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Parkinson’s disease results from degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta, reducing dopamine in the striatum. This leads to tremor, rigidity, and bradykinesia. Acetylcholine (A) is linked to memory and attention, serotonin (C) to mood, and GABA (D) to inhibition. Treatments include levodopa and dopamine agonists. On the EPPP, candidates must link neurotransmitters to disorders: dopamine to Parkinson’s and schizophrenia, acetylcholine to Alzheimer’s, and serotonin to depression.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterized by deficits in social communication and restricted, repetitive behaviors with onset in early development. The child’s stereotyped movements, insistence on sameness, and restricted interests are hallmark features. ADHD (A) involves inattention and hyperactivity but not restricted repetitive behaviors. Intellectual Disability (C) requires deficits in intellectual and adaptive functioning, though it may co-occur with ASD. Social Anxiety Disorder (D) involves fear of social evaluation but does not include stereotypies or restricted patterns. On the EPPP, differentiating ASD from ADHD and ID relies on identifying restricted, repetitive behaviors and developmental onset patterns.

Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is the gold-standard psychosocial treatment for OCD. ERP systematically and collaboratively exposes clients to obsessional cues (e.g., touching “contaminated” surfaces) while preventing the compulsive response (e.g., handwashing). Through repeated, prolonged exposure without ritualizing, the client experiences corrective learning: anxiety naturally habituates, and new inhibitory learning forms, weakening the obsession-compulsion loop. The treatment is typically embedded within CBT, including psychoeducation, hierarchy development, cognitive work targeting threat overestimation/intolerance of uncertainty, and skills for managing urges. Systematic desensitization (Option A) can reduce general anxiety but lacks the response-prevention element critical to OCD. Psychodynamic therapy (Option C) may enhance insight but, as a stand-alone, has less evidence for OCD symptom reduction compared to ERP. EMDR (Option D) is well supported for PTSD, not as a primary treatment for OCD. ERP can be combined with SSRIs for moderate-to-severe cases, and careful assessment of safety, readiness, and family accommodation improves outcomes. Treatment fidelity, homework adherence, and measurement-based care (e.g., Y-BOCS tracking) are essential for effectiveness.

Conservation tasks (e.g., recognizing liquid quantity remains the same despite container changes) emerge in the concrete operational stage (ages 7–11). Children develop logical reasoning about tangible objects, classification, and reversibility. Sensorimotor (A) features object permanence. Preoperational (B) is marked by egocentrism and failure on conservation tasks. Formal operational (D) allows abstract reasoning and hypotheticals. On the EPPP, Piaget’s stages are central to developmental psychology.

The primacy effect refers to superior recall of early items in a list, attributed to greater rehearsal and transfer to long-term memory. The recency effect (A) involves superior recall of the last items, due to availability in short-term memory. Chunking (C) improves memory capacity by grouping information into meaningful units. Proactive interference (D) occurs when old learning interferes with new learning. The serial position curve demonstrates both primacy and recency effects, highlighting distinct memory processes (long-term vs. short-term). For EPPP test-takers, differentiating these effects is essential in cognitive psychology, especially in understanding learning, memory disorders, and clinical applications such as designing memory aids for clients with deficits.