AP Psychology Test: Cognition (2024)

Question 1

After suffering a brain injury in a car accident, Russell cannot form new memories. He can, however, remember his life experiences before the accident. Russell’s memory problem most clearly illustrates:

Question 1 Explanation:

The correct answer is (E). A disruption in brain processes that is marked by inability to learn new information is called anterograde amnesia.

Question 2

On the first day of her new job, Jess is introduced to twelve new coworkers. Moments later, she can only remember the names of the first two and last two coworkers. Her experience illustrates what memory-based psychological concept?

Question 2 Explanation:

The correct answer is (E). The serial position effect is the tendency of a person to recall the first and last items in a series more easily than the middle items in a series.

Question 3

In attempting to find and purchase high-quality makeup products, Carla believes that the most expensive brands are the best quality. Carla’s belief illustrates the use of:

Question 3 Explanation:

The correct answer is (C). A heuristic is a mental shortcut that can help us make decisions and judgments quickly and efficiently. However, the efficiency of a heuristic comes at a cost as they are also prone to errors.

Question 4

Which of the following is an example of a 2-year-old Sophia’s overextension in language?

Question 4 Explanation:

The correct answer is (C). Overextension is the usage of a categorical term, like “doggie,” to describe everything similar to the object being described. In this case, Sophia is extending the concept of “dog” to include animals that do not fit in the “dog” category.

Question 5

What is the highest need on Maslow’s hierarchy?

Question 5 Explanation:

The correct answer is (E). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs from lowest to highest (base to top of pyramid): physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem, and finally self-actualization.

Question 6

Dora plans to donate a portion of her allowance to either a foundation focused on increasing the accessibility of AIDS medication or an organization focused on malaria prevention. Believing that AIDS is more prevalent she chose AIDS. It turns out that fewer people have AIDS than malaria, but she has heard more about AIDS in her lifetime so she recalls more stories pertaining to that disease. What was Dora using when reasoning about the frequency of these two diseases?

Question 6 Explanation:

The correct answer is (A). To make frequency judgments, people often rely on how easily examples of a particular thing come to mind. In this case, Dora has heard more about AIDS than malaria in her life and examples about this disease were more available in her mind, so she judged it to be more frequent.

Question 7

What are phonemes?

Question 7 Explanation:

The correct answer is (E). Phonemes are the smallest structural units of sound, regardless of meaning. Morphemes, on the other hand, are the smallest meaningful units of sound.

Question 8

Who developed the linguistic relativity hypothesis? That is, that language patterns play a dominant role in shaping a person’s thoughts and behavior.

Question 8 Explanation:

The correct answer is (E). The Whorfian hypothesis holds that language patterns play a dominant role in shaping thoughts and behavior.

Question 9

A robin is judged to be a better example of a bird than some others, a parrot or flamingo, for example. Therefore, a robin would be considered a(n) _______ of birds.

Question 9 Explanation:

The correct answer is (C). A robin is considered the prototypical bird because it possesses most features that are held by most birds.

Question 10

On Monday, the meteorologist forecast a 20% chance of rain, so Jose took his umbrella to work. On Wednesday, the meteorologist reported an 80% chance of sunshine, so Jose left his umbrella at home. Jose’s behavior illustrates what psychological concept?

Question 10 Explanation:

The correct answer is (C). Changes in the framing of a scenario can influence decisions. In this case, Jose responded favorably to both forecasts, but his decision was different based on the framing of the forecast. The chance of rain is the same in both forecasts, but because of the wording used by the meteorologist, Jose decided differently in each case. This is an example of the framing effect.

Question 11

The correlation between scores obtained on two halves of a single test yields information about the test’s:

Question 11 Explanation:

The correct answer is (C). Reliability is a measure of the ability to replicate the test in subsequent administrations. Reliability is often determined by a correlation coefficient. The closer the correlation coefficient is to −1 or 1, the more reliable the test is.

Question 12

Which linguist is most closely associated with the concept of universal grammar? He challenged behaviorist accounts of language acquisition.

Question 12 Explanation:

The correct answer is (B). Noam Chomsky used the term,” universal grammar” to describe the innate language rules he suggested explain language acquisition.

Question 13

In order to determine if someone has just said “bark” or “park,” you have to discriminate the initial sound, or:

Question 13 Explanation:

The correct answer is (B). A phoneme is the smallest structural unit of speech. This means that it is the smallest unit of speech that affects what word you hear. Phonemes may not possess meaning on their own, unlike morphemes, which represent the smallest unit of meaningful sound.

Question 14

Bill uses a “rule of thumb, a judgmental short cut when solving a maze quickly on an iPad app. He is using:

Question 14 Explanation:

The correct answer is (D). Bill’s rule of thumb is a heuristic, which helps him reach a solution efficiently. Heuristics are distinguished from the less efficient (but more accurate) algorithms. Heuristics are commonly thought of as “shortcuts.”

Question 15

People tend to seek out and find more convincing evidence that is consistent with an already-held view. This pattern, which can lead one astray, is known as what?

Question 15 Explanation:

The correct answer is (B). In a confirmation bias, we seek out information that confirms our pre-held beliefs and ignore information that misaligns with those beliefs.

Question 16

Which of the following is considered to be a possible cause of the misinformation effect?

Question 16 Explanation:

The correct answer is (E). If an individual fails to discriminate whether a fact was part of an original event or part of a subsequent discussion, he or she might be experiencing confusion about the source of the event. This source confusion then leads to an inability to accurately describe the original event in question.

Question 17

You would be more likely to agree to a surgery with a 50% success rate than a 50% failure rate. What psychological concept illustrates this concept?

Question 17 Explanation:

The correct answer is (C). Framing effects describe how the phrasing of a problem influences the decision that is reached. In this case, even though the outcome is the same, framing the surgery in a positive light using the word “success” results in a more agreeable surgery than the same surgery described as failing 50% of the time.

Question 18

If you ask most Americans where they were when they learned about the 9/11 attack, you will likely hear a vivid, detailed recollection. This is an example of a somewhat controversial phenomenon called:

Question 18 Explanation:

The correct answer is (B). Some psychologists have hypothesized that the detail of flashbulb memories are the result of a different brain system for emotional events, but others argue that many of the details are inaccurate and the ability to easily recall these events is more a result of retelling the story with some level of consistency over time (rehearsal) instead.

Question 19

Interference theory and decay theory are contrasting ideas to explain what memory process?

Question 19 Explanation:

The correct answer is (C). These are the two most prominent explanations of forgetting. Decay theory suggests that memories are forgotten with mere passage of time, while interference theory suggests that memories are only forgotten when displaced by new memories.

Question 20

Kelly is studying for her AP Psychology exam and knows that she is more likely to retain more information if she studies for two hours a day for fifteen days than if she studies six hours a day for five days.

While either way, she is contributing 30 hours to studying, her idea that studying two hours a day instead of six hours a day is based on evidence for what memory concept?

Question 20 Explanation:

The correct answer is (E). Distributed practice holds that information is learned more easily when it is repeatedly encountered across a span of time when compared with cramming a lot of information into a shorter period of time. Repeatedly encountering information across a span of time is more effective for long term retention.

Question 21

Mary scores at the 87^th percentile. In testing, this means:

Question 21 Explanation:

The correct answer is (B). Mary’s score in the 87^th percentile means that 87 percent of those taking the test were equal to or below her.