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AP Psychology: Research Methods, Learning and Cognition

Scenario-based AP Psychology questions on research design, the brain, conditioning, memory, development and thinking errors. Built to practice applying terms, not just defining them.

by Kill h.22 questionsCreated Nov 8, 2026, 08:03 PM

Psychology· Cognitive Psychology#appsych#psychology#apexam#scenarios

22 questions

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1
A researcher randomly assigns students to drink either caffeinated or decaf coffee, then measures their reaction times. What is the independent variable?
- A
  Reaction time
- Whether the coffee contains caffeine
- C
  The students' age
- D
  Random assignment
The independent variable is what the researcher manipulates (caffeine vs. none). Reaction time is the dependent variable, the outcome being measured.
2
Which correlation coefficient shows the STRONGEST relationship between two variables?
- A
  +0.45
- B
  +0.10
- -0.82
- D
  0.00
Strength depends on distance from zero, not the sign. -0.82 is a strong negative correlation. A common mistake is treating any negative number as weak.
3
Ice cream sales and drowning deaths rise and fall together. The best explanation is:
- A
  Eating ice cream causes drowning
- B
  Drowning deaths increase ice cream sales
- C
  The correlation must be a statistical error
- A third variable, hot weather, increases both
Correlation does not prove causation. Hot weather is a confounding (third) variable that drives both swimming and ice cream eating.
4
In a drug study, neither the participants nor the researchers who interact with them know who received the real drug. This is done mainly to control for:
- A
  Sampling bias
- Placebo effects and experimenter bias
- C
  Order effects
- D
  Low statistical power
A double-blind design prevents participant expectations (placebo effect) and researcher expectations from affecting results. It does nothing about who was sampled.
5
A researcher surveys a random sample of 1,000 adults from across the country. The random sampling mainly improves the study's:
- A
  Ability to show cause and effect
- Generalizability to the larger population
- C
  Inter-rater reliability
- D
  Control of confounding variables
Random sampling makes the sample representative, so results generalize. Random assignment to groups, a different thing, is what controls confounds and supports causal claims.
6
Household incomes in a town are strongly positively skewed by a few billionaires. Which statement is true?
- The mean is higher than the median
- B
  The median is higher than the mean
- C
  The mean and median are equal
- D
  The mode is higher than the mean
Extreme high scores pull the mean toward the tail, so in a positive skew mean > median. That is why the median is preferred for income data.
7
Which neurotransmitter is the brain's main inhibitory messenger, targeted by anti-anxiety drugs such as benzodiazepines?
- A
  Glutamate
- B
  Dopamine
- C
  Acetylcholine
- GABA
GABA calms neural activity. Glutamate is the main excitatory neurotransmitter, dopamine is linked to reward and movement, and acetylcholine to muscle action and memory.
8
After a stroke, a patient understands speech but struggles to produce fluent, grammatical sentences. Which area was most likely damaged?
- A
  Wernicke's area
- Broca's area
- C
  Occipital lobe
- D
  Cerebellum
Broca's area (left frontal lobe) supports speech production. Damage to Wernicke's area (temporal lobe) causes fluent but meaningless speech and poor comprehension.
9
Patient H.M. had a brain structure removed and could no longer form new explicit memories, though old memories stayed intact. Which structure?
- A
  Amygdala
- B
  Hypothalamus
- Hippocampus
- D
  Thalamus
The hippocampus consolidates new explicit (declarative) memories. H.M. could still learn new motor skills, which rely on implicit memory and the cerebellum.
10
A split-brain patient sees a picture of a key flashed only to the LEFT visual field. What can she most likely do?
- Pick up a key with her left hand but not name it
- B
  Say the word 'key' out loud
- C
  Pick up a key with her right hand and name it
- D
  Neither name it nor identify it in any way
The left visual field goes to the right hemisphere, which controls the left hand but usually lacks language. With the corpus callosum cut, the left (verbal) hemisphere never sees the key.
11
Every time a dog hears a can opener, it gets food, and soon it salivates at the sound alone. In this example, the sound of the can opener is the:
- A
  Unconditioned stimulus
- B
  Conditioned response
- Conditioned stimulus
- D
  Unconditioned response
The sound started as neutral and became a conditioned stimulus through pairing with food (the unconditioned stimulus). Salivating to the sound is the conditioned response.
12
Maria takes aspirin when she has a headache. The headache goes away, so she is more likely to take aspirin next time. This is:
- Negative reinforcement
- B
  Positive reinforcement
- C
  Positive punishment
- D
  Negative punishment
Removing something unpleasant (the headache) increases the behavior: negative reinforcement. Reinforcement always increases a behavior; punishment decreases it. 'Negative' means taking something away, not 'bad.'
13
A teen loses phone privileges for breaking curfew, and she starts coming home on time. This is:
- A
  Negative reinforcement
- B
  Positive punishment
- Negative punishment
- D
  Extinction
Taking away something desirable (the phone) to decrease a behavior is negative punishment. Students often mislabel it negative reinforcement, but reinforcement would increase the behavior.
14
Slot machines pay out after an unpredictable number of plays. Which reinforcement schedule is this, and why does it matter?
- A
  Fixed-ratio; it produces a pause after each reward
- B
  Fixed-interval; it produces a scalloped response pattern
- C
  Variable-interval; it produces slow, steady responding
- Variable-ratio; it produces high response rates that resist extinction
Rewards based on an unpredictable number of responses create the highest, most persistent responding, which is why gambling is so hard to quit.
15
In Bandura's Bobo doll study, children who watched an adult hit a doll later hit it themselves. This demonstrates:
- Observational learning
- B
  Latent learning
- C
  Classical conditioning
- D
  Insight learning
Children learned by watching a model, with no direct reinforcement. Latent learning (Tolman's rats) is learning that stays hidden until there is a reason to show it.
16
After memorizing a list of 20 words, a student remembers the first few and last few best. This is the:
- A
  Spacing effect
- B
  Testing effect
- C
  Misinformation effect
- Serial position effect
Better recall of early items (primacy) and late items (recency) is the serial position effect. The spacing effect is about distributing study sessions over time.
17
After learning Spanish in high school, Liam takes French in college and now keeps saying Spanish words when he tries to speak French. This is:
- A
  Retroactive interference
- Proactive interference
- C
  Source amnesia
- D
  Encoding failure
Proactive interference is OLD learning disrupting NEW learning (pro = forward). If French now made him forget his Spanish, that would be retroactive interference.
18
A diver learns a word list underwater and recalls it better underwater than on land. This supports:
- Context-dependent memory
- B
  Mood-congruent memory
- C
  The forgetting curve
- D
  Flashbulb memory
Recall is best when the retrieval context matches the learning context (encoding specificity). Mood-congruent memory is about emotional state, not physical setting.
19
According to Piaget, a child who understands that pouring water into a taller glass does not change its amount has reached which stage?
- A
  Sensorimotor
- B
  Preoperational
- Concrete operational
- D
  Formal operational
Conservation develops in the concrete operational stage (about 7-11). Preoperational children focus on height and think the taller glass holds more.
20
After seeing news coverage of a plane crash, Jordan decides to drive across the country because flying feels more dangerous. This reflects the:
- A
  Representativeness heuristic
- Availability heuristic
- C
  Framing effect
- D
  Belief perseverance
Vivid, easily recalled events seem more common than they are. Driving is statistically far more dangerous per mile than flying.
21
A student who believes left-handed people are more creative notices every creative lefty she meets and ignores the ones who are not. This is:
- A
  Hindsight bias
- B
  Functional fixedness
- C
  Overconfidence
- Confirmation bias
Confirmation bias is seeking or noticing only evidence that supports what we already believe. Hindsight bias is the 'I knew it all along' feeling after the fact.
22
Needing a hammer, Sam does not think to use the heavy wrench sitting next to him because he only sees it as a tool for bolts. This is:
- A
  Mental set
- Functional fixedness
- C
  Anchoring
- D
  Algorithmic thinking
Functional fixedness is seeing objects only in their usual function. Mental set is sticking with a problem-solving strategy that worked before, a closely related but different idea.