Cognitive Psychology EXP Midterm Ch. 1

1-50. Which of the following titles of research projects would have the most ecological validity?

a. "Planning strategies used in grocery-store shopping"

1-43. Which of the following students provides the best information about short-term memory in the Atkinson-Shiffrin model?

a. Albena: "Items in your short-term memory are often lost within 30 seconds."

1-32. Which of the following early psychologists would have been most likely to conduct research on people's memory for a story that was several pages in length?

a. Frederick Bartlett

1-28. Behaviorists and cognitive psychologists are most likely to agree on which of the following points?

a. Researchers need to have detailed definitions about how a concept will be measured.

1-47. Why are cognitive psychologists less interested in the information-processing approach than they were in earlier years?

a. They now realize that the complexity of human thinking requires more sophisticated models.

1-66. Based on the discussion of artificial intelligence in Chapter 1,

a. both computers and humans have limited capacities.

1-67. Researchers in artificial intelligence emphasize that

a. both the human brain and the computer can compare symbols and make choices, based on that comparison.

1-64. According to your textbook, the artificial intelligence (AI) approach

a. creates computer models that demonstrate intelligent behavior.

1-26. An operational definition is most likely to

a. describe precisely how the researchers will measure a particular concept.

1-38. According to the discussion about the rise of cognitive psychology,

a. enthusiasm for behaviorism decreased because it was difficult to explain complex human behavior using only the concepts from learning theory.

1-91. Suppose that you attend a lecture on the bottom-up processes involved in speech perception. The lecturer is likely to emphasize

a. how the listener's auditory system registers and transmits information about the speech sounds.

1-31. A psychologist who favors the gestalt approach would be most likely to criticize the fact that behaviorists

a. ignore the context in which a behavior occurs.

1-79. Which of the following interests is shared by researchers within the discipline of cognitive science?

a. internal representations of the world

1-34. During the 1950s, many psychologists were becoming discouraged with behaviorism, and cognitive psychology began to emerge. A major reason they were disappointed with behaviorism is that

a. it considered only psychological processes that are clearly observable.

1-12. In the introspection technique,

a. people describe what they are thinking as they perform a task.

1-13. When researchers use the introspection technique,

a. people report their sensations as accurately as possible.

1-56. Some cognitive neuroscientists study brain lesions to learn more about brain functions. However, a major problem with this technique is that

a. the brain damage may extend into several areas of the brain.

1-63. Suppose that you want to see whether the human brain responds differently when a person reads a pleasant word, rather than an unpleasant word. Which of the following neuroscience techniques would provide the most useful information about processing these two kinds of words?

a. the event-related potential (ERP) technique

1-75. The perspective called the "parallel distributed processing approach" includes the word "parallel" in its name because:

a. the human brain can process several items simultaneously.

1-41. A cognitive psychologist who analyzes a cognitive task in terms of a series of stages—like the way a computer operates—is using which of the following approaches?

a. the information-processing approach

1-6. Which of the following approaches to psychology places the most emphasis on emotions that are unconscious?

a. the psychodynamic approach

1-57. When neuroscientists use PET scans (positron emission tomography),

a. they assess the regions of the brain in which blood flow increases while a person is performing a task.

1-81. According to Chapter 1's introduction to the chapters in your textbook, perceptual processes

a. use previous knowledge in order to interpret the stimuli that are registered by our senses.

1-24. Which of the following research topics would be most likely to interest a behaviorist?

b. The effect of praise on children's running speed.

1-82. Metacognition refers to

a. your thoughts about your cognitive processes.

1-10. Imagine that you are attending a lecture by a guest speaker who describes a theory and then says, "Let's now look at the empirical evidence." Which of the following would most likely be the speaker's next sentence?

b. "We conducted an experiment to test this hypothesis."

1-25. Which of the following students provides the most accurate summary of the behaviorists' contributions to cognitive psychology?

b. Elena: "The most important contributions of the behaviorists were related to research methodology."

1-33. Which of the following early psychologists conducted research that could provide the most information about how people remember complex events in everyday life?

b. Frederic C. Bartlett

1-35. Which of the following students provides the best summary of the decline of behaviorism and the rising popularity of the cognitive approach?

b. Harlan: "Many psychologists favored the cognitive approach, because the behaviorist approach could not account for complex thought processes."

1-61. How does the functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging technique (fMRI) compare with other imaging techniques?

b. It is more effective than the PET scan in measuring brain activity that occurs rapidly.

1-46. Which of the following students provides the best summary about the current status of the information-processing approach?

b. Magda: "The information-processing approach has declined in popularity during recent years, because those models are not complex enough to explain many cognitive activities."

1-1. Which of the following statements best captures the scope of cognition?

b. We use cognition when we acquire, store, transform, and use knowledge.

1-21. Which statement about the history of cognition is correct?

b. William James emphasized that the human mind is active, rather than passive.

1-68. The term "pure AI" refers to

b. an approach that attempts to accomplish a task as efficiently as possible.

1-80. An important feature of cognitive science is that it emphasizes

b. an interdisciplinary approach.

1-55. A research team is trying to identify the cognitive deficits of a man who had a stroke that affected a small portion in the left temporal lobe of his brain. This approach to studying the brain examines

b. brain lesions.

1-8. Chapter 1 of your Cognition textbook discusses the status of cognitive psychology. According to this discussion, the cognitive approach

b. can explain a major part of your daily experiences.

1-93. Chapter 1 of your textbook ends with a discussion about the five themes of this book. According to this discussion,

b. cognition typically emphasizes both top-down and bottom-up processing.

1-51. Suppose that you meet a professor who is trying to determine what portions of the brain are involved in trying to recall a word that is on the tip of your tongue. This person is likely to use the approach of

b. cognitive neuroscience.

1-95. According to the discussion of individual differences in Chapter 1 of your textbook,

b. cognitive psychologists now emphasize individual differences more than in earlier decades.

1-11. Suppose that your professor tells you that you must locate a journal article about cognitive psychology that presents empirical evidence. You should look for an article that

b. emphasizes evidence collected in experiments.

1-19. William James made his most important contributions to cognitive psychology in his work on

b. memory in everyday life.

1-23. According to the discussion in Chapter 1, behaviorism places the most emphasis on

b. observable activities.

1-52. According to the first chapter in your textbook, research in cognitive neuroscience

b. often obtains brain images while people are working on a cognitive task.

1-88. According to the discussion of the themes of the textbook,

b. our cognitive processes are interrelated with one another.

1-74. Suppose that you look up from this exam, and you immediately perceive a scene that includes students, desks, and classroom walls. In order to perceive it quickly, you are probably using

b. parallel processing.

1-76. An important difference between the classical AI approach and the connectionist approach is that the classical AI approach

b. proceeds one step at a time.

1-60. In contrast to a PET scan, the fMRI technique

b. provides more precise information when measuring a series of events in the brain.

1-30. Which of the following early approaches to psychology developed the idea of insight when people solve problems?

b. the gestalt approach

1-39. The information-processing approach

b. was facilitated by the early research in computer science.

1-2. Which of the following statements is correct?

c. "Cognitive psychology" is sometimes used as a synonym for "cognition."

1-5. Suppose that several psychologists want to explore interpersonal interactions during adulthood. Which of the following topics would be most consistent with the cognitive approach?

c. "When meeting someone for the first time, what attribute does a person perceive most quickly, gender or ethnicity?"

1-18. Based on the information in Chapter 1, how would you describe the approach of William James?

c. He emphasized the kinds of psychological experiences that people encounter in their everyday lives.

1-16. Which of the following women was an early researcher in memory who reported the recency effect and also became the first female president of the American Psychological Association?

c. Mary Whiton Calkins

1-86. Which of the following statements is true about cognition, in connection with the themes of this textbook?

c. Most cognitive theories propose that humans actively examine the world for information.

1-4. Suppose that you are writing a paper about cognitive processes in people who are depressed. Which of the following topics would be most relevant for your paper?

c. The ability to remember people's names of people with depression.

1-27. Which of the following perspectives was most likely to emphasize the importance of a precise operational definition?

c. The behaviorists' research with animals

1-78. Cognitive science is

c. an interdisciplinary field that explores questions about the mind.

1-22. Chapter 1 presents some information about the history of cognition. According to this discussion

c. behaviorism is an approach that relies on objective, observable reactions.

1-90. The kind of processing that emphasizes how your sensory receptors register information is called

c. bottom-up processing.

1-44. According to the Atkinson-Shiffiin model, long-term memory

c. contains memories that are relatively permanent.

1-72. One of the characteristics of the human brain that is especially important in the connectionist approach is that the brain

c. has networks that link together many neuron-like units.

1-73. An important characteristic of the connectionist approach to cognition is that

c. it can perform many operations at the same time.

1-77. An important characteristic of the connectionist approach is that

c. it is flexible enough to explain many cognitive skills.

1-36. Cognitive psychologists believe that behaviorists cannot explain human language because

c. language has a complex structure that cannot be explained in terms of stimuli and responses.

1-42. Chapter 1 in your textbook discusses the Atkinson-Shiffrin model as an important example of the information-processing approach. According to this model,

c. memory can be represented as a series of stages, in which information is passed between separate storage areas.

1-87. According to the themes of your textbook,

c. our cognitive processes are quite accurate; our errors can often be traced to strategies that are useful in other situations.

1-20. In contrast to Hermann Ebbinghaus, William James was more likely to focus on

c. people's everyday experiences.

1-37. During the late 1960s, psychologists began to favor the cognitive approach, because they felt that the behaviorist approach

c. placed too much emphasis on concepts such as reinforcement and observable responses.

1-15. The primary contribution of Hermann Ebbinghaus to current cognitive psychology was

c. research about factors that might influence human memory.

1-53. A research team is studying which parts of the brain are active when a participant looks at a photograph of a person, and tries to judge how intelligent that person is. This kind of study is an example of

c. social cognitive neuroscience.

1-65. Some researchers believe that the human brain works like a complex, sophisticated machine. This approach is called

c. the computer metaphor.

1-49. If a study has high ecological validity, then the most likely conclusion is that

c. the results could be applied in real-world situations.

1-83. Which of the following is the best example of a schema?

c. your understanding that the concept "dentist's office" includes a waiting room and a receptionist, but not video games

1-3. Suppose that a psychologist writes an article on children's acquisition of gender stereotypes. Which of the following article titles would be most consistent with the cognitive approach?

d. "Children's memory for gender-consistent information"

1-85. Suppose that you hear about a research project in linguistics that is exploring the topic called discourse. Which of the following would be the most likely topic for this research?

d. "What are students' ideas about how a story should end?"

1-7. What does the introductory chapter conclude about the influence of cognitive approaches on other areas of psychology?

d. Cognitive psychology has had an important impact on a variety of areas throughout psychology.

1-59. Which of the following students provides the best understanding of the PET scan technique?

d. Jamie: "The PET scan creates an image based on a chemical that travels through the bloodstream."

1-45. What is the current status of the Atkinson-Shiffrin model of memory?

d. Some studies support the distinction between short-term memory and long-term memory, but other studies suggest that these two forms of memory are actually similar.

1-94. Which of the following students provides the most accurate interpretation of one of the themes of the textbook?

d. Sophie: "Many cognitive processes emphasize both top-down processing and bottom-up processing."

1-14. Your textbook discusses the early history of cognitive psychology. According to this discussion,

d. Wilhelm Wundt emphasized that introspection could provide useful information, if participants were well trained.

1-92. One of the themes of your textbook focuses on bottom-up and top-down processing. According to this theme,

d. both top-down processing and bottom-up processing operate at the same time, so that our cognitive processes can operate efficiently.

1-70. Suppose that several cognitive scientists are trying to program a computer so that it solves a particular problem in the same way a human does, taking into account that a human may make a few false starts before successfully solving the problem. This approach is called

d. computer simulation.

1-71. Imagine that some researchers are trying to design a computer-simulation model for an arithmetic task. They would be most likely to

d. create a system that uses a problem-solving technique that is similar to the way humans would solve the problem.

1-48. According to the principle of ecological validity,

d. experiments should be conducted that will have some application to experience outside the laboratory.

1-9. According to the introductory chapter in your textbook, the influence of cognitive psychology

d. has extended to other disciplines, such as neurology.

1-58. According to the discussion of cognitive neuroscience, the PET-scan technique

d. measures blood flow in the brain.

1-40. According to the information-processing approach,

d. mental processes can be interpreted as a flow of information, somewhat similar to the way a computer operates.

1-54. Research on people with brain lesions

d. studies people who cannot perform specific cognitive tasks after they have had a stroke, tumor, or accident.

1-29. Gestalt psychology emphasizes

d. the basic human tendency to organize our perceptions.

1-62. A researcher wants to study how people's attention shifts when they see a visual stimulus in an unexpected portion of a screen that they are viewing; this attention shift occurs in just a fraction of a second. Which of the following techniques is this researcher most likely to use?

d. the event-related potential technique (ERP)

1-17. Chris just telephoned Roberta and listed eight items that they need for the afternoon picnic. Roberta didn't have a pencil, so she couldn't write them down. However, she remembers the last three items very well because of

d. the recency effect.

1-89. Suppose that you are accustomed to a certain bus stopping on a specific corner near your college campus. A bus stops, and you think that it's your customary bus. You fail to notice that the side of the bus has a totally different company name. The process that led to your misidentifying the bus is called

d. top-down processing.

1-69. According to Chapter 1 in your textbook, the computer-simulation method

d. tries to create a program that performs a cognitive task in the same way that humans would perform it.

1-84. One component of your general knowledge focuses on semantic memory. Which of the following would be an example of semantic memory?

d. your knowledge that the word "bear" is similar to the word "lion"