Deck 3: Perception

Question 1

A stimulus in the environment is to ______ as a stimulus in our mind is to ______.

A) a distal stimulus; a proximal stimulus
B) top-down processing; bottom-up processing
C) a proximal stimulus; a distal stimulus
D) bottom-up processing; top-down processing

Answer 1

a distal stimulus; a proximal stimulus

Question 2

Why must humans' sensory systems rapidly interpret sensations?

A) because humans have more executive function than other animals do
B) to prevent visual overload
C) because humans sense more than other primates can
D) to keep people out of physical danger

Answer 2

to keep people out of physical danger

Question 3

When the features of individual letters are combined to identify each letter, and then the letters are combined to identify a word, what does this illustrate?

A) top-down processing
B) bottom-up processing
C) a visual stimulus
D) sensation

Answer 3

bottom-up processing

Question 4

John suffered brain damage that caused deficits to his ability to recognize people he knows. What is likely damaged?

A) his sensation
B) his vision
C) his bottom-up processing
D) his top-down processing

Question 5

Which of these is an example of a sense organ?

A) hair
B) nails
C) the eye
D) the brain

Question 6

Which of the following processes the sensations coming into each sense organ, allowing us to understand and interpret the sensations we receive?

A) stimulus
B) sensory system
C) brain
D) environment

Question 7

If you were to hold a pen in each hand, with one held five inches from your face and the other at arm's length, the one closer to your face will look larger, even though they are the same size. This is based on cues from ______.

A) the retinal image
B) brain functioning
C) top-down processing
D) a linear perspective

Question 8

Chris is at a neighborhood cookout. Which part of his body processes the sound of the grill, the sight and smell of the food, and the warmth of sunlight on his skin?

A) distal stimuli
B) temporal lobes
C) receptor cells
D) occipital lobes

Question 9

When we use knowledge of objects to aid in our perception of them, we are using ______.

A) the "where" pathway
B) bottom-up processing
C) top-down processing
D) sensations

Question 10

Why does the Ponzo illusion work?

A) Viewers misunderstand cues related to linear perspective.
B) People mistakenly create retinal images that are the same size.
C) Viewers interpret visual cues inconsistently across stimuli
D) People use only retinal cues rather than linear perspective.

Question 11

The Ponzo illusion happens when there is a discrepancy between ______.

A) computational approaches and Gestalt approaches
B) top-down processing and bottom-down processing
C) actual images and retinal images
D) distal stimuli and proximal stimuli

Question 12

Which of these psychological approaches focuses on how humans use principles of organization to understand our surroundings?

A) perception-action
B) computational
C) Gestalt
D) top-down

Question 13

What is the difference between proximal stimuli and distal stimuli?

A) Primates perceive distal stimuli, and non-primates perceive proximal stimuli.
B) Primates perceive proximal stimuli, and non-primates perceive distal stimuli.
C) The human brain translates proximal stimuli into distal stimuli.
D) The human brain translates distal stimuli into proximal stimuli.

Question 14

Which of these help us estimate objects' size and distance to aid in our perception?

A) neurons
B) sensations
C) stimuli
D) cues

Question 15

Sound waves are to ______ as light waves are to ______.

A) hearing; vision
B) touch; vision
C) vision; hearing
D) touch; hearing

Question 16

If you perceive the simplest outlines or qualities of an object first, and then you add those parts to help you understand what the object is, which type of mental processing are you using?

A) computational
B) hierarchical
C) top-down
D) bottom-up

Question 17

How do geons help us to perceive objects?

A) by making it easier to accurately perceive partly covered three-dimensional objects
B) by making it easier to accurately perceive two-dimensional objects from different angles
C) by helping us process objects of varying retinal image sizes
D) by helping us process objects of similar retinal image sizes

Question 18

Choose the answer with the correct sequence of events.

A) sense organ > receptor cell > nerve conduit > brain area
B) receptor cell > sense organ > nerve conduit > brain area
C) brain area > nerve conduit > sense organ > receptor cell
D) nerve conduit > receptor cell > sense organ > brain area

Question 19

Marta is walking across campus when a car accident happens behind her. At the moment of impact, which part of Marta's brain processes the sensory information that she is taking in?

A) insular cortex
B) parietal cortex
C) olfactory bulb
D) temporal lobe

Question 20

Which scenario is an example of sensing but not perceiving a stimulus?

A) the music playing in the background while you are studying
B) the argument you are having with your significant other while cooking dinner
C) the music you are singing along to while messaging a friend online
D) the painting you are working on while talking to your mother

Question 21

According to Gestalt psychologists, which of these organizing principles do people use as they perceive the world?

A) People group similar objects.
B) They group items that are far apart.
C) People use bottom-up processing before any other method.
D) They do not see objects that are partly covered as continuous.

Question 22

In which of these studies would scientists expect the subjects' mirror neurons to be most likely to engage?

A) A karate expert observes a karate demonstration.
B) A monkey watches a karate expert.
C) A ballet expert who has not danced in years watches classical ballet.
D) A ballet dancer watches a monkey.

Question 23

You are in Times Square on New Year's Eve and are watching all of the giant screens. You detect apparent movement on these digital billboards, although what you actually perceive are light pixels flashing on and off or changes in color. This is known as ______.

A) the computational approach
B) bottom-up processing
C) the phi phenomenon
D) good continuation

Question 24

When making a decision, we are likely to weigh all of the possible choices we could make. This is most similar to the concept of ______ in perception.

A) top-down processing
B) closure
C) proximity
D) affordances

Question 25

Neurons in the "when" pathway become extremely active if they detect ______.

A) the outline of a moving object
B) the outline of a stationary object
C) the direction of a moving object
D) the distance of a stationary object

Question 26

You volunteer for an experiment in which scientists find out how you perceive the location of objects. Which pathway of your brain will the scientists monitor?

A) ventral
B) dorsal
C) lateral
D) variable

Question 27

A neuropsychological discovery that provided support for the link between perception and action was the discovery of ______.

A) top-down processing
B) the visual cortex
C) mirror neurons
D) perception

Question 28

You see a photo of someone jumping rope, with the rope behind him. Although it is possible that there are two different ropes, since you cannot see the whole thing, you assume that the person is holding one continuous rope. This illustrates ______.

A) similarity
B) good continuation
C) closure
D) simplicity

Question 29

You see a puppy's head poking out of a box. You assume that there is, in fact, an entire puppy in the box even though you cannot see it. This is because of ______.

A) the puppy being a proximal stimulus
B) top-down processing
C) the "where" pathway
D) the theory of unconscious inference

Question 30

The ventral pathway is to ______ as the dorsal pathway is to ______.

A) what; where
B) top-down processing; bottom-up processing
C) where; what
D) bottom-up processing; top-down processing

Question 31

Why must there be a variety of approaches to studying how people perceive motion?

A) This perception varies depending on one's age and brain condition.
B) Perception of motion likely involves several processes.
C) Scientists have not yet discovered an accurate way to study this topic.
D) Currently, there is too little academic interest in this topic.

Question 32

Which of these is an example of an unconscious inference we make about the world?

A) When we see an image of a cat crossing some railroad tracks, we are uncertain whether the converging lines indicate distance.
B) When we see an image of pencils in an opaque jar, the jar and the pencils blend in a single retinal image that is of consistent size.
C) When we see an image of pencils in an opaque jar, we understand that parts of the pencils are inside the jar even though we cannot see those parts.
D) When we see an image of a cat crossing some railroad tracks, we process the cat and the tracks in one retinal image.

Question 33

An area near the occipital lobe has been shown to become active when motion stimuli are perceived and when the direction of an object's movement is accurately detected. This is the ______ pathway.

A) "how"
B) "when"
C) "where"
D) "what"

Question 34

Pomerantz and Portillo (2012) found that larger arrays of stimuli containing basic feature elements and more complex stimuli are easier to perceive than smaller basic arrays and stimuli. This is called ______.

A) the theory of unconscious inference
B) the configural superiority effect
C) the computational approach
D) perception

Question 35

You come home, and your house is a mess. The garbage is spilled all over the kitchen, there are rolls of toilet paper strewn about, and all of your decorative trinkets are broken on the floor, but nothing is missing. Your dog and cat are sitting calmly in the middle of the mess. According to the principle of Pragnanz, what would you assume caused the mess?

A) an earthquake
B) a robber
C) your cat and dog
D) your neighbor's child

Question 36

A key component of Gestalt approaches to perception is ______.

A) top-down processing
B) sensation
C) bottom-up processing
D) the computational approach

Question 37

After a severe illness that caused her to suffer a brain injury, Mi Jeong cannot detect the movement of a stimulus. Which area of her brain is likely damaged?

A) lower occipital lobe
B) lateral stream
C) dorsal pathway
D) ventral pathway

Question 38

You are eating a meal at an open-air restaurant a few hundred yards from the ocean. You hear a constant whooshing sound. According to the likelihood principle, what would you assume caused the noise?

A) an earthquake
B) waves crashing on the beach
C) a series of airplanes landing
D) traffic a few miles away

Question 39

Which organizational principle of Gestalt perception would be responsible for our perception that an airplane has continued along its flight path even though we can no longer see it?

A) good continuation
B) closure
C) simplicity
D) proximity

Question 40

According to research, which of these is most important in perceiving apparent motion?

A) nearness
B) similarity
C) color
D) stability

Question 41

Compare and contrast the dorsal pathway and the ventral pathway, giving an example of how you might use each in your everyday environment.

Question 42

Based on what you have read about perception/action researchers, which of these studies would be most helpful for their research?

A) how dogs know it is time to go to sleep
B) how changes in retinal images occur over time
C) how people perceive changing letters on digital billboards
D) how cats catch mice or rats

Question 43

Describe one of the visual illusions you learned about in this chapter, and explain how it fools the eye.

Question 44

An example of an affordance would be thinking that you can fly to class.

Question 45

A distal stimulus is to a proximal stimulus as the environment is to our mind.

Question 46

List, define, and give an example of each of the five organizational principles of Gestalt perception discussed in your text.

Question 47

Our skin is one of our sense organs.

Question 48

When you look at a football player running on television, it is easier to track the player's motion if there are patterns or landmarks in the background than if you can see only the player on a solid green field.

Question 49

Explain what optic flow is, and give an example of how you use it in your everyday life.

Question 50

Every stimulus sensed by your sense organs is consciously perceived.

Question 51

Which of these do pilots use to help them land planes?

A) optic flow
B) the phi phenomenon
C) digital illusion
D) the Ebbinghaus size illusion

Question 52

Top-down processing is a key component in Gestalt approaches to perception.

Question 53

According to the principle of Pragnanz, we generally perceive scenes in complex and unreliable ways.

Question 54

An example of bottom-up processing is sensing a dog running toward you.

Question 55

Using the ideas of top-down and bottom-up processing, describe a recent event in your life and how you used each of these processes throughout the event.

Question 56

The dorsal pathway of the brain processes "what" information about the environment.

Question 57

The theory of unconscious inference is based on the use of cues such as linear perception and retinal image size in object perception.