FREE Psychology Degree Cognitive Psychology Principles Questions and Answers

Question 1

Which cognitive psychology principle best explains why an eyewitness might struggle to accurately recall details of a crime scene if they were under extreme stress during the event?

Accepted Answer

Yerkes-Dodson Law

Answer

Encoding Specificity Principle

Answer

Levels of Processing Theory

Answer

Dual-Coding Theory

Question 2

A student consistently studies for their psychology exam in the same quiet library carrel. On exam day, they find themselves struggling to recall information in the noisy university gymnasium where the exam is held. This scenario best illustrates which cognitive principle?

Accepted Answer

Context-Dependent Memory

Answer

Metacognition

Answer

Spreading Activation

Answer

Prospective Memory

Question 3

Which of the following describes the 'cocktail party effect' and the cognitive process it demonstrates?

Accepted Answer

The phenomenon of being able to focus on one auditory stimulus while filtering out others; demonstrating selective attention.

Answer

The ability to remember a long list of items; demonstrating serial position effect.

Answer

The tendency to perceive incomplete figures as complete; demonstrating Gestalt principles.

Answer

The process of forming mental images to improve memory; demonstrating dual-coding theory.

Question 4

According to Baddeley's model of working memory, which component is responsible for processing and maintaining visual and spatial information?

Accepted Answer

Visuospatial Sketchpad

Answer

Phonological Loop

Answer

Central Executive

Answer

Episodic Buffer

Question 5

A person is asked to remember a list of words: 'apple, pear, banana, orange, grape, strawberry.' Later, they are given a cue: 'fruit.' This cue significantly improves their recall of the words. This phenomenon is best explained by which memory principle?

Accepted Answer

Retrieval Cues

Answer

Proactive Interference

Answer

Decay Theory

Answer

Source Monitoring

Question 6

Which cognitive bias describes the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one's preexisting beliefs or hypotheses?

Accepted Answer

Confirmation Bias

Answer

Anchoring Bias

Answer

Availability Heuristic

Answer

Hindsight Bias