Example questions for Topic A

Here are only examples of difficult questions. How to answer them is explained.

Illusions
Evaluate the Gestalt theory of illusions.    4 marks    Difficulty: medium

To evaluate the theory you need strengths and weaknesses. 4 marks probably means 1 mark for each strength/weakness. You need to state 2 strengths and 2 weaknesses.

Answer: Gestalt's theory can explain some ambiguous figures, eg. Leeper's lady. (1) It can explain some distortions such as the Muller Lyer illusion. (1) However Gestalt cannot explain all fictions, like after images. (1) It cannot explain the Kaniza triangle properly, we should see a six pointed star instead. (1)

See Gestalt's theory for more information. Here is the mark scheme, this is question 11.

Describe Gregory's theory of illusions.       4 marks       Difficulty: medium

In this question you must give examples of depth cues and how they explain certain illusions. See Illusions and Gregory's theory for more help. Here is the link to the mark scheme, this is question 12.

Answer: Gregory's theory says that we apply 2D depth cues onto 3D shapes (1) The theory says that we see illusions because we misunderstand depth cues (1) For example the fins in the Muller-Lyer illusion appear to have (linear) perspective. (1) In the Ponzo illusion, the horizontal bars/sleepers seem different because of size constancy, the lower one looks smaller as the lines make it seem closer so it is scaled down (1)\

Perception and Schema
Explain one strength and on weakness of Palmer's study        4 marks     Difficulty: medium

Each point needs an elaboration point to explain why it is a strength/weakness. For more see Palmer (1975).

Answer: Participants who had forgotten their glasses were not used (1) Results were not because of poor eyesight (1) However, the participants may have guessed the aim of the study (1) They may have searched for specific objects, or tried harder in certain situations, affecting the results (1)

a) Describe Carmichael, Hogan and Walter's study. You can include the aim, procedure, results and conclusions in your answer. 5 marks  Difficulty: Hard

''Describe the aim, procedure, results and conclusion of this study. See Carmichael, Hogan and Walter for more information. Tip: It is useful to discuss independent variables, dependent variables, and control variables in the Procedure, also helps you remember the study better. ''

Aim: To find out whether words shown with verbal labels will affect the way the pictures were remembered.

Procedure: P's were split into 3 groups. Each shown 12 pictures. The experiment used a verbal label to present the picture from either List 1 or List 2, which was the independent variable. A control group heard no verbal labels at all. Then they were asked to draw the pictures they had seen. Their drawings were compared to the original drawings, which was the dependent variable.

Results: The drawings produced by the 3 groups were very different. In each group the drawing look like the words the participants had heard.

Conclusion: Memory for pictures is reconstructed. Verbal labels affect the drawing because the memory of the word alters the way the picture is interpreted.

b) Evaluate Carmichael, Hogan and Walter's study. 

List out the strengths and weaknesses of this study.

Strengths:

Control group was used to make sure that people's drawings weren't always distorted in the same way

Used 2 lists, provided a lot of evidence to show that verbal labels affected people's drawings

Weaknesses:

In real life things are not generally as ambiguous, making it less valid.

Prentice (1954) tested the effect of verbal labels on recognition rather than recall, and results showed that verbal labels didn't affect recognition. This shows that Carmichael et al's study did not apply very widely.

'''In Topic A and B you usually do not get very difficult questions. Just remember to use key-words and pay attention to how many marks is allocated in each question.'''