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

Forgetting because new information interferes with remembering old information is called:

  1. ARetroactive interference
  2. BDecay
  3. CProactive interference
  4. DRepression
2.Easy

Functional fixedness is the tendency to:

  1. ASee an object only in terms of its usual use
  2. BForget the purpose of an object after a delay
  3. CRemember objects better than words
  4. DSolve every problem with the same algorithm
3.Easy

Knowing that you understand a topic well enough to stop studying is an example of:

  1. APriming
  2. BProactive interference
  3. CMetacognition
  4. DHabituation
4.Medium

A student who studied while drinking coffee recalls more when tested after drinking coffee. This illustrates:

  1. AState-dependent memory
  2. BThe spacing effect
  3. CFlashbulb memory
  4. DThe serial position effect
5.Medium

In Cherry's dichotic listening studies, participants shadowing one ear usually noticed which change in the unattended ear?

  1. AA switch from a male to a female voice
  2. BWords repeated several times
  3. CA switch from English to German in the same voice
  4. DThe meaning of the words
6.Medium

In the Brown–Peterson task, participants count backwards by threes after seeing a trigram such as "KTR". The main finding was that:

  1. ACounting backwards made the trigrams easier to remember
  2. BRecall stayed almost perfect even after 18 seconds of counting
  3. COnly the first letter of each trigram tended to be forgotten
  4. DRecall fell sharply within about 18 seconds without rehearsal
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. AH.M. was only pretending not to remember the sessions
  2. BMirror drawing depends mainly on the hippocampus
  3. CHis improvement came from rehearsal in short-term memory
  4. DSkills can be learned without remembering the practice
8.Hard

Strayer and Johnston found that hands-free phone conversations impaired simulated driving about as much as hand-held ones. What does this suggest?

  1. ADriving is a fully automatic task
  2. BThe main cost of phoning while driving is attentional, not manual
  3. CTalking to a passenger in the car is just as distracting in every case
  4. DHolding a phone is the only problem when driving

Answer key

  1. 1. A · Retroactive interference
  2. 2. A · See an object only in terms of its usual use
  3. 3. C · Metacognition
  4. 4. A · State-dependent memory
  5. 5. A · A switch from a male to a female voice
  6. 6. D · Recall fell sharply within about 18 seconds without rehearsal
  7. 7. D · Skills can be learned without remembering the practice
  8. 8. B · The main cost of phoning while driving is attentional, not manual

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