Psychology 338K
Spring 2000
Final Exam
1. Voltaire described writing as the painting of the voice. His definition captures the fact that while writing
does convey ideas, it does so thru the medium of
a. acoustics.
b. language.
c. metaphor.
d. thought.
2. Spoken language has priority over written language in three ways. Which of these is NOT one of them?
a. clarity.
b. ontogeny.
c. phylogeny.
d. universality.
3. The oldest writing we have discovered dates to approximately
a. 45,000 B.C.
b. 3200 B.C.
c. 1200 B.C.
d. 300 B.C.
4. The alphabet dates to
a. 45,000 B.C.
b. 3200 B.C.
c. 1200 B.C.
d. 300 B.C.
5. Which of these orthographies is logographic?
a. Arabic
b. Chinese
c Finnish
d. Korean Hangul
6. In English, the letter-phoneme correspondences (the cipher) are
a. one to one.
b. one to many.
c. many to one.
d. many to many.
7. The word “switch” contains ___ phonemes.
a. 3
b. 4
c. 5
d
6
1
8.The peripheral aspect of reading consists of a series of fixations connected by saccades. What proportion of those saccades are
regressions?
a.
b.
c.
d.
1
5
15
50
9. The average fixation duration is ____ milliseconds.
a. 15
b. 180
c. 250
d. 500
10. Average saccade length is about ____ characters.
a. 4
b. 8
c. 15
d. 21
11. The problem of word recognition can be stated as a question of how we can find the lexical entry for any
of ______ words in ____ milliseconds.
a. 5000, 180
b. 5000, 250
c. 50000, 180
d. 50000, 250
12. The major difference between the activation and dictionary models is that the dictionary model posits that
the letters in a word are recognized in parallel, while the activation model posits that they are recognized
serially.
a. True.
b. False.
13. Which is a problem for the IAM?
a. the word ambiguity effect.
b. the word frequency effect.
c. the word length effect.
14. Word recognition latency __________ linearly with __________.
a. increases, word frequency
b. increases, the logarithm of word frequency
c. decreases, word frequency
d. decreases, the logarithm of word frequency
15. We guesstimated that a 21-year old college student will have read
a. 800,000 words.
b. 8,000,000 words
c. 80,000,000 words
d. 800,000,000 words
2
16.
The ____ most common words in the language (the, of, in, etc.) account for ____ percent of all the
words in print.
a. 7, 12
b. 12, 25
c. 25, 75
d. 75, 99
17. The word frequency effect
a. is constant across tasks (fixation duration, naming, lexical decision, etc.).
b. increases with the difficulty of the task.
c. decreases with the difficulty of the task.
18. The phonological recoding hypothesis (PRH) suggests that we __________ the printed word.
a. hear
b. subvocalize
19. Support for the PRH comes from studies of homophony. These studies have shown that homophony
slows the recognition of
a. word but not pseudowords.
b. pseudowords but not words.
c.
both words and pseudowords.
d. neither words nor pseudowords.
20. A view of reading that holds it is primarily determined by the letters on the page is called ____________
view of reading.
a. a bottom up
b. a top down
c. an interactive
21. Most students of reading hold that it is interactive, because of the effects of __________ on word
recognition.
a. ambiguity
b. context
c. frequency
d. length
22. The effect of context __________ with its predictiveness.
a. increases
b. decreases
c. does not vary.
23. In ordinary text, the mean predictability of content words is
a. 0.
b. .1
c. .25.
d. .4.
3
24. The modal predictability of content words is
a. 0.
b. .1.
c. .25.
d. .4.
25. What this adds up to is the conclusion that reading is primarily
a. bottom up.
b. top down.
c. interactive.
26. Many words are ambiguous. In isolation, ambiguous words are processed ________ than unambiguous
words of the same length and frequency.
a. faster
b. slower
c. no different
27. In text, ambiguous words tend to be processed _________ than unambiguous.
a. faster
b. slower
c. no different
28.
When we have disambiguated the words in a text, reading is complete.
a. True.
b. False.
29. Sentence comprehension must involve different processes than word comprehension. This is because sentences tend to be
a. ambiguous.
b. longer.
c. novel.
30. The reason we pay more attention to word recognition (decoding) than comprehension is because
a. reading equals decoding.
b. The processes we use to comprehend writing are the same processes we use to comprehend
speech.
31. A debate about reading instruction has raged for centuries. Today the Great Debate pits ___________
against ___________.
a. language experience against phonics
b. phonics against Whole Language
c. Whole Language against Goodmania.
d. Goodmania against language experience.
32.
A prominent advocate of Whole Language is
a. Marilyn Adams.
b. Jeanne Chall.
c. Rudolf Flesch.
d. Kenneth Goodman.
4
33. Today most educators pledge allegiance to
a. code instruction.
b. Whole Language.
34. The research evidence seems to support
a. code instruction.
b. Whole Language.
35. The evidence suggests that we are teaching reading
a. about as well as we ever did and better than most other countries
b. about as well as we ever did but worse than other other countries.
c. worse than we used to but better than most other countries.
d. worse than we used to and worse than most other countries .
36. The NAEP Oral Reading Study showed that, on a scale of 1 (fluent) to 4 (dysfluent), ___ percent of
American fourth graders ranked 3 or 4.
a. 13
b. 23
c. 33
d. 43
37. A child learns her first (printed) words by means of
a. the cipher.
b. phonemic awareness.
c. phonics.
d. selective association.
38. Evidence for this comes from the fact that when asked to learn a list of words from flashcards,
one of which bears a thumbprint, the majority of children learn
a. the word and the thumbprint.
b. the word but not the thumbprint.
c. the thumbprint but not the word.
d. neither the word nor the thumbprint.
39. When children are taught four four-letter words and then asked if they can recognize the first half and the
last half of each word, most children recognize
a. both halves.
b. neither half.
c. one half but not the other.
40. One problem with learning in this way is that it give the child do way to deal with _______ words.
a. familiar
b. irregular
c. long
d. novel
5
41.To move beyond this, the child must master the cipher. The defining characteristic of the child who has mastered the
cipher is that she can read aloud
a. regular words.
b. irregular words.
c. pseudowords.
d. sentences.
42. Who shows the regularity effect?
a. Cipher readers.
b. Cipherless readers.
43. The key to mastery of the cipher is
a. intelligence.
b. knowledge of the alphabet.
c. phonemic awareness.
d. phonics instruction.
44. Phonemic awareness is _____________________ for mastery of the cipher.
a. necessary and sufficient
b. necessary but not sufficient
c. sufficient but not necessary
d. neither necessary nor sufficient
45. In addition to the cipher, the skilled reader needs a great deal of
a. knowledge of the alphabet.
b. lexical knowledge.
c. logical knowledge.
d. phonological knowledge.
46. Can this be acquired in the absence of the cipher? The evidence suggests
a. yes.
b. No.
47. When Gough and Walsh asked children who had the cipher and children who didn't have the cipher to
learn new exception words, who learned them faster?
a. Children who had the cipher.
b. Children who didn't have the cipher.
48. These findings lead to the conclusion that orthographic processing is built ______ phonological
processing (i.e., the cipher).
a. on top of
b. separately from
c. underneath
49. Adams points out that poor readers get
a. less reading instruction than good readers
b. more reading instruction than good readers
c. the same amount of reading instruction as good readers
6
50. Adams’ final conclusion (the last sentence of the summary!) is that encouraging children to spell words
correctly is important because spelling knowledge directly affects their
a. academic future
b. linguistic competence
c. reading ability
d.self esteem.
51. The term literacy has been ambiguous since
a. ancient Greece.
b. ancient Rome.
c. the census of 1880.
c. the publication of Cultural Literacy.
52. The kind of literacy we’ve spent the semester discussing is
a. literacy1.
b. literacy2.
c. literacy3.
d. literacy4.
53. Computer literacy, Jewish literacy, and visual literacy refer to
a. literacy1.
b. literacy2.
c. literacy3.
d. literacy4.
54. Literacy2 ______________ include literacy1.
a. must
b. does not
c.
may or may not
55. The kind of literacy which E. D. Hirsch argued you needed to be a good citizen is
a. cultural literacy.
b. functional literacy.
c. prose literacy.
d. quantitative literacy.
56. Brian Street proposed a New Literacy, to replace what he called
a. the alphabetic view.
b. the autonomous view.
c. the logographic view.
d.
the orthographic view.
57. His New Literacy holds that literacy is
a.
d.
e.
f.
asocial, political and relative.
asocial, political, and relative.
social, political, and relative.
Social, apolitical and relative.
58. The only one of these with which the autonomous view would agree is
a. social.
b. political.
c. relative.
7
59.
The Simple View of Reading holds that R =
a. D + C.
b. D x C.
c. D - C.
d. D/C.
60. R, D, and C are taken to be variables ranging from
a. 0 to 1.
b. 1 to 100.
e. a to z.
61. That decoding and comprehension can be dissociated is well-illustrated by
a. John Milton’s daughters.
b. Noah’s ark.
c. George Washington and the cherry tree.
f. Davy Crockett at the Alamo.
62. To see is to read as to listen is to
a. aud.
b. hear.
c. speak.
d. write.
63. Thus auding (A) might be defined as
a. P+C
b. P-C
c. PxC
d. P/C
64. A basic assumption of the Simple View is that we use the same ___ to read and to listen to speech.
a. R
b. D
c. C
65. Hoover and Gough found that, in elementary school children, the correlation between R and the product
of D and C was approximately
a. .30.
b. .50.
c. .70.
d. .90.
66. They also found that the correlation between D and C was about
a. .30.
b. .50.
c. .70.
d. .90.
67. Among the reading disabled, this same correlation is
a. zero.
b. negative.
c. much higher.
68. The correlation between R and D __________ with age.
a. increases
8
b. decreases
c. does not vary
69. The correlation between R and C __________ with age.
a. increases
b. decreases
c. does not vary
70. According to the Simple View, there should be ___ way(s) to be reading disabled.
a. one
b. two
c. three
d. four
71. An inability to decode accompanied by the ability to comprehend is called
a. aphasia.
b. dyslexia.
c. garden variety reading disability.
d. hyperlexia.
72. An inability to comprehend accompanied by the ability to decode is called
a. aphasia.
b. dyslexia.
c. garden variety reading disability.
d. hyperlexia.
73. Lacking both abilities is called
a. aphasia.
b. dyslexia.
c. garden variety reading disability.
d. hyperlexia.
74. Jane Healy wrote a paper called “The Enigma of Hyperlexia.” On the Simple View, hyperlexia is
a. truly an enigma.
b. exactly what you’d expect.
75. The Simple View makes it clear that the relationship between any two of the three variables depends on
the third.
a. True.
b. False.
76. Differences in visual ability are primarily responsible for differences in D.
a. True.
b. False.
77. Differences in letter processing are primarily responsible for differences in D.
a. True.
b. False.
9
78.
Decoding rests on two kinds of knowledge:
a. word and sentence.
b. syntax and semantics.
c. the cipher and lexical knowledge.
79. That these two are stored in separate processors, a phonological processor and an orthographic processor,
is ___________ by the evidence.
a. supported
b. not supported
80. Peterson measured the decoding (D), listening (C), reading (R), and background knowledge (K) of naval
reservists in each of two domains, baseball and computers. She found that background knowledge had the
largest effect on
a, R.
b. D.
c. C.
81. Background knowledge had the least effect on
a. R.
b. D.
c. C.
82. Across the two domains, the highest correlation was found in
a. R.
b. D.
c. C.
d. K.
83. What this suggests is that the most general skill is
a. R.
b. D.
c. C.
84. Which appears to be most domain specific?
a. R.
b. D.
c. C.
85. We conclude that reading ability is two dimensional. NAEP should measure both dimensions.
a. True.
b. False.
86. Specific reading disability was first reported in
a. 1066.
b. 1542.
c. 1896.
d. 1954.
87. It was first called
a. congenital word blindness.
b. dyslexia.
c. herpes.
d. strephosymbolia.
10
88. Samuel Orton called it
a. congenital word blindness.
b. dyslexia.
c. herpes.
d. strephosymbolia.
89. Orton surmised that it was the result of
a. damage to the cerebellum.
b. incomplete cerebral dominance.
c. retinal damage.
d. scotopic sensitivity syndrome.
.
90. His conjecture that dylsexia is caused by reversals was refuted by Isabel Liberman, who found that dyslexics make
a. fewer reversals than normal controls.
b. more reversals than normal controls.
c. the same proportion of reversal errors as controls.
91. Liberman also found that the most common error for both dyslexics and normals was
a. on consonants.
b. on vowels.
92. Liberman found that the correlation between letter and word reversals was
a. 0.
b. .20.
c. .40.
d. .60.
93. Scotopic sensitivty syndrome is said to be remedied by
a. colored lenses.
b. crawling.
c. Dramamine.
94. Another conjecture about dyslexia involves
a. the magnocellular visual system.
b. The parvocellular visual system.
95. Richard Olson devised two tasks, one he called phonological, the other orthographic. The phonological task requires readers to
choose between
a. goal and gole.
b. bole and gele.
c. cele and goal.
d. doal and jale.
96. His orthographic task requires readers to choose between
a. goal and gole.
b. bole and gele.
c. cele and goal.
d. doal and jale.
11
97. He found that identical twins resemble each other more than fraternal twins on
a. the orthographic task.
b. the phonological task.
c. both the orthographic and the phonological task.
d. neither the orthographic nor the phonological task.
98. Reading to your child is often said to be the most important thing you can do to help her learn to read. Scarborough found that,
across a dozen studies, the median correlation between amount of parental storybook reading and the child’s reading
achievement was
a. .28.
b. .48.
c. .68.
d. .88.
99. To help your child learn to read, you should engage in two kinds of storybook reading:.
a. repeated reading, followed by fingerpoint reading.
b. picture book reading, followed by pictureless book reading.
c. narrative reading, followed by expository reading
d. fiction reading, followed by nonfiction reading
100. The most important thing you can do to help your child learn to read is to teach them
a. the alphabet.
b. Grimm’s fairy tales.
c. phonemic awareness
d. phonics.
12
13