Question 1 (maximum of 400 words 10 marks)
Question 1 (maximum of 400 words 10 marks)
Researchers used transcranial magnetic stimulation to target specific areas of the brain in a study where participants were asked to identify different objects, such as tools and living things. Given the plot, answer the questions below:
1. What cognitive process is being evaluated in this task? Can you briefly explain how it works?
2. In this study, researchers used Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to temporarily disrupt activity in the Anterior Temporal Lobe (ATL) and the Inferior Parietal Lobe (IPL). Based on the graph, which set of objects do you think contained tools and which contained living things? Please provide justification for your answer.
3. Do these results support the hub-and-spoke model of conceptual knowledge? Can you explain why or why not?
Question 2 (maximum of 400 words 10 marks)
In the Ultimatum Game, one player (the proposer) is endowed with a sum of money and proposes how to divide the sum between themselves and another player (the responder). The responder can either accept or reject this proposal. If the responder accepts, the money is split according to the proposal. If the responder rejects, neither player receives anything. This game is often used to study fairness and decision-making in social contexts.
Two groups of individuals participated in this study: Group 1 and Group 2. The graph below shows the average percentage of 'unfair' offers (offers where the proposer would receive significantly more than the responder) that were accepted by each group. Given this information, interpret the plot and answer the questions below.
1. What cognitive process is being evaluated in this task? Briefly explain how it works.
2. Based on the results shown in the graph, which group (Group 1 or Group 2) likely represents the participants with amygdala lesions? Explain your reasoning.
3. Based on the behaviour observed in the Ultimatum Game, what implications might this have for individuals with amygdala lesions in real-life decision-making scenarios?
Question 3 (maximum of 400 words 10 marks)
In a word recognition task, participants are presented with a pair of words - a prime word first, followed by a target word. The participant's task is to determine whether the target word is a real word or not. The pair of words can be either semantically related or unrelated. The graph below shows the average reaction times for two conditions: pairs of words that are related and pairs that are unrelated.
1. What is the cognitive process is being evaluated in this task? Briefly explain how it works.
2. Based on the results shown in the plot, there seems to be a difference in reaction time between the two conditions, which condition presented related words? Why?
3. What could be a potential factor that contributed to this outcome? Why?
Question 4 (maximum of 400 words 10 marks)
In a research study, two groups of participants were asked to perform a mental imagery task. The task involved recalling a series of images that were previously shown to them. It's important to note that one group was composed of individuals who had suffered a lesion on the visual cortex, while the other group had not. However, the identity of these groups (Group 1 or Group 2) is not disclosed in the graph. The graph below displays the average time it took for each group to recall the images.
Based on the plot, which group (Group 1 or Group 2) likely had a lesion in the visual cortex? Explain your reasoning.
What might this suggest about the role of the visual cortex in mental imagery?
Based on the results shown in the graph, which theory of mental imagery seems to be supported: the propositional representation theory or the analog representation theory? Explain your reasoning.
