Deck 5: Sensation and Perception

Question 1

Prashanth is participating in a psychology experiment in which he is asked to gradually shrink the image of a square on his computer screen until he can just barely see that it is smaller than
A second square on the screen.Prashanth is trying to create a

A) signal detection.
B) absolute threshold.
C) just-noticeable difference.
D) sensory adaptation.

Answer 1

just-noticeable difference.

Question 2

The area where the optic nerve leaves the retina is referred to as the

A) pupil.
B) cone.
C) fovea.
D) blind spot.

Answer 2

blind spot.

Question 3

Taj wants to create a robot that has sensation but not perception.The robot should

A) react to light but not to the stimuli for taste,smell,or touch.
B) detect external physical energy but not interpret it.
C) understand what things are but be unable to respond to them.
D) construct useful information but be unable to remember it.

Answer 3

detect external physical energy but not interpret it.

Question 4

For which of the following pairs would it be easiest to detect a difference in weight?

A) a 2-liter bottle of water and a 2.1-liter bottle of water
B) a 5-pound free weight and a 5.5-pound free weight
C) a 20-pound child and a 22-pound child
D) a 1-pound bag of sugar and a 2-pound bag of sugar

Question 5

Jasmine wants to get Uchenna's attention in the library.She whispers to avoid disturbing other students.However,she speaks so softly that Uchenna cannot hear.Jasmine's voice is

A) below Uchenna's absolute threshold.
B) below Uchenna's difference threshold.
C) above Uchenna's absolute threshold but below Uchenna's difference threshold.
D) below Uchenna's absolute threshold but above Uchenna's difference threshold.

Question 6

The ________ is a thin inner surface behind the eyeball and it contains sensory receptors.

A) lens
B) retina
C) rod
D) cone

Question 7

Anna is reading her psychology textbook.The light reflects off the words on the page and falls on the sensory receptors in her retina,which results in ________.Then her brain
Interprets the stimuli as particular words,which is called ________.

A) sensation;transduction
B) sensation;perception
C) perception;sensation
D) transduction;sensation

Question 8

After transduction,the neural signals of vision,hearing,taste,and touch all pass through the

A) hypothalamus.
B) hippocampus.
C) thalamus.
D) amygdala.

Question 9

Weber's law suggests that the size of a just-noticeable difference depends on the

A) amount of sensitivity to the stimulus.
B) degree of sensory adaptation.
C) size of the initial stimulus.
D) degree of absolute threshold.

Question 10

Which of the following explains that the greater the size of a chocolate bar,the more of it you will need to slice off before a customer notices that it is smaller?

A) absolute threshold
B) Weber's law
C) signal detection theory
D) sensory adaptation

Question 11

Which of the following generates action potentials that are sent to the brain by the optic nerve?

A) cones
B) rods
C) ganglion cells
D) optic nerves

Question 12

When sensory receptors change physical stimuli into signals that the brain can understand, this is called

A) sensation.
B) absolute threshold.
C) sensory adaptation.
D) transduction.

Question 13

Mary's brain cannot directly process sound waves to hear what her boyfriend is saying.Instead, her sensory receptors detect sound waves and change them into signals that her brain can interpret
As words in a process called

A) absolute threshold.
B) signal detection.
C) transduction.
D) sensory adaptation.

Question 14

Jason is participating in a psychology experiment in which he is seated in a completely dark room. An initially undetected point of light is gradually made brighter.With each increase,he is asked
If he can see the light.In this experiment,Jason's ________ is being measured.

A) difference threshold
B) absolute threshold
C) just-noticeable difference
D) transduction

Question 15

The minimum intensity of sensory stimulation required before a sensation is detected 50 percent of the time is called

A) the absolute threshold.
B) signal detection.
C) the difference threshold.
D) sensory adaptation.

Question 16

The sense organs' detection of external physical stimuli is called ________,whereas further processing,organizing,and interpreting of those stimuli in the brain is called ________.

A) sensation;perception
B) perception;sensation
C) transduction;perception
D) perception;transduction

Question 17

Kendra loves spicy curry,but her husband prefers a mild curry.Starting with a mild curry, Kendra increases the spiciness every time she cooks.One day her husband complains that the
Curry is too spicy.After that,Kendra always makes the curry as spicy as the last time before
Her husband complained.With this exercise,Kendra assessed her husband's

A) difference threshold.
B) absolute threshold.
C) transduction.
D) signal detection.

Question 18

The minimum amount of change required for a person to detect a difference between two stimuli is referred to as

A) transduction.
B) the signal detection.
C) the absolute threshold.
D) the difference threshold.

Question 19

When Petra jumps into a cold lake,she feels as though she is freezing.After a few minutes, she no longer notices the cold and feels comfortable in the water.This change is best
Explained by

A) signal detection.
B) a just-noticeable difference.
C) sensory adaptation.
D) difference threshold.

Question 20

During transduction,most sensory information is transmitted first to the ________ before it is sent to the________,where it is interpreted as sight,sound,smell,touch,or taste.

A) thalamus;cortex
B) cortex;thalamus
C) thalamus;pons
D) pons;cortex

Question 21

If you look at a square made up of alternating red and blue stripes for several minutes and then look immediately at a blank white sheet of paper,you will see a square with alternating green and yellow stripes.This effect results from pairs of ________ that work ________.

A) cones;together
B) cones;in opposition
C) ganglion cells;together
D) ganglion cells;in opposition

Question 22

Which of the following statements best describes the path of visual information in the brain?

A) All of the visual information from the left eye travels to the brain's right side.
B) All of the visual information from the left eye travels to the brain's left side.
C) Visual information from the left half of each eye travels to the brain's right side.
D) Visual information from the left half of each eye travels to the brain's left side.

Question 23

For color vision,shorter wavelengths appear ________ while longer wavelengths appear ________.

A) red;blue
B) blue;red
C) bright;dim
D) dim;bright

Question 24

According to the trichromatic theory of color perceptions,we can see the color red because of

A) L cones.
B) M cones.
C) S cones.
D) rod cells.

Question 25

Encharta is sitting outside,looking at her beautiful garden.As the sun goes down,the colors become dull and finally the colors become shades of gray.This change happens because the

A) number of rods are decreasing.
B) number of cones are increasing.
C) cones are taking over for the rods.
D) rods are taking over for the cones.

Question 26

For color vision,lower amplitude waves appear ________ while higher amplitude waves appear ________.

A) red;blue
B) blue;red
C) bright;dim
D) dim;bright

Question 27

The amplitude of a light wave is experienced by us as

A) pitch.
B) brightness.
C) loudness.
D) hue.

Question 28

When Jodi walks from the sunlight into a dark theater,her ________ cause(s) her ________ to enlarge to let in more light.

A) iris;pupil
B) iris;lens
C) sclera;lens
D) sclera;pupil

Question 29

Hamdi wakes up in the middle of the night and tries to see the clock in the dim light.The hands of the clock are very faint.He will more likely be able to read the time if he looks at the
Clock with his ________ because it has the largest number of ________.

A) fovea;rods
B) periphery;rods
C) fovea;cones
D) periphery;cones

Question 30

Visible light consists of waves that are part of the electromagnetic spectrum.The two main features of energy in the electromagnetic spectrum are

A) hue and texture.
B) wavelength and amplitude.
C) height and weight.
D) color and tone.

Question 31

How do the light waves reflected by a blue object differ from those reflected by a red object?

A) The blue object reflects longer wavelength light.
B) The blue object reflects shorter wavelength light.
C) The blue object reflects higher amplitude light.
D) The blue object reflects lower amplitude light.

Question 32

Colleen and LaVonne are playing darts.Colleen throws her dart into the center of the target,and LaVonne throws his dart into the outer ring.If we compare this scenario to the process of vision,Colleen would have been likely to hit a ________,and LaVonne would have been likely to hit a ________.

A) rod;cone
B) rod;rod
C) cone;cone
D) cone;rod

Question 33

Loudness is to sound as ________ is to light.

A) hue
B) wavelength
C) brightness
D) color

Question 34

Sameer is mixing paint.He starts with a very dark green paint and then gradually adds white paint.Sameer is ________ of the green paint.

A) changing the hue
B) increasing the saturation
C) decreasing the saturation
D) changing the contrast

Question 35

An object appears to be a particular color because of the

A) amplitude of the light that the object absorbs and how the brain processes light.
B) brain's experience with the color of most objects that people are likely to encounter.
C) amount of light available for the eye to process and the color of the object.
D) wavelength of light that the object reflects and how the receptors in the eye process light.

Question 36

Melody is looking at the dosage instructions written in tiny print on a medicine bottle.She will most likely be able to read the instructions if she looks at the words with her ________ because it has the largest number of ________.

A) fovea;rods
B) periphery;rods
C) fovea;cones
D) periphery;cones

Question 37

Which of the following is most sensitive to different colors?

A) lens
B) cornea
C) rods
D) cones

Question 38

Maggie paints her room red.The room looks red because the paint has absorbed the ________ wavelengths of light and is reflecting the ________ wavelengths to Maggie's eyes.

A) long;short and medium
B) long and short;medium
C) short and medium;long
D) long and medium;short

Question 39

According to trichromatic color theory,there is no cone specialized to respond to yellow light. When we see yellow,it is because the light is stimulating the

A) S cones very little and the L and M cones equally.
B) S cones very little,the L cones greatly,and the M cones moderately.
C) S and M cones equally and the L cones very little.
D) S and L cones equally and the M cones greatly.

Question 40

Which parts of the electromagnetic spectrum can humans see?

A) Only the part of the spectrum between 10nm and 380nm.
B) Humans can see all of the electromagnetic spectrum.
C) Only the part of the spectrum between 400nm and 700nm.
D) Humans cannot see any of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Question 41

The major problem to be explained by depth perception is that

A) the environment contains too few depth cues.
B) there are no receptor cells that are selective for depth.
C) there are no cells in the primary visual cortex that are selective for depth.
D) the retina input is two-dimensional.

Question 42

If you close one eye,you will still be able to use ________ as a depth cue,but you will NOT be able to use ________ as a depth cue.

A) linear perspective;occlusion
B) texture gradients;binocular disparity
C) relative size;stroboscopic motion
D) binocular disparity;linear perspective

Question 43

The first psychologists to emphasize the organizing processes underlying perception were the

A) opponent-process psychologists.
B) trichromatic theorists.
C) Gestalt psychologists.
D) signal detection theorists.

Question 44

Reversible figures occur because

A) Gestalt laws do not apply to them.
B) the figures contain internally contradictory cues.
C) the correct assignment of figure and ground is ambiguous.
D) sensory information leads to different cognitive interpretations.

Question 45

Jarvis is standing on the outside platform of the train station.He looks down the tracks,hoping to see his train.As the tracks get farther from him the two sides of the tracks will appear to
________,providing the depth cue of ________.

A) remain parallel;linear perspective
B) converge;linear perspective
C) remain parallel;texture gradient
D) converge;texture gradient

Question 46

Leonardo da Vinci identified many monocular depth cues,including ________,in which a near object blocks an object that is farther away.

A) occlusion
B) relative size
C) familiar size
D) linear perspective

Question 47

Binocular disparity is about

A) different views from each eye.
B) different textures of near and far objects.
C) similar views from different perspectives.
D) similar sizes of objects when they are in different contexts.

Question 48

According to the ________ model of conceptual processing,the recognition of patterns occurs because data are relayed from a lower level to a higher level of processing in the brain.

A) bottom-up processing
B) top-down processing
C) continuity
D) binocular disparity

Question 49

If the muscles of one of your eyes becomes paralyzed,making it impossible to change the point of focus of that eye,which kind of depth cue will become unavailable to you?

A) linear perspective
B) binocular disparity
C) occlusion
D) texture gradients

Question 50

Which of the following phrases would be a good description of bottom-up processing?

A) "It is used when information is very complex."
B) "It requires information based on your past experiences."
C) "It accounts for human judgment."
D) "It is a very basic type of processing."

Question 51

Consider the letters XPY ZWO LRG.People tend to perceive this pattern as three groups of letters instead of a single group of letters because of the Gestalt principle known as

A) similarity.
B) continuity.
C) proximity.
D) closure.

Question 52

Each eye sees more of the world on its own side of the visual field.A combination of the views from the two eyes creates the depth cue of

A) linear perspective.
B) texture gradients.
C) occlusion.
D) binocular disparity.

Question 53

Daniel is learning how to read,and because the box just delivered to his door contains a pizza, he realizes that the unfamiliar word he sees on the box must be pizza.Daniel is using

A) bottom-up processing.
B) top-down processing.
C) grouping.
D) binocular disparity.

Question 54

When an artist creates the illusion of depth in a painting,he or she does so by using

A) depth cues from stereoscopic vision.
B) binocular depth cues.
C) monocular depth cues.
D) depth cues from binocular disparity.

Question 55

Scotty makes dinner by looking at his ingredients and then combining them into a meal. Scotty is cooking in a ________ manner.

A) bottom-up
B) top-down
C) binocular
D) monocular

Question 56

Jahrel stares at a blue image for some time and then looks away at a white sheet of paper. According to opponent-process theory,what color will Jahrel see as an after-image?

A) yellow
B) blue
C) green
D) red

Question 57

When you are on a cliff far from the beach,the sand looks smooth and uniform.When you sit on the beach and look closely at the sand,you can see all the bumps and colors.This
Difference is an example of which depth cue?

A) occlusion
B) figure to ground
C) texture gradient
D) linear perspective

Question 58

People see the figure ( ) as an oval rather than two separate curving lines.Which Gestalt principle explains this outcome?

A) similarity
B) continuity
C) proximity
D) closure

Question 59

This set of symbols +++++///// would typically be perceived as two separate groups of characters. The Gestalt principle that explains this perception is

A) similarity.
B) continuity.
C) proximity.
D) closure.

Question 60

According to ________,we perceive a car as a whole unit rather than perceiving it as a group of distinct entities (such as metal,tires,glass,door handles,hubcaps,and fenders).

A) bottom-up processing
B) bottom-down processing
C) Gestalt psychology
D) transduction

Question 61

The reason stroboscopic motion was a topic of research for Gestalt psychologists is because

A) we have motion detectors that adapt to continuous motion,becoming less sensitive.
B) we perceive individual images flashed quickly on a screen as an organized whole representing motion.
C) we perceive flat images as having depth through a set of visual cues called pictorial motion cues.
D) the grouping of images is perceived as indicating which parts of a scene go together based on proximity.

Question 62

In order to perceive object constancy,your brain needs to understand the relationship between the object and one other factor.In the case of size constancy,you understand that the car you see approaching is not

A) actually changing color,so the other factor must be the wavelengths of the light reflected from the car.
B) actually growing larger,so the other factor must be how far away the car is from you.
C) glowing and getting brighter,so the other factor must be how much light is reflected from the car and its background.
D) changing shape,so the other factor must be the angle at which you are viewing the car.

Question 63

Ayanna made a flipbook by drawing a stick figure on each piece of paper in a slightly different position.When she flipped the pages,the stick figure appeared to be walking across the pages.Ayanna's flipbook illustrates the principle of

A) shape constancy.
B) motion aftereffects.
C) size constancy.
D) stroboscopic motion.

Question 64

When Danni was standing directly in front of a door,it appeared rectangular,with right angles at each corner.When the door was opened part way,the door appeared to Danni to change
Shape,with some of the corners appearing as sharper angles and other corners appearing
Wider.However,Danni knew that the door had not actually changed shape because of

A) shape constancy.
B) color constancy.
C) size constancy.
D) brightness constancy.

Question 65

The auditory neurons extending from the ________ reach out with their axons to the primary auditory cortex in the ________.

A) thalamus;parietal lobe
B) thalamus;temporal lobe
C) parietal lobe;thalamus
D) temporal lobe;thalamus

Question 66

The primary auditory cortex is located in which brain lobe?

A) frontal
B) temporal
C) occipital
D) parietal

Question 67

Ayelet is trying to draw a picture of two people down the street from each other.No matter how carefully she tries to draw them both the same size,the person who is supposed to be farther away appears much taller than the nearer person.You could explain that the depth cue of ________ size means that she will need to draw a ________ image of the person who is supposed to be farther away.

A) relative;smaller
B) relative;larger
C) familiar;larger
D) familiar;smaller

Question 68

Sound waves cause the ________ to vibrate.

A) cochlea
B) eardrum
C) outer ear
D) auditory nerve

Question 69

Dogs can hear higher-frequency sounds than people can.This fact suggests that there is a physical difference inside the

A) ear drum.
B) ossicles.
C) auditory nerve.
D) cochlea.

Question 70

Regarding visual illusions,which of the following statements is most accurate?

A) Illusions are largely irrelevant to understanding normal perceptual processes.
B) Illusions help reveal normal perceptual processes.
C) Most visual perception is actually illusory.
D) Illusions show that perception is mostly a bottom-up process.

Question 71

Gervase is staring at the blades of his ceiling fan.When he turns off the fan,he is surprised that the blades appear to be rotating in the opposite direction.To reassure Gervase that he is not hallucinating,you could tell him about

A) stroboscopic motion.
B) motion aftereffects.
C) texture gradients.
D) binocular disparity.

Question 72

The four kinds of object constancy are

A) size,shape,color,and brightness.
B) shape,material,angle,and distance.
C) linearity,motion,size,and texture.
D) occlusion,perspective,color,and depth.

Question 73

Li-Ting is painting a picture of a vase of flowers placed in front of a book case.She paints the vase and then,right next to it,half of a book.When Bijal looks at the painting,she sees the book as being ________ the vase because of ________.

A) adjacent to;occlusion
B) adjacent to;linear perspective
C) behind;linear perspective
D) behind;occlusion

Question 74

Prolonged exposure to movement in one direction ________ the motion detectors responsive to that direction.When the movement stops,the baseline firing rate of detectors for the
Opposite direction of motion will be ________ than the firing rate for the detectors that
Responded to the prolonged movement,leading to motion aftereffects.

A) sensitizes;higher
B) sensitizes;lower
C) fatigues;higher
D) fatigues;lower

Question 75

According to stroboscopic motion,when two vertical lines are flashed on a screen at different intervals,we perceive the lines in different ways.To be perceived as one line moving continuously from side to side,the interval between the lines should be

A) less than 30 milliseconds (0.030 seconds).
B) greater than 200 milliseconds (0.200 seconds).
C) slightly more than 60 milliseconds (0.060 seconds).
D) exactly 35 milliseconds (0.035 seconds).

Question 76

The Shepard's Table illusion is an example of

A) how rods and cones enable the perception of different colors,brightness,and constancy.
B) the way that the brain uses built-in assumptions about the physical world but can be fooled.
C) the way shape constancy is perceived by the brain to understand and function in the real world.
D) how the perceptual system can judge relationships between objects and their actual size.

Question 77

The reason we are able to perceive still images flashed rapidly on a screen as images in motion is because the previous image persists on the retina for around 70 milliseconds,so we
Don't perceive the gap between images.This phenomenon is called

A) stroboscopic motion.
B) motion aftereffects.
C) motion constancy.
D) the movie effect.

Question 78

There are several steps involved in the process of transforming a sound into a signal that can be understood by the brain.Which of the following displays these steps in the correct order?

A) (1) sound wave,(2) eardrum vibration,(3) pressure wave in fluid
B) (1) eardrum vibration,(2) pressure wave in fluid,(3) sound wave
C) (1) sound wave,(2) pressure wave in fluid,(3) eardrum vibration
D) (1) eardrum vibration,(2) sound wave,(3) pressure wave in fluid

Question 79

The coiled,bony,fluid-filled tube in the inner ear that houses the sensory receptors is called the

A) cochlea.
B) eardrum.
C) oval membrane.
D) auditory nerve.

Question 80

Hearing is also called

A) audition.
B) olfaction.
C) gustation.
D) occipital.