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

Köhler's chimpanzees, who suddenly stacked boxes to reach bananas, are a classic example of:

  1. AMental set
  2. BInsight
  3. CFunctional fixedness
  4. DTrial-and-error learning
2.Easy

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

  1. A12 ± 3
  2. B3 ± 1
  3. C7 ± 2
  4. D20 ± 5
3.Easy

What is a heuristic?

  1. AA type of long-term memory
  2. BA disorder of perception
  3. CA mental shortcut used to make judgements quickly
  4. DA step-by-step procedure that always finds the right answer
4.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. AEncoding specificity
  2. BProactive interference
  3. CThe spacing effect
  4. DThe testing effect
5.Medium

The idea that the language you speak influences how you think and perceive the world is known as:

  1. APhonemic restoration
  2. BUniversal grammar
  3. CLinguistic relativity
  4. DSemantic priming
6.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. BDecreases as the angle between them gets larger
  3. CDepends mainly on how complex the shapes are
  4. DIs the same whatever the angle of rotation is
7.Hard

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. ASkills can be learned without remembering the practice
  2. BHis improvement came from rehearsal in short-term memory
  3. CMirror drawing depends mainly on the hippocampus
  4. DH.M. was only pretending not to remember the sessions
8.Hard

In Treisman's feature integration theory, why is finding a red X among red Os and blue Xs slow?

  1. ALetters cannot be searched visually
  2. BSingle features cannot be detected without attention
  3. CRed is processed more slowly than blue
  4. DCombining features (a conjunction) requires focused attention to each item

Answer key

  1. 1. B · Insight
  2. 2. C · 7 ± 2
  3. 3. C · A mental shortcut used to make judgements quickly
  4. 4. D · The testing effect
  5. 5. C · Linguistic relativity
  6. 6. A · Increases with the angle between the two shapes
  7. 7. A · Skills can be learned without remembering the practice
  8. 8. D · Combining features (a conjunction) requires focused attention to each item

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