BAPSY Cognitive Psychology and Processes 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which cognitive bias leads people to overestimate the likelihood of events that are easily recalled from memory?
- Representative heuristic
- Availability heuristic (Correct answer)
- Framing effect
- Base-rate neglect
Correct answer: Availability heuristic
The availability heuristic causes people to judge probability based on how easily examples come to mind, often leading to overestimates of memorable or vivid events.
Question 2: Semantic priming occurs when:
- A target word is preceded by a phonologically similar word
- A target word is preceded by a conceptually related word (Correct answer)
- Repeated exposure to a stimulus improves its processing
- Context cues restore forgotten memories
Correct answer: A target word is preceded by a conceptually related word
Semantic priming refers to faster or more accurate processing of a target word when it is preceded by a semantically related prime word.
Question 3: In language comprehension, 'garden-path sentences' demonstrate that the mind:
- Always processes sentences from right to left
- Uses top-down processing exclusively
- Commits to an initial syntactic interpretation that may need revision (Correct answer)
- Holds all possible interpretations simultaneously until disambiguation
Correct answer: Commits to an initial syntactic interpretation that may need revision
Garden-path sentences show that readers commit to the most probable initial parse, requiring costly reanalysis when the sentence ends unexpectedly.
Question 4: Which executive function allows a person to stop an ongoing response when circumstances change?
- Updating
- Shifting
- Inhibition (Correct answer)
- Planning
Correct answer: Inhibition
Inhibition is the executive function that suppresses prepotent or ongoing responses when they are no longer appropriate.
Question 5: Episodic memory differs from semantic memory primarily in that episodic memory:
- Stores general world knowledge
- Is encoded implicitly without conscious awareness
- Contains personally experienced events with spatial-temporal context (Correct answer)
- Supports motor skill learning
Correct answer: Contains personally experienced events with spatial-temporal context
Episodic memory stores autobiographical events tied to specific times and places, whereas semantic memory contains general factual knowledge without personal context.
Question 6: According to dual-process theory, System 2 thinking is characterized as:
- Fast, automatic, and effortless
- Slow, deliberate, and effortful (Correct answer)
- Unconscious and emotion-driven
- Based purely on heuristics
Correct answer: Slow, deliberate, and effortful
System 2 is the slow, analytical mode of thinking that requires conscious effort and cognitive resources, contrasted with the fast, automatic System 1.
Question 7: Which phenomenon describes improved memory for items at the beginning of a list compared to middle items?
- Recency effect
- Primacy effect (Correct answer)
- Von Restorff effect
- Generation effect
Correct answer: Primacy effect
The primacy effect refers to better recall of early list items, attributed to greater rehearsal that transfers them to long-term memory.
BAPSY Cognitive Psychology and Processes 3
Which cognitive bias leads people to overestimate the likelihood of events that are easily recalled from memory?