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

Continuing to invest in a failing project because of the money already spent is called the:

  1. ASunk cost fallacy
  2. BAvailability heuristic
  3. CGambler's fallacy
  4. DFraming effect
2.Easy

What is a heuristic?

  1. AA mental shortcut used to make judgements quickly
  2. BA step-by-step procedure that always finds the right answer
  3. CA type of long-term memory
  4. DA disorder of perception
3.Easy

Damage to Broca's area typically causes difficulty with:

  1. AUnderstanding spoken words
  2. BProducing fluent speech
  3. CRecognising faces
  4. DForming new memories
4.Medium

Encoding specificity means that recall is best when:

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

Rubin's vase, which can be seen as a vase or as two faces, illustrates:

  1. AFigure–ground organisation
  2. BSize constancy
  3. CThe law of closure
  4. DRetinal disparity
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. AShort words take less time to rehearse in the phonological loop
  2. BLong words cause retroactive interference with earlier items
  3. CLong words are processed more deeply and so crowd each other out
  4. DShort words are held in iconic memory as well as acoustically
7.Hard

Choosing the first flat that meets your minimum requirements, rather than comparing every flat available, is what Herbert Simon called:

  1. AMeans–end analysis
  2. BAnchoring
  3. CMaximising
  4. DSatisficing
8.Hard

In Sperling's experiments, participants saw a 3 × 4 grid of letters briefly. When a tone signalled which row to report immediately afterwards, they could report most letters of that row. What did this show?

  1. AMost of the display is briefly held but fades before it can all be reported
  2. BHearing a warning tone improves visual perception of nearby letters in general
  3. CIconic memory holds only about four letters, however they are tested
  4. DBriefly seen letters are transferred into long-term memory at once

Answer key

  1. 1. A · Sunk cost fallacy
  2. 2. A · A mental shortcut used to make judgements quickly
  3. 3. B · Producing fluent speech
  4. 4. A · The context at retrieval matches the context at learning
  5. 5. A · Figure–ground organisation
  6. 6. A · Short words take less time to rehearse in the phonological loop
  7. 7. D · Satisficing
  8. 8. A · Most of the display is briefly held but fades before it can all be reported

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