Brain, Body & Sleep
See It, Sense It
Research Detective
Mind & Memory
Learning in Action
100

Damage to this brain structure could cause problems with balance and coordinated movement.

Cerebellum

100

After wearing a watch for several minutes, you stop noticing the feeling of it against your wrist. What concept does this demonstrate?

Sensory Adaptation

100

Researchers measure students' stress levels several times and consistently get very similar results. What quality does their measurement demonstrate?

Reliability

100

Knowing that Paris is the capital of France is what type of memory?

Semantic Memory

100

A teacher gives a student praise after the student participates in class, causing the student to participate more often.

Positive Reinforcement

200

This lobe helps process touch, temperature, pressure, pain, and spatial information.

Parietal Lobe

200

These retinal receptors are especially important for color vision and fine visual detail.

Cones

200

A researcher creates a test that claims to measure intelligence, but the test actually seems to measure vocabulary knowledge. What major research quality is questionable?

Validity

200

Knowing how to type on a keyboard without consciously thinking about each key is what type of memory?

Procedural Memory

200

A parent assigns additional chores after a teenager breaks a household rule, and the rule-breaking decreases.

Positive Punishment

300

This brain structure helps regulate hunger, thirst, body temperature, and other aspects of homeostasis.

Hypothalamus

300

Your sensory receptors detect light coming from a stop sign. Your brain interprets the object as a red stop sign. Name TWO psychological processes occurring...

Sensation and Perception

300

A psychologist randomly assigns participants to drink either a caffeinated or caffeine-free beverage and then measures their reaction times. What type of research method is this?

Experiment

300

A person believes airplane crashes are extremely common because they recently watched several news reports about plane crashes. What thinking shortcut does this demonstrate?

Availability Heuristic

300

Am employee receives a bonus after every 10 products they sell. Which reinforcement schedule is being used?

Fixed-Ration Schedule

400

Which neurotransmitter is the brain's major inhibitory neurotransmitter and generally decreases neural activity?

GABA

400

Why are you eventually able to stop noticing the constant hum of an air conditioner?

Sensory adaptation causes sensitivity to constant, unchanging stimulus to decrease over time.

400

A psychologist randomly assigns participants to drink either a caffeinated or caffeine-free beverage and then measures their reaction times. What would the participants reaction times represent?

Dependent Variable

400

A student believes they will easily earn an A without studying, despite repeatedly performing poorly on previous exams. Which thinking concept does this best demonstrate?

Overconfidence

400

A student knows that their teacher gives a quiz every Friday, so their studying increases as Friday approaches. Which reinforcement schedule does this resemble?

Fixed-Interval Schedule

500

A student stays up all night studying before an exam. Give TWO psychological reasons this could actually hurt their performance.

Will accept: memory consolidation, attention, concentration, learning, retrieval, or cognitive performance... due to inadequate sleep.

500

Two people look at the same ambiguous image but interpret it differently because of their previous experiences. Does this different primarily demonstrate sensation or perception? Explain...

Perception. Their sensory systems may receive similar information, but their brains interpret that information differently based on factors such as experience, context, and expectations. 

500

Researchers find that students who spend more time on social media report higher levels of stress. Give one reason researchers cannot conclude that social media causes stress.

It is a correlation, so causation cannot be established. A third variable could influence both variables, or the direction of the relationship could be reversed.  

500

A student repeatedly closes their notes and attempts to write don everything they can remember before checking their answers. What study strategy are they using, and why can it help memory?

Retrieval Practice. Actively retrieving information strengthens access to stored information and provides practice recalling material without seeing the answer. 

500

In Pavlov's experiment, identify the following after conditioning:

1. Food

2. Bell

3. Salivation when food is presented

4. Salivation when the bell sounds

1. Food = Unconditioned Stimulus (US/UCS)

2. Bell = Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

3. Salivation to food = Unconditioned Response (UR/UCR)

4. Salivation to bell = Conditioned Response (CR)