WESTERN GOVERNORS UNIVERSITY (WGU) –
D570 COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY – OBJECTIVE
ASSESSMENT (OA) – QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
| 2026/2027 LATEST UPDATE
SECTION 1: FOUNDATIONS OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY, COGNITIVE REPRESENTATION,
AND NEUROCOGNITION
Questions 1–15
1. Which description most accurately captures the central concern of cognitive
psychology?
A) The scientific study of observable behavior without reference to internal processes
B) The scientific study of mental processes involved in acquiring, representing, transforming,
and using information
C) The study of unconscious conflicts arising from early childhood experiences
D) The classification of personality traits according to stable behavioral patterns
Correct Answer: The scientific study of mental processes involved in acquiring,
representing, transforming, and using information
Rationale: Cognitive psychology examines internal processes such as perception, attention,
memory, language, reasoning, and problem solving. Unlike strict behaviorism, it treats
mental representations and information processing as legitimate subjects of scientific
investigation. The field therefore focuses on how people receive, transform, store, retrieve,
and use information.
2. A researcher measures reaction times while participants perform increasingly complex
mental rotations. Which approach is being used most directly?
A) Mental chronometry
B) Psychoanalysis
C) Classical conditioning
D) Trait analysis
Correct Answer: Mental chronometry
,Rationale: Mental chronometry uses response time to study the duration of cognitive
processes. Shepard and Metzler's mental-rotation work demonstrated that reaction time can
reveal characteristics of internal representations. The other approaches listed do not
primarily use reaction time to estimate cognitive processing.
3. What did the cognitive revolution most importantly contribute to psychology?
A) It eliminated experimental methods from psychological research.
B) It established introspection as the only valid research method.
C) It restored the scientific study of internal mental processes to mainstream psychology.
D) It demonstrated that reinforcement explains every form of human thought.
Correct Answer: It restored the scientific study of internal mental processes to mainstream
psychology.
Rationale: The cognitive revolution challenged the idea that psychology should restrict itself
to observable behavior. Researchers increasingly investigated memory, language, attention,
reasoning, and mental representations using rigorous experimental methods. This shift
helped establish cognitive psychology as a major scientific perspective.
4. Which historical approach proposed that complex conscious experiences could be
analyzed into basic sensations?
A) Functionalism
B) Behaviorism
C) Gestalt psychology
D) Structuralism
Correct Answer: Structuralism
Rationale: Structuralism attempted to analyze conscious experience into basic elements such
as sensations and feelings. Early researchers used introspective methods to examine these
elements. Gestalt psychology instead emphasized organized wholes, while behaviorism
focused primarily on observable behavior.
5. A person mentally pictures the layout of a familiar bedroom without physically looking
at it. What cognitive phenomenon does this best demonstrate?
A) Mental imagery
B) Selective adaptation
C) Response bias
D) Semantic priming
,Correct Answer: Mental imagery
Rationale: Mental imagery involves representing sensory information internally in the
absence of the corresponding physical stimulus. A person can generate a visual
representation of a familiar environment even when it is not currently visible. This ability
illustrates how information can be represented internally.
6. Which statement best describes a propositional representation?
A) A literal visual copy of an object
B) A representation expressed as an abstract relationship or statement
C) A motor pattern stored exclusively in procedural memory
D) A temporary sensory trace that disappears immediately
Correct Answer: A representation expressed as an abstract relationship or statement
Rationale: Propositional representations encode information in an abstract relational form
rather than as a literal picture. For example, the statement “the cup is beside the book”
represents a relationship between objects. This differs from depictive or image-like
representations.
7. What does the concept of localization of function suggest about the brain?
A) Every cognitive process requires the entire brain equally.
B) Mental processes occur only in the spinal cord.
C) Certain brain regions make especially important contributions to particular functions.
D) Brain regions cannot specialize because neural processing is completely random.
Correct Answer: Certain brain regions make especially important contributions to
particular functions.
Rationale: Localization of function refers to the finding that particular brain regions
contribute disproportionately to particular functions. Examples include language-related
regions and specialized areas involved in visual recognition. Localization does not mean that
complex cognition depends on only one isolated region.
8. Which structure is primarily responsible for carrying electrical signals away from a
neuron's cell body?
A) Dendrite
B) Synaptic cleft
C) Soma
, D) Axon
Correct Answer: Axon
Rationale: The axon conducts electrical signals away from the neuron's cell body toward
other neurons or target cells. Dendrites generally receive incoming signals, while the soma
maintains cellular functions. Communication between neurons ultimately occurs through
synaptic transmission.
9. What is an action potential?
A) A temporary change in the electrical state of a neuron that propagates along its axon
B) A chemical stored permanently inside a synapse
C) A visual representation maintained in working memory
D) A conscious decision to initiate behavior
Correct Answer: A temporary change in the electrical state of a neuron that propagates
along its axon
Rationale: An action potential is the rapid electrical event that travels along an axon when a
neuron fires. It allows information to be transmitted over neural pathways.
Neurotransmitters subsequently help communicate information across synapses between
neurons.
10. Which cortical lobe is especially associated with planning, decision making, attention,
and higher-order executive functions?
A) Occipital lobe
B) Temporal lobe
C) Frontal lobe
D) Parietal lobe
Correct Answer: Frontal lobe
Rationale: The frontal lobe contains regions involved in executive functions such as planning,
inhibition, decision making, and aspects of attention. The occipital lobe is strongly associated
with vision, whereas temporal and parietal regions contribute to other perceptual and
cognitive functions.
11. A person can recognize familiar faces but has difficulty recognizing familiar objects.
Which concept is most relevant to this pattern?
A) Serial position effect
B) Feature detection
D570 COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY – OBJECTIVE
ASSESSMENT (OA) – QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
| 2026/2027 LATEST UPDATE
SECTION 1: FOUNDATIONS OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY, COGNITIVE REPRESENTATION,
AND NEUROCOGNITION
Questions 1–15
1. Which description most accurately captures the central concern of cognitive
psychology?
A) The scientific study of observable behavior without reference to internal processes
B) The scientific study of mental processes involved in acquiring, representing, transforming,
and using information
C) The study of unconscious conflicts arising from early childhood experiences
D) The classification of personality traits according to stable behavioral patterns
Correct Answer: The scientific study of mental processes involved in acquiring,
representing, transforming, and using information
Rationale: Cognitive psychology examines internal processes such as perception, attention,
memory, language, reasoning, and problem solving. Unlike strict behaviorism, it treats
mental representations and information processing as legitimate subjects of scientific
investigation. The field therefore focuses on how people receive, transform, store, retrieve,
and use information.
2. A researcher measures reaction times while participants perform increasingly complex
mental rotations. Which approach is being used most directly?
A) Mental chronometry
B) Psychoanalysis
C) Classical conditioning
D) Trait analysis
Correct Answer: Mental chronometry
,Rationale: Mental chronometry uses response time to study the duration of cognitive
processes. Shepard and Metzler's mental-rotation work demonstrated that reaction time can
reveal characteristics of internal representations. The other approaches listed do not
primarily use reaction time to estimate cognitive processing.
3. What did the cognitive revolution most importantly contribute to psychology?
A) It eliminated experimental methods from psychological research.
B) It established introspection as the only valid research method.
C) It restored the scientific study of internal mental processes to mainstream psychology.
D) It demonstrated that reinforcement explains every form of human thought.
Correct Answer: It restored the scientific study of internal mental processes to mainstream
psychology.
Rationale: The cognitive revolution challenged the idea that psychology should restrict itself
to observable behavior. Researchers increasingly investigated memory, language, attention,
reasoning, and mental representations using rigorous experimental methods. This shift
helped establish cognitive psychology as a major scientific perspective.
4. Which historical approach proposed that complex conscious experiences could be
analyzed into basic sensations?
A) Functionalism
B) Behaviorism
C) Gestalt psychology
D) Structuralism
Correct Answer: Structuralism
Rationale: Structuralism attempted to analyze conscious experience into basic elements such
as sensations and feelings. Early researchers used introspective methods to examine these
elements. Gestalt psychology instead emphasized organized wholes, while behaviorism
focused primarily on observable behavior.
5. A person mentally pictures the layout of a familiar bedroom without physically looking
at it. What cognitive phenomenon does this best demonstrate?
A) Mental imagery
B) Selective adaptation
C) Response bias
D) Semantic priming
,Correct Answer: Mental imagery
Rationale: Mental imagery involves representing sensory information internally in the
absence of the corresponding physical stimulus. A person can generate a visual
representation of a familiar environment even when it is not currently visible. This ability
illustrates how information can be represented internally.
6. Which statement best describes a propositional representation?
A) A literal visual copy of an object
B) A representation expressed as an abstract relationship or statement
C) A motor pattern stored exclusively in procedural memory
D) A temporary sensory trace that disappears immediately
Correct Answer: A representation expressed as an abstract relationship or statement
Rationale: Propositional representations encode information in an abstract relational form
rather than as a literal picture. For example, the statement “the cup is beside the book”
represents a relationship between objects. This differs from depictive or image-like
representations.
7. What does the concept of localization of function suggest about the brain?
A) Every cognitive process requires the entire brain equally.
B) Mental processes occur only in the spinal cord.
C) Certain brain regions make especially important contributions to particular functions.
D) Brain regions cannot specialize because neural processing is completely random.
Correct Answer: Certain brain regions make especially important contributions to
particular functions.
Rationale: Localization of function refers to the finding that particular brain regions
contribute disproportionately to particular functions. Examples include language-related
regions and specialized areas involved in visual recognition. Localization does not mean that
complex cognition depends on only one isolated region.
8. Which structure is primarily responsible for carrying electrical signals away from a
neuron's cell body?
A) Dendrite
B) Synaptic cleft
C) Soma
, D) Axon
Correct Answer: Axon
Rationale: The axon conducts electrical signals away from the neuron's cell body toward
other neurons or target cells. Dendrites generally receive incoming signals, while the soma
maintains cellular functions. Communication between neurons ultimately occurs through
synaptic transmission.
9. What is an action potential?
A) A temporary change in the electrical state of a neuron that propagates along its axon
B) A chemical stored permanently inside a synapse
C) A visual representation maintained in working memory
D) A conscious decision to initiate behavior
Correct Answer: A temporary change in the electrical state of a neuron that propagates
along its axon
Rationale: An action potential is the rapid electrical event that travels along an axon when a
neuron fires. It allows information to be transmitted over neural pathways.
Neurotransmitters subsequently help communicate information across synapses between
neurons.
10. Which cortical lobe is especially associated with planning, decision making, attention,
and higher-order executive functions?
A) Occipital lobe
B) Temporal lobe
C) Frontal lobe
D) Parietal lobe
Correct Answer: Frontal lobe
Rationale: The frontal lobe contains regions involved in executive functions such as planning,
inhibition, decision making, and aspects of attention. The occipital lobe is strongly associated
with vision, whereas temporal and parietal regions contribute to other perceptual and
cognitive functions.
11. A person can recognize familiar faces but has difficulty recognizing familiar objects.
Which concept is most relevant to this pattern?
A) Serial position effect
B) Feature detection
