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Unit 3 Psychology Trial Exam
Student Name: _________________________
2013
Unit 3 PSYCHOLOGY
WRITTEN EXAMINATION
Reading time: 15 minutes
Writing time: 90 minutes
QUESTION AND ANSWER BOOK
Structure of book


Section
Number of
questions
Number of questions
To be answered
A
B
C
40
15
1
40
15
1
Number of
marks
40
35
15
Total 90
Students are permitted to bring the following items into the examination: pens, pencils,
erasers, sharpeners and rulers
Students are not permitted to bring into the exam: electronic devices such as phones or
calculators or liquid paper (or similar) or any paper(s)
Materials provided
 Question & answer book of 22 pages & an answer sheet for multiple-choice questions.
Instructions
 Write your name in the space provided on both the question book and multiple-choice
response sheet
This trial examination is produced by ePsychVCE, which is a non-profit sole proprietorship that is produced with the intention of assisting
VCE Psychology students prepare for the end of year examination and thus has not been sanctioned by the VCAA.
©ePsychVCE.com
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Unit 3 Psychology Trial Exam
SECTION A – Multiple-choice questions
Question 1
Monique was in an alcohol-induced state last night, now after a good night’s sleep it appears that
she is now in a normal waking consciousness as indicated by which of the following?
A. her decreased sensitivity to pain
B. her reduced self-control
C. her increased content limitations
D. her distorted sense of time
Question 2
Holly has just completed a 100km ultra marathon, by running and walking the entire distance over a
10 hour period. According to the restorative theory of sleep, how would Holly’s sleep pattern reflect
the additional physiological recovery from her sustained exertion.
A. she would have more REM sleep than usual
B. she would have more slow-wave (stages 3 & 4 of NREM) sleep than usual
C. she would have more stage 1 & 2 of NREM sleep than usual
D. she would have more sleep spindles
Question 3
After a relatively normal day Peyton goes to sleep, theta brain waves would appear first during
stage ___ of NREM.
A. 1
B. 2
C. 3
D. 4
Use the following information to answer questions 4-7
Amandine does a double shift at the hospital. Which means she worked from 3.00pm on Thursday
to 7.00am Friday. After her shift finishes, she had to ride her regular route through the city to get to
Melbourne Uni and then attend a full day at University. During her day at university, she had to
complete a 30 minute topic test in the morning and then in the afternoon she has to sort hundreds
of completed surveys into numerical order based on the student ID numbers of the returned forms.
Question 4
As a result of her sleep deprivation, her performance on which of the following tasks would be most
affected?
A. the 30 minute semester examination
B. her ability to negotiate traffic in the city on the way to University
C. the accuracy of her sorting of the surveys into numerical order
D. her ability to find her way from the hospital to university
Question 5
During the afternoon, Amandine experiences a microsleep. In comparison to her brain-wave
patterns during her normal waking consciousness, her brain waves during the microsleep would
have indicated ____________ amplitude and _____________ frequency
A. higher; higher
B. higher; lower
C. lower; lower
D. lower; higher
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Unit 3 Psychology Trial Exam
Question 6
All of the following would be potential physiological symptoms of Amandine’s sleep deprivation,
except
A. droopy eyelids
B. shaky hands
C. an impaired immune system
D. a decrease in body temperature.
Question 7
On Friday night, Amandine goes to bed at 10.30pm and wakes up the next day at 6.30am, she
experiences REM rebound thus it would be expected that she would have approximately _______
hours of REM sleep
A. 1-2
B. 3-4
C. 6-7
D. 7-8
Question 8
Body temperature would generally be expected to be at its highest during which of the following
stages of our day
A. ordinary wakefulness
B. REM sleep
C. slow wave sleep
D. when sleep spindles occur
Question 9
One of the potential causes of delayed sleep phase onset for adolescents is
A. the early release of melatonin
B. excessive daytime levels of melatonin
C. a lack of melatonin during daytime hours
D. the delayed release of melatonin at the time of going to bed
Question 10
Afferent neurons enable us to
A. walk from one side of the room to the other
B. reflexively withdraw our hand from a hot surface before being conscious of the pain
C. keep our heart beating autonomously
D. feel the texture of a sculpture.
Question 11
Sensory information is first detected by which of the following divisions of the peripheral nervous
system?
A. sympathetic
B. parasympathetic
C. somatic
D. central
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Unit 3 Psychology Trial Exam
Question 12
The _______________ areas take up the largest proportion of the cerebral cortex for humans.
A. sensory
B. motor
C. association
D. dopamine
Question 13
Which part of the cerebral cortex is largely responsible for pitch recognition?
A. the primary cortex in the occipital lobe
B. the primary cortex in the temporal lobe
C. the association areas in the occipital lobe
D. the association areas in the temporal lobe
Question 14
After suffering a stroke which damaged a significant portion of Karen’s left cerebral hemisphere, one
of Karen’s symptoms could included
A. reduced spatial awareness
B. impaired executive function
C. impaired facial recognition
D. reduced artistic appreciation
Question 15
Spatial neglect can be best described as a condition in which a patient
A. is unable to see visual stimuli from the left side of their environment
B. is unable to sense stimuli from the left side of their environment
C. is unable to attend to stimuli from the left side of their environment
D. is unable to feel stimuli from the left side of their environment
Question 16
In terms of victim awareness for sufferers of Broca’s and Wernicke’s aphasia
A. sufferers of either condition are generally aware of their aphasia
B. sufferers of either condition are generally unaware of their aphasia
C. sufferers of Broca’s aphasia are generally aware of the condition whereas sufferers of
Wernicke’s aphasia are generally unaware of their condition
D. sufferers of Broca’s aphasia are generally unaware of the condition whereas sufferers of
Wernicke’s aphasia are generally unaware of their condition
Question 17
The ____________________ in the ____________ lobe are responsible for facial recognition
A. association areas; temporal
B. primary cortex; temporal
C. association areas; occipital lobe
D. primary cortex; occipital
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Unit 3 Psychology Trial Exam
Question 18
An object was flashed to the left visual field via a tachistoscope for a split brain patient who has
been asked to name the object. The patient will need to
A. select the object with their left hand (from a bunch of objects hidden from view)
B. select the object with their right hand (from a bunch of objects hidden from view)
C. describe the object until the left hemisphere can figure out what the object is
D. draw the object with the left hand and then look at the completed drawing
Question 19
Axons convey electrochemical signals ______________ the cell body and dendrites convey
electrochemical signals ________________ the cell body
A. towards; towards
B. away from; away from
C. towards; away from
D. away from; towards
Use the following information to answer questions 20-22
Two years ago Uncle Arthur was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Some aspects of his memory
have significantly declined whilst other aspects of his memory seem relatively unaffected.
Question 20
Alzheimer’s Disease is _________________ part of the ageing process that __________________
A. a natural; can be cured
B. a natural; cannot be cured
C. not a natural; can be cured
D. not a natural; cannot be cured
Question 21
Which type of neurotransmitter that is highly concentrated in the hippocampus is dramatically
reduced by Alzheimer ’s disease?
A. acetylcholine
B. glutamate
C. serotonin
D. cortisol
Question 22
Which of the following types of long term memory would be the least likely to be affected by Uncle
Arthur’s condition?
A. procedural
B. semantic
C. episodic
D. working memory
Question 23
All of the following are likely to cause interruption to memory consolidation, except
A. interference
B. sleep
C. a concussion
D. being in an alcohol-induced state
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Unit 3 Psychology Trial Exam
Question 24
Which type of memory has the lowest capacity?
A. echoic
B. STM
C. LTM
D. iconic
Question 25
Maintenance rehearsal will be least likely to lead to which of the following?
A. an increase in the duration of short term memory
B. an increase in the capacity of short term memory
C. storage of information in long term memory
D. an enhancement of memory
Use the following information to answer questions 26-29
Dwayne is watching NBA basketball on Foxtel, the program displays Kevin Durrant’s bio which lists
him as weighing 235 pounds. Dwayne remembers that to convert this figure into kilograms he needs
to divide 235 by 2.2 (given 1kg = 2.2 pounds). Dwayne calculates that Kevin Durrant weighs 107kg. In
terms of Baddeley and Hitch’s working memory
Question 26
Which division is responsible for extracting the kilogram to pounds conversion formula from
memory?
A. central executive
B. episodic buffer
C. visuo-spatial sketchpad
D. phonological loop
Question 27
Which division if responsible for making the calculation that Kevin Durrant weighs 107kg?
A. central executive
B. episodic buffer
C. visuo-spatial sketchpad
D. phonological loop
Question 28
Which lobe is largely responsible for the activity in working memory?
A. frontal
B. parietal
C. occipital
D. temporal
Question 29
Dwayne’s knowledge of the kg to pounds conversion formula is an example of a _____________
memory that is ________________recalled
A. implicit; consciously
B. implicit; unconsciously
C. explicit; consciously
D. explicit; unconsciously
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Unit 3 Psychology Trial Exam
Use the following information to answer questions 30-34
An experiment was conducted by the history faculty at Newave Secondary College. Mr Thatcher’s
year 7 class spent the first half of Monday’s double period learning the 20 British Prime Ministers of
the 20th century. They then spent the 2nd half of the double learning the 17 US president of the 20th
century. The next day they were tested on their memory of both the Prime Ministers and the
Presidents. Mrs Roosevelt’s year 7 class spent Monday’s single period class learning the list of 17
British Prime Ministers (during the 20th century), then during Tuesday’s single period class they
learned the list of the 20 US Presidents (during the 20th century). It was hypothesised that Mrs
Roosevelt’s class would have a better memory of the British Prime Ministers because they were
more likely to be consolidated in comparison to the Mr Thatcher’s class.
The results of the testing was as follows
Mr Thatcher’s class
Mrs Roosevelt’s class
Average % recall of British Prime ministers
33.1%
51.4%
Average % recall of U.S Presidents
53.3%
53.1%
Question 30
The research design used in this case was
A. matched-pairs
B. repeated-measures
C. independent-groups
D. convenience sampling
Question 31
The operationalised dependent variable in this case is
A. whether students were in Mr Thatcher’s class or Mrs Roosevelt’s class
B. memory recall
C. percentage of British Prime Ministers recalled
D. time between the learning of the list of British Prime Ministers and the testing of the student’s
memory of the list.
Question 32
The lower recall of British Prime Ministers for Mr Thatcher’s class in comparison to the result of Mrs
Roosevelt’s class indicates that ______________________ has occurred
A. retroactive interference
B. proactive interference
C. retrograde amnesia
D. anterograde amnesia
Question 33
The lower recall of British Prime Ministers for Mr Thatcher’s class in comparison to Mrs Roosevelt’s
class could be explained by all of the following, except
A. the large quantity of information learned over the double period
B. a serial position effect has occurred
C. the lack of time between learning the two lists (of Prime Ministers and US Presidents)
D. the similar nature of the material to be learned
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Unit 3 Psychology Trial Exam
Question 34
Which brain structure is largely responsible for the consolidation of the memory of the names of the
Prime Ministers?
A. amygdala
B. hippocampus
C. corpus callosum
D. hypothalamus
Question 35
Which type of long term memories can be recalled without conscious awareness?
A. semantic
B. procedural
C. episodic
D. explicit
Question 36
Which of the following is considered a shallow form of encoding according to Craik and Lockhart?
A. semantic
B. phonemic
C. structural
D. acoustic
Question 37
For Erin state dependent cues would trigger other sad memories from the past whilst she is
attending an uncle’s funeral when
A. Erin has been to the same church before for another funeral
B. Erin sees a photo of her uncle when he was still alive
C. Erin is feeling sad thinking about not being able to see her uncle again.
D. Erin is sleep deprived after having very little sleep due to the trauma of dealing with the family’s
sudden loss.
Question 38
According to the decay theory of forgetting, memories can fade due to
A. a lack of consolidation
B. a lack of interference
C. inability to access the right cue at the time it is required
D. a lack of revisitation of the memory
Question 39
Which of the following affects the rate of forgetting?
A. the intelligence of the learner
B. the complexity of the material learned
C. how meaningful the learner can make the material to be learned
D. learning information over a longer period of time.
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Unit 3 Psychology Trial Exam
Question 40
According to the semantic network theory, which of the following leads to the most rapid retrieval
of information?
A. short nodes between the links
B. long nodes between the links
C. long links between the nodes
D. short links between the nodes
SECTION B – Short-answer questions
Question 1 (3 marks)
With the use of examples distinguish between automatic and controlled processes
Question 2
Monique is suffering from sleep-onset insomnia (it regularly takes her more than an hour to go to
sleep after she first goes to bed). She spends a night in a sleep lab to gather information about her
sleep pattern.
a. Describe why sleep is an altered state of consciousness.
1 mark
b. Describe one psychological indication that Monique is asleep.
1 mark
c. Describe one physiological indication that Monique is asleep.
1 mark
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Unit 3 Psychology Trial Exam
Question 3 (1 mark)
In terms of the survival theory of sleep, explain why possums have significantly more sleep (up to 20
hours) than other animals that have less natural predators.
Question 4 (3 marks)
Describe the composition of the peripheral nervous system and its 2 major functions.
Question 5 (2 marks)
After falling off a ladder, Molly has suffered extensive damage to the association areas in her frontal
lobe, describe two potential symptoms.
Question 6 (2 marks)
Lebron has recently suffered a stroke which has resulted in him suffering from Broca’s aphasia.
Describe 2 of his symptoms.
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Unit 3 Psychology Trial Exam
Question 7
In terms of hands
a. Explain why a greater proportional area of the primary somatosensory cortex is devoted to the
hands in comparison to other body parts
1 mark
b. Explain why a greater proportional area of the primary motor cortex is devoted to the hands in
comparison to other body parts
1 mark
Question 8 (2 marks)
Explain why participants were unable to name objects flashed to the left visual field via a
tachistoscope in Sperry & Gazzaniga’s split brain experiments.
Question 9 (2 marks)
Explain two aspects of the duration of echoic memory that help us in understanding speech.
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Unit 3 Psychology Trial Exam
Question 10 (2 marks)
Explain how it is possible to form new memories for individuals who have a permanent case of
anterograde amnesia.
Question 11
In a memory experiment, Kevin was given 1 minute to learn 15 double-digit numbers. He then had to
attend basketball practice at lunchtime which lasted for an hour. After the completion of lunch he
was tested on his recall of the numbers. In terms of the serial position effect explain why Kevin
would have had a primacy effect and/ or a recency effect as evidenced by his memory of the first 5
numbers and last 5 numbers in comparison to the recall of the middle 5 numbers.
a. First 5 numbers of the list
2 marks
b. last 5 numbers of the list
2 marks
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Unit 3 Psychology Trial Exam
Question 12 (2 marks)
Holly has suppressed her memory of being bullied at primary school. Explain the purpose of Holly’s
suppression.
Question 13
It took Chantelle 10 minutes to learn how to hook a trailer on to the tow bar of the family car for
the annual Boxing Day holiday trip to Tathra NSW. The following year, Chantelle claims she has
forgotten how to put the trailer on the family car, so she has to relearn the process. This time it
takes her 6 minutes to relearn how to the hook the trailer on the tow bar.
a. Calculate the savings score (ensure you show the formula).
2 marks
b. Why is relearning considered the most sensitive measure of retention
1 mark
Question 14 (2 marks)
Using an example explain how mnemonics can enhance memory
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Unit 3 Psychology Trial Exam
Question 15 (2 marks)
Dwayne witnessed a violent attack in the city. Two months later he gave an eyewitness testimony in
court. Explain how his eyewitness testimony in court two months after the incident might be
inaccurate after viewing mug shots of suspects shortly after the incident occurred
SECTION C – Research Scenario







Professor Campus aimed to investigate if students could study effectively whilst listening to
music.
60 Unit 1 VCE Psychology students from Hippo High School volunteered to participate in the
study.
Students were ranked based on their exam scores in all subjects achieved during the previous
year. Students were then paired based on their ranking (1st and 2nd were paired, 3rd and 4th were
paired). A member from each pair was then randomly allocated to either the ‘Music Group’ or
the ‘Non music group’.
The experiment was conducted over the duration of Term 2.
The ‘Music group’ were supplied with an iPod with a 500 modern songs and instructed to listen
to this (on ‘shuffle’) whenever they studied Psychology (either at home or at school).
The ‘Non-music group’ were instructed to only study Psychology in a quiet environment - either
at home or at school
The performance of the students was determined by the average score on the topic tests (held
fortnightly) and semester examination (out of 100) , with a comparison made between the 2
groups. See below
Average
score out of
100 on the
topic tests/
semester
exam


Score out of 100
68
67
66
65
Score out of
100
Music group
Non-music
group
Professor Campus determined that the level of significance required for the p value was less
than 0.05.
A statistical test was conducted to determine the significance of the results based on the
difference in average scores out of 100 for the groups studying with music vs. no-music resulting
in p = 0.11.
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Unit 3 Psychology Trial Exam
Question 1 (2 marks)
Operationalise the dependent and independent variables in this experiment
Dependent variable ________________________________________________________________
Independent variable______________________________________________________________
Question 2 (1 mark)
Identify the control group in this study
Question 3 (2 marks)
Explain the role of the ethics committee in Psychological research
Question 4 (10 marks)
Write a discussion containing
 a conclusion based on the hypothesis
 the implications of the findings
 a description of the weaknesses of the experimental design
 procedures to eliminate these weaknesses
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Unit 3 Psychology Trial Exam
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Unit 3 Psychology Trial Exam
END OF QUESTION BOOKLET
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