BASELINE ASSESSMENT

AQA A Level
Psychology
Baseline Assessment

Question Paper
(Edition 1)
h 30 minutes
h The maximum mark for this
assessment is 30

Name
Sorosola Akesode

Centre Name
NG069
 AQA A Level Psychology
Baseline Assessment

ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS IN THIS SECTION

Read the following passage of information and answer the questions that follow:

A psychologist wanted to find out how context affects memory. She showed two different groups of
participants the same list of 25 words for one minute, and then asked them to recall as many words as
possible. Condition 1 consisted of fifteen participants (10 males and 5 females) who learned and
recalled the words in the same room. Condition 2 consisted of fifteen different participants (8 males
and 7 females) who learned the words in one room and then recalled them in a different room. The
results were as follows:

Table 1: Mean number of words correctly recalled for Condition 1 and Condition 2.
CONDITION 1: CONDITION 2:
MEAN NUMBER OF WORDS RECALLED MEAN NUMBER OF WORDS RECALLED
17.4 13.2

1 The independent variable is the variable that the researcher changes or manipulates. What is the
independent variable in this study? Be specific.
(1 mark)
The independent variable would be the condition in which the words are
learned and recalled

2 The dependent variable is the variable that the researcher measures. What is the dependent
variable in this study? Be specific.
(1 mark)
The dependent variable in this study is the number of words recalled by the participant

3 Why is it important that the participants in both conditions received the same list of 25 words?
(1 mark)
In order to make it a fair test

4 What percentage of the participants in the experiment were male? Show your working out.
percentage of male participants Number of males = 10+8 = 18 (2 marks)
= (18/30)*100 Number of participants = 10+8+5+7= 30

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 5 Explain what the mean scores in table 1 show about memory.
people recall more words when they are learned and (1 mark)
recalled in the same room

Read the following passage of information and answer the questions that follow:
A behavioural psychologist examined learning by placing a cat inside a ‘puzzle box’ (see below) with
some food placed outside. When the cat pulled the string, it opened the door and could eat the food.
The psychologist timed the cat’s escape from the box over a number of separate attempts, noting that
with every attempt the time the cat took to escape and eat the food grew shorter. The results can be
seen below.

Table 2: Time taken for the cat to escape from the puzzle box in seconds.
ATTEMPT TIME TAKEN FOR THE CAT TO ESCAPE
FROM THE PUZZLE BOX (IN SECONDS) T
1 80 e
2 68
3 49
4 37
5 26
6 17
7 9
8 4

6 Calculate the mean time taken for the cat to escape from the puzzle box. Show your
calculations. Show your answer to 1 decimal place.
(2 marks)
80+68+49+37+26+17+9+4=290 290/8= 36.3

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 7 Calculate the median time taken for the cat to escape from the puzzle box. Show your
calculations.
(2 marks)
First rearrange order of numbers: 4, 9, 17, 26,
37, 49, 68, 80
Since 37 and 49 are the two middle values we add them
together and divide them by 2 to get the middle

37+49=86 86/ 2 = 43

8 How many times did the escape take ≤37 seconds?

(1 mark)
5 times

9 The time difference between the first and last attempts was 76 seconds. Calculate the
percentage decrease in time taken to escape from the puzzle box from the first attempt to the
last attempt. Show your working.
(2 marks)
80-4=76 76/80*100=95%

Therefore, the percentage decrease in time is 95%

Text

10 Convert 42% into a decimal.

(1 mark)
42%=42/100=0.42

11 Express 0.8 as a fraction. Write your answer as the lowest common denominator. Show your
working out.
(2 marks)
0.8= 8/10
8/10 = 4/5

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Read the following passage of information and answer the questions that follow:
A psychologist was interested in the relationship between concentration and the number of hours
sleep an individual had had the previous night. He studied a sample of 15 adults, first asking them how
many hours they had slept the night before; then he tested their concentration by timing how long it
took them to identify five differences between two photographs.

12 What type of correlation is shown in the scattergram?

(1 mark)
Negative correlation

13 There is one outlier in the scattergram. Circle the outlier on the diagram and explain why an
outlier might be a problem for the psychologist.
(2 marks)
An outlier can distort the overall pattern of results and make it difficult to draw accurate
conclusions about the relationship between concentration and hours of sleep

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 14 What does this study suggest about the relationship between sleep and concentration?
(1 mark)

The higher the number of hours of sleep the less time taken to identify differences therefore
the higher the concentration

The psychologist noted that some adults were naturally faster at identifying the differences between
the two pictures. When questioned after the experiment, the psychologist found that these adults
often completed similar puzzles in newspapers on their commute to work. The psychologist decided
to repeat the study, ensuring that none of the participants completed ‘spot the difference’ style
puzzles.

15 Outline why it is important for psychologists to control such factors in their research; and name
one other variable that the research should have controlled for?
(2 marks)

It is important that psychologists control certain factors in their reserach

in order to make the results as fair as possible. Another factor controlled could be the
substance intake of participants prior to the experiment as drugs such as aderral could
help improve focus

16 Neurons are cells in the nervous system. Label the parts of this neuron.
(4 marks)

Dendrite

Soma

Nucleus

Schwaan cell

Axon terminal

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 Read the following passage of information and answer the questions that follow:
Synaptic transmission is the process by which neighbouring neurons communicate with one other.
When a neuron is stimulated, an electrical impulse that travels down the axon of the neuron is known
as action potential. Once the action potential reaches the end of the axon, it needs to be transferred
to another neuron or tissue. It must cross over a gap - known as the synaptic gap - between the pre-
synaptic neuron and post-synaptic neuron. At the end of the neuron (in the axon terminal) are the
synaptic vesicles which contains chemical messengers, known as neurotransmitters (e.g. dopamine or
serotonin). When the electrical impulse (action potential) reaches these synaptic vesicles, they release
neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters then carry the signal across the synaptic gap. They then bind to
receptor sites on the post-synaptic cell making the post-synaptic cell more or less likely to fire
(depending on the type of neurotransmitter).

17 What is the synaptic gap? Be specific.

(1 mark)
The synaptic gap is the gap or space between the pre-synaptic neuron and the post-
synaptic neuron

18 What is the role of neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine?

(1 mark)
Neurotransmitters carry signals across the synaptic gap

19 From where are neurotransmitters released?

(1 mark)
the synaptic vesicles in the axon terminal

20 What happens to the neurotransmitters once they cross the synaptic gap?
(1 mark)
they become more or less likely to fire

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