1.Easy
In categorisation research, a prototype is:
- AA strict list of features every member must have
- BThe most typical member or average example of a category
- CA rare and unusual member of a category
- DThe first example of a category that a child learns in early life
2.Easy
Damage to Broca's area typically causes difficulty with:
- AUnderstanding spoken words
- BForming new memories
- CRecognising faces
- DProducing fluent speech
3.Easy
The "cognitive revolution" of the 1950s and 1960s shifted psychology's focus towards:
- AInternal mental processes such as memory and thinking
- BOnly observable behaviour and reinforcement
- CIntrospection about raw sensations only
- DUnconscious sexual and aggressive drives
4.Medium
In January you keep writing last year's date on forms. This is an example of:
- AProactive interference
- BEncoding failure
- CAnterograde amnesia
- DRetroactive interference
5.Medium
A patient can no longer form new long-term memories after brain surgery but remembers events from before the operation. This is called:
- AAnterograde amnesia
- BInfantile amnesia
- CRetrograde amnesia
- DDissociative amnesia
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:
- ALong words cause retroactive interference with earlier items
- BLong words are processed more deeply and so crowd each other out
- CShort words take less time to rehearse in the phonological loop
- DShort words are held in iconic memory as well as acoustically
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:
- AAll long-term memory depends on a single system
- BEpisodic memory is needed to perform any skill
- CMusical skills are stored in short-term memory
- DProcedural memory can survive severe loss of episodic memory
8.Hard
In Treisman's feature integration theory, why is finding a red X among red Os and blue Xs slow?
- ALetters cannot be searched visually
- BCombining features (a conjunction) requires focused attention to each item
- CRed is processed more slowly than blue
- DSingle features cannot be detected without attention
Answer key
- 1. B · The most typical member or average example of a category
- 2. D · Producing fluent speech
- 3. A · Internal mental processes such as memory and thinking
- 4. A · Proactive interference
- 5. A · Anterograde amnesia
- 6. C · Short words take less time to rehearse in the phonological loop
- 7. D · Procedural memory can survive severe loss of episodic memory
- 8. B · Combining features (a conjunction) requires focused attention to each item
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