WGU D570 Cognitive Psychology OA Exam Actual
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with Rationales – Pass Guaranteed - A+ Graded
Section 1: Foundations of Cognitive Psychology & Research Methods
Q1. Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener are best known for founding which school of
psychology, characterized by the use of introspection to identify the basic elements of
conscious experience?
A. Functionalism
B. Gestalt psychology
C. Structuralism [CORRECT]
D. Behaviorism
Rationale: The best answer is structuralism. Wundt and Titchener sought to break down
conscious experience into its basic sensory components through systematic
introspection, which was the defining method of the structuralist school.
Correct Answer: C
Q2. William James is most closely associated with which perspective in psychology,
emphasizing the adaptive purpose of consciousness and the continuous flow of mental
life?
A. Structuralism
,B. Psychoanalysis
C. Functionalism [CORRECT]
D. Behaviorism
Rationale: The best answer is functionalism. James focused on how the mind functions
to help organisms adapt to their environment, famously describing consciousness as a
continuous stream rather than a set of static elements.
Correct Answer: C
Q3. During the behaviorist era, John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner argued that psychology
should focus exclusively on observable behavior and rejected the scientific study of
mental processes. Which development in the 1950s and 1960s is credited with shifting
psychology back toward the study of internal mental processes?
A. The discovery of classical conditioning
B. The cognitive revolution [CORRECT]
C. The invention of psychoanalysis
D. The standardization of IQ testing
Rationale: The best answer is the cognitive revolution. This period, marked by Neisser's
book Cognitive Psychology, Chomsky's critique of behaviorism, Miller's work on memory
capacity, and the computer metaphor of mind, reestablished the scientific legitimacy of
studying internal mental representations and information processing.
Correct Answer: C
,Q4. A researcher wants to measure how long it takes a person to make a simple
decision. Using Franciscus Donders' subtraction method, the researcher compares
simple reaction time to choice reaction time. What cognitive process is the researcher
attempting to isolate?
A. The duration of motor execution
B. The time required for stimulus detection
C. The duration of mental decision-making [CORRECT]
D. The speed of neural transmission
Rationale: The best answer is the duration of mental decision-making. Donders
reasoned that subtracting simple RT from choice RT would yield an estimate of the
additional time needed for the mental process of discriminating between stimuli and
selecting a response.
Correct Answer: C
Q5. A cognitive neuroscientist is studying brain activity during a reading task and needs
excellent spatial resolution to pinpoint which cortical areas are active. Which
neuroimaging technique is best suited for this purpose?
A. EEG
B. fMRI [CORRECT]
C. MEG
D. TMS
, Rationale: The best answer is fMRI. Functional magnetic resonance imaging tracks
blood flow changes to identify active brain regions with very good spatial resolution,
though its temporal resolution is slower than methods like EEG or MEG.
Correct Answer: C
Q6. In a signal detection experiment, a participant frequently says "yes, I detect the
signal" even when the signal is absent. Which concept best captures this participant's
tendency?
A. High sensitivity (d')
B. Response bias or criterion [CORRECT]
C. Correct rejection rate
D. Hit rate
Rationale: The best answer is response bias or criterion. Signal detection theory
separates sensitivity, which reflects the ability to distinguish signal from noise, from
response bias, which reflects the participant's willingness to say yes; a liberal criterion
produces many false alarms.
Correct Answer: C
Q7. A researcher designs an experiment in which some participants learn a list of words
in a quiet room and others learn the same list in a noisy room. All participants are later
tested for recall in a quiet room. What is the independent variable in this study?
A. The number of words recalled
B. The noise level during learning [CORRECT]
Exam | Complete Questions Correct Verified Answers
with Rationales – Pass Guaranteed - A+ Graded
Section 1: Foundations of Cognitive Psychology & Research Methods
Q1. Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener are best known for founding which school of
psychology, characterized by the use of introspection to identify the basic elements of
conscious experience?
A. Functionalism
B. Gestalt psychology
C. Structuralism [CORRECT]
D. Behaviorism
Rationale: The best answer is structuralism. Wundt and Titchener sought to break down
conscious experience into its basic sensory components through systematic
introspection, which was the defining method of the structuralist school.
Correct Answer: C
Q2. William James is most closely associated with which perspective in psychology,
emphasizing the adaptive purpose of consciousness and the continuous flow of mental
life?
A. Structuralism
,B. Psychoanalysis
C. Functionalism [CORRECT]
D. Behaviorism
Rationale: The best answer is functionalism. James focused on how the mind functions
to help organisms adapt to their environment, famously describing consciousness as a
continuous stream rather than a set of static elements.
Correct Answer: C
Q3. During the behaviorist era, John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner argued that psychology
should focus exclusively on observable behavior and rejected the scientific study of
mental processes. Which development in the 1950s and 1960s is credited with shifting
psychology back toward the study of internal mental processes?
A. The discovery of classical conditioning
B. The cognitive revolution [CORRECT]
C. The invention of psychoanalysis
D. The standardization of IQ testing
Rationale: The best answer is the cognitive revolution. This period, marked by Neisser's
book Cognitive Psychology, Chomsky's critique of behaviorism, Miller's work on memory
capacity, and the computer metaphor of mind, reestablished the scientific legitimacy of
studying internal mental representations and information processing.
Correct Answer: C
,Q4. A researcher wants to measure how long it takes a person to make a simple
decision. Using Franciscus Donders' subtraction method, the researcher compares
simple reaction time to choice reaction time. What cognitive process is the researcher
attempting to isolate?
A. The duration of motor execution
B. The time required for stimulus detection
C. The duration of mental decision-making [CORRECT]
D. The speed of neural transmission
Rationale: The best answer is the duration of mental decision-making. Donders
reasoned that subtracting simple RT from choice RT would yield an estimate of the
additional time needed for the mental process of discriminating between stimuli and
selecting a response.
Correct Answer: C
Q5. A cognitive neuroscientist is studying brain activity during a reading task and needs
excellent spatial resolution to pinpoint which cortical areas are active. Which
neuroimaging technique is best suited for this purpose?
A. EEG
B. fMRI [CORRECT]
C. MEG
D. TMS
, Rationale: The best answer is fMRI. Functional magnetic resonance imaging tracks
blood flow changes to identify active brain regions with very good spatial resolution,
though its temporal resolution is slower than methods like EEG or MEG.
Correct Answer: C
Q6. In a signal detection experiment, a participant frequently says "yes, I detect the
signal" even when the signal is absent. Which concept best captures this participant's
tendency?
A. High sensitivity (d')
B. Response bias or criterion [CORRECT]
C. Correct rejection rate
D. Hit rate
Rationale: The best answer is response bias or criterion. Signal detection theory
separates sensitivity, which reflects the ability to distinguish signal from noise, from
response bias, which reflects the participant's willingness to say yes; a liberal criterion
produces many false alarms.
Correct Answer: C
Q7. A researcher designs an experiment in which some participants learn a list of words
in a quiet room and others learn the same list in a noisy room. All participants are later
tested for recall in a quiet room. What is the independent variable in this study?
A. The number of words recalled
B. The noise level during learning [CORRECT]
