Cognitive psychology worksheet with answers

Generating many different possible uses for a brick is an example of:

1. ADivergent thinking
2. BFunctional fixedness
3. CDeductive reasoning
4. DConvergent thinking

An algorithm, in the psychology of problem solving, is:

1. AA mental picture of how the problem looks
2. BA quick rule of thumb that usually works well enough
3. CA sudden flash of understanding about a problem
4. DA step-by-step procedure that guarantees a solution

The representativeness heuristic means judging the probability of something by:

1. AHow closely it resembles a typical example
2. BHow much time or money you have already invested in it
3. CHow easily examples come to mind
4. DThe first number you were given

Encoding specificity means that recall is best when:

1. AThe material is learned in a noisy room
2. BInformation is learned in one long session
3. CLearning happens just before sleep only
4. DThe context at retrieval matches the context at learning

"All mammals breathe air. Whales are mammals. Therefore whales breathe air." This is an example of:

1. AThe availability heuristic
2. BAnalogical reasoning
3. CDeductive reasoning
4. DInductive reasoning

People often accept an invalid syllogism if its conclusion sounds true, such as "Some vitamins are healthy". This is called:

1. AAnchoring
2. BSelf-serving bias
3. CHindsight bias
4. DBelief bias

Patient D.F. could not report the orientation of a slot but could accurately post a card through it. Milner and Goodale used this to support the idea of:

1. AEarly selection of attention before perception
2. BFeature binding through focused spatial attention
3. CA single visual system used for every visual task
4. DSeparate visual streams for perception and action

Participants practise retrieving some items from a studied category (e.g. "fruit – orange"). Later, unpractised items from the same category (e.g. "fruit – banana") are recalled worse than items from unpractised categories. This is:

1. ADecay over time
2. BRetroactive interference from a new list
3. CThe testing effect
4. DRetrieval-induced forgetting