Exam 1 FORM 1 NAME________________________________

Spring 2000
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Erwin Segal

Circle in your Name and Student Number (at Identification Number; start at left and leave no spaces) on the Answer Sheet. Circle in the 1 for Form 1 under "Grade or Education." Also write your name on this booklet. There is one best answer per question. If you don't know the answer, it is better to guess than to leave it blank, as your grade is based on the total number correct.

1. The notion that we use a basic set of geons, or geometric ions, in object recognition is central to:

A) Biederman's theory of object recognition by component parts. B) Marr's feature analysis theory. C) Hoffman and Richards theory of gestalt segmentation. D) Gibson's theory of the structure of perception.
2. If one looks at a speech spectrograph it can be seen that : A) each phoneme has its particular sounds which are easily identified. B) Phonemes and words are clearly delimited by breaks in the energy stream. C) Two different phonemes may have essentially the same physical properties and still be clearly identifiable in context. D) representation of the speaker, and representation of the phoneme spoken occur in different parts of the spectrograph.
3. Subjects are most likely to make errors between consonants that vary in only one feature. This evidence supports the idea that: A) phonemes are compared to exemplars before recognition occurs. B) phoneme recognition is essentially a template matching process. C) phonemes are recognized by their features. D) phonemes must be segmented and analyzed before recognition occurs.
4. McClelland and Rumelhart proposed a connectionist model of excitation and inhibition for the word superiority effect (better recognition of letters within words than within random letter strings). The connections that produces the effect are: A) excitatory links from features to letters. B) excitatory links from words to letters. C) excitatory links from letters to words. D) excitatory links among words.
5. Treisman and Gelade's study of features and attention revealed that: A) subjects had to know the location of a stimulus in the display in order to detect any features. B) subjects could identify even multiple conjunctions of features without knowing their location. C) subjects had to know the location of a stimulus in the display in order to detect a conjunction of features, but not to detect isolated features. D) location of unique conjunctions of features is accomplished without attention.
6. In the clinical condition called unilateral visual neglect, patients: A) ignore information in the visual field on the same side as the brain damage. B) appear to lose significant visual detail only if there is damage to the right spatial side of the brain. C) ignore information in either visual field only if there is damage to the right spatial brain. D) ignore information in the visual field on the opposite side as the brain damage.
7. The issue of divided attention asks what basic question? A) How are voluntary and involuntary attention divided? B) When does an automatic process shift to a controlled automatic process? C) How will people perform when they try to carry on two tasks at the same time? D) How do people shift their focus between the physical and contextual demands of a stimulus array?
8. Paivio's dual-code theory of knowledge representation proposes that: A) each stimulus is encoded in terms of both elemental features and higher order meanings. B) stimuli are transformed into both an acoustic representation and a semantic representation. C) stimuli are encoded for both automatic and controlled processing. D) there are separate verbal and visual representations.
9. Asked to estimate the relative size of two animals, subjects generally: A) were very inaccurate in estimating size as the absolute size of the animals got smaller. B) took longer to estimate size as the difference increased. C) took longer to estimate size when the difference was small. D) reacted primarily to familiarity of the animals rather than to their size difference.
10. Studies of complex mental images (such as Reed's work) suggest that: A) visual images have a hierarchical organization. B) spatial structure is processed in the temporal lobe and visual detail in the sensory cortex. C) the image must be segmented into many subcomponents before meaning can be attached. D) a gestalt quality resists fragmentation and preserves the integrity of the image's structure.
11. Studies of subjects' recognition of parts of figures show that a mental image: A) is largely a conglomeration of otherwise meaningless lines and angles. B) consists of several well-formed subunits. C) is primarily a list of independent elementary features that coalesce into the object upon identification. D) can be literally transformed into an activated neural array using the primary features, locations, and orientations that make up the complex figure.
12. Meaning-based knowledge representations are: A) representations that retain the gist of events and discard most of the perceptual detail. B) abstract representations that preserve much of the detail of the original perceptual experience. C) grounded in the direct products of perception. D) covert symbolic but detailed statements about external reality.
13. Subjects given verbal labels for a type of picture called a droodle: A) found it more difficult to recall the pictures because the verbal code conflicted with the imagery code. B) were better able to recall the pictures than those who did not get a verbal label. C) could recall pictures about as well as those who did not receive a verbal label, supporting the independence of the two codes. D) could recall the pictures better than those who did not receive a verbal label, but only at a much longer latency.
14. Which statement is NOT true of propositions? A) A proposition is smallest unit of knowledge that can stand as a separate assertion. B) Propositions provide an analytic tool to understand meaningful information. C) Propositions represent meaningful structures in language. D) Propositions preserve the details of linguistic information.
15. When Bower, Black, and Turner asked subjects to judge whether various statements came from an earlier story containing some script events, they found that: A) most subjects persisted in reporting story detail and ignored the general outline. B) some subjects recalled items that were part of an event script even though they had not been presented as part of the story. C) very few subjects reported the script events preferring to stick with the main theme of the story. D) subjects were very inaccurate for the story detail but very accurate for script events.
16. A common error in the Stroop task is to give the color word instead of its ink color. This is probably because: A) reading is a highly automated process. B) reading is a highly controlled process. C) attentional processes, being data-driven, have focused primarily on letter features. D) the attentional system cannot decide between top-down or bottom-up processing.
17. Cognitive psychology seeks to understand: A) the characteristics of perception, thought, and memory. B) how rational and irrational thoughts differ. C) the difference between normal and abnormal intelligence. D) the biological basis of thinking.
18. One of the most important concepts in Cognitive Psychology is Information. According to Segal the best way to define information is: A) the data that is received by the brain. B) the set of action potentials of the neurons in the brain. C) patterns or forms that can ride on matter or energy. D) the energy of the stimuli that impinge on the receptors.
19. The general components of an information processing system are receptors, effectors, memories, and:

A) motives; B) feelings; C) emotions; D) processors.
20. Research in artificial intelligence has: A) developed models of mind that duplicate the most intricate of human thought processes. B) duplicated all but the most abstract processes of human intelligence. C) failed to produce any useful models of human intelligence. D) had notable successes, but still cannot match the power of human intelligence.
21. The organization of Anderson's text uses cognitive principles intended to aid learning by:

A) suggesting readings at the end of each chapter. B) identifying the main point of each section and how the main points are organized. C) focusing only on the gist of research and theory. D) explicitly using the PQ4R method in the text.
22. Introspection was ultimately discarded as a method to study cognitive processes because:

A) as reliable as it was, it was not cost effective. B) there seemed to be no answer at the time for seemingly contradictory results. C) it gave inconsistent results even though it appeared to give fairly clear insights into how the mind works. D) it did not allow for imagery or abstract mental processes.
23. The information-processing approach to the study of cognition has as a primary goal to:

A) find neural elements underlying cognitive processes. B) identify what information we need to know in order to do cognitive tasks. C) identify the sequences of events involved in performing cognitive tasks. D) identify how the environment imposes constraints on our performance of cognitive tasks.
24. The part of the brain that probably is most specifically involved in higher-level planning is the:

A) prefrontal cortex. B) occipital cortex. C) temporal lobe. D) hippocampus.
25. Evidence from split brain patients indicates that: A) the left hemisphere is dominant for language processing while the right hemisphere is dominant for spatial processing. B) both hemispheres handle roughly the same chores but in different ways. C) the right brain is analytic while the left brain is perceptual-intuitive. D) the left brain has primitive language centers, but the right brain is where the real language processing occurs.
26. The sensory-motor cortex is organized to a great extent in a topographical way. The way this is instantiated is: A) the bodily sensations and motor activities are mapped to the sensory-motor cortex, but in a crude non-specific fashion. B) there is a point to point correspondence between a body cell and a sensory-motor cortex neuron. C) adjacent areas of the body have their own relatively unique adjacent areas of representation in the brain with more sensitive areas having larger representation. D) large body areas have the largest area of representation in the brain.
27. Averages of EEG responses aligned to a particular stimulus are called: A) PET scans (Positron emission tomography). B) APs (action potentials). C) ERPs (event related potentials). D) fMRIs (functional magnetic resonance imaging).
28. Based on the work of Kuffler, we know that when light strikes ganglion cells: A) some cells increase their rate of firing while others decrease their rate of firing. B) they immediately turn on and fire at a steady rate. C) they immediately turn off and do not come back on for a brief period. D) most of them will decrease their rate of firing below the level of spontaneous firing.
29. Understanding the processes involved in cognitive skills: A) may have practical applications in helping improve training methods. B) may help us understand intellectual achievement but will probably not lead to any practical applications. C) is the foundation for an applied study of intelligence, but has little other utility. D) is the sole motivation for cognitive science.
30. The method whereby one neuron communicates with another neuron is to: A) send an electrical charge across the synapse. B) discharge sodium ions into the synapse. C) release a neurotransmitter into the synapse. D) exchange positive and negative ions across the synapse.
31. In regard to the brain's ability to represent complex elements of information, it is likely that:

A) large patterns of neural activity distributed over many neurons accounts for its ability. B) a central processor integrates information from individual cells that contain discrete pieces of information. C) each neuron represents a simple storage device that contains one bit of information. D) several different processors integrate information from small localized clusters of cells.
32. As a connectionist model, the parallel distributed processing models assumes that: A) the brain is a general calculation machine with no specialized compartments or localized storage. B) the brain has a very large number of subprocessors, all of which operate parallel to each other. C) neurons have discrete connections with a few other neurons in their local vicinity. D) information is represented in the brain as pattern of activation among neural units.
33. The fovea is a spot in the retina where: A) cones and rods are equally and densely distributed for best all-around vision. B) rods are most densely packed and night vision is best. C) rods are very densely packed to maximize color vision. D) cones are most densely packed and fine detail vision occurs.
34. Hubel and Wiesel discovered cells in the cat's visual cortex that respond positively to light on one side of a line and negatively to light on the other side. These cells are called: A) bar receptors.

B) edge detectors. C) ganglion cells. D) feature detectors.
35. The fact that the two eyes receive slightly different views of the world is referred to as ____, a process that provides specific information for _____. A) nystagmus; retinal focus B) stereopsis; object recognition C) convergence; detail discrimination D) stereopsis; depth perception
36. The Gestalt principles of organization refer to: A) the tendency to organize perceptual phenomena into units based on certain rules. B) hierarchical structure of neural organization. C) the way in which the optic nerves are arranged to send information to the brain. D) the way in which a 3-D representation is organized from a 2-D image.
37. Facial features: A) are readily recognized when presented in isolation even when only minimal features are presented. B) are easily recognized in context but not so easily recognized out of context. C) require both maximal feature availability and coherent context in order to be recognized. D) can be readily identified even in inconsistent contexts because they are so salient.
38. Which of the following is NOT an example of top-down processing? A) When we fail to notice that a phoneme is missing in a word (the phoneme-restoration effect). B) Faces are more readily recognized in a coherent context. C) An angular letter is more difficult to detect among other angular letters than among rounded letters. D) Letters are easier to recognize in the context of words.
39. The strong view of categorical perception is that we: A) can discriminate stimuli within a category better than we can discriminate them between categories. B) cannot discriminate stimuli within the same category. C) always experience different stimuli as coming from different categories. D) have extremely good ability to discriminate among stimuli both within and between categories.
40. The importance of voicing, consonantal features, and place of articulation provides support for the notion that: A) speech perception requires just a few mental templates to compare and recognize sounds. B) feature analysis is a strong component of the speech recognition process. C) speech production is a relatively simple and mechanical process. D) speech recognition can only be understood at the level of elementary sounds.
41. Triesman and Geffen compared the attenuation theory to the late selection theory. They asked subjects to indicate when they heard a target word, but the word could occur either in the shadowed or unattended ear. Their results suggest that: A) the attenuation theory is supported since most subjects detected the shadowed, but not the unattended, target words. B) the late selection theory is more accurate since subjects detected the targets equally often in both ears. C) the attenuation theory must be inaccurate since subjects detected more unattended than attended targets. D) both the attenuation and late selection theories do an equally good job of explaining attention depending upon the specific conditions in the experiments.
42. In the study of attention, automaticity refers to: A) the forced or automatic attention that is given to certain powerful stimuli. B) the automatic feature extraction that occurs because of specialized neural receptors. C) performance of a skill that has been practiced repeatedly with little or no direct attention. D) the routine segmentation of complex stimuli that occurs to extract salient features.
43. You can probably carry on a conversation and drive a car at the same time because driving the car:

A) has become an automatic process requiring little direct attention. B) is largely based on conditioned responses that are controlled in the lower brain centers. C) is different enough from conversing that the two do not interfere with each other. D) is almost entirely a bottom-up skill.
44. In the clinical condition called unilateral visual neglect, patients: A) ignore information in the visual field on the same side as the brain damage. B) appear to lose significant visual detail only if there is damage to the right spatial side of the brain. C) ignore information in either visual field only if there is damage to the right spatial brain. D) ignore information in the visual field on the opposite side of the brain damage.
45. A composite picture of activity in the striate cortex in a macaque monkey differentiating inputs from the two eyes show : A) each eye has its own centers in the cortex. B) A complex interweaving of inputs from the two eyes. C) Alternating parallel lines of input from the two eyes in the cortex. D) The same cortical location responds to each eye in rapid temporal sequence.
46. One way that cognitive psychology can be distinguished from behaviorism is: A) cognitive psychology views human behavior as largely resulting from environmental stimuli. B) behaviorism views mind as no more than the firing of neurons. C) behaviorism considers human behavior to result from intelligent decision making. D) cognitive psychology holds that the mind operates on internal representations of information.
47. Mental-rotation research suggests that: A) it is harder to rotate an object in depth than in the picture plane. B) we have neural diagrams actually rotating in our head. C) people prefer to rotate objects in a clockwise direction. D) subjects imagine an object moving in continuous stages as they mentally rotate it.
48. Which of the following is NOT one of Posner and Reichle's components of attention switching to a new spatial location? A) Disengage attention; B) integrate the two regions; C) refocus on new spatial location; D) enhance processing of new attended region