GRE: Cognitive Psychology UPDATED
ACTUAL Questions and CORRECT
Answers
Hermann Ebbinghaus - CORRECT ANSWER - COG
When? 1885
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
The "father" of modern memory research. He studied memory using nonsense syllables and the
method of savings approach.
Additionally, he is known for his discovery of the forgetting curve and the spacing effect. He was
also the first person to describe the learning curve.
Edward Titchener - CORRECT ANSWER - COG
When? 1867 - 1927
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
A structuralist who studied consciousness by using introspection in a laboratory environment. He
spawned three other systems of thought in reaction to structuralism: functionalism, behaviorism,
and Gestalt psychology.
What research methods are used in cognitive psychology? - CORRECT ANSWER - 1.
Reaction time
2. Eye movements
3. Brain imaging
Reaction Time - CORRECT ANSWER - Measurement of the amount of time elapsed
between a stimulus presentation and it's subject's response to it.
,This method has been especially useful in studying the organization of cognitive processes.
Eye Movements - CORRECT ANSWER - An "on-line" measure - one that can be
measures as the subject is completing a task - of information processing.
This method has been especially effective in studying reading and language comprehension.
Brain Imaging - CORRECT ANSWER - This method is used to associate various
cognitive processes with various parts of the brain.
Who used nonsense syllables to study memory? - CORRECT ANSWER - Hermann
Ebbinghaus
Who's study is this:
This scientist memorized a list of nonsense syllables, one at a time, as they appeared on the list.
After one list, he would distract himself with other lists. He would then return to the original list
and use the methods of savings approach to measure his memory retention. This approach
entailed that he compare the number of times he had to reread the list for rememorization with
the number of reads if took to originally memorize it. If he rememorized the list faster than he
originally memorized it, he concluded that he had remembered something from the first time.
To quantify memory retention:
# of original trials - # of rememorization trials/original number of trials(100)
These experiments led to this scientist developing the forgetting curve. - CORRECT
ANSWER - Hermann Ebbinghaus
Forgetting Curve - CORRECT ANSWER - Hermann Ebbinghaus developed this from his
memory retention experiments. The forgetting curve hypothesizes the decline of memory
retention in time. This curve shows how information is lost over time when there is no attempt to
retain it.
, Notice that, after a period of rapidly forgetting learned matieral, forgetting plateaus and we forget
at a much lesser rate.
What 3 mental processes (or stages) do most modern theories of memory suggest exist? -
CORRECT ANSWER - 1. Encoding
2. Storage
3. Retrieval
Encoding - CORRECT ANSWER - Involves putting new information into memory. It is
important to note that different systems encode verbal information differently.
Encoding for verbal materials in short-term memory tends to be acoustic or phonological (not
visual). Encoding for verbal materials in long-term memory tends to be based upon their
meaning. The latter assertion has been supported by studies of semantic priming.
Semantic Priming - CORRECT ANSWER - In this task, subjects have to decide whether a
stimulus is a word or a non-word. In one classic experiment, subjects were presented with pairs
of words that were either semantically related (i.e. NURSE-DOCTOR) or now (i.e. NURSE-
BUTTER). When choosing whether both words in a pair were real words, subjects response
times were slower if the word pairs were not semantically related.
Subjects needed more time to think about the validity of non-associated words as opposed to
associated words (which are presumably 'closer' to each other in the brain).
Storage - CORRECT ANSWER - Involves retaining information over time.
Retrieval - CORRECT ANSWER - Involves the recovery of stored material at a later time.
There are two types of retrieval: recall and recognition.
The 'tip-of-the-tongue' phenomenon signals an issue with retrieval.
ACTUAL Questions and CORRECT
Answers
Hermann Ebbinghaus - CORRECT ANSWER - COG
When? 1885
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
The "father" of modern memory research. He studied memory using nonsense syllables and the
method of savings approach.
Additionally, he is known for his discovery of the forgetting curve and the spacing effect. He was
also the first person to describe the learning curve.
Edward Titchener - CORRECT ANSWER - COG
When? 1867 - 1927
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
A structuralist who studied consciousness by using introspection in a laboratory environment. He
spawned three other systems of thought in reaction to structuralism: functionalism, behaviorism,
and Gestalt psychology.
What research methods are used in cognitive psychology? - CORRECT ANSWER - 1.
Reaction time
2. Eye movements
3. Brain imaging
Reaction Time - CORRECT ANSWER - Measurement of the amount of time elapsed
between a stimulus presentation and it's subject's response to it.
,This method has been especially useful in studying the organization of cognitive processes.
Eye Movements - CORRECT ANSWER - An "on-line" measure - one that can be
measures as the subject is completing a task - of information processing.
This method has been especially effective in studying reading and language comprehension.
Brain Imaging - CORRECT ANSWER - This method is used to associate various
cognitive processes with various parts of the brain.
Who used nonsense syllables to study memory? - CORRECT ANSWER - Hermann
Ebbinghaus
Who's study is this:
This scientist memorized a list of nonsense syllables, one at a time, as they appeared on the list.
After one list, he would distract himself with other lists. He would then return to the original list
and use the methods of savings approach to measure his memory retention. This approach
entailed that he compare the number of times he had to reread the list for rememorization with
the number of reads if took to originally memorize it. If he rememorized the list faster than he
originally memorized it, he concluded that he had remembered something from the first time.
To quantify memory retention:
# of original trials - # of rememorization trials/original number of trials(100)
These experiments led to this scientist developing the forgetting curve. - CORRECT
ANSWER - Hermann Ebbinghaus
Forgetting Curve - CORRECT ANSWER - Hermann Ebbinghaus developed this from his
memory retention experiments. The forgetting curve hypothesizes the decline of memory
retention in time. This curve shows how information is lost over time when there is no attempt to
retain it.
, Notice that, after a period of rapidly forgetting learned matieral, forgetting plateaus and we forget
at a much lesser rate.
What 3 mental processes (or stages) do most modern theories of memory suggest exist? -
CORRECT ANSWER - 1. Encoding
2. Storage
3. Retrieval
Encoding - CORRECT ANSWER - Involves putting new information into memory. It is
important to note that different systems encode verbal information differently.
Encoding for verbal materials in short-term memory tends to be acoustic or phonological (not
visual). Encoding for verbal materials in long-term memory tends to be based upon their
meaning. The latter assertion has been supported by studies of semantic priming.
Semantic Priming - CORRECT ANSWER - In this task, subjects have to decide whether a
stimulus is a word or a non-word. In one classic experiment, subjects were presented with pairs
of words that were either semantically related (i.e. NURSE-DOCTOR) or now (i.e. NURSE-
BUTTER). When choosing whether both words in a pair were real words, subjects response
times were slower if the word pairs were not semantically related.
Subjects needed more time to think about the validity of non-associated words as opposed to
associated words (which are presumably 'closer' to each other in the brain).
Storage - CORRECT ANSWER - Involves retaining information over time.
Retrieval - CORRECT ANSWER - Involves the recovery of stored material at a later time.
There are two types of retrieval: recall and recognition.
The 'tip-of-the-tongue' phenomenon signals an issue with retrieval.
