IB Psychology practice questions.

The case study of patient HM (Scoville & Milner, 1957) most directly demonstrated the role of which structure in forming new long-term memories?

• The amygdala
• The hippocampus
• Broca's area
• The cerebellum

Answer: The hippocampus

HM had his medial temporal lobes, including the hippocampus, removed bilaterally to treat epilepsy. Afterwards he could not form new long-term declarative memories (anterograde amnesia) but retained procedural learning, showing the hippocampus is critical for consolidating new explicit memories.

Sharot et al. (2007) used fMRI to study 9/11 memories and found that greater amygdala activation during recall was linked to:

• Participants who were far uptown from the World Trade Center
• Participants who were closer to the World Trade Center
• Participants with no memory of the event
• Left-handed participants only

Answer: Participants who were closer to the World Trade Center

Sharot et al. (2007) scanned people who had been in Manhattan during the 9/11 attacks. Those who had been closer (downtown) reported more vivid 'flashbulb' memories and showed greater amygdala activation when recalling the event, linking emotional arousal and the amygdala to vivid memory.

In Selye's (1956) General Adaptation Syndrome, what is the correct order of the three stages of the stress response?

• Resistance, alarm, exhaustion
• Alarm, resistance, exhaustion
• Exhaustion, alarm, resistance
• Alarm, exhaustion, resistance

Answer: Alarm, resistance, exhaustion

Selye's (1956) General Adaptation Syndrome describes alarm (initial fight-or-flight arousal), resistance (the body adapts and copes with the stressor), and exhaustion (resources deplete, increasing vulnerability to illness) as the sequence of the stress response.

Which pair of terms matches these descriptions, in order: first, the shared norms, values and practices transmitted between members of a group; second, how strongly a society emphasises individual goals over group goals?

• Culture and cultural dimensions
• Enculturation and acculturation
• Etic and emic approaches
• Cultural norms and social identity

Answer: Culture and cultural dimensions

Culture is the shared, transmitted system of norms and values; a cultural dimension (e.g. individualism–collectivism) describes where a society sits on a measurable value continuum.

Which command term, typical of Paper 1 short-answer questions, requires a detailed account including reasons or causes?

• Explain
• Evaluate
• Discuss
• To what extent

Answer: Explain

Explain means giving a detailed account including reasons or causes, which suits short-answer questions. Evaluate, Discuss and To what extent ask for arguments to be weighed and belong to the extended response.