Cognitive psychology worksheet with answers

The representativeness heuristic means judging the probability of something by:

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

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

1. A3 ± 1
2. B12 ± 3
3. C20 ± 5
4. D7 ± 2

Which of these is a binocular depth cue?

1. ALinear perspective
2. BRetinal disparity
3. CInterposition
4. DTexture gradient

In Collins and Quillian's hierarchical network model, why does "A canary is an animal" take longer to verify than "A canary is a bird"?

1. A"Animal" is a longer and less frequent word than "bird"
2. BMore levels must be travelled to reach "animal"
3. CThe sentence contains more letters to read
4. DCanaries are rated as untypical members of "animal"

Encoding specificity means that recall is best when:

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

In Duncker's candle problem, participants must fix a candle to a wall using a box of tacks and matches. The solution is hard to find because people:

1. AAssume the tacks are too short to hold the candle
2. BDo not realise the candle has to be lit first
3. CSpend too long trying to melt wax with the matches
4. DSee the box only as a container, not as a shelf

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

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

Change blindness experiments show that people often:

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