Cognitive Development Chapter 1 - Test Bank

1. The example at the beginning of the book, in which Raphael talks to his friend on a cell phone on his way to class, was used to illustrate how a. cognitive psychologists study problem solving in adults. b. several different cognitive processes can take place at one time. c. human cognition is affected by emotional events. d. both physiology and behavior is important to the study of cognition. ANSWER: b POINTS: 1 DIFFICULTY: MODERATE REFERENCES: Introduction 2. Attention, perception, memory, and decision making are all different types of mental processes in which the mind engages. These are known as different types of a. models. b. cognition. c. reaction times. d. savings. ANSWER: POINTS: b 1 DIFFICULTY: EASY REFERENCES: Introduction 3. The branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of the mind is called a. cognitive psychology. b. introspection. c. behaviorism. d. memory consolidation. ANSWER: POINTS: DIFFICULTY: REFERENCES: a 1 EASY Introduction 4. Donders' main reason for doing his choice reaction time experiment was to study a. sensation. b. childhood attachment styles. c. decision making. d. personality development. ANSWER: POINTS: DIFFICULTY: REFERENCES: c 1 MODERATE Cognitive Psychology: Studying the Mind 5. 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 a. perceive the stimulus. b. process the stimulus. c. attend to the stimulus. d. make a decision about the stimulus. ANSWER: POINTS: d 1 DIFFICULTY: MODERATE REFERENCES: Cognitive Psychology: Studying the Mind 6. The main point of the Donders' reaction time experiments was to a. show that reaction times can be measured accurately. b. measure the amount of time it takes to make a decision. c. determine differences in the way people react to stimuli. d. show that our cognitions are often based on unconscious inferences. ANSWER: POINTS: DIFFICULTY: REFERENCES: b 1 MODERATE Cognitive Psychology: Studying the Mind 7. In Donders' experiment on decision making, when participants were asked to press a button upon presentation of a light, they were engaged in a a. reaction time task. b. simple reaction time task. c. choice reaction time task. d. presentation task. ANSWER: POINTS: DIFFICULTY: REFERENCES: b 1 MODERATE Cognitive Psychology: Studying the Mind 8. Reaction time refers to the time between the a. sensation of a stimulus and a person's response to it. b. transduction c. change in intensity d. presentation ANSWER: POINTS: d 1 DIFFICULTY: EASY REFERENCES: Cognitive Psychology: Studying the Mind 9. 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 a. reaction time task. b. simple reaction time task. c. choice reaction time task. d. presentation task. ANSWER: POINTS: DIFFICULTY: REFERENCES: c 1 MODERATE Cognitive Psychology: Studying the Mind 10. Donders' reaction time experiment was performed using stimuli in which of the following sensory modalities? a. Touch b. Hearing c. Smell d. Vision ANSWER: POINTS: DIFFICULTY: REFERENCES: d 1 MODERATE Cognitive Psychology: Studying the Mind 11. Donders' measurement of reaction time is particularly important because it demonstrated the "time course" on which the mind operates. Donders found that it took stimulus. a. less than one second to decide which of two buttons to push in response to a b. between one and two seconds c. two to five seconds d. more than five seconds ANSWER: POINTS: a 1 DIFFICULTY: EASY REFERENCES: Cognitive Psychology: Studying the Mind 12. The first experiments in cognitive psychology were based on the idea that mental responses can be a. measured directly. b. inferred from the participant's behavior. c. measured by comparing the presentation of the stimulus and the participant's response. d. measured by comparing responses among different participants. ANSWER: POINTS: DIFFICULTY: REFERENCES: b 1 DIFFICULT Cognitive Psychology: Studying the Mind 13. The relationship between the is NOT measured directly by cognitive psychologists. a. physiological response and the behavioral outcome b. cognitive task and the behavioral outcome c. cognitive task and the physiological response d. cognitive task and the mental response ANSWER: POINTS: d 1 DIFFICULTY: DIFFICULT REFERENCES: Cognitive Psychology: Studying the Mind 14. Which of the following stimuli were used in Ebbinghaus's "memory" experiment discussed in your text? a. Common words b. Light illuminated on the left or the right of a computer screen c. Grey rectangles in front of light rectangles d. Three-letter nonsense words ANSWER: POINTS: DIFFICULTY: REFERENCES: d 1 MODERATE Cognitive Psychology: Studying the Mind 15. According to Ebbinghaus's savings curve, savings is a function of a. word familiarity. b. sensory modality. c. elapsed time. d. reaction time. ANSWER: POINTS: DIFFICULTY: REFERENCES: c 1 DIFFICULT Cognitive Psychology: Studying the Mind 16. Ebbinghaus's "memory" experiments were important because they a. described complex decision-making. b. plotted functions that described the operation of the mind. c. were the first to combine basic elements of experience called sensations. d. showed how positive reinforcers strengthen behavior. ANSWER: POINTS: DIFFICULTY: REFERENCES: b 1 DIFFICULT Cognitive Psychology: Studying the Mind 17. The first formal laboratory of psychology, where the approach of structuralism was created, was founded in which city? a. Madrid, Spain b. Baltimore, Maryland, USA c. Paris, France d. Leipzig, Germany ANSWER: d POINTS: 1 DIFFICULTY: EASY REFERENCES: Cognitive Psychology: Studying the Mind 18. The founder of the first laboratory of scientific psychology was a. Franciscus Donders. b. Hermann von Helmholtz. c. Wilhelm Wundt. d. Hermann Ebbinghaus. ANSWER: POINTS: c 1 DIFFICULTY: EASY REFERENCES: Cognitive Psychology: Studying the Mind 19. Which of the following methods, often associated with structuralism, was used in the psychology laboratory established by Wilhelm Wundt? a. Analytic introspection b. Measuring reaction times c. Operant conditioning d. Classical conditioning ANSWER: POINTS: DIFFICULTY: REFERENCES: a 1 DIFFICULT Cognitive Psychology: Studying the Mind 20. The procedure in which trained participants describe their experiences and thought processes in response to stimuli presented under controlled conditions is known as a. information processing. b. analytic introspection. c. functional analysis. d. behavioral analysis. ANSWER: POINTS: DIFFICULTY: REFERENCES: b 1 MODERATE Cognitive Psychology: Studying the Mind 21. An important contribution to the field of psychology resulting from Wilhelm Wundt founding his laboratory at the University of Leipzig in 1879 was a. the rise of behaviorism's popularity and the decline of both structuralism and functionalism. b. recognizing 1879 as "the birthday of cognitive science." c. producing PhDs who later established psychology departments at other schools, including some in the United States. d. the first demonstration of the forgetting curve and the introduction of the reaction time paradigm. ANSWER: POINTS: DIFFICULTY: REFERENCES: c 1 DIFFICULT Cognitive Psychology: Studying the Mind 22. Which of the following is a criticism of analytic introspection? a. It infers mental processes based on objective data. b. It produces results that are too easy to verify. c. It produces variable results from person to person. d. It requires no training. ANSWER: c POINTS: 1 DIFFICULTY: MODERATE REFERENCES: Abandoning the Study of the Mind 23. John Watson believed that psychology should focus on the study of a. observable behavior. b. mental processes. c. consciousness. d. attention. ANSWER: POINTS: DIFFICULTY: REFERENCES: a 1 MODERATE Abandoning the Study of the Mind 24. According to the behaviorists, only the study of a. observable behavior b. consciousness c. introspection should be the emphasis of the science of psychology. d. the mind ANSWER: POINTS: DIFFICULTY: REFERENCES: a 1 MODERATE Abandoning the Study of the Mind 25. The "Little Albert" experiment involving the rat and the loud noise is an example of which of the following types of experiments? a. Reaction time b. Unconscious inference c. Classical conditioning d. Operant conditioning ANSWER: POINTS: DIFFICULTY: c 1 MODERATE REFERENCES: Abandoning the Study of the Mind 26. Behaviorists believe that the presentation of a. positive reinforcers increases the frequency of behavior. b. discriminative stimuli c. backward conditioning d. inhibitory neurotransmitters ANSWER: a POINTS: 1 DIFFICULTY: MODERATE REFERENCES: Abandoning the Study of the Mind 27. Which of the following psychologists is known for research on operant conditioning? a. Franciscus Donders b. Wilhelm Wundt c. John Watson d. B.F. Skinner ANSWER: POINTS: d 1 DIFFICULTY: EASY REFERENCES: Abandoning the Study of the Mind 28. 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 a. classical conditioning. b. the method of savings. c. choice reaction time. d. operant conditioning. ANSWER: POINTS: d 1 DIFFICULTY: EASY REFERENCES: Abandoning the Study of the Mind 29. Who developed the concept of the cognitive map? a. Raynor b. Sanders c. James d. Tolman ANSWER: POINTS: DIFFICULTY: REFERENCES: d 1 MODERATE Abandoning the Study of the Mind 30. A mental conception of the layout of a physical space is known as a(n) a. cognitive map. b. mental model. c. artificial intelligence. d. memory consolidation. ANSWER: POINTS: DIFFICULTY: REFERENCES: a 1 EASY Abandoning the Study of the Mind 31. 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 a. an inborn biological program. b. cultural influences. c. classical conditioning. d. operant conditioning. ANSWER: a POINTS: 1 DIFFICULTY: EASY REFERENCES: Abandoning the Study of the Mind 32. Who proposed that children's language development was caused by imitation and reinforcement? a. Noam Chomsky b. John Watson c. Keller Breland d. B.F. Skinner ANSWER: POINTS: d 1 DIFFICULTY: EASY REFERENCES: Abandoning the Study of the Mind 33. Which of the following events is most closely associated with a resurgence in interest in the mind within the study of psychology? a. Watson's "Little Albert" experiment b. Skinner's publication of the book, Verbal Behavior c. Development of the technique of analytic introspection d. The proposal of cognitive maps ANSWER: POINTS: DIFFICULTY: REFERENCES: b 1 MODERATE Abandoning the Study of the Mind 34. Which of the following does NOT characterize the information processing (IP) approach to the study of cognition? a. IP depicts the mind as processing information in a sequence of stages. b. IP supports the principle of behaviorism that behavior is a stimulus-response relationship. c. IP involves the use of computers as a metaphor to understand human cognition. d. IP traces the sequence of mental operations involved in cognition. ANSWER: POINTS: DIFFICULTY: REFERENCES: b 1 DIFFICULT The Rebirth of the Study of the Mind 35. 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 a. cognitive psychology textbooks. b. analytic introspection. c. Skinner boxes. d. computers. ANSWER: POINTS: d 1 DIFFICULTY: MODERATE REFERENCES: The Rebirth of the Study of the Mind 36. The scene of a human sitting at a computer terminal, responding to stimuli flashed on the computer screen, would most likely be described as depicting a(n) a. information processing experiment. b. analytic introspection c. operant conditioning d. behaviorist ANSWER: POINTS: DIFFICULTY: REFERENCES: a 1 DIFFICULT The Rebirth of the Study of the Mind 37. Colin Cherry's experiment in which participants listen to two messages simultaneously, one in each ear, found all but which of the following? a. people can focus on one message and ignore the other one. b. people can focus on the message they were repeating. c. people take in very little information about the ignored message. d. even deaf individuals process auditory information, even on a non-conscious level. ANSWER: d POINTS: 1 DIFFICULTY: MODERATE REFERENCES: The Rebirth of the Study of the Mind 38. Donald Broadbent was the first person to develop which of the following? a. A flow diagram depicting the mind as processing information in a sequence of stages b. A computer program for solving logic problems c. An experimental procedure for studying the way people process information d. The first textbook of cognitive psychology ANSWER: POINTS: a 1 DIFFICULTY: DIFFICULT REFERENCES: The Rebirth of the Study of the Mind 39. Who introduced the flow diagram to represent what is happening in the mind? a. Donald Broadbent b. Colin Cherry c. Newell and Simon d. Wilhelm Wundt ANSWER: POINTS: DIFFICULTY: a 1 DIFFICULT REFERENCES: The Rebirth of the Study of the Mind 40. notion that the mind could be represented as operating in a sequence of stages, often represented by boxes, allows cognitive psychologists to develop models that can be tested by further experiments. a. Broadbent's b. Chomsky's c. Cherry's d. Skinner's ANSWER: POINTS: DIFFICULTY: REFERENCES: a 1 DIFFICULT The Rebirth of the Study of the Mind 41. The field that studies how to make machines behave in ways that are intelligent if a human were so behaving is known as a. cognitive psychology b. behaviorism. c. artificial intelligence. d. flow diagramming. ANSWER: POINTS: DIFFICULTY: REFERENCES: c 1 EASY The Rebirth of the Study of the Mind 42. The use of the term "artificial intelligence" was coined by a. B.F. Skinner. b. Colin Cherry. c. Edward Tolman. d. John McCarthy. ANSWER: POINTS: DIFFICULTY: REFERENCES: d 1 MODERATE The Rebirth of the Study of the Mind 43. Newell and Simon were among the first to use computers in cognitive psychology. Their computer program a. simulated human attention. b. created proofs for problems in logic. c. controlled presentation of visual stimuli during cognitive psychology experiments. d. introduced the first flow diagram. ANSWER: POINTS: b 1 DIFFICULTY: DIFFICULT REFERENCES: The Rebirth of the Study of the Mind 44. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Symposium on Information Theory, George Miller presented a paper suggesting that a. the human ability to process information is unlimited. b. there are limits to the human ability to process information. c. intelligent machines can be successfully created. d. memory consolidation is enhanced by REM sleep. ANSWER: POINTS: b 1 DIFFICULTY: MODERATE REFERENCES: The Rebirth of the Study of the Mind 45. What year is usually cited as the "birthday" of cognitive science (pick the closest year)? a. 1879 b. 1945 c. 1956 d. 1967 ANSWER: POINTS: DIFFICULTY: REFERENCES: c 1 DIFFICULT The Rebirth of the Study of the Mind 46. The "cognitive revolution" a. occurred rapidly, within a period of a few years, in response to the attacks on Skinner and the development of computers. b. extended over a long period of time, beginning in the early part of the century, in reaction to Wundt's introspection experiments. c. was a gradual process that occurred over a few decades. d. was not really necessary because the study of the mind has been a constant part of experimental psychology since the founding of the first psychology laboratory. ANSWER: POINTS: DIFFICULTY: REFERENCES: c 1 DIFFICULT The Rebirth of the Study of the Mind 47. Which of the following analogies would provide the best description for how research progresses in cognitive psychology? a. A pair of railroad tracks where two things move in a parallel fashion. b. An octopus where every leg comes from a singular body. c. A trail from which one thing leads to another. d. A pyramid, where all questions lead to a singular answer, or "tip." ANSWER: POINTS: DIFFICULTY: REFERENCES: c 1 Easy Modern Research in Cognitive Psychology 48. Using behavior to infer mental processes is the basic principle of a. behaviorism. b. humanism. c. cognitive psychology. d. operant conditioning. ANSWER: POINTS: DIFFICULTY: c 1 EASY REFERENCES: Modern Research in Cognitive Psychology