Deck 8: Cognition and Language

Question 1

​What is meant by a "top-down" process in attention?

A)You start by looking at the top half of something.
B)​You decide to shift your attention from one item to another.
C)​Some stimulus automatically grabs your attention.
D)​Your attention shifts slowly, one step at a time.

Answer 1

​You decide to shift your attention from one item to another.

Question 2

​Research on "choice blindness" supports which of these conclusions?

A)The reason people give for a decision may have been made up afterward.
B)​After people have made a decision, they do not want to hear additional information.
C)​People who listen to too much advice have trouble making a decision.
D)​A decision that someone makes quickly is as good as one based on deliberation.

Answer 2

The reason people give for a decision may have been made up afterward.

Question 3

​Which of the following would you be most likely to find by a "preattentive" process?

A)Your own car in a crowded parking lot
B)​A car in the parking lot that has two Zs on its license plate
C)​The most typical, average car in the parking lot
D)​A car in the parking lot that suddenly starts moving

Answer 3

​A car in the parking lot that has two Zs on its license plate

Question 4

​What is meant by a "bottom-up" process in attention?

A)You start by looking at the bottom half of something.
B)​You decide to shift your attention from one item to another.
C)​Some stimulus automatically grabs your attention.
D)​Your attention shifts slowly, one step at a time.

Question 5

Which of these would you probably find by an "attentive" process?​

A)A large bear that is charging directly at you
B)​A well-camouflaged animal in the forest
C)​A wolf that howls loudly
D)​A single white pigeon in a group of gray pigeons

Question 6

As you scan a group of strangers looking for anyone you know,what guides your attention?​

A)The availability heuristic
B)​The representativeness heuristic
C)​A top-down process
D)​A bottom-up process

Question 7

​When people report how something would look from a different angle,they say they "imagined rotating the object." What evidence did Shepard and Metzler present to support this idea?

A)When people look at unfamiliar objects, their accuracy on this question decreases.
B)​While people think about the problem, their hands move as if moving something.
C)​While people think about the problem, their eyes move as if watching something.
D)​The delay of response is proportional to the angular distance of rotation.

Question 8

Which of these would you probably find by an "attentive" process?​

A)A yellow book on a shelf of otherwise black books
B)​A book that someone dropped, that hit you on your foot
C)​A very large book among several small books
D)​A misspelled word on a page in a book

Question 9

Research on "choice blindness" suggests which of these conclusions?​

A)People avoid listening to evidence that disagrees with something they chose.​
B)​People prefer to choose something different from what other people chose.
C)​People often don't know the reasons for something they chose.
D)​People often debate the possibilities so long that they make no choice at all.

Question 10

​In a field of brown bushes,by what type of process would you find a motionless brown rabbit?

A)A maximizing process
B)​A bottom-up process
C)​An attentive process
D)​A preattentive process

Question 11

If you find something by a preattentive process,which of the following is true?​

A)It gains your attention slowly and gradually.
B)​It is similar to many other objects in the display.
C)​You find it as fast among many other objects as among a few.
D)​You find it by a top-down process.

Question 12

​If many gauges have indicators pointing to the right,but one is pointing down,you notice the odd one at once,regardless of how many other gauges are present.What directs your attention?

A)A top-down process
B)​An attentive process
C)​A preattentive process
D)​A random process

Question 13

You are to answer whether one object could be rotated until it matches another object.What determines how quickly you respond (when the answer is yes)?​

A)It depends on the distance between you and the objects.
B)​It depends on whether the answer to the previous question was "yes" or "no."
C)​It depends on how far you would have to rotate the object.
D)​It depends on whether the objects are small enough to hold.

Question 14

​What causes you so quickly to notice one red tree within a forest of green trees?

A)The availability heuristic​
B)​The representativeness heuristic
C)​A top-down process
D)​A bottom-up process

Question 15

​Which of these means about the same as "bottom-up" process?

A)Prototype​
B)​Priming
C)​Preattentive process
D)​Attentive process

Question 16

Why do cognitive psychologists seldom rely on asking people to describe their thought processes?​

A)Asking people about their thought processes would violate privacy laws.
B)​It is easier to measure reaction times.
C)​People don't always know their own thought processes.
D)​Cognitive psychologists are interested mainly in preverbal children.

Question 17

A psychologist asks which of these faces looks more attractive,and then asks why this face is more attractive,while showing the face the person had not chosen.What usually happens?​

A)The person notices the switch and reports choosing the other face.
B)​The person accepts the switch but cannot think of a reason for choosing this face.
C)​The person accepts the switch and offers only a vague explanation for choosing this face.
D)​The person accepts the switch and offers a specific explanation for choosing this face.

Question 18

​​What is meant by "choice blindness"?

A)Making a choice without knowing the alternatives
B)​Making a choice while knowing the alternatives but not considering them seriously
C)​Making a choice and sticking with it despite evidence against it
D)​Acting as if you don't remember which choice you made

Question 19

​You are asked whether a drawing of one object could be rotated to match another one.When the answer is "yes," what influences your speed of reply?

A)Your delay is shorter if you report higher self-esteem.
B)​Your delay is shorter if you have had extensive musical training.
C)​Your delay is proportional to how far one object must rotate to match the other.
D)​Your delay is proportional to the size of the objects compared to the size of your hand.

Question 20

If you want to design the control panel of a car so that a driver immediately notices a danger indicator,you want the driver to find the signal by what kind of process?​

A)An attentive process
B)​A preattentive process
C)​A top-down process
D)​A random process

Question 21

​If you see the word YELLOW written in blue ink,it is easier to say "yellow" than "blue." What instruction might cause you to respond more readily to blue instead?

A)Say the word as quickly as possible.
B)​Close your left eye and then read the word.
C)​Clench your fist and then read the word.
D)​Point to the colored block that matches the word.

Question 22

The research on change blindness leads to which general conclusion?​

A)You mainly attend to the gist of a scene and a few details at a time.
B)​You divide your attention equally over all the elements that compose a scene.
C)​You automatically notice anything that changes.
D)​You alternate spontaneously between top-down and bottom-up processes.

Question 23

​What might prevent you from showing the Stroop effect?

A)Print the words in large capital letters.
B)​Print the words with wider than usual spaces between them.
C)​Print the words in italic font.
D)​Print the words in a language you don't understand.

Question 24

What is meant by the "Stroop effect"?​

A)For an instant after attending to something, we often overlook something else.
B)​An explanation for making some choice is often made up later.
C)​It is easy to fail to notice something changing, if we were attending to something else.
D)​It is often easier to read a word than to say the color of the ink.

Question 25

​For which of these would you find something by an attentive or "top-down" process?

A)Noticing the only incomplete sentence in an essay you wrote
B)​Noticing the one answer on your test paper that the professor circled in red
C)​Noticing an animal that starts to move
D)​Noticing the only purple flower in an array of white flowers

Question 26

How does someone decide on a diagnosis of attention deficit disorder?​

A)From behavioral observations
B)​By examining certain chromosomes
C)​By measurements of brain activity
D)​By measurements of brain volume

Question 27

People with ADHD (attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder)most often show what attention problem?​

A)They pay more attention to the left side of the world than to the right side.
B)​They cannot pay attention to anything for more than a few minutes at a time.
C)​They have trouble shifting attention when they need to.
D)​They fail to show bottom-up control of attention.

Question 28

The Stroop effect refers to which phenomenon?​

A)It is easier to read a word than to say the color of its ink.
B)​It is easier to remember the gist of a story than to remember the details.
C)​It is easier to make a decision than to explain why you made that decision.
D)​It is easier to read a whole word than to read a single letter.

Question 29

"Change blindness" refers to which phenomenon?​

A)For a split second after responding to a stimulus, we fail to notice other interesting events.
B)​Many women report blurry vision for a day or two after giving birth.
C)​Visual sensitivity decreases sharply during a voluntary eye movement.
D)​We often fail to notice a small difference between two scenes.

Question 30

​According to the Stroop effect,which of the following is difficult?

A)It is difficult to perform two complex tasks at the same time.
B)​It is difficult to choose a larger reward later instead of a smaller reward immediately.
C)​It is difficult to notice something that changes in a scene, if it changes slowly.
D)​It is difficult to look at certain words written in color and name the color of ink.

Question 31

​If the name of a color is written in a different color,you find it easier to read the word than to name the color of ink.What is the name of this phenomenon?

A)Stroop effect
B)​Attentional blink
C)​Availability heuristic
D)​Confirmation bias

Question 32

​What is "change blindness"?

A)A period of decreased vision while you move your eyes
B)​Failure to notice a change in a complex scene
C)​Impaired visual perception after a traumatic experience
D)​Improved hearing by people after they become blind

Question 33

​If you look at a complex scene,close your eyes for a second,and look again,you probably won't notice a small difference in the scene.What is this phenomenon called?

A)Spreading activation
B)​Choice blindness
C)​Change blindness
D)​Functional fixedness

Question 34

Who would probably NOT show the Stroop effect?​

A)Someone with post-traumatic stress disorder
B)​Someone who cannot read
C)​Someone with attention deficit disorder
D)​Someone with extensive musical training

Question 35

​What does the stop-signal task measure?

A)Your ability to inhibit a response
B)​Your ability to do two things at the same time
C)​Your ability to notice changes between two similar, complex scenes
D)​Your preference between a small reward now and a larger one later

Question 36

What does the choice-delay test measure?​

A)Tendency to regret a choice shortly after making it
B)​Preference between a small reward now and a larger one later
C)​The delay between deciding on something and actually doing it
D)​Brain activity while making a decision

Question 37

Movie directors discovered that most viewers do not notice if the background actors change their clothing between one shot and the next.What term describes this phenomenon?​

A)Stroop effect
B)​Availability heuristic
C)​Attentional blink
D)​Change blindness

Question 38

Which of these is an example of the Stroop effect?​

A)If you see the word YELLOW written in blue letters, it is easier to say "yellow" than "blue."
B)​If you can easily think of several examples of some item, you assume the item is common.
C)​When you explain why you made some choice, you often make up your answer afterward.
D)​After you spend much time or money on a project, you don't want to give up on it.

Question 39

​People are often slow to find something different between two complex,similar scenes.When they find it,what does their detection depend on?

A)A bottom-up process
B)​The availability heuristic
C)​An attentive process
D)​A preattentive process

Question 40

Why do many psychologists doubt that ADHD is a single disorder?​

A)People with ADHD show deficits in a wide variety of tasks.
B)​The symptoms vary considerably in their intensity from one case to another.
C)​The causes and the brain abnormalities vary from one case to another.
D)​Overall brain activity tends to be higher than average for people with ADHD.

Question 41

What is meant by "spreading activation"?​

A)Thinking about any concept primes you to think of related concepts.
B)​When one person in a group becomes enthusiastic, the others do too.
C)​Sometimes after you exercise one set of muscles, another set starts to ache.
D)​People who travel widely tend to develop more friendships.

Question 42

For treating ADHD,how does the effectiveness of behavior therapy compare to stimulant drugs?​

A)Behavior therapy helps at first, but stimulant drugs are better for long-term treatment.​
B)​Behavior therapy reduces impulsiveness, but has no other benefit.
C)​Behavior therapy is more helpful for social skills and academic performance.
D)​Behavior therapy is no better than a placebo for treating ADHD.

Question 43

​When hearing one word helps you think of another word,what do we call that tendency?

A)Availability heuristic
B)​The framing effect
C)​Attentional blink
D)​Priming

Question 44

If you try to unscramble the letters EMBLAG,you are quicker to think of GAMBLE if you had recently heard the word BETTING.What do we call that effect?​

A)Confabulation
B)​Priming
C)​Consolidation
D)​Prototype

Question 45

What kind of thinking or problem solving relies on "System 2"?​

A)The kinds of thinking children show during Piaget's sensorimotor period
B)​The kinds of thinking children show during Piaget's preoperational period
C)​Easy, automatic tasks such as recognizing faces
D)​Difficult questions that require careful attention

Question 46

​Of the possible benefits of stimulant drugs,which one is most strongly demonstrated?

A)After several years of use, the drugs improve academic performance.
B)​Fairly quickly, the drugs reduce impulsivity and attention problems.
C)​The drugs improve academic performance for those already doing well.
D)​The drugs prevent the later development of bipolar disorder.

Question 47

​What kind of thinking or problem solving relies on "System 1"?

A)Decisions about social interactions
B)​Decisions about hand or arm movements
C)​Decisions about nonverbal problems
D)​Quick, almost automatic decisions

Question 48

What is a prototype?​

A)A definition
B)​A typical example
C)​An exception to the rule
D)​An imitation

Question 49

​An ADHD diagnosis is more common for children who are young for their grade.What conclusion does that observation suggest?

A)Some people are treating immaturity as if it were a medical problem.
B)​ADHD is becoming less common from one year to the next.
C)​The treatments for ADHD are more effective today than they were in the past.
D)​Poor nutrition during pregnancy increases the probability that the child develops ADHD.

Question 50

​According to the conceptual network approach,we learn that a canary (which has some distinctive features)is a kind of bird (which has more general features),which is a kind of animal (which has still more general features).What evidence supports this view?

A)After you answer that a canary has skin, you would also say that a canary has hair.
B)​You would have trouble answering questions about unfamiliar birds such as quetzals.
C)​When answering questions about canaries, you are slowest when trying to be accurate.
D)​You can answer faster whether canaries are yellow than whether they have skin.

Question 51

​If you associate SALUTE with FLAG,then hearing SALUTE will temporarily increase how likely you are to think of the word FLAG.Which concept tries to explain that tendency?

A)Depth of processing
B)​Base-rate information
C)​Spreading activation
D)​The framing effect

Question 52

​According to the conceptual network approach,which of the following questions should most people answer most rapidly?

A)Do porcupines have lungs?
B)​Do porcupines have quills?
C)​Do porcupines drink water?
D)​Are porcupines made of carbon compounds?

Question 53

​Psychologists developed the concept of spreading activation to explain what phenomenon?

A)Hearing a word primes you to think of related words.
B)​Trying to do two things at the same time impairs performance of at least one of them.
C)​Many highly emotional people also tend to be highly creative.
D)​People who can control their attention well also control their emotions well.

Question 54

​For which of these questions would you probably use System 2 instead of System 1?

A)Who was Romeo's girlfriend?
B)​Which is colder, minus 30°C or minus 30°F?
C)​Do you know how to play a flute?
D)​Do you recognize the person in this photo?

Question 55

Under which of these circumstances would you probably shift to "System 1" thinking?​

A)If you were not sure you understand the question
B)​If you knew you had previously answered the same question incorrectly
C)​If your working memory were fully occupied
D)​If you felt well rested

Question 56

If a category is hard to define,like "country music," how do we decide what items fit that category?

A)We compare an item to some prototypes of that category.
B)​We write a definition that fits the items we want to include in the category.
C)​We abandon that category and develop new categories.
D)​We select items at random to include in the category.

Question 57

Which of the following would be a good prototype of "athlete"?​

A)Chess champion
B)​Basketball fan
C)​Olympic champion
D)​Couch potato

Question 58

How do System 1 thinking and System 2 thinking differ?​

A)Individual decisions versus group decisions
B)​Verbal answers versus nonverbal answers
C)​Quick answers versus careful consideration
D)​Correct decisions versus errors

Question 59

​System 1 thinking and System 2 thinking differ in which regard?

A)Whether you think in words or imagine something in pictures
B)​Whether you decide by yourself or consult with others
C)​Whether you rely on your left hemisphere or your right hemisphere
D)​Whether you respond quickly or after careful thought

Question 60

​According to the conceptual network approach,which of the following questions should most people answer most rapidly?

A)Does ice cream taste sweet?
B)​Does ice cream have weight?
C)​Is ice cream made of molecules?
D)​Does ice cream have electrons?

Question 61

​What is the likely disadvantage if you offer your customers too many choices?

A)They probably won't buy anything at all.
B)​They will not be interested in the product.
C)​They will make a choice without sufficiently considering all possibilities.
D)​They will make a choice but regret it later.

Question 62

What is an algorithm?​

A)Any of the most typical members of a category
B)​A group of people who work to solve a problem together
C)​A careful procedure for determining the correct answer
D)​An impulsive answer

Question 63

​Which of the following tends to be true of satisficers?

A)They consider many possibilities before making a decision.
B)​They often regret their decisions and wonder whether another one would have been better.
C)​They choose fairly quickly but generally feel pleased with their choices.
D)​They consistently choose the least expensive of the choices available.

Question 64

For which of the following games would an algorithm be most helpful?​

A)Basketball
B)​Tic-tac-toe
C)​Tennis
D)​A marathon race

Question 65

​You most often rely on an algorithm in what type of situation?

A)When it is important to find the best possible answer
B)​When we rely on System 1 thinking
C)​When it is unrealistic to test every hypothesis
D)​When a question is vague or poorly defined

Question 66

If you assume that a tall man you met is a professional basketball player (even though pro basketball players are rare),what are you relying on?​

A)Preoperational thinking
B)​A maximizing strategy
C)​The representativeness heuristic
D)​An algorithm

Question 67

What is a heuristic?​

A)A strategy for simplifying a problem
B)​A mathematical formula for calculating an answer
C)​An answer that someone chooses by conforming to a group
D)​A mental impairment that causes difficulty in choosing an answer

Question 68

​The representativeness heuristic assumes that which of these is true?

A)Something that resembles members of a category is also a member of the category.
B)​The most expensive member of a category is probably the one of highest quality.
C)​An unfamiliar item probably belongs to a common category, not a less common one.
D)​If you can easily think of examples of an event, it must be a common event.

Question 69

​You most often rely on heuristics in what type of situation?

A)When dealing with simple mathematical problems
B)​When it is important to choose the best possible answer
C)​When it is unrealistic to test every hypothesis
D)​When you are engaged in System 2 thinking

Question 70

Which of these is an example of an algorithm?​

A)"When in doubt on a multiple-choice question, choose the longest answer."
B)​"To convert inches to centimeters, multiply by 2.54."
C)​"When in doubt, assume that the more expensive product is the better one."
D)​"To guess which child is the oldest, choose the tallest."

Question 71

If you make a choice as soon as you find something good enough,what are you doing?​

A)Satisficing
B)​Maximizing
C)​Consolidating
D)​Framing

Question 72

​Suppose a restaurant has an eight-page menu.Which of the following is probable?

A)Maximizers will have a hard time deciding on anything.
B)​Maximizers will make a poor choice.
C)​Maximizers will choose quickly and enjoy their choice.
D)​Satisficers will have a hard time deciding on anything, and will regret their choice.

Question 73

When does the representativeness heuristic lead to an incorrect conclusion?​

A)When it is more important to choose high quality than low price
B)​When we are dealing with a category that is easy to define
C)​When we overlook base-rate information
D)​When we are making a decision based on much information

Question 74

What is the usual disadvantage when people use a maximizing strategy?

A)Poor decisions based on inadequate information
B)​Inability to explain to anyone else the reasons behind a decision
C)​Lingering doubts about whether they made the right decision
D)​Financial debts from consistently choosing expensive products

Question 75

Which of the following tends to be true of maximizers?​

A)They make decisions quickly and feel pleased with their decisions.
B)They tend to make decisions that other people regard as poor ones.​
C)​They consider many possibilities before making a decision.
D)​They consistently choose the most expensive of the choices available.

Question 76

If you consider every possible choice before making a decision,what are you doing?​

A)Satisficing
B)​Maximizing
C)​Consolidating
D)​Using a heuristic

Question 77

What might cause students to do better on a test written in blurry ink?​

A)Slower reading enabled spreading activation to take place.
B)​Slower reading prompted students to use the availability heuristic.
C)​Slower reading prompted students to use System 2 thinking.
D)​Slower reading shifted thinking from the left hemisphere to the right hemisphere.

Question 78

What do we call a strategy for simplifying a problem and finding a good enough answer?​

A)A heuristic
B)​An algorithm
C)​A preattentive process
D)​An attentive process

Question 79

What is meant by the term base-rate information?​

A)How rare or common something is
B)​The quality of some product relative to its price
C)​How popular something is
D)​Whether something has been increasing or decreasing over time

Question 80

​What is a common advantage when people use a maximizing strategy?

A)A better than average decision, according to objective criteria
B)​A tendency to be content with the decision, both immediately and later
C)​A cheaper than average decision
D)​A quicker than average decision