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

About how many items can a person hold in short-term memory, according to George Miller's classic estimate?

  1. A20 ± 5
  2. B3 ± 1
  3. C12 ± 3
  4. D7 ± 2
2.Easy

The "cognitive revolution" of the 1950s and 1960s shifted psychology's focus towards:

  1. AUnconscious sexual and aggressive drives
  2. BInternal mental processes such as memory and thinking
  3. COnly observable behaviour and reinforcement
  4. DIntrospection about raw sensations only
3.Easy

Who first measured the "forgetting curve" using nonsense syllables?

  1. AUlric Neisser
  2. BFrederic Bartlett
  3. CEndel Tulving
  4. DHermann Ebbinghaus
4.Medium

In Shepard and Metzler's mental rotation task, the time to decide whether two 3D shapes are the same:

  1. AIncreases with the angle between the two shapes
  2. BIs the same whatever the angle of rotation is
  3. CDepends mainly on how complex the shapes are
  4. DDecreases as the angle between them gets larger
5.Medium

Encoding specificity means that recall is best when:

  1. ALearning happens just before sleep only
  2. BThe context at retrieval matches the context at learning
  3. CThe material is learned in a noisy room
  4. DInformation is learned in one long session
6.Medium

Two groups study a text. One rereads it; the other takes practice quizzes on it. A week later, the quiz group remembers more. This shows:

  1. AThe spacing effect
  2. BEncoding specificity
  3. CProactive interference
  4. DThe testing effect
7.Hard

Glanzer and Cunitz had participants count for 30 seconds between hearing a list and recalling it. Which result did they find?

  1. ABoth effects became larger
  2. BThe primacy effect disappeared, but the recency effect remained
  3. CRecall became equal at all positions except the middle
  4. DThe recency effect disappeared, but the primacy effect remained
8.Hard

Which finding supports a reconstructive view of memory (Bartlett)?

  1. APeople can recall long lists of digits perfectly
  2. BMemories of emotional events never change
  3. CShort-term memory holds about seven items
  4. DPeople retelling an unfamiliar story change it to fit their own culture

Answer key

  1. 1. D · 7 ± 2
  2. 2. B · Internal mental processes such as memory and thinking
  3. 3. D · Hermann Ebbinghaus
  4. 4. A · Increases with the angle between the two shapes
  5. 5. B · The context at retrieval matches the context at learning
  6. 6. D · The testing effect
  7. 7. D · The recency effect disappeared, but the primacy effect remained
  8. 8. D · People retelling an unfamiliar story change it to fit their own culture

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