Ch. 1 Intro to Cognitive Psychology
(Cognition by Margaret Matlin); Athabasca
355 UPDATED ACTUAL Questions and
CORRECT Answers
Cognition - CORRECT ANSWER Mental activities involving the acquisition, storage,
transformation, and use of knowledge.
Cognitive psychology - CORRECT ANSWER A theoretical approach that emphasizes people's
knowledge and mental processes.
Empirical evidence - CORRECT ANSWER Scientific evidence obtained by careful observation
and experimentation.
Introspection - CORRECT ANSWER The process of systematically analyzing one's own sensations
and reporting them as objectively as possible.
Recency effect - CORRECT ANSWER Enhanced accuracy for final items in a series of stimuli,
presumably because they are still in the working memory.
Behaviourist approach - CORRECT ANSWER A theoretical perspective that focuses only on
objective, observable reactions and emphasizes the environmental stimuli that determine behaviour.
Operational definition - CORRECT ANSWER A precise definition that specifies exactly how
researchers will measure a concept.
Gestalt psychology - CORRECT ANSWER The theoretical approach that emphasizes human's
basic tendency to organize what they see, and that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
, Gestalt - CORRECT ANSWER Recognition that is based on an overall quality that transcends the
individual elements.
Object permanence - CORRECT ANSWER The knowledge that an object exists, even when it is
temporarily out of sight.
Information-processing approach - CORRECT ANSWER An approach to cognitive psychology
which argues that mental processes can be compared with the operations of a computer and that
information progresses through the system in a series of stages, step-wise.
Atkinson-Shiffrin model - CORRECT ANSWER The proposal that memory can be understood as a
sequence of discrete steps, in which information is transferred from one cognitive storage area to another.
Sensory memory - CORRECT ANSWER A large-capacity storage system that records and briefly
stores information from each one of the senses with reasonable accuracy.
Short-term memory - CORRECT ANSWER The kind of memory that contains only the small
amount of information that a person is actively using. Synonymous with "working memory".
Working memory - CORRECT ANSWER The brief immediate memory for information that is
currently being processed; also coordinates ongoing mental activities.
Long-term memory - CORRECT ANSWER The large-capacity memory that contains one's
memory for experiences and information that has accumulated over a lifetime.
Ecological validity - CORRECT ANSWER Principle stating that the conditions in which research
is conducted should be similar to the natural setting to which the results will be applied.
Cognitive neuroscience - CORRECT ANSWER The field that examines how cognitive processes
can be explained by the structure and function of the brain.
(Cognition by Margaret Matlin); Athabasca
355 UPDATED ACTUAL Questions and
CORRECT Answers
Cognition - CORRECT ANSWER Mental activities involving the acquisition, storage,
transformation, and use of knowledge.
Cognitive psychology - CORRECT ANSWER A theoretical approach that emphasizes people's
knowledge and mental processes.
Empirical evidence - CORRECT ANSWER Scientific evidence obtained by careful observation
and experimentation.
Introspection - CORRECT ANSWER The process of systematically analyzing one's own sensations
and reporting them as objectively as possible.
Recency effect - CORRECT ANSWER Enhanced accuracy for final items in a series of stimuli,
presumably because they are still in the working memory.
Behaviourist approach - CORRECT ANSWER A theoretical perspective that focuses only on
objective, observable reactions and emphasizes the environmental stimuli that determine behaviour.
Operational definition - CORRECT ANSWER A precise definition that specifies exactly how
researchers will measure a concept.
Gestalt psychology - CORRECT ANSWER The theoretical approach that emphasizes human's
basic tendency to organize what they see, and that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
, Gestalt - CORRECT ANSWER Recognition that is based on an overall quality that transcends the
individual elements.
Object permanence - CORRECT ANSWER The knowledge that an object exists, even when it is
temporarily out of sight.
Information-processing approach - CORRECT ANSWER An approach to cognitive psychology
which argues that mental processes can be compared with the operations of a computer and that
information progresses through the system in a series of stages, step-wise.
Atkinson-Shiffrin model - CORRECT ANSWER The proposal that memory can be understood as a
sequence of discrete steps, in which information is transferred from one cognitive storage area to another.
Sensory memory - CORRECT ANSWER A large-capacity storage system that records and briefly
stores information from each one of the senses with reasonable accuracy.
Short-term memory - CORRECT ANSWER The kind of memory that contains only the small
amount of information that a person is actively using. Synonymous with "working memory".
Working memory - CORRECT ANSWER The brief immediate memory for information that is
currently being processed; also coordinates ongoing mental activities.
Long-term memory - CORRECT ANSWER The large-capacity memory that contains one's
memory for experiences and information that has accumulated over a lifetime.
Ecological validity - CORRECT ANSWER Principle stating that the conditions in which research
is conducted should be similar to the natural setting to which the results will be applied.
Cognitive neuroscience - CORRECT ANSWER The field that examines how cognitive processes
can be explained by the structure and function of the brain.
