Exam Questions

Question	Answer
Identify the independent variable in the first experiment conducted by Loftus and Palmer on eyewitness testimony.	The verb used in the critical question (smashed/collided/hit/bumped/contacted.)
Outline how the IV was manipulated in Loftus & Palmer's first experiment.	Each participant had to answer a question estimating how fast the cars were going when the accident happened. The question was, ‘About how fast were the cars going when they ___ each other? The verb was one of smashed/collided/hit/bumped/contacted.
The study by Baron-Cohen on autism involved 3 groups of participants. Describe two of these groups.	16 adult autistics (high functioning autistics + 12 Aspergers’ Syndrome, 13 males + 3 females) • 50 ‘normal’ (25 female + 25 male) adults matched by age with autistics
What was the other sample group used in the Baron Cohen study?	10 adults with Tourette Syndrome (8 males, 2 female) also matched by age to autistics.
Savage-Rumbaugh - identify 2 pieces of evidence that suggest pygmy chimpanzees have a greater aptitude for symbol acquisition than common chimpanzees.	1. Kanzi & Mulika formed associations between lexigrams and objects whereas Sherman & Austin didn’t. 2. Kanzi & Mulika used words correctly from the start whereas Sherman & Austin didn’t.
Baron Cohen - Identify 2 differences between the performance of the autistic adults and the Tourette Syndrome adults.	1. The autistic adults did not perform as well as the Tourette Syndrome adults on the ‘Eyes Task’. 2. The autistic adults performed better than the Tourette Syndrome adults when identifying gender.
Baron Cohen - Outline what this study tells us about advanced theory of mind.	Adult autistics are less likely to possess a TOM than either normal or Tourette Syndrome adults, shown through the ‘Eyes Task’ where their average score was only 16.3 compared to the normal individuals whose score was 20.3 and the Tourette Syndrome adults whose average score was 20.4.
Loftus and Palmer - outline two ways in which the procedure was standardised.	1. All participants watched the same film clips. 2. All participants were asked the same questions, except for the critical question.
Savage Rumbaugh - identify 1 reason why Kanzi was taught symbol acquisition as a means of communication	Because he was reared in a ‘language using’ environment.
Savage Rumbaugh - Outline one way in which the researchers recorded Kanzi’s symbol acquisition	All lexigrams were automatically recorded by computer-monitored keyboards when Kanzi was indoors
Baron Cohen - identify one of the word pairs in the ‘Eyes Task’	Concerned/unconcerned
Baron Cohen - outline 2 findings from the ‘Eyes Task’	1. The autistic adults performed worse than either the normal or Tourette’s adults with a mean score of 16.3 compared to 20.3/20.4 2. Females performed better than males with a mean score of 21.8 compared to 18.8.
Savage Rumbaugh - Identify two ways in which quantitative data was gathered.	1. An automatic computerised record /from a computer. 2. Notes (from observers) (when outside) / observations
Savage Rumbaugh - Give two examples of quantitative data collected in this study.	1. The number of times the lexigram was used correctly. 2. The number of single words used spontaneously
Loftus and Palmer - Identify the two experimental groups in Experiment 2.	1. The group which had the verb ‘smashed’ in the critical question. 2. The group which had the verb ‘hit’ in the critical question.
Loftus and Palmer - Outline one difference between the responses given by the two experimental groups in Experiment 2.	More participants with the verb ‘smashed’ in the critical question reported seeing broken glass than those in either the ‘hit’ or control groups/other groups.
Savage Rumbaugh - What were the names of the two pygmy chimpanzees studied?	Kanzi and Mulika.
Savage Rumbaugh - Explain why K & M may not have been representative of their own species.	Because they had been reared in a language environment whereas other members of their species are reared in their natural (wild) environment.
Baron Cohen - Describe how two of the groups of participants were selected.	1. Autistic/Asperger Syndrome participants were recruited from a variety of clinical sources, as well as an advert in the National Autistic Society magazine ‘Communication’. They were therefore self selecting/volunteers. 2. Tourette Syndrome adults were recruited from a tertiary referral centre in London which they were attending. They were therefore self-selecting/volunteers.
Describe the procedure in the second experiment conducted by Loftus and Palmer on eyewitness testimony.	150 participants were divided into 3 groups of various sizes. Participants were shown a film of a multiple car accident and then given a questionnaire about the accident asking them to firstly describe the accident and then answer a series of questions about the accident which contained a critical question about the speed of the vehicles. 50 participants were asked, “About how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?” 50 participants were asked, “About how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?” A control group of 50 participants were not interrogated about vehicular speed. One week later participants returned and without viewing the film again completed another questionnaire containing 10 questions about the accident, one of which was the critical question “Did you see any broken glass?” Participants responded by checking “Yes” or “No”.
Describe 2 of the formal tests conducted by Savage Rumbaugh to assess Kanzi's language acquisition.	1. Photograph to lexigram – Kanzi was shown a photograph and asked to select from a set of 3 alternatives the correct lexigram for that photograph. 2. Spoken (English) word to photograph – Kanzi listened to the spoken English word and then selected the appropriate photograph from a set of three alternatives.
Loftus and Palmer - what were the responses to the question, “Did you see any broken glass?”	Smashed Hit Control YES 16 7 6 NO 34 43 44
Loftus and Palmer - outline one difference in performance between the 3 groups.	More participants in the ‘smashed’ group(16) said “Yes” to the question “Did you see any broken glass?” than participants in the ‘hit’ group (7)/‘control’ group (6).
Loftus and Palmer - Outline one conclusion that can be drawn from the results table.	Verbal labels/leading questions influence memory (for visually presented material)because the verb ‘smashed’ made more participants (16) and the verb ‘hit’ (7) think they had seen broken glass, compared to the control group, who had no verbal label/leading question, which gave 6 “Yes” responses to “Did you see any broken glass?”
Baron Cohen - Identify the two control groups used.	1. ‘Normal’(adults)/participants 2. (Adults/patients)with Tourette syndrome.
Baron Cohen - Explain why one of these control groups was used.	‘Normal’ adults: because they had no history of any psychiatric condition differences in performance on the Eyes Task(TOM test) would be due to a psychiatric disorder
Identify two symbols Kanzi identified correctly using the lexigram keyboard before any training.	Apple and banana two words he learned to use correctly
Explain why Kanzi was able to identify these symbols without training.	He observed his mother when she was trained. He learned through imitation by observation.
The Loftus and Palmer study on eyewitness testimony involved the experimental method. Describe one strength and one weakness of the experimental method used in this study.	One strength of the experimental method used in Loftus and Palmer’s study is that it had high controls, all participants were exposed to the same video clip, this therefore improves the validity of the study. A weakness of the experimental method as used by Loftus and Palmer is that it lacked ecological validity. This is because participants were expecting to watch a clip therefore likely to remember details whereas in real life people will not expect a car accident to take place. Also in real life there would have been emotions involved. This means that the results from the study cannot be applied to real life because it was an artificial environment.
In the study by Baron-Cohen,the autistic and Asperger Syndrome participants were found to be unimpaired on two control tasks. Describe these two control tasks.	One task was the basic emotions task in which participants had to identify the emotion that was being presented by observing the whole face. Another task was the basic emotion task – participants were asked to identify what the emotion of the person was. They were forced to choose one of the two words which was below the picture.

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