Free Cognitive Psychology MCQs with Answers

552 Cognitive Psychology MCQs from Psychology, each with the correct answer and a written explanation of why it is correct. Free and unlimited, with no account needed.

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552 questions · page 17 of 28

  • A. closure
  • B. continuation
  • C. similarity
  • D. nearness.

Explanation: The Gestalt principle of similarity causes people to perceive objects sharing color, shape, size, or form as belonging together.

Correct answer: similarity
  • A. sensation
  • B. echo
  • C. icon
  • D. illusionGet Study Guides

Explanation: An icon is the brief visual trace held in sensory memory after a stimulus disappears, known as iconic memory.

Correct answer: icon
  • A. encoding failure
  • B. repression
  • C. retroactive interference.
  • D. proactive interference

Explanation: Proactive interference occurs when earlier learning disrupts the recall of newer information.

Correct answer: proactive interference
  • A. sensation
  • B. perception
  • C. adaptation
  • D. cognition

Explanation: Sensation is the initial detection and reception of information by sensory receptors, whereas perception involves interpreting that…

Correct answer: sensation
  • A. humanistic
  • B. cognitive
  • C. behavioral
  • D. biological

Explanation: Cognitive psychology examines internal mental processes such as thinking, perception, memory and information processing.

Correct answer: cognitive
  • A. Retroactive and proactive interference are less than that in recall
  • B. Retroactive and proactive interference are more than that in recall
  • C. Retroactive interference is less but proactive interference is more than that in recall
  • D. Retroactive interference is more but proactive interference is less than that in recall

Explanation: Recognition supplies memory cues because the person only has to identify a previously encountered item, so retroactive interference is…

Correct answer: Retroactive interference is less but proactive interference is more than that in recall
  • A. Visual code
  • B. Semantic code
  • C. Acoustic code
  • D. All of the above

Explanation: Short-term memory can use visual, semantic, and acoustic codes, although acoustic coding is often considered its dominant form.

Correct answer: All of the above
  • A. Figure-ground, proximity, continuity
  • B. Proximity, continuity, good form
  • C. Continuity, good form, closure
  • D. All of the above

Explanation: Figure-ground, proximity, continuity, good form, and closure are all Gestalt principles used to organize perceptual information.

Correct answer: All of the above
  • A. Biophysical pattern
  • B. Biosocial pattern
  • C. Biochemical pattern
  • D. Bioelectrical patternEnroll In Courses

Explanation: Long-term memory depends substantially on biochemical changes in neurons, including protein synthesis and altered synaptic connections.

Correct answer: Biochemical pattern
  • A. wrong to right
  • B. right to wrong
  • C. wrong to wrong
  • D. None of these

Explanation: Studies of answer changing generally find that wrong-to-right changes occur more often than right-to-wrong changes.

Correct answer: wrong to right
  • A. musical
  • B. verbal
  • C. mathematical
  • D. performance

Explanation: Gardner’s intelligences include musical, linguistic or verbal, and logical-mathematical abilities.

Correct answer: performance
  • A. prototype
  • B. heuristic
  • C. concept
  • D. algorithm

Explanation: A concept is a mental category used to group objects or events with common features, such as the category represented by the word “tree.”…

Correct answer: concept
  • A. algorithm
  • B. heuristic
  • C. schema
  • D. mental set

Explanation: A schema is an organized mental framework containing knowledge and expectations about objects, events, or situations.

Correct answer: schema
  • A. developmental psychology
  • B. social psychology
  • C. clinical psychology
  • D. cognitive psychology

Explanation: Cognitive psychology studies mental processes such as problem solving, decision making, memory, and concept formation.

Correct answer: cognitive psychology
  • A. semantic shifts
  • B. EEG readings
  • C. reaction time
  • D. rehearsal time

Explanation: Reaction time is widely used as an indirect measure of cognitive processing because harder or more complex mental operations generally…

Correct answer: reaction time
  • A. mental imagery
  • B. functional fixedness
  • C. the framing effect
  • D. algorithms

Explanation: Mental imagery shows that people can represent and manipulate visual information without putting it into words.

Correct answer: mental imagery
  • A. fluid intelligence
  • B. concrete operational intelligence
  • C. crystallized intelligence
  • D. formal operational intelligence

Explanation: Crystallized intelligence consists of accumulated knowledge, vocabulary, and learned verbal skills.

Correct answer: crystallized intelligence
  • A. three dimensions
  • B. 180 dimensions
  • C. 120 dimensions
  • D. 10 dimensions

Explanation: Guilford’s Structure of Intellect model organized intelligence into three dimensions: operations, contents, and products.

Correct answer: three dimensions
  • A. Herbert Simon
  • B. J. P. Guilford
  • C. Martin Seligman
  • D. Joseph Wolpe

Explanation: J. P. Guilford distinguished convergent thinking, which narrows information toward one correct answer, from divergent thinking, which…

Correct answer: J. P. Guilford
  • A. factor analysis
  • B. construct analysis
  • C. Spearman's g factor
  • D. hypothesis testing

Explanation: Factor analysis identifies clusters of correlated abilities, allowing psychologists to infer the component factors underlying…

Correct answer: factor analysis