Chapter 1 Introduction to Cognitive Psychology Quiz 1

Question 1

Analytic introspection

Answer 1

A procedure used by early psychologists in which trained participants described their experiences and thought processes in response to stimuli.

Question 2

Artificial intelligence

Answer 2

The ability of a computer to perform tasks usually associated with human intelligence.

Question 3

Behaviorism

Answer 3

The approach to psycholog y, founded by John B. Watson, which states that observable behavior provides the only valid data for psycholog y. A consequence of this idea is that consciousness and unobservable mental processes are not considered worthy of study by psychologists.

Question 4

Brain imaging

Answer 4

Technique such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (f MRI) that results in images of the brain that represent brain activity. In cognitive psychology, activity is measured in response to specific cognitive tasks.

Question 5

Choice reaction time

Answer 5

Time to respond to one of two or more stimuli. For example, in the Donders experiment, subjects had to make one response to one stimulus and a different response to another stimulus.

Question 6

Classical conditioning

Answer 6

A procedure in which pairing a neutral stimulus with a stimulus that elicits a response causes the neutral stimulus to elicit that response.

Question 7

Cognition

Answer 7

The mental processes involved in perception, attention, memory, language, problem solving, reasoning, and decision making.

Question 8

Cognitive map

Answer 8

A mechanism involved in dealing with conflicting stimuli. Related to executive function, inhibitory control, and willpower.

Question 9

Cognitive psychology

Answer 9

The branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of the mental processes involved in perception, attention, memory, language, problem solving, reasoning, and decision making. In short, cognitive psychology is concerned with the scientific study of the mind and mental processes.

Question 10

Cognitive revolution

Answer 10

A shift in psycholog y, beginning in the 1950s, from the behaviorist approach to an approach in which the main thrust was to explain behavior in terms of the mind. One of the outcomes of the cognitive revolution was the introduction of the information-processing approach to studying the mind.

Question 11

Electrophysiology

Answer 11

Techniques used to measure electrical responses of the nervous system.

Question 12

Information-processing approach

Answer 12

The approach to psycholog y, developed beginning in the 1950s, in which the mind is described as processing information through a sequence of stages.

Question 13

Mind

Answer 13

System that creates mental representations of the world and controls mental functions such as perception, attention, memory, emotions, language, deciding, thinking, and reasoning.

Question 14

Neuropsychology

Answer 14

The study of the behavioral effects of brain damage in humans.

Question 15

Operant conditioning

Answer 15

Type of conditioning championed by B. F. Skinner, which focuses on how behavior is strengthened by presentation of positive reinforcers, such as food or social approval, or withdrawal of negative reinforcers, such as a shock or social rejection.

Question 16

Paradigm

Answer 16

A system of ideas, which guide thinking in a particular field.

Question 17

Paradigm shift

Answer 17

A shift in thinking from one paradigm to another.

Question 18

Reaction time

Answer 18

The time it takes to react to a stimulus. This is usually determined by measuring the time between presentation of a stimulus and the response to the stimulus. Examples of responses are pushing a button, saying a word, moving the eyes, and the appearance of a particular brain wave.

Question 19

Savings

Answer 19

Measure used by Ebbinghaus to determine the magnitude of memory left from initial learning. Higher savings indicate greater memory.

Question 20

Savings curve

Answer 20

Plot of savings versus time after original learning.

Question 21

Scientific revolution

Answer 21

Occurs when there is a shift in thinking from one scientific paradigm to another.

Question 22

Simple reaction time

Answer 22

Reacting to the presence or absence of a single stimulus (as opposed to having to choose between a number of stimuli before making a response). See also Choice reaction time.

Question 23

Structuralism

Answer 23

An approach to psycholog y that explained perception as the adding up of small elementary units called sensations.

Question 24

Summary 1

Answer 24

Cognitive psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of the mind.

Question 25

Summary 2

Answer 25

The mind creates and controls mental capacities such as perception, attention, and memory, and creates representations of the world that enable us to function

Question 26

Summary 3

Answer 26

The work of Donders (simple versus choice reaction time) and Ebbinghaus (the forgetting curve for nonsense syllables) are examples of early experimental research on the mind.

Question 27

Summary 4

Answer 27

Because the operation of the mind cannot be observed directly, its operation must be inferred from what we can measure, such as behavior or physiological responding. This is one of the basic principles of cognitive psychology.

Question 28

Summary 5

Answer 28

The first laboratory of scientific psychology, founded by Wundt in 1879, was concerned largely with studying the mind. Structuralism was the dominant theoretical approach of this laboratory, and analytic introspection was one of the major methods used to collect data.

Question 29

Summary 6

Answer 29

William James, in the United States, used observations of his own mind as the basis of his textbook, Principles of Psychology.

Question 30

Summary 7

Answer 30

In the first decades of the 20th century, John Watson founded behaviorism, partly in reaction to structuralism and the method of analytic introspection. His procedures were based on classical conditioning. Behaviorism’s central tenet was that psychology was properly studied by measuring observable behavior, and that invisible mental processes were not valid topics for the study of psychology.

Question 31

Summary 8

Answer 31

Beginning in the 1930s and 1940s, B. F. Skinner’s work on operant conditioning ensured that behaviorism would be the dominant force in psycholog y through the 1950s

Question 32

Summary 9

Answer 32

Edward Tolman called himself a behaviorist but studied cognitive processes that were out of the mainstream of behaviorism.

Question 33

Summary 10

Answer 33

The cognitive revolution involved a paradigm shift in how scientists thought about psycholog y, and specifically the mind.

Question 34

Summary 11

Answer 34

In the 1950s, a number of events occurred that led to what has been called the cognitive revolution: a decline in the influence of behaviorism and a reemergence of the study of the mind. These events included the following : (a) Chomsky’s critique of Skinner’s book Verbal Behavior; (b) the introduction of the digital computer and the idea that the mind processes information in stages, like a computer; (c) Cherry’s attention experiments and Broadbent’s introduction of flow diagrams to depict the processes involved in attention; and (d) interdisciplinary conferences at Dartmouth and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Question 35

Summary 12

Answer 35

Event after the shift in psychology that made studying the mind acceptable, our understanding of the mind was limited, as indicated by the contents of Neisser’s (1967) book. Notable developments in cognitive psychology in the decades following Neisser’s book were (1) development of more-sophisticated models; (2) research focusing on the physiological basis of cognition; (3) concern with cognition in the real world, and (4) the role of knowledge in cognition.