Cognitive psychology worksheet with answers

What is "chunking"?

1. AGrouping information into meaningful units to remember more
2. BRepeating information aloud to remember it
3. CForgetting information in large blocks
4. DSplitting attention between two tasks

Selective attention is best illustrated by:

1. ASolving an arithmetic problem
2. BRecognising a face you have seen before
3. CFollowing one conversation at a noisy party
4. DRemembering a phone number for a few seconds

Which memory store holds visual information for a fraction of a second?

1. AIconic memory
2. BWorking memory
3. CEchoic memory
4. DLong-term memory

Which feature is typical of an automatic process, such as reading a familiar word?

1. AIt is fast and hard to stop once started
2. BIt can only be done slowly, one step at a time
3. CIt is easily disrupted by a second task
4. DIt needs a lot of conscious effort

A strategy that breaks a problem into subgoals, each reducing the difference between the current state and the goal, is called:

1. AIncubation
2. BMeans–end analysis
3. CTrial and error
4. DInsight

Lists of similar-sounding letters (B, G, V, T) are harder to recall immediately than dissimilar letters (F, K, Y, W). This suggests short-term memory:

1. AMainly codes information by meaning
2. BMainly codes verbal information acoustically
3. CStores letters mainly as visual images of their shapes
4. DHas unlimited capacity for letters

People judge that more English words begin with K than have K as the third letter, although the reverse is true. Which heuristic explains this?

1. AAvailability: words are easier to retrieve by first letter
2. BFraming: the question describes the words as a loss
3. CAnchoring: the letter K is the first value people are given
4. DRepresentativeness: K-words look like typical English words

Change blindness experiments show that people often:

1. ANotice every small change in their visual field
2. BAre better at spotting changes in faces than in objects in all cases
3. CFail to notice large changes in a scene when the change happens during a brief interruption
4. DSee changes only in colour, not in shape