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ASSIGNMENT SOLUTIONS GUIDE (2017-2018)

M.P.C.-1
Cognitive Psychology, Learning

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and Memory

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Disclaimer/Special Note: These are just the sample of the Answers/Solutions to some of the Questions given in the
Assignments. These Sample Answers/Solutions are prepared by Private Teacher/Tutors/Authors for the help and guidance
of the student to get an idea of how he/she can answer the Questions given the Assignments. We do not claim 100%

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accuracy of these sample answers as these are based on the knowledge and capability of Private Teacher/Tutor. Sample
answers may be seen as the Guide/Help for the reference to prepare the answers of the Questions given in the assignment.
As these solutions and answers are prepared by the private teacher/tutor so the chances of error or mistake cannot be
denied. Any Omission or Error is highly regretted though every care has been taken while preparing these Sample
Answers/Solutions. Please consult your own Teacher/Tutor before you prepare a Particular Answer and for up-to-date

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and exact information, data and solution. Student should must read and refer the official study material provided by the
university.
NOTE: All questions are compulsory
SECTION-A
Answer the following question.
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Q. 1. Critically discuss the Investment and Confluence theory of creativity.
Ans. Investment And Confluence Theory of Creativity: In the Investment Theory of Creativity by Sternberg, creativity has
six sources that require confluence: “intelligence, knowledge, style of thinking, personality, motivation and learning environmental
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contexts.” Ultimately, creativity is not about one thing, but about a system of things.
Intellectual abilities are generally acknowledged to be necessary but not sufficient for creativity. Intellectual
ability consists of three aspects: the ability to see problems in new ways, the ability to recognize which ideas are
worth pursuing and which are not, and the ability to persuade others that one's ideas are creative. Synthetic ability in
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the absence of the other two abilities results in new ideas that are not subjected to the scrutiny required to make them
work. Analytic ability used in the absence of the other two abilities results in powerful critical, but not creative,
thinking.
Knowledge: If one has to know, he must learn about it and if one can’t move beyond where a field is in case he
or she doesn’t know where it is. The other side of the coin is that knowledge about a field can result in a closed and
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entrenched perspective of the person concerned. This may result in a person’s not moving beyond the way in which
he or she has seen problems in the past. Thus, one needs to decide to use one’s past knowledge, but also decide not
to let the knowledge become a hindrance rather than a help.
Thinking styles are related to creativity.With regard to thinking styles, a legislative style is particularly important
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for creativity, that is, a preference for thinking and a decision to think in new ways. To be creative, a person has to like
using the kinvesting thinking style and have preference for thinking in novel ways of his choosing. We have seen
people we have the ability to forge their their own paths but simply prefer not to. Although they are wired for creative,
they never turn on the juice. On the other hand, there are some people who want to come up with new ideas–who
have the inventing style preference–but who don’t have the synthetic intellectual abilities to do effectively.
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Personality: Certain personality traits such as self-efficacy, willingness to grow, risk, and overcome obstacles,
ability to tolerate ambiguity, perseverance, and courage about convictions are essential for the creative process to
occur.
Motivation: Intrinsic motivation is defined by an individual who engages in an activity for its own sake and
focuses on the challenge and enjoyment of the work, instead of engaging in the task because of factors such as
promise of rewards and punishments, dictates from superiors, and competition. High levels of intrinsic motivation
have been shown to increase creative potential and therefore are necessary in order to produce creative products.

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 Environment: Finally, Creativity cannot occur without a supportive and rewarding environment. A supportive
environment completes the creative process by accepting and recognizing products as creative. Only with support
from peers and rewards for creative production (e.g. recognition, compliments), will an individual’s creativity continue
to flourish. Different cultures support creativity differentially and may even have different conceptions of what
constitutes creativity so it is important to take the environment into account when assessing creativity.
Confluence: As regards components confluence, creativity is believed to involve more than a simple sum of a
person’s level on each component. One, is knowledge which creativity is not possible, regardless of the levels on other
components. Secondly, is motivation, third is counteracts a weakness on another component (e.g., environment).

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Third, interactions present between intelligence and motivation, in which high levels on both component could
multiplicatively enhance creativity of the individual.
Aspects of Creativity

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According to Guilford (1986), there were many cognitive abilities that may appear to be essential for creativity.
However, he considered four to be inherently dominant. Torrance and Guilford have both extensively discussed the
creative person's propensity for fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration. The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking

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(TTCT), a test of creativity, originally involved simple tests of divergent thinking and other problem-solving skills,
which were scored on these scales (aspects of creativity):
1. Fluency is the ability or “capability to produce a large number of ideas per unit in time, other things being equal,
has a greater chance of having significant ideas”.
2. Flexibility is the ease by which individuals can change from one subject area to another. A flexible person
should be able to progress from ideas that are similar to ideas that are completely different.

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3. Originality is the ability to think and develop tangible and intangible products incorporating novelty, creativity
and usefulness.
4. Elaboration is the ability to further refine and define the idea(s). A person who can utilize elaboration is one
who can build upon the idea to refine it, and then apply the idea to a concern.
5. Abstractness of Titles: It is based on the idea that creativity requires an abstraction of thought.
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6. Resistance to Premature Closure: genuinely independent of culture and manage to exhibit tolerant
acceptance of behaviour expected of their society.
Stages of Creativity
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Is there any pattern to creative thinking? Typically, five stages occur during creative problem-solving:
1. Orientation: As a first step, the person defines the problem and identifies its most important dimensions.
2. Preparation: In the second stage, creative thinkers saturate themselves with as much information about the
problem as possible.
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3. Incubation. Most major problems produce a period during which all attempted solutions will be futile. At this
point, problem solving may proceed on a subconscious level: While the problem seems to have been set aside, it is still
“cooking” in the background.
4. Illumination. The stage of incubation is often ended by a rapid insight or series of insights. These produce the
“Aha!” experience, often depicted in cartoons as a lightbulb appearing over the thinker’s head.
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5. Verification. The final step is to test and critically evaluate the solution obtained during the stage of illumination.
If the solution proves faulty, the thinker reverts to the stage of incubation.
Creativity and Intelligence
Creativity and intelligence are viewed as completely free of one another. Intelligence shouldn’t impact creativity.
Creativity is seen as a mental operation open to every living soul. It is probably reliant on area particular information
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(i.e. the measure of presentation to and skill in a given field) and think practice.
According to studies of Terman’s (1925), a high IQ shows a lacking for innovativeness. The majority of these
youngsters attained momentous word related victory in later life, none of them hinted at a huge innovativeness. The
majority of the studies concerning the acquaintanceship between psychometric insights and imagination yielded just a
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feeble relationship. Case in point, Torrance (1977) reported that the average of 178 correspondence coefficients
between IQ and the TTCT was just .20. Additionally, element examinations of IQ and innovativeness tests yielded
divide components.
On the other hand, an inventive individual’s IQ has been showed to be no less than a standard deviation above the
mean, regularly more. Guilford (1967) inferred a theory that an insignificant level of IQ, frequently subjective set to
120, ought to be vital, however not sufficient for inventiveness. Innovative accomplishment was thought to be
unimaginable beneath this limit. Guilford additionally suggested that scramble plots of IQ and innovativeness might as
well show a triangular design with no information focuses in the low Iq/high inventiveness quadrant.

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 Later, Hayes (1989) put forward an elective ‘certification theory’, which questioned natural connections between
inventiveness and brainpower. Rather, it expressed that generally potential outcomes to presentation a recognisable
level of inventiveness, for example, occupations in structural engineering or science, essentially require an elevated
amount of formal instruction. Since scholarly execution is related with IQ, social order basically prevents innovative
people from securing low IQ the opportunity to express their story.
Measurement of Creativity
We have a review by Houtz and Krug (1995) on the measurement of creativity. The TTCT was developed in
1966, Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT), a test of creativity, originally involved simple tests of divergent

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thinking and other problem-solving skills, which were scored on four scales:
● Fluency. The total number of interpretable, meaningful, and relevant ideas generated in response to the stimulus.
● Flexibility. The number of different categories of relevant responses.

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● Originality. The statistical rarity of the responses.
● Elaboration. The amount of detail in the responses.
Measures Creative Thinking Abilities:

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● Constellation of generalized metnal abilities that are commonly presumed to be brought into play in creative
achievements.
● Divergent/produtive/inventive thinking, imagination.
It is consists of 3 activities:
● Picture construction.

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● Picture completion.
● Lines.
Criticisms against TTCT
Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) has been criticized mainly on four grounds:
1. Result of these tests may be affected by the response set.
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2. Testing under different conditions result in the differences in performance of the subject.
3. Even results of different raters may differ.
4. these tests have an inadequate structure.
Q. 2. Explain the approaches to problem: solving. Discuss the preceptual blocks and emotional blocks
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to problem Solving.
Ans. Approaches To Problem Solving: The theoretical models that are talked about in portion incorporate the
accepted models of problem-solving. Gestaltists Theories, computer simulation and Information processing, The
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General Problem Solver (GPS), Wickelgren’s general problem-solving procedures and Newell’s approach to
comprehension Problem Solving are discussed below.
Traditional Approaches
In these approaches, problem are studies according to associative learning process inferred from the investigations
of traditional and instrumental fields. Consistent with a few scholars a distinct enters an problem scenario with an
existing unpredictable of boost reaction affiliations as an after effect of earlier experience. The problem is more
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inclined to inspire some of these affiliations than others, with an acceptable suggestion that problem challenge will
hinge on upon the quality of the right companionship with respect to the quality of other wrong affiliations. Over the
span of problem explaining, failure case the acquainted complex gets revised as practically propensities are debilitated
through termination and Success is reinforced through fortification.
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Gestalt Approaches
According to Gestalt psychologists, there are many alternate perspective of problem-solving. They stressed upon
the imperativeness of the structure of the problem scenarios what’s more the creation of new blends of old thoughts,
particularly, they rearrangement of items during problem-solving as mentioned in Kohlar’s “The Mentality of Apes”.
In Gestalt analysis, the solution is reached by finding the correct way of rearranging of items. Wertheimer (1959)
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Gestalt clinicians made a distinction between reproductive and productive thinking. The former involves the provision
of tried and accurate ways to result. Contrary to it, productive thinking needs knowledge and inventiveness. Consistent
with gestalts view the scholar must see another method for organising the problem, another method for organizing the
components of thought and observation. Nine dot problem is classical problem calling for profitable insightful thinking.
It is to interface the nine dots with only four straight lines, without lifting your pencil from the paper in drawing the
lines. To think beneficially in this problem scenario one must rebuild the issue, to toss off the unnecessary suspicion
that the lines should lie inside the screen borders. Nine dot problem is as follows:

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Fig. 1: The Nine dot problem

Information Processing and Computer Simulation

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The technique comprises of customizing a workstation to work in a specified way and looking at its execution to
that of human subjects given the same undertakings. Analysts computer simulation reenactment have made major
commitments to the improvement of data preparing perspective of problem understanding. Solving problem additionally

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requires the recovery of both real and procedural learning from enduring memory. Particularly for more drawn out
problems, arriving at a result may include rehashed space and recovery of data produced promptly in the problem for
utilization in later stages. Indeed, this short posting obviously demonstrates that problem settling is not a solitary
cognitive methodology however rather includes a number of exercises which need to be legitimately executed and
organised to be fruitful. The most guaranteeing sort of hypothesis in the early 1980s includes machine recreation. In

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the final couple of decades various PC reenactment speculations of problem explaining have risen. The origins of this
approach can be traced to the work of Newell and Simon, who developed a programme called ‘General Problem-
Solver’.
The General Problem Solver (GPS)
In the GPS programme following was present:
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A rapid storage and retrieval system with a limited capacity working memory.
A low storage and retrieval system related to a large capacity long term memory.
Single operation serial processor.
Instead of algorithm, heuristics was used.
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A verbal protocol consisting of records of words pronounced by individuals during problem solving was prepared
by Newell and his associates. At that point they translated these long records painstakingly to check whether they
could find general heuristics that developed. It presented a method for conceptualising problem that is received in
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most contemporary hypotheses of problem-solving.

According to the GPS, problem is taken as a problem space. At one end of the space is the starting point, on the
other side is the objective. The problem-solving procedure itself is conceived as a set of operations to cross that
space, to get from the starting point to the goal state, one step at a time. The problem-solver starts at the beginning
state of information and looks to change over it into the objective state by applying specialists, which are activities that
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are allowed to move from one state of an alternate.

Means End Analysis
The general heuristic procedures, such as means end analysis, creating subgoals, or working forwards and
backwards can be applied to any problem. The General Problem-Solver used these heuristics, together with an
appropriate representation of the problem, to generate the specific heuristics for that problem. This, the theory states,
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is what a human will do when confronted with a new problem, i.e. use general heuristic procedures, together with an
appropriate representation of the problem, to generate a specific solution. The value of the theory lay in its description
of the heuristics of human problem-solving in a form capable of computational modelling. This opened up the possibility
that, if computers could model ideal human problemme-solving, then they could also be expected to model flawed
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problem-solving procedures, by perturbing that ideal in specific ways. This would be valuable in an instructional
context if, by modelling a flawed problem-solving strategy, the program could generate the same incorrect result as a
student. Since the program would then have a representation of the flawed strategy (e.g. as deleting one step in the
correct procedure), it would be able to advise the student on how to correct the flaw (e.g. “Have you forgotten the
following step?”), and thereby provide individually adaptive tuition. This intriguing idea led to a number of computer-
based experiments with attempts to model students’ problem-solving behaviour, mainly in mathematical subjects.
The following geometric problem is an example:

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 Prove that AD and BC are same length in ABCD rectangle.

A B

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D C

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In Triangle ACD and BDC are congruent if one could prove that two sides included angles are equal.
Wickelgren’s General Problem-Solving Strategies
Wickelgren’s perspective of problem-solving is dependent upon general problem-solver. As per this view, three
types of formal problem are:

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1. An explanation of the Initial state.
2. Depiction of the Goal state.
3. Depiction of set of operation.
This successive settling on of decisions continues forever until the individual either arrives at the objective state or
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ends up at a deadlock. Contemplating State Action Tree is the way that as you get further into problem the amount of
conceivable movement groupings expands quickly. Wickelgren contends that there are seven general problem unraveling
strategies for seeking the state action tree. They are as follows:
(i) Inference: The process of deriving the strict logical consequences of assumed premises.
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(ii) Classification of action sequence: These are equivalent classes related to organising conceivable
arrangements of activities (on the other hand operations) that are equal the extent that the problem is concerned.
(iii) State evaluation and hill climbing: It is related to evaluating possible operations to help determine paths to
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the goal expression. Hill climbing is systematically choosing one of these paths.
(iv) Subgoals: Another strategy that Wickelgren presents is creating sub-goals, or breaking the problem into
simpler problems.
(v) Contradiction: A third strategy is contradiction, a method of problem-solving in which one proves that the
goal could not possibly be obtained from the givens.
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(vi) Working backwards: A fourth strategy is working backwards, an effective strategy for problems that have
a uniquely defined goal and for which several givens must be used to derive the goal.
(vii) Finding relations between problems: To “finding relations between the new problems and previously
problems” solved.
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Perceptual Blocks
These are obstacles that prevent us from clearly perceiving the problem or the information needed to solve it. A
few perceptual blocks are:
Stereotyping: This assumes that once an item or idea is identified it can have no other use or function.
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Seeing only what you expect to see: To recognise situations we look for patterns of key features which we
have learnt by experience represent a particular situation. If the key features ‘fit’ we assume the situations are the
same.
Not recognising problems: A surprising number of problems go unnoticed or are recognised only when the
effects have become severe and emergency action is required.
Not seeing the problem in perspective: When we have a very narrow a view of the situation and not able to
recognize the whole problem. This leads us to solving only a part of the problem.

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 Mistaking cause and effect: Sometimes we may confuse between the cause and effect of the problem and fail
to reach a solution.
Emotional Blocks
These blocks decrease your freedom to explore and manipulate ideas in a realm that makes you uncomfortable.
They interfere with your ability to conceptualize fluently and flexibly. Emotional blocks prevent you from communicating
your ideas to others. Some types of emotional blocks include:
(a) Fear of making mistakes or looking foolish: This starts from childhood to be careful, not to fail, not to

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look foolish. These prohibitions are deeply ingrained in us by the time we become adults.
(b) Impatience: Wanting to succeed quickly in solving the problem makes us impatient. This situation does not
allow us for adequate analysis of the problem and we evaluate ideas too fast without thinking properly over the

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options present before us. This does not give us an effective solution.
(c) Avoiding anxiety: When we are faced with high risk, disorder and ambiguity, long-term stress, and insecurity,
we must avoid anxiety in order to obtain an effective solution.

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(d) Fear of taking risk: When the outcome of a problem solving is uncertain or could be unpleasant we avoid
and hence set easy goals.
(e) Need for order: In such a situation we are unable to cope with the frustration or ambiguities.
(f) Lack of challenge: In routine problems, we have lack of challenge. In such situations, our benefits/losses
are not too much. We take easiest routes.

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Q. 3. Dicuss the types of problem. Distinguish between algorithm and heuristic strategies of problem
solving with suitable examples.
Ans. Types of Problems: Problems are classified as well-defined or ill-defined. A well-defined problem is one
that has a clear goal, a specific path to the solution and clearly visible obstacles based on the information given. For
example, calculating the sales tax and total cost of an item for purchase is a simple, clearly defined process:
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Price × Tax Rate (Percent) = Sales Tax + Price = Total Cost
Well-defined problems can be solved using a formula or algorithm; a step-by-step process that will always
produce the correct result. Problems can be classified into three categories:
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(i) Arrangement
(ii) Inducing Structure and
(iii) Transformation
Solving each of these types of problems requires somewhat different type of psychological skills and knowledge.
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(i) Arrangement of problems: It requires that arranging elements in a way that fulfils certain criteria. For
example:
The answer to the problem “Arrange the letters in LEPAP to make the name of a fruit” is “APPLE.”
(ii) Inducing Structure: Some problems involve finding relationships between elements. For example: “Pineapple
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is to fruit as cabbage is to ___.” In this analogy problem, the answer, “vegetable,” requires people to figure out the
relationship between “pineapple” and “fruit” and apply a similar relationship to “cabbage.”
(iii) Transformation Problems: Other problems involve making a series of changes to achieve a specific goal,
a process called transformation problems. For example: A familiar riddle describes a situation in which a man has to
take his fox, his chicken, and his tub of grain across a river in a boat. The boat will hold only him and two of his
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possessions at any one time. He can’t leave the fox and the chicken on the riverbank by themselves because the fox
will eat the chicken, and he can’t leave the chicken with the grain because the chicken will eat the grain. He also can’t
take the fox and the chicken in the boat together because the fox will eat the chicken when he’s occupied with rowing
the boat. The same goes for the chicken and the grain. How will he get all three across? First he takes the fox and the
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grain across. He leaves the fox on the opposite bank and takes the grain back with him. He then leaves the grain on
the bank and takes the chicken across. He leaves the chicken on the opposite bank and takes the fox back with him
to retrieve the grain.
Algorithms: An algorithm is a step-by-step procedure that will always produce a correct solution. A mathematical
formula is a good example of a problem-solving algorithm. While an algorithm guarantees an accurate answer, it is not
always the best approach to problem solving. This strategy is not practical for many situations because it can be so
time-consuming.

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 For example, if you were trying to figure out all of the possible number combinations to a lock using an algorithm,
it would take a very long time! Another example, One of the simplest algorithms is to find the largest number in an
(unsorted) list of numbers. The solution necessarily requires looking at every number in the list, but only once at each.
From this follows a simple algorithm, which can be stated in a high-level description English prose, as:
High-level description:
1. Assume the first item is largest.
2. Look at each of the remaining items in the list and if it is larger than the largest item so far, make a note of it.
3. The last noted item is the largest in the list when the process is complete.

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Heuristics: A heuristic is a mental rule-of-thumb strategy that may or may not work in certain situations. Unlike
algorithms, heuristics do not always guarantee a correct solution. However, using this problem-solving strategy does
allow people to simplify complex problems and reduce the total number of possible solutions to a more manageable

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set. Heuristics are strategies using readily accessible, though loosely applicable, information to control problem-
solving in human beings and machines.
For example, Trial-and-Error is the best example for heuristics. A trial-and-error approach to problem-solving

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involves trying a number of different solutions and ruling out those that do not work. This approach can be a good
option if you have a very limited number of options available. If there are many different choices, you are better off
narrowing down the possible options using another problem-solving technique before attempting trial-and-error.
SECTION-B
Answer the following questions.

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Q. 4. Explain Bloom’s taxonomy of cognitive domain with example of each level.
Ans. We learn and remember things because of our brain. These two processes are possible due to brain’s
capacity to learn and retain various events of our life such as seeing, hearing, reading and understanding ourselves
and the world around us. Thus, brain allows us to learn and store new memories as well as knowledge needed for our
life and helps in maintaining our self-identity. The real significance of memory is specially recognized when some
injury or disease causes a loss of memory.
Bloom’s Taxonomy of Cognitive Domain
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According to Bloom et al. (1965), there are six levels of information processing:
(i) knowing which needs repeating words or visuals in mind;
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(ii) comprehension, that is, understanding;
(iii) application;
(iv) analysis;
(v) synthesis; and
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(vi) evaluation.
All these levels are in the order of growing complexity. While the first and second levels need a very little
elaboration, the third and fourth level require more elaboration and influence long-term learning in a great measure.
The fifth and sixth levels need the highest levels of elaboration. However, Hummel & Huitt (1994) find that there has
been no consensus on the ordering of these two highest levels.
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Q. 5. Differentiate between short-term memory and long term memory with suitable example.
Ans. Short-Term Memory (STM): The information transferred from sensory memory to short-term memory
depends upon selective attention. This means only a limited amount of information is received by the short-term
memory. STM is like a computer’s RAM (Random Access Memory) where there is a working space for short
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computations and is vulnerable to interruption or interference. Accordingly, the main characteristics of STM are
limited capacity for information and short retention period (3 to 20 seconds).
Long-Term Memory (LTM): The information from the STM passes on to this relatively permanent storage on
basis of meaning and significance through the process of encoding. Retention into LTM can be enhanced with proper
organisation, meaningfulness or emotional aspect of the information. Moreover, chunking or grouping of information
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greatly increases transfer of information from the STM to LTM. The store information in LTM becomes our knowledge
which influences our perceptions and this perceptual memory lasts for a long time.
LTM has mental models of the world called schemas which are interrelated networks containing stored information.
Similar schemas are intricately linked which means if information activates one schema it also activates others which
are linked together. This helps in recalling relevant knowledge and disregarding insignificant parts of the information.
Therefore, activating schemas through curiosity-arousing questions, movies, etc. before presentation of information
helps in its better absorption.

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 The top-down processing in the LTM affects our perception which means we interpret a given sensory experience
on the basis of our prior knowledge giving rise to bias in our thinking. Finally, rehearsal of the acquired information in
LTM also increases retention power.
Q. 6. Explain the four principles of information processing.
Ans. According to Huitt (2000), there are many views about the principles of information processing but still
most cognitive psychologists accept the following four basic principles:
(i) The first principle of information processing that the mental system of human beings has a limited capacity
particularly because at every point there are constrains, bottlenecks, or restrictions during the flow as well as

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processing of information.
(ii) The second principle states that the processes such as encoding, transformation, processing, storage, retrieval
and utilisation of information needs a control mechanism is required to oversee the encoding. The work of

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Atkinson & Shiffrin (1971) demonstrates this principle. It must be remembered that new task is difficult to
process and hence needs extra effort or power as compared to a routine task of our daily life.
(iii) Trying to understand the world, we use a two-way flow of information. This what the third principle assumes.

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This helps us in making a meaning out of the environment and linking ourselves to the same. Thus, there are
two types of processing, namely, bottom-up processing and top-down processing. In the first type of processing,
we use information collected through the senses and in the second type information contained in the memory
is used. All this is done in a dynamic manner. The difference between these two types of processing are quite
like the difference between inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning whereby inductive reasoning involves

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proceeding from specific instances to general conclusion and deductive reason consists of starting from a
general principle and reaching the specific examples. Another similar example is the distinction between
using information received from the senses and those which our imaginations produce.
(iv) Apart from the three above basic principles, the cognitive psychologists agree to the fourth principle of
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genetic processing. Accordingly, they assume that the human organism processes and organises information
in a specific way due to its particular genetic makeup. For instance, it is almost the same age when any
normal human infant generates first words, starts telegraphic speech like “ball gone” and over-generalizes
the use of verbs as in the case of “goes to the store” instead of saying gone or went to the store.
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Q. 7. Explain the different stages of creativity.
Ans. Stages of Creativity: Is there any pattern to creative thinking? Typically, five stages occur during creative
problem- solving:
1. Orientation: As a first step, the person defines the problem and identifies its most important dimensions.
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2. Preparation: In the second stage, creative thinkers saturate themselves with as much information about the
problem as possible.
3. Incubation. Most major problems produce a period during which all attempted solutions will be futile. At this
point, problem solving may proceed on a subconscious level: While the problem seems to have been set aside, it is still
“cooking” in the background.
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4. Illumination. The stage of incubation is often ended by a rapid insight or series of insights. These produce the
“Aha!” experience, often depicted in cartoons as a lightbulb appearing over the thinker’s head.
5. Verification. The final step is to test and critically evaluate the solution obtained during the stage of illumination.
If the solution proves faulty, the thinker reverts to the stage of incubation.
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Q. 8. Discuss Vernon’s hierarchical theory of intelligence.

Ans. Vernon’s Hierarchical Theory: In The Structure of Human Abilities (1950) Vernon presented his
hierarchical group factor theory of the structure of human intellectual abilities. At the top of this hierarchy was
Spearman’s general factor (g), which accounted for the largest source of the variance in intelligence. Below g were
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several major, minor and specific group factors. Because Vernon’s theory accounted for a general factor and group
factors, it was seen as a reconciliation between Spearman’s two factor theory (which did not have group factors) and
Thurstone’s multiple factor theory (which did not have a general factor.)
SECTION-C
Answer the following questions.
Q. 9. Miller’s Magic Number.
Ans. Miller’s Magic Number: The number 7 is called the Miller’s Magic Number since George Miller
(1956) applied a range of +2 or –2 from this magic number 7 and said that one can remember between five and

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nine items on one exposure. It is the number of items which can be held in STM at a given point of time. Miller
found that after about five or six tones it was difficult for the subjects to identity any more tone. Further, he found
this to be true in the context other tasks also. It is may be mentioned that Miller used only aspect, tone, but adding
more aspects increases the capacity to remember. STM consists of three basic operations– iconic memory for
visual images; acoustic memory for sounds; and working memory which is our thinking at any given moment of
time. According to Freud, STM is conscious memory and is created by one or both external stimulus and internal
thought.
Q. 10. Nature vs. nurture debate.

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Ans. The nature vs. nurture debate extends to the topic of language acquisition. Today, most researchers
acknowledge that both nature and nurture play a role in language acquisition. However, some researchers emphasize
the influences of learning on language acquisition, while others emphasize the biological influences.

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Receptive Language before Expressive Language
Receptive language is the ability to understand language, and expressive language is the ability to use language to
communicate.

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Environmental Influences on Language Acquisition
A major proponent of the idea that language depends largely on environment was the behaviourist B. F. Skinner.
He believed that language is acquired through principles of conditioning, including association, imitation, and
reinforcement.
According to this view, children learn words by associating sounds with objects, actions, and events. They also

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learn words and syntax by imitating others. Adults enable children to learn words and syntax by reinforcing correct
speech.
Critics of this idea argue that a behaviourist explanation is inadequate. They maintain several arguments:
● Learning cannot account for the rapid rate at which children acquire language.
● There can be an infinite number of sentences in a language. All these sentences cannot be learned by imitation.
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● Children make errors, such as overregularizing verbs. For example, a child may say Billy hitted me, incorrectly
adding the usual past tense suffix -ed to hit. Errors like these can't result from imitation, since adults generally
use correct verb forms.
● Children acquire language skills even though adults do not consistently correct their syntax.
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Neural Networks
Some cognitive neuroscientists have created neural networks, or computer models, that can acquire some aspects
of language. These neural networks are not preprogrammed with any rules. Instead, they are exposed to many
examples of a language. The developers of these networks speculate that children may acquire language in a similar
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way, through exposure to multiple examples.

Biological Influences on Language Acquisition
The main proponent of the view that biological influences bring about language development is the well-known
linguist Noam Chomsky. According to this view, all children are born with a universal grammar, which makes them
receptive to the common features of all languages. Because of this hard-wired background in grammar, children
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easily pick up a language when they are exposed to its particular grammar.
Evidence for an innate human capacity to acquire language skills comes from the following observations:
● The stages of language development occur at about the same ages in most children, even though different
children experience very different environments.
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● Children’s language development follows a similar pattern across cultures.

● Children generally acquire language skills quickly and effortlessly.
● Deaf children who have not been exposed to a language may make up their own language. These new
languages resemble each other in sentence structure, even when they are created in different cultures.
Biology and Environment
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Some researchers have proposed theories that emphasize the importance of both nature and nurture in language
acquisition. These theorists believe that humans do have an innate capacity for acquiring the rules of language.
Language, Culture, and Thought
Researchers have differing views about the extent to which language and culture influence the way people think.
In the 1950s, Benjamin Lee Whorf proposed the linguistic relativity hypothesis. He said language determines the way
people think. For example, Whorf said that Eskimo people and English-speaking people think about snow differently
because the Eskimo language has many more words for snow than the English language does.

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 Q. 11. Psychobiological research.
Ans. Psychobiological Research: The relation-ship between cognitive performance and cerebral events and
situations is the domain of this type of research. Basically, three kinds of techniques are used in this method: studying
an individual’s brain post-mortem; studying images of structures or activities of the brain showing a particular cognitive
deficit; and studying normal performance of a cognitive activity of an individual.
Q. 12. Problem space.
Ans. Summary of the Problem Space Hypothesis: Every problem has a substantial number of elective ways
from beginning state to an objective state; the sum set of such states, as produced by the lawful specialists, is known

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as the fundamental problem space. Individuals’ problem comprehending conduct could be seen as the handling of
learning states by the provision of mental administrators, moving from an introductory information state to an objective,
learning state. According to mental specialists, legitimate moves can be encoded. There are additionally confinements

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which forbid a move if certain conditions hold. Individuals utilize their information and different heuristic techniques to
hunt through the problem space and to discover a way from the beginning state to the objective state.
The sum of these procedures happen inside the points of confinement of a specific cognitive framework. That is,

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there may be working memory impediments and restrictions during the flow of information to the long term memory
of the individual. According to Newell’s methodology, having the problem space theory, suggests that the information
level rationalises conduct as far as the explanations that an operator needs to accept that certain movements will
prompt realizing certain objectives. Here, information may be a close, an asset for conduct. The objective of problem
comprehending is to select one of the conceivable actions for the problem.

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Q. 13. Culture free tests
Ans. Culture-free testing is far more hypothetical than real. It assumes, if not requires, there are no cultural
influences in any measurement and assessment of an individual or group on some trait. This further suggests that
measurement and assessment can be designed to only tap into true individual or group traits and not draw on any
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culture-related error variances that may and do occur. Historically, culture-free measurement was seen as merely
error-reduced measurement. Error here means unintended and undefined variance thought of as being unavoidable
yet reducible through solid methodology.
Q. 14. Deviation!Q
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Ans. Deviation Intelligence Quotient (IQ) is a way of measuring an individual’s generalized intelligence. It uses
statistics to analyze a person's intelligence relative to their age. Deviation IQ is scored based on how some individual
deviates from the average IQ of 100. It measures IQ as a normal distribution with the average IQ being a 100 with a
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standard deviation of +/- 15.

This differs from the original way of measuring IQ which was using a ratio score which compared a person’s
“mental” age with their actual age. Deviation IQ scores are intended to be more accurate and account for people who
have very high scores on intelligence measures.
Q. 15. Spatial intelligence
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Ans. Spatial Intelligence: Artists, designers in many areas, architects, navigators, and photographers, among
other careers where an eye for images, shapes, details, colours, and textures is needed fall into this intelligence
category. Students who have the tendency to sketch or “doodle” on their papers (or desk) may be demonstrating this
intelligence.
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Q. 16. Dysprosody
Ans. Dysprosody: Dysprosody, which may manifest as pseudo-foreign accent syndrome refers to the loss of
normal rhythm or melody of speech. It is usually the result of neurological damage such as brain trauma, severe head
injury, stroke, brain vascular damage or brain tumors. This relates to individuals with verbal apraxia because they
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often have difficulty changing the pitch of their spoken messages and using appropriate word stress. For example, if
we are depressed about something we might speak at a slow rate with a low-pitched voice. On the other hand, if we
are excited or anxious we would probably speak at a fast rate with a much higher-pitched voice.
Some cases of dysprosody are due to neurological causes, though it is the rarest type of neurological speech
disorder. Other cases are the result of acquired brain injury or traumas such as tumours, lesions, or strokes that
damage the part of the brain that controls speech and language, though these are also rare. Sometimes dysprosody is
also associated with Parkinson’s Disease.

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 Q. 17. Additive and subtractive bilingualism.
Ans. Cummins draws the distinction between additive bilingualism in which the first language continues to be
developed and the first culture to be valued while the second language is added; and subtractive bilingualism in which
the second language is added at the expense of the first language and culture, which diminish as a consequence.
Cummins (1994) quotes research which suggests students working in an additive bilingual environment succeed to a
greater extent than those whose first language and culture are devalued by their schools and by the wider society.
The dangers of subtractive bilingualism for the non-native speakers in our school are obviously not so strong as,

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say, for the children of immigrants to the USA. Nevertheless, we should do all we can to demonstrate to non-native
English students that their cultures and languages are equally as valid and valued as the Anglo/American culture and
English language that inevitably dominates FIS school life. Teachers and departments should explore every possibility
to incorporate the different cultural backgrounds of our students into their daily teaching and curricula.

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Q. 18. Articulation disorders.
Ans. Articulation disorders: These disorders are based on difficulty learning to physically produce the
intended phonemes. Articulation disorders have to do with the main articulators which are the lips, teeth, alveolar

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ridge, hard palate, velum, glottis, and the tongue. If the disorder has anything to do with any of these articulators,
then it’s an articulation disorder. Articulation disorders should not be confused with motor speech disorders, such
as Dysarthria (in which there is actual paralysis of the speech musculature) or Childhood Apraxia of Speech (in
which motor planning is severely impaired).
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