Cognitive psychology worksheet with answers

The representativeness heuristic means judging the probability of something by:

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

Forgetting because new information interferes with remembering old information is called:

1. ARepression
2. BRetroactive interference
3. CProactive interference
4. DDecay

Linking new information to things you already know, so it becomes meaningful, is called:

1. ADecay
2. BMaintenance rehearsal
3. CElaborative rehearsal
4. DRote repetition

In a lexical decision task, people recognise "nurse" as a word faster after seeing "doctor" than after seeing "bread". This is best explained by:

1. AIconic memory decay
2. BThe phonological similarity effect
3. CRetroactive interference
4. DSpreading activation in a semantic network

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

1. ADeductive reasoning
2. BThe availability heuristic
3. CInductive reasoning
4. DAnalogical reasoning

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

1. AInsight
2. BIncubation
3. CMeans–end analysis
4. DTrial and error

H.M. practised mirror drawing over several days. His performance improved steadily, yet each day he said he had never done the task before. What does this show?

1. AHis improvement came from rehearsal in short-term memory
2. BSkills can be learned without remembering the practice
3. CH.M. was only pretending not to remember the sessions
4. DMirror drawing depends mainly on the hippocampus

After a stroke in the right parietal lobe, a patient eats only from the right side of the plate and draws only the right half of a clock. This is:

1. AUnilateral spatial neglect
2. BLeft visual field blindsight
3. CAnterograde amnesia
4. DProsopagnosia