.
Dual tasks that each involve verbal thinking are much more effortful than dual tasks where one task involves verbal thinking and the other involves spatial thinking
Which of the following would be problematic for for an early selection model (Broadbent's filter model is an early selection model)?
Evidence of priming effects based on words presented in the non-attended channel
Suppose you are asked to identify the letter in the fourth letter position of each of the following letter strings. Which would yield the SLOWEST RTs?
FLRN
Based on our discussion so far, which of the following statements about feature neurons is most likely to be FALSE?
Feature neurons occur at a late stage of visual perception which refects the fact that top down processing influences the behavior of feature neurons based on expectancy.
In class, we talked about feature neurons very early in the visual system. Based on our discussion, which of the following is false?
Feature neurons store information about facial features of friends in order to help us discriminate between people we know and people we don't know.
Imagine you are in a memory study in which a set of 10 letters are presented on screen for 10 seconds and then you are asked to remember as many as you can. Suppose you saw the letter "E" but failed to remember it. Which of the following letters would you be most likely to mistakenly substitute for the E.
G
According to the recognition by components (RBC) model, which of the following is NOT true about geons?
Geons are not identifiable if partially obstructed.
Imagine an individual who seems articulate and bright. However, he is unable to identify simple objects (such as an apple) by looking at a picture. He could describe the apple (e.g., a round shape with a little handle ) but he doesnt know what it is. Based on your understanding so far, which of the following descriptions of possible brain damage seems most compelling?
He is likely to have damage in the pathway from his occipital cortex into his temporal lobe
In Donders' classic study reviewed in chapter 1, how did he compute the time required for a participant to make a decision?
He subtracted the RT in the simple condition from the RT in the choice condition.
In the sensory memory ZAPS experiment, you read about (and experienced) George Sperling's classic study involving the "whole report" and "partial report" experimental conditions. Which of the following correctly identifies Sperling's goal(s) for his overall experiment?
He wanted to understand how much information we could hold in sensory memory and how long that information would remain.
In class, I talked about the different pronunciations of the past tense (-ed). We talked about how there are three different ways to pronounced ed. As in: Beaded Jumped Hummed Which of the four themes was I illustrating with this example?
Lots of cognition happens outside of awareness
Which of the following is correct about Beiderman's Recognition by Components model (i.e., with geons)?
In a rapid bottom up fashion the perception system breaks down the stimulus into geons.
Based on how I discussed features throughout the semester, which of the following letter strings would activate the largest set of different feature neurons. HINT: assume each unique feature activates one set of feature neurons.
MINE
Who wrote a strong critique of behaviorism in the 1950s? (This essay attacked Skinner's theoretical explanation of language acquisition and helped contribute to the cognitive revolution)
Noam Chomsky
In the classic visual search task (which we discussed in class), what is the independent measure?(Note the independent measure is always written on the X-axis.)
Number of distractors
In discussing course themes, I tried to emphasize that cognition involves construction. Which of the following statements most clearly captures what I mean when I cognition is constructive?
Our perceptual systems are very good at making sense of incomplete or ambiguous sensory information.
On one trial of an experiment, a participant is shown the sequence GWXT. On a different trial, the participant is shown the sequence PAFE. On the basis of prior research, we should expect that
PAFE will be easier to perceive than GWXT because detectors for PA and FEare likely to be well primed.
Which of the following statements about the due dates for quizzes and homework assignments is true?
Quizzes and homework assignments are always due by Wednesday at the end of the day (11:59PM).
Garcia and Koelling conditioned rats to avoid sugar water (which they normally like). In one condition, they paired water with electric shocks which are painful. In another condition, they paired sugar water with radiation which makes them sick. What were the important findings that are problematic for a strict behaviorist?
Radiation was more effective at conditioning them to avoid sugar water.
What was the important take-home message of Tolman's rat study?
Rats formed a "mental map" or cognitive representation of the maze. This finding goes AGAINST behaviorism.
What is the dependent measure in a visual search task? Hint: just think about the Y-axis of your visual search graph.
Reaction Time
In an attention experiment, what does the term "shadowing" refer to?
Repeating out loud the message presented in one ear.
Which of the following statements about sensory memory is correct?
Sensory memory holds information in a raw, unprocessed form.
Kareena has undergone a split-brain procedure. Her doctor briefly presents the word "hammer" to only her left visual field and then asks her what she saw. Which set of responses is Kareena most likely to give?
She will say she doesn't know what word appeared, but she will be able to draw a picture of the object with her left hand.
Which of the following visual search tasks would yield the slowest RTs. (As you can see below, the searchers below vary in how many kinds of distractors they include. However, assume that each distractor set contains a total of 100 distractors.)
Target: F Distractors: E
In class, we graphed several visual searches. Which of the following visual searches would yield a flat horizontal line. Note that for each search I provide a target and a set of distractors.
Target: V Distractors: H, L, T, E
Using the visual search paradigm, we graphed different searches. We examined searches that would produce a flat (horizontal) line. Which of the following searches would produce the flattest graph? In other words, which of the following search tasks would yield the a graph line that rises the LEAST as the number of distractors increase?
Target: V Distractors: L O C T
In class, we stepped through several visual searches and we also graphed different hypothetical searches. Which of the following searches would yield a visual search graph showing a line that is approximately horizontal. Remember this line represents the relationship between number of distractors and RT.
Target: V Distractors: T, H
The fusiform face area (FFA) is known to be an area that is specifically responsive to faces. Which of the following statements is also true about the FFA?
Tasks requiring other subtle distinctions within a category (e.g., identifying different birds or cars) also produce high levels of activation in this area.
In class, we graphed several visual searches. What label belongs on the X-axis of a visual search graph? (Remember the independent variable always goes on the X-axis.)
The Number of Distractors
The fact that features are coded by neurons operating in parallel early in the visual system probably contributes most to which of the following phenomena?
The ability to locate a V in a field of distracters made up of Ls, Ss, and Ts during a visual search task
A researcher has identified the receptive field for a neuron and has determined that the receptive field has a center-surround organization. Suppose a researcher shines a light that stimulates the center area of the center-surround feature cell. Then the researcher moves the light into the area of the visual field that activates the area surrounding the center. How would the firing change for this center-surround cell as the stimulation moved from center to surround?
The cell's firing rate would decrease.
I defined construction as an illustration of an important theme in this course. Which of the following best defines the notion of construction in cognition?
There is often inadequate information out in the world and our cognitive systems "make a best estimate" or "make up" some information.
Which of the following provides the best illustration of an implicit process?
The fact that you are able to correctly pronounce the "ed" suffix on a regular verb during everyday speech without thinking about the rule.
The occipital lobe is
The first place in the cortex where visual information is received.
According to the data presented in the textbook, how does the intention to memorize influence how well we learn?
The intention to memorize on its own adds nothing to our ability to learn.
Which of the following pieces of evidence would cause a serious problem (i.e., the biggest challenge) for a theorist who believed that Beiderman's RBC model of perception is entirely correct (i.e., sufficient to explain all aspects of object perception)?
The inversion effect that has been demonstrated in face processing
When you talk to a friend in a noisy environment such as a crowded bar, you can usually understand your friend quite well despite the loud background din. In many cases, your friend's speech may actually be blurred such that noise can overlay any one word, or part of a word. This phenomenon has been studied in the laboratory. In laboratory research, scientists have used computers to replace single sounds within a word in a spoken sentence with a burst of noise. So for example within a word like legislature, participants might hear: legis/noise /ature. In this example, the "l" sound has been overlaid by a perfectly timed burst of noise. The results of this study show that participants understand the word legislature. That's not surprising. But they don't even "hear"the burst of noise. That is they don't report anything unusual with the pronunciation. Apparently, they are unconsciously "filling in" the correct sound over the noise in the stimulus. Which of our thematic points discussed so far is best illustrated by this finding?
The notion that construction is an important part of how cognition works
When you talk to a friend in a noisy environment such as a crowded bar, you can usually understand your friend quite well despite the loud background din. In many cases, your friend's speech may actually be blurred such that noise can overlay any one word, or part of a word. This phenomenon has been studied in the laboratory. In laboratory research, scientists have used computers to replace single sounds within a word in a spoken sentence with a burst of noise. So for example within a word like legislature, participants might hear: legis/noise /ature. In this example, the "l" sound has been overlaid by a perfectly timed burst of noise. The results of this study show that participants understand the word legislature. That's not surprising. But they don't even "hear" the burst of noise. That is they don't report anything unusual with the pronunciation. Apparently, they are unconsciously "filling in" the correct sound over the noise in the stimulus. Which of our thematic points discussed so far is best illustrated by this finding?
The notion that construction is an important part of how cognition works.
Which of the following statements best describes viewpoint-dependent object recognition?
The perceiver must match the current view of an object with a view of the object stored in memory, often using the process of rotation.
What was the important outcome in Tolman's rat maze that was problematic for behaviorism (i.e., the finding went against behaviorism).
The rat built a mental representation or mental map of thee maze such that it was able to find the food easily when the researchers started it at the opposite end of the maze.
Imagine a neuron early in the visual system that fires to a horizontal line. Now suppose that the stimulus input (what the person sees) starts as the letter string FAVP and then changes to the word FTEL. Which of the following describes a likely change in that single neuron's activity?
The rate of firing of the neuron will increase
Imagine a cell in the primary visual cortex that fires to vertical lines. You present the cell with the following stimulus: V After recording the cell's behavior during the V presentation, you present it with an H. How will the cell's behavior change from the V to the H presentation.
The rate of firing will be greater during H presentation.
Suppose you administer a word list memory task to demonstrate the serial position curve. At the end of the word presentation, you require participants to perform a distracter task (counting backwards by 3s from 700) for 35 seconds. Which of the following statements about the recency effect will most likely be true?
The recency effect will be reduced because the distracter task will fill up STM.
Which of the following statements about the recency effect in the serial position curve is correct?
The receny effect reflects information that has been retained in working memory.
I discussed construction as an illustration of an important theme of this course. Which of the following best defines the notion of construction in cognition?
There is often inadequate information out in the world and our cognitive systems "make a best estimate" or "make up" some information.
Which of the following statements about the what pathway is true?
The what pathway supports the understanding of object identity and it involves a cortical pathway from the occipital lobe into the temporal cortex.
In many experiments, participants have been shown nonword letter strings, presented very briefly. When asked to identify these strings, participants tend to make specific kinds of errors. How would these errors be best described?
They tend to misidentify strange letter combinations as more-common letter combinations.
The important issue that differentiates early and late selection models is which of the following?
To what degree the non-attended message is processed for meaning
Which of the following pieces of research most clearly contributed to the beginning of cognitive revolution by chipping away at the behaviorist framework?
Tolman's rat study
Which of the following searches would be most likely to produce the experience of pop out?
V Distractors: L O C T
In the first feature net discussed there was no "Bigram Detector Level." In a later model, the bigram level was added. The addition of bigrams into the model helps explain which of the following?
Why PLAT would be perceived more easily than CTAT
What causes the primacy effect?
Words that get more attention are better encoded into long-term memory.
Consider the sentence, "Sam, tired from hours of reading and working on his term paper, fell into bed at last." When you reach the sentence's 13th word ("fell"), you need to remember how the sentence began; otherwise, you won't know who fell into bed. The memory used for this task is called
Working memory
The modal model has seen some revision in recent years, but a few key components remain. Which of the following is NO LONGER an accepted aspect of the modal model?
Working memory is used only for temporary storage of information.
Which of the following statements about this course is true?
You will have quizzes, exams, and a final. Your lowest exam score will be dropped.
Which of the following will be necessary for you to complete homework assignments?
You will need the ZAPS experimental program available through the publisher. You can purchase it through the course webpage in Canvas).
Imagine you are looking up at the sky as a plane flys overhead. At the same time, several sea gulls fly by. All of the objects (plane and birds) look to be about the same size. Top down processing plays a very important role in which of the following?
Your ability to appreciate that a plane you see up in the sky is larger and further away than the sea gull you also see although all of the objects look about the same size.
Expectations based on past experience influence which of the following most?
Your ability to make a size and shape judgment about an object in the distance
Which of the following behaviors is most difficult to explain from a behaviorist perspective?
Your response to a stimulus is dependent on how you interpret that stimulus.
A sudden, loud noise often has the impact of distracting participants long enough to clear the contents of working memory. Imagine that participants hear a list of the names of 20 different fruits, followed by an unexpected loud noise. The effect of the noise will be
a diminished recency effect but no impact on how well the other words in the list are remembered.
The word-superiority effect refers to the fact that it is easier to recognize
a letter within the context of a word than it is to recognize a letter presented by itself.
You watched a film clip showing a woman who couldn't recognize anyone's face. She could tell a face was a face but she couldn't identify the face (even her own). According to lecture, what is the most likely location of her damage?
a part of the fusiform gyrus
Which of the following would a classical behaviorist be LEAST likely to study?
a participant's beliefs
The list of historical events below is in alphabetical order. Please choose the answer that places the items in chronological order. So you should select the answer for which item a happened first, item b happened second, item c happened third, and item happened last.Chomsky's Critique of SkinnerDonders' RT studyGarcia Koelling's rat studyWundt's analytical introspection
a) Donder b) Wundt c) Garcia Koelling d) Chomsky
Information remains in sensory memory for
about a fraction of a second.
Visualizing your bedroom results in
activation in the occipital cortex.
A response threshold is the
activation level at which a response occurs.
A late selection view of attention suggests that
all inputs are fully processed; however, only the attended input reaches consciousness.
A researcher wishes to define the receptive field for a particular neuron in the visual cortex. To do this, the researcher will need to specify
an area in the visual field within which targets will cause the cell to fire.
The primary visual cortex is located
at the part of the cortex that is farthest from the eyes.
When a neuron fires, the portion of the cell that carries the signal to the presynaptic membrane is called the
axon
An experimenter reads a list of 30 words to a group of participants at the rate of one word per second. This is immediately followed by a free-recall test. A second group of participants hears the same 30 words presented at the faster rate of two words per second. We might guess that the first group who hears the words at a slower rate does better overall. However, they should show an even greater advantage (better memory) for which part of the list
beginning
English nonwords (e.g., "HICE") are easier to perceive than strings of letters not resembling English words (e.g., "RSFK") because
bigram detectors for more-common letter combinations fire more readily.
Participants in an experiment are shown a series of digits and then asked to repeat them back a moment later. While being shown the sequence, the participants are required to say, "tah, tah, tah," out loud, over and over again. The evidence indicates that the recitation of "tah, tah, tah" will
block participants from using their inner voices to rehearse the digits, thereby interfering with the memory task.
What sort of processing is driven primarily by factors in the environment or in the stimulus?
bottom-up
The corpus callosum serves what major function?
communication between hemispheres
In cognition, we must "represent" the world "out there" in our heads. To accomplish this, we take in information through our senses (e.g., sight, hearing) and try to "make sense of it." However, the information that is available to our senses is is often inadequate. In these cases, our cognitive systems "make a best estimate" or "make up" some information. This point illustrates which of the following:
construction
In visual perception, we must often make our "best guess" about a stimulus based on incomplete information. Our ability to perform this cognitive feat is best captured by which of the following terms?
construction
Imagine that I placed a dime in a student's left hand student while her eyes were closed so she couldn't see the dime. Instead, she needed to use her sense of touch. I asked her to name the object. Based on our discussion, which of the following brain structures was critical for her ability to name the object?
corpus callosum
Most of the brain's structures are hidden deep underneath the ________, which is the outer, visible layer
cortex
The Recognition by Components Theory proposes that early in perception we break down objects into basic elements such as
cylinders and cones as can be seen in the body and the nose of an airplane
The bigram layer of a feature net is
developed with experience.
What evidence supports Edward Tolman's belief that it is possible for rats to acquire new knowledge?
development of a cognitive map
In an attention experiment, you may be asked to repeat out loud the message being presented in one ear while ignoring the other. This is called:
focused Attention
Neuroimaging techniques such as PET suggest a link between Capgras syndrome and abnormalities in each of the following brain regions EXCEPT the
fusiform face area.
A patient with visual agnosia will probably show an inability to
identify common objects in plain view.
In dichotic listening tasks, MOST participants are able to
identify physical attributes of the message on the unattended channel.
The task of shadowing involves
immediately repeating, word for word, the contents of a message.
When investigating the serial position curve, presenting the word list at a slower pace:
increases the primacy effect.
Which of the following methods of exploring psychological processes was used by Wundt and Titchener?
introspection
When listening intently to one message, you are likely to detect your name if it is spoken in a different message. This is likely to be because your name
is a stimulus for which you are well primed.
According to class discussions, under "low task load" conditions, you are more likely to show evidence of
late selection
Suppose you are in the kitchen writing a grocery list while your roommate is watching TV in the living room. A commercial for spaghetti sauce comes on the TV. Although you are not paying attention to the TV and you are not aware of what s on, you suddenly remember you need to pick up spaghetti sauce and add it to your list. Which of the following cognitive processes best explains your behavior?
late selection
When a photograph is shown in the right visual field, the signal will be sent to the ________ hemisphere.
left
In dichotic listening experiments, some aspects of the unattended message seem to leak through and are heard despite the participant's intention to ignore the message. Which of the following statements reflects what is LEAST likely to leak through in this fashion?
material that is easily distinguishable from the attended message in its semantic content
"Bottom-up" (or "data-driven") mechanisms are
mechanisms for which activity is primarily triggered and shaped by the incoming stimulus information.
Consider the sequence "Betsy wanted to bring Jacob a present. She shook her piggy bank." Most people, after hearing this sequence, believe Betsy was checking her piggy bank to see if she had money to spend on the gift. This inference about Betsy's goals depends on the fact that
our previous knowledge fills in background information whenever we're understanding an event or conversation
In a tachistoscopic procedure, participants are shown the sequence NACL. Evidence indicates that
participants are likely to misperceive the sequence, reading it as if it were a common letter pattern, such as NAIL.
The philosopher Immanuel Kant based many of his arguments on transcendental inferences. A commonplace example of such an inference is a
physicist inferring what the attributes of the electron must be on the basis of visible effects that the electron causes.
Imagine a sensory neuron in the primary visual cortex that codes for vertical lines like these: I I INow imagine a single cell recording experiment that allows us to observe the firing behavior of this specific neuron. What will happen if you slightly change the stimuli being present making them less vertical like these: / / /
rate of cell firing will likely decrease
If the intensity of a stimulus that is presented to a touch receptor is increased, this tends to increase the ____ in the receptor's axon.
rate of nerve firing
A participant reads a list of words that includes the word "elephant." Later, the participant views another list of words, each of which is presented very briefly, followed by a mask. When the word "elephant" appears in the second list, the participant is more likely to perceive the word "elephant" in comparison to words that have not been recently viewed. This effect is called
repetition priming.
Historically, the movement known as behaviorism was to a large extent encouraged by scholars' concerns regarding
research based on introspection.
Cognitive psychology often relies on the transcendental method, in which
researchers seek to infer the properties of unseen events on the basis of the observable effects of those events.
Concurrent articulation causes a decrease in the word-length effect because
saying the, the, the over and over fills up the articulatory rehearsal loop which eliminates the possibility of rehearsal of the word list.
A(n) ________ is general knowledge about what is typically involved in a type of situation or event.
schema
Imagine a baseball player who is at bat focusing intently on the pitcher as he winds up to the throw the ball. In the instant of the pitcher's release someone from the audience yells the batter's name and an insult. "Go ahead and whiff, Gomez!" The player hears nothing but noise. This player is demonstrating:
selective attention involving early selection
Imagine you are in a cafe working very hard on a set of problems for a math course. You are totally "in the zone" such that the noise around you is a meaningless buzz. Someone across the room mentions your name but you don't process it for meaning and so continue your math work with looking up. What are you experiencing?
selective attention involving early selection
Which of the following memory systems holds information that has NOT been coded for meaning?
sensory Memory
Which of the following kinds of memory is not "accessible to consciousness". In other words, you cannot be aware of it as you are using it?
sensory memory
According to the modal model, all of the following are true EXCEPT
short-term memory's size can be expanded with sufficient practice
Edward Tolman's work with rats in mazes
showed that learning involves the acquisition of knowledge.
The development of computers facilitated research in cognition by
suggesting hypotheses that framed the steps of cognition as stages of information processing.
The fusiform face area is housed within which of the following brain regions.
temporal lobe
Imagine a memory task involving a word list. Which of the following phenomena involves attending to the semantic content of a set of the stimuli?
the ability to use chunking successfully
According to the modal model of memory, words presented early in a list are easier to remember than words presented later because
the early words receive more of the participants' attention than the later words.
Which of the following examples does NOT clearly illustrate the idea that cognition involves construction?
the experience of pop out
Which of the following phenomena involves the LEAST important role for top down processing?
the experience of pop out
In class we talked a lot about the concept of feature detectors. Feature detectors probably play an important role in all of the following EXCEPT
the fact that it is easier to identify the letter K in the word DARK as opposed to identifying the letter K in the letter string DARP when the stimuli are presented very very fast.
When asked to recall a list of 25 words, participants are likely to remember only some of them. The words they can recall are likely to include
the first few words on the list and the last few words on the list.
An experiment participant is asked to shadow a message presented to the left ear while simultaneously ignoring a message presented to the right ear. During the experiment, which of the following statements demonstrates that the participant showed late selection?
the participant noticed that the right ear's message contained a male voice reading a coherent passage, but this was replaced by the same voice reading a sequence of random words.
As a thought experiment, imagine you are looking for a bright green tennis ball on a gymnasium floor covered with red whiffle balls that are about the same size (and shape of course). In this thought experiment, it should be obvious that you would spot the tennis ball quickly and effortlessly. Which concept from the course so far most clearly relates to this finding?
the phenomenon of popout
As a thought experiment, imagine you are looking for a bright green tennis ball on gymnasium floor covered with red whiffle balls that are about the same size (and shape of course). In this thought experiment, it should be obvious that you would spot the ball quickly and effortlessly. Which conceptf from the course so far most clearly explains this finding?
the phenomenon of popout
Marla is given the following list of words: "giraffe, bird, alligator, lion, eagle, gorilla." She is likely to remember the word "giraffe" because of
the primacy effect
Some researchers explain Capgras syndrome as
the result of a disconnection between a cognitive appraisal and a sense of familiarity.
Capgras syndrome contributes to our understanding of cognition in each of the following ways EXCEPT for:
the role of the occipital cortex in face perception
The process of taking observable information and inferring a cause is known as
the transcendental method.
Imagine yourself as you walked today from your car, bus stop or dorm to your first class. Your ability to form such a picture in your mind depends on
the visualspatial buffer (a.k.a., visual-spatial sketchpad)
Which of the following phenomena we've studied in this class most clearly demonstrates that the phonological loop has a small capacity?the word length effet
the word length effect
In class we talked a lot about the concept of feature detectors. Feature detectors probably play an important role in all of the following EXCEPT
the word superiority effect
In class, we asked a student to read a paragraph about reading research at Cambridge University. Students performed this reading task quite well despite the fact that each of the words in the paragraph was scrambled with only the first and last letter in the correct position. This exercise illustrated which of the following?
top down processing
Imagine you are putting together a puzzle. You have a broad idea of what the finished puzzle will look like, and you're guided by that idea as you work. Your broad idea is acting as a
top-down influence.
The primary motor projection area is located
toward the rear of the frontal lobe.
In the McGurk effect, which stream of sensory input appears to have a dominant role in the perceptual experience?
visual input
We can often recognize an object even if some of the object's parts are hidden from view. Evidence indicates that this recognition from partial viewing will be easiest if
we can see enough of the object to identify some of its geons.