Free Cognitive Psychology MCQs with Answers

• A. shape
• B. height
• C. distance
• D. convergence

Explanation: In the Ponzo illusion, converging lines create depth cues like railway tracks, so the upper object is perceived as farther away and…

• A. form, substance
• B. up, down
• C. summer, winter
• D. moon, sky

Explanation: A figure is an object that stands out against its ground or background, just as the moon stands out against the sky.

• A. perceptual set
• B. selective attention
• C. figure-ground perception
• D. interposition

Explanation: Figure-ground perception involves separating a distinct object, the figure, from its surrounding background, the ground.

• A. German
• B. French
• C. Latin
• D. Spanish

Explanation: Gestalt is a German word referring to a configuration, pattern, or organized whole.

• A. lens
• B. cornea
• C. pupil
• D. fovea

Explanation: The iris controls the amount of light entering the eye by changing the size of the pupil.

• A. fovea
• B. ganglion
• C. cone
• D. rod

Explanation: Rods are highly sensitive to low levels of light and support dim-light, mostly black-and-white vision.

• A. shadowing
• B. selective listening
• C. parallel processing
• D. None of these

Explanation: Selective listening is the ability to focus on one conversation or auditory stream while filtering out competing voices.

• A. perception is the same as sensation
• B. we learn to perceive the world through experience
• C. the whole is more than the sum of its parts
• D. sensation has no effect on perception

Explanation: Gestalt psychologists argued that perception organizes individual sensations into meaningful patterns, so the whole has properties that…

• A. rods
• B. cones
• C. bipolar cells
• D. feature detectors

Explanation: Cones are the retinal receptor cells responsible for colour vision, allowing discrimination among different wavelengths of light.

• A. sensory processes
• B. top-down processes
• C. bottom-up processes
• D. parallel processes

Explanation: Top-down processing begins with expectations, prior knowledge, and context, which guide the interpretation of incoming sensory…

• A. lens
• B. retina
• C. cornea
• D. iris

Explanation: The iris is the coloured muscular ring that contracts or relaxes to regulate the pupil's opening and control how much light enters the…

• A. binocular cue
• B. interposition
• C. perceptual adaptation
• D. organized whole

Explanation: Gestalt psychology emphasizes that perception organizes separate elements into a meaningful whole, or Gestalt.

• A. perceptual set
• B. selective viewing
• C. Stroop interference
• D. frame illusion

Explanation: A perceptual set is a readiness to perceive something in a particular way because of expectations, emotions, or situational context.

• A. vestibular sacs
• B. olfactory receptors
• C. bipolar cells
• D. basilar membrane

Explanation: Olfactory receptors detect airborne chemicals, including the odourants used to signal many household gas leaks.

• A. pupils
• B. corneas
• C. rods and cones
• D. bipolar cells

Explanation: Hair cells transduce sound vibrations in the cochlea, while rods and cones transduce light in the retina.

• A. smell
• B. touch
• C. kinesthesia
• D. pain

Explanation: Opponent-process theory explains colour vision through opposing colour pairs, whereas gate-control theory explains how spinal mechanisms…

• A. binocular disparity
• B. a frame of reference
• C. a linear perspective
• D. bottom-up processing

Explanation: The moon-cloud illusion shows that perceived movement depends on the surrounding visual frame of reference, making the stationary moon…

• A. optic nerve
• B. cornea
• C. retina
• D. iris

Explanation: The retina is the light-sensitive inner layer of the eye and contains rods for low-light vision and cones for colour and detailed vision.

• A. convergence
• B. continuity
• C. interposition
• D. closure

Explanation: Interposition, also called occlusion, occurs when one object partly blocks another, making the blocking object appear closer.

• A. ossicles
• B. eardrum
• C. basilar membrane
• D. tectorial membrane

Explanation: Sound waves first make the eardrum, or tympanic membrane, vibrate; the ossicles then transmit and amplify those vibrations to the inner…