Cognitive psychology worksheet with answers

Free printable Cognitive psychology worksheet: 8 problems from easy to exam level, with an answer key. Print it or save it as a PDF.

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1.Easy

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

  1. ADeductive reasoning
  2. BDivergent thinking
  3. CFunctional fixedness
  4. DConvergent thinking
2.Easy

The Gestalt principle of proximity states that we tend to group together elements that are:

  1. AForming a closed shape
  2. BSimilar in colour
  3. CMoving in the same direction
  4. DClose to each other
3.Easy

Functional fixedness is the tendency to:

  1. ARemember objects better than words
  2. BSee an object only in terms of its usual use
  3. CForget the purpose of an object after a delay
  4. DSolve every problem with the same algorithm
4.Medium

In the Brown–Peterson task, participants count backwards by threes after seeing a trigram such as "KTR". The main finding was that:

  1. ARecall stayed almost perfect even after 18 seconds of counting
  2. BCounting backwards made the trigrams easier to remember
  3. CRecall fell sharply within about 18 seconds without rehearsal
  4. DOnly the first letter of each trigram tended to be forgotten
5.Medium

Repeating "the, the, the" aloud while learning a word list impairs recall because it:

  1. AOverloads the visuospatial sketchpad
  2. BErases information already in long-term memory
  3. CPrevents the eyes from reading the words
  4. DBlocks rehearsal in the phonological loop
6.Medium

People recall more words from a list of short words (e.g. "cat, sun") than from a list of long words. The usual explanation is that:

  1. ALong words are processed more deeply and so crowd each other out
  2. BShort words are held in iconic memory as well as acoustically
  3. CShort words take less time to rehearse in the phonological loop
  4. DLong words cause retroactive interference with earlier items
7.Hard

The Stroop effect shows that:

  1. AReading words is so automatic that it interferes with naming the ink colour
  2. BColour perception depends only on the eyes
  3. CPeople can name colours faster than they can read words
  4. DAttention can be divided without any cost
8.Hard

Clive Wearing developed severe amnesia after a brain infection and cannot remember events from moment to moment, yet he can still play the piano and conduct music. This shows that:

  1. AEpisodic memory is needed to perform any skill
  2. BAll long-term memory depends on a single system
  3. CMusical skills are stored in short-term memory
  4. DProcedural memory can survive severe loss of episodic memory

Answer key

  1. 1. B · Divergent thinking
  2. 2. D · Close to each other
  3. 3. B · See an object only in terms of its usual use
  4. 4. C · Recall fell sharply within about 18 seconds without rehearsal
  5. 5. D · Blocks rehearsal in the phonological loop
  6. 6. C · Short words take less time to rehearse in the phonological loop
  7. 7. A · Reading words is so automatic that it interferes with naming the ink colour
  8. 8. D · Procedural memory can survive severe loss of episodic memory

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