Exam 17: A: Basic Principles of Sensation and Perception

After reading her horoscope in the morning newspaper, Sabrina readily interpreted many experiences that day as clear verifications of its accuracy. This best illustrates the dangers of

The process by which we organize and interpret sensory information in order to recognize meaningful objects and events is called

Context effects illustrate that our perception of particular stimuli is influenced by the ________ of those stimuli.

Some people are better than others at detecting slight variations in the tastes of various blends of coffee. This best illustrates the importance of

The absolute threshold is the minimum amount of stimulation that a person needs to detect a stimulus

Detection is to interpretation as sensation is to

If the just-noticeable difference for a 10-ounce weight is 1 ounce, the just noticeable difference for an 80-ounce weight would be ________ ounce(s).

It wasn't until Clara heard some of her classmates laughing loudly during history class that she began to perceive the professor's ongoing lecture to be very funny. This provides an illustration of

Experiencing an apple as being red is to ________ as recognizing an apple as being a fruit is to ________.

In one experiment, preschool children judged french fries as tasting better when served in a McDonald's bag rather than a plain white bag. This best illustrates the impact of

Damage to a region of the temporal lobe essential to recognizing faces results in a condition known as

Heather Sellers suffers from prosopagnosia and is unable to recognize her own face in a photograph. Her difficulty stems from a deficiency in

According to Weber's law, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum

Gay men were more accurate in guessing the angle of a geometric figure if it had been in the same location where a nude ________ briefly appeared a moment earlier. Straight women were more accurate if the geometric figure had been in the same location where a nude ________ briefly appeared a moment earlier.

Schemas are best described as

Many people calmly walked past an older gentleman lying on a city sidewalk without showing any concern. As a consequence, other passersby failed to perceive that the man was in need of immediate medical assistance. This best illustrates the importance of

If an adult develops cataracts, his or her

Sensory adaptation helps us to focus our attention on ________ stimuli.

Diminished sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus is known as

Which of the following represents the second of three steps basic to all sensory systems?