01 - Introduction to Cognitive Psychology
1. The example at the beginning of the book, in which Ruben talks to his friend on a mobile phone on his way to class,
was used to illustrate how
a. cognitive psychologists study problem solving in adults.
b. several different cognitive processes can take place at one time.
c. human cognition is affected by emotional events.
d. both physiology and behaviour is important to the study of cognition.
ANSWER: b
2. Attention, perception, memory, and decision making are all different types of mental processes in which the mind
engages. These are known as different types of
a. models.
b. cognition.
c. reaction times.
d. savings.
ANSWER: b
3. The branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of the mind is called
a. cognitive psychology.
b. introspection.
c. behaviourism.
d. memory consolidation.
ANSWER: a
4. Donders' (1868) main reason for doing his choice reaction time experiment was to study
a. sensation.
b. childhood attachment styles.
c. decision making.
d. personality development.
ANSWER: c
Copyright Cengage Learning. Powered by Cognero. Page 1
, Name: Class: Date:
01 - Introduction to Cognitive Psychology
5. By comparing reaction times across different tasks, Donders (1868) was able to conclude how long the mind needs to
perform a certain cognitive task. Donders interpreted the difference in reaction time between the simple and choice
conditions of his experiment as indicating how long it took to
a. perceive the stimulus.
b. process the stimulus.
c. attend to the stimulus.
d. make a decision about the stimulus.
ANSWER: d
6. The main point of the Donders' (1868) reaction time experiments was to
a. show that reaction times can be measured accurately.
b. measure the amount of time it takes to make a decision.
c. determine differences in the way people react to stimuli.
d. show that our cognitions are often based on unconscious inferences.
ANSWER: b
7. Reaction time refers to the time between the ________ of a stimulus and a person's response to it.
a. sensation
b. transduction
c. change in intensity
d. presentation
ANSWER: d
8. In Donders' (1868) experiment on decision making, when participants were asked to press one button if the light on
the left was illuminated and another button if the light on the right was illuminated, they were engaged in a
a. reaction time task.
b. simple reaction time task.
c. choice reaction time task.
d. presentation task.
ANSWER: c
Copyright Cengage Learning. Powered by Cognero. Page 2