Free Cognitive Psychology MCQs with Answers

• A. People tend to gravitate toward a common interaction distance
• B. Objects nearer to each other appear closer to the person observing
• C. Perception occurs in discrete time frames
• D. Objects nearer to each other are seen as forming a unit

Explanation: Proximity means that elements close to one another are naturally perceived as belonging together, so nearby objects form a visual unit.

• A. Figure-ground
• B. Symmetry
• C. Similarity
• D. Closure

Explanation: Closure leads the visual system to fill in missing portions and perceive an incomplete series of dots as a continuous line or whole…

• A. What parts of the brain are used in speech production
• B. The relationship between the wavelength of light and the experience of color
• C. The effect of neurotransmitters on depression
• D. Our psychological reactions to physical stress

Explanation: Psychophysics examines how measurable physical properties of stimuli relate to subjective experience, such as how light wavelength is…

• A. Prime theory
• B. Opponent process theory
• C. Signal detection theory
• D. Frequency theory

Explanation: Signal detection theory explains how alertness, expectations, fatigue, and other psychological factors affect the detection of weak…

• A. 1250 to be noticed
• B. 1200 to be noticed
• C. 1010 to be noticed
• D. 1100 to be noticed

Explanation: Weber’s law predicts a roughly constant proportional difference threshold: a 10% increase from 100 to 110 Hz was needed, so 1000 Hz would…

• A. Diminishing sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus
• B. Adjustment in the opening of the eye
• C. The process by which stimulus energies are changed into neural impulses
• D. Changes in the shape of the lens as it focuses on objectsEnroll In Courses

Explanation: Sensory adaptation is the reduced responsiveness that develops when an unchanging stimulus remains present, such as becoming less aware of…

• A. Parallel processing
• B. Feature detectors
• C. Sensory adaptation
• D. Visual acuity

Explanation: Small irregularities in the eye’s shape can prevent light from focusing sharply on the retina, reducing visual acuity.

• A. Color constancy
• B. Sensory interaction
• C. The rubber-hand illusion
• D. Phantom limb sensations

Explanation: The McGurk effect shows sensory interaction because visual information from lip movements alters how an accompanying speech sound is…

• A. Temporal lobe
• B. Cochlea
• C. Oval window
• D. Stirrup

Explanation: The cochlea contains the organ of Corti, where hair cells convert sound vibrations into neural signals.

• A. The fact that perceptions are often reconstructions of events
• B. The low degree of accuracy of human psi phenomena
• C. Perceptual closure operating in a real life situation
• D. An "innocence of vision" in stressful situations

Explanation: Eyewitness perception is not a perfect recording; memory and expectations can reconstruct or distort what was seen, especially in…

• A. top-down processing
• B. bottom-up processing
• C. perceptual expectancies
• D. illusions

Explanation: Inductive reasoning builds a general conclusion from specific observations, just as bottom-up processing builds perception from incoming…

• A. a misleading perception that distorts or misjudges a stimulus
• B. top-down procession
• C. the organization of perception by beginning with low-level features
• D. bottom-up processing

Explanation: Perceptual expectancies are formed through top-down processing, in which prior knowledge and expectations influence how sensory…

• A. our attention depends on different motor system
• B. we use selective attention
• C. we use divided attention
• D. we use sequential attention

Explanation: Walking and chewing gum at the same time requires attention to be allocated across two ongoing activities, which illustrates divided…

• A. transduction
• B. difference thresholds
• C. sensory adaption
• D. top-down processing

Explanation: Expectations can shape how incoming sensory signals are interpreted and experienced, which is top-down processing.

• A. aerial perspective
• B. linear perspective
• C. relative size
• D. relative motionTry Prep Courses

Explanation: Relative motion is the depth cue in which nearby objects appear to move faster across the visual field than distant objects as the…

• A. motion
• B. size
• C. color
• D. brightness

Explanation: Perceived distance helps the visual system judge an object's size, supporting size constancy.

• A. common region
• B. simplicity
• C. closure
• D. continuity

Explanation: The principle of continuity leads us to perceive lines or paths as continuing smoothly in their original direction rather than making an…

• A. Muller-Lyer illusion
• B. horizontal-vertical illusion
• C. illusion of convergence
• D. Ponzo illusion

Explanation: The Müller-Lyer illusion occurs when inward- and outward-pointing angles make equal lengths appear different, much like the corners of a…

• A. close objects are seen clearly but distant objects appear blurry
• B. the focus of light from close objects falls behind the retina
• C. the focus of light from distant objects falls a little short of the retina
• D. a & b

Explanation: In farsightedness, or hyperopia, the eye focuses light from nearby objects behind the retina, making close vision blurred.

• A. the what pathway, the where pathway
• B. the where pathway; what pathway
• C. the opponent process pathway; the trichromatic pathway
• D. the trichromatic pathway; the opponent process pathway

Explanation: The dorsal stream is the where pathway, carrying visual information toward the parietal lobes for location and action.