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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Name: ____________________   Date: ____________

1.Easy

Repeating a phone number over and over to keep it in mind is called:

  1. AConsolidation
  2. BMaintenance rehearsal
  3. CChunking
  4. DElaborative rehearsal
2.Easy

The smallest unit of language that carries meaning is a:

  1. AMorpheme
  2. BPhrase
  3. CLexicon
  4. DPhoneme
3.Easy

Which type of memory stores facts such as "Paris is the capital of France"?

  1. ASensory memory
  2. BEpisodic memory
  3. CProcedural memory
  4. DSemantic memory
4.Medium

Anchoring bias occurs when:

  1. APeople prefer options presented as gains
  2. BPeople believe after the event that they knew the outcome all along
  3. CAn initial number strongly influences a later estimate
  4. DPeople remember only the end of an experience
5.Medium

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. ADo not realise the candle has to be lit first
  2. BSpend too long trying to melt wax with the matches
  3. CSee the box only as a container, not as a shelf
  4. DAssume the tacks are too short to hold the candle
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 cause retroactive interference with earlier items
  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 are processed more deeply and so crowd each other out
7.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. AMusical skills are stored in short-term memory
  2. BEpisodic memory is needed to perform any skill
  3. CAll long-term memory depends on a single system
  4. DProcedural memory can survive severe loss of episodic memory
8.Hard

The Stroop effect shows that:

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

Answer key

  1. 1. B · Maintenance rehearsal
  2. 2. A · Morpheme
  3. 3. D · Semantic memory
  4. 4. C · An initial number strongly influences a later estimate
  5. 5. C · See the box only as a container, not as a shelf
  6. 6. C · Short words take less time to rehearse in the phonological loop
  7. 7. D · Procedural memory can survive severe loss of episodic memory
  8. 8. B · Reading words is so automatic that it interferes with naming the ink colour

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