Deck 5: Sensation and Perception

Question 1

On Monday, Manuel interviewed for a job that he really wants. The interviewer told Manuel that he would call on Friday to tell Manuel if he got the job. On late Friday afternoon, Manuel is trying to study, but whenever he hears a sound, he jumps up and thinks it's the phone. Manuel is showing ____________, a concept described in ____________.

A) response bias; psychophysics
B) sensory adaptation; psychophysics
C) response bias; signal detection theory
D) sensory adaptation; signal detection theory

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Our perception of the world is most like:

A) a digital camera that takes snapshots
B) a cellphone camera that takes movies without sound
C) a video camera that takes movies with sound
D) a film that has been edited to convey a theme

Answer 2

D

Question 3

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

A) a 2 litre bottle of water and a 2.1 litre bottle of water
B) a 5 kilogram free weight and a 5.5 kilogram free weight
C) a 20 kilogram child and a 22 kilogram child
D) a dime and a quarter

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Hannah is having dinner at a Mexican restaurant. When she tries the three kinds of sauces to see how hot they are, she is assessing ____________ differences. When she compares the taste of her margarita to the taste of her friend's Mexican beer, she is assessing a ____________ difference.

A) qualitative; qualitative
B) qualitative; quantitative
C) quantitative; quantitative
D) quantitative; qualitative

Question 5

Anne is participating in a psychology experiment in which she is blindfolded and asked to judge whether the experimenter taps her on the shoulder in 10 separate trials. During the third trial, the experimenter taps Anne on the shoulder, yet she reports feeling nothing. In signal detection theory, this would be considered a:

A) response bias
B) hit
C) miss
D) false alarm

Question 6

Kendra loves spicy curry but her husband does not. Starting with a bland 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. Kendra assessed her husband's:

A) difference threshold
B) absolute threshold
C) just noticeable difference
D) psychophysical limit

Question 7

A doctor is willing to prescribe a drug for you even if there is only a slim chance you have the disease. This doctor is most concerned with:

A) reducing false alarms
B) reducing misses
C) reducing hits
D) increasing hits

Question 8

According to signal detection theory, a person's perception is:

A) an accurate reflection of the presence of a stimulus
B) influenced by both the presence of a stimulus and judgment
C) not an accurate reflection of the presence of a stimulus
D) dependent on their sensory threshold

Question 9

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 energy sources but be unable to process them
C) understand what things are but be unable to respond to them
D) construct useful information but be unable to remember it

Question 10

The physical properties of a stimulus are translated into neural impulses by the sensory organs. This process is called:

A) sensory coding
B) transduction
C) sensation
D) coarse coding

Question 11

Sensory qualities are coded by only a few different types of receptors, each of which responds to a broad range of stimuli. This is called:

A) sensory coding
B) transduction
C) sensation
D) coarse coding

Question 12

Our perceptions of sensations from the environment around us are:

A) usually incorrect
B) always under conscious control
C) influenced by our beliefs and expectations
D) consistent over time and across situations

Question 13

After transduction, most of the sensory neural information passes through which structure?

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

Question 14

The law that states that the just noticeable difference between two stimuli is based on a proportion of the original stimulus is:

A) Fechner's Law
B) Weber's Law
C) Köhler's Law
D) Wernicke's Law

Question 15

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 is an example of:

A) coarse coding
B) just noticeable difference
C) sensory adaptation
D) sensory threshold

Question 16

Amadi is listening to John play the guitar. When John plays a note, the vibrations of the air are picked up by auditory receptors in his ear and sent to his brain. In Amadi's brain, the information from the receptors is analyzed to produce the experience of a musical note. The pickup of information by receptors in the ear is ____________; the processing to produce the experience of a musical note is ____________.

A) sensation; perception
B) bottom-up processing; sensation
C) perception; sensation
D) top-down processing; bottom-up processing

Question 17

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 her and keeps reading. 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) above Uchenna's absolute threshold but below Uchenna's difference threshold

Question 18

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 see that it is smaller than a second square on the screen. Prashanth is trying to create a ____________, in order to allow measurement of a ____________.

A) just noticeable difference; absolute threshold
B) psychophysical difference; absolute threshold
C) just noticeable difference; difference threshold
D) psychophysical difference; difference threshold

Question 19

The concept of an absolute threshold in classical psychophysics rests on the assumption that a subject's response is:

A) an accurate reflection of the subject's perception
B) influenced both by perception and judgment
C) not a good index of actual perception
D) a good index of perception but not sensation

Question 20

Jason is doing a psychology experiment in which he is seated in an absolutely dark room. An initially undetected point of light in front of him is gradually made more intense. 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) psychophysical limit

Question 21

Haptic experiences are the result of:

A) the integration of multiple signals and higher-level mental processes
B) the processing of information from haptic receptors
C) the integration of pressure and pain signals
D) the integration of tactile sensations and higher-level mental processes

Question 22

In a single person, gustation involves ____________ taste buds, all located on the ____________.

A) 500 to 1,000; tongue and mouth
B) 5,000 to 10,000: tongue, throat, and mouth
C) 500 to 10,000; tongue, throat, and mouth
D) 500 to 1,500; tongue, throat, and mouth

Question 23

____________ has the most direct route to the brain because it is the only sense that bypasses the ____________.

A) the haptic sense; thalamus
B) gustation; hypothalamus
C) the kinesthetic sense; hypothalamus
D) olfaction; thalamus

Question 24

What is the primary purpose of cells in the olfactory bulb?

A) to receive nerve impulses and pass them through the thalamus
B) to receive nerve impulses and relay the signal to other brain areas
C) to receive odorants and pass them through the thalamus
D) to receive odorants and relay the signal to other brain areas

Question 25

Master chefs are likely to have ____________ than other people.

A) more kinds of taste buds
B) a different distribution of taste buds
C) a larger number of taste buds
D) more responsive taste buds

Question 26

Meg is rehearsing the solo for her dance performance. In order to perform her solo well, Meg has to be aware of the position of her arms and legs in space. To do this, Meg relies on her ____________ sense.

A) motion
B) olfactory
C) haptic
D) visual

Question 27

Most students have learned in school that there are five senses, but there are actually eight. Why?

A) Three new senses have recently been discovered.
B) Colour vision, imaging, and pheromones are now considered separate senses.
C) Audition has been divided into pitch, volume, and intensity.
D) The haptic sense has been divided into hot, cold, pain, and pressure.

Question 28

Kwamie has broken his wrist. His friend, Sam, has taken him to the ER. While they are waiting, Sam starts an argument with Kwamie about the student council election. While they are arguing, Kwamie is feeling very little pain. This is most likely because:

A) anger is incompatible with the experience of pain
B) he ignored the pain to make his points
C) focusing on the argument closed the pain gate
D) his nerve fibres thickened as a physical symptom of anger

Question 29

When Vincente picks up Tillie for their date he notices that her perfume smells wonderful, but that she is wearing too much of it. The information that the perfume smells good is processed in Vincente's ____________; the information that Tillie is wearing too much perfume is processed in Vincente's ____________.

A) prefrontal cortex; amygdala
B) amygdala; prefrontal cortex
C) olfactory epithelium; thalamus
D) thalamus; epithelium

Question 30

Sadafa loves Indian food, but is careful about what he eats because it hurts his tongue when he eats very spicy food. Sadafa most likely:

A) is a supertaster and has few taste buds in his mouth
B) is a supertaster with a very large number of taste buds in his mouth
C) is not a supertaster and has a large number of pain receptors in his mouth
D) is not a supertaster and has few pain receptors in his mouth

Question 31

Avi broke his ankle skiing. At first, he felt a sharp and intense pain. The next day, the sharp pain was gone, but his ankle throbbed almost all of the time. The sharp immediate pain was due to ____________; the later throbbing pain was due to ____________.

A) nonmyelinated axons; myelinated axons
B) myelinated axons; nonmyelinated axons
C) pain receptors; pressure receptors
D) pressure receptors; pain receptors

Question 32

Which of the following is NOT a basic quality of taste?

A) sweet
B) umami
C) salty
D) sharp

Question 33

When Margot was a child, her mother baked bread on Fridays. As an adult, whenever Margot smells bread baking she remembers her mother and feels happy. The mood and memories result from processing of smell information in the:

A) thalamus
B) olfactory epithelium
C) amygdala
D) prefrontal cortex

Question 34

It is a warm summer day and a group of friends has decided to go on a picnic. Unfortunately, the watermelon they brought has attracted some stinging wasps. Who would experience the most pain if one of these wasps were to sting:

A) Bianca, a 26-year-old woman
B) Tony, a man who has been stung only once before
C) Marie, a woman currently undergoing estrogen replacement therapy
D) Bryan, a man currently undergoing testosterone replacement therapy

Question 35

Callie is pregnant. She has never liked vegetables and rarely eats them. However, she does not want her baby to have the same bad eating habits. If Callie wants her baby to grow up to enjoy the taste of vegetables, the most effective thing she can do is:

A) eat vegetables while she is pregnant and nursing
B) give the baby strained vegetables as one of her first solid foods
C) avoid eating meat while she is pregnant and nursing
D) limit the amount of meat the baby is fed when she starts to eat solid food

Question 36

Kewal scored in the lowest 15 percent of the population on the smell identification test. Kewal is at increased risk for:

A) cancer
B) multiple sclerosis
C) Parkinson's disease
D) Alzheimer's disease

Question 37

Most painful experiences are caused by __________ that activates __________ receptors.

A) pressure on the skin; olfactory
B) pressure on the skin; haptic
C) damage to the skin; olfactory
D) damage to the skin; haptic

Question 38

People stop responding to unchanging stimuli because:

A) the stimuli convey little information
B) people's sense organs become fatigued
C) the stimuli exceed people's attentional capacity
D) people's resources are needed elsewhere

Question 39

People who have great difficulty in identifying smells are at a higher risk for:

A) cognitive impairment
B) vision impairment
C) loss of complex motor skills
D) loss of hearing

Question 40

An odour is encoded by:

A) a single receptor specialized for that odour
B) an activation pattern across several receptor types
C) a single olfactory and a single gustatory receptor
D) an activation pattern across several olfactory and gustatory receptor types

Question 41

The process by which a sound is transformed into a neural signal involves which sequence of transformations?

A) sound wave, vibration, pressure wave
B) pressure wave, vibration, sound wave
C) sound wave, pressure wave, vibration
D) vibration, sound wave, pressure wave

Question 42

Some animals have ears that they can rotate in different directions. These animals have superior perception of:

A) pitch
B) location
C) loudness
D) intensity

Question 43

Zheng and Glenn are talking about how a guy can tell if a woman likes him when they first meet. Given your knowledge of sensory systems, you could suggest that they look to see if the woman:

A) turns down the corners of her mouth
B) has enlarged pupils
C) gives off a subtle odour
D) starts to speak more softly

Question 44

Someone who wears a hearing aid is most likely to have a problem with his ____________. Someone who has a cochlear implant is most likely to have a problem with her ____________.

A) cochlea; basilar membrane
B) basilar membrane; cochlea
C) eardrum; auditory nerve
D) auditory nerve; eardrum

Question 45

Hamdi wakes up in the middle of the night and tries to see the clock in the dim light. He will be more likely to 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 46

Melody is looking up a phone number in a phone book with tiny print. She will be most likely able to read the number if she looks at the phone book with her ____________ because it has the largest number of ____________.

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

Question 47

Which of the following is NOT one of the cells that analyzes neural impulses and transmits them to the ganglion cells?

A) amacrine
B) vertical
C) bipolar
D) horizontal

Question 48

Colleen and LaVonne are playing darts. Colleen throws her dart into the centre of the target and LaVonne throws his dart into the outer ring. In an analogy to 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 49

During baseball practice, the third-base coach yells to the pitcher to throw a fastball. The pitcher knows that it is the third-base coach, not the first-base coach, who is talking to him because the sound of the coach's voice reaches his left ear ____________ than his right ear and is ____________ in his left ear than his right ear.

A) later; softer
B) later; louder
C) sooner; softer
D) sooner; louder

Question 50

Joey had his wisdom teeth removed two days ago and is still in a lot of pain. All of the following would be effective in reducing Joey's pain, EXCEPT:

A) concentrating on the pain
B) listening to music
C) getting a good night's sleep
D) watching a movie

Question 51

Sharita looks at her professor and then shifts her gaze to the screen behind her professor. As she does this her lens is becoming ____________ through the process of ____________.

A) thinner; accommodation
B) thicker; accommodation
C) thinner; refraction
D) thicker; refraction

Question 52

Pain medications work by:

A) stopping pain stimuli from being received by sensory pain neurons
B) blocking transmission from sensory pain neurons to the brain
C) changing the brain's interpretation of information from sensory pain neurons
D) diverting signals from the sensory pain neurons to the thalamus

Question 53

When Jodi walks into a dark theatre from the sunshine, her ____________ causes her ____________ to enlarge.

A) iris; pupil
B) iris; lens
C) eye muscles; lens
D) eye muscles; pupil

Question 54

Dogs can hear higher frequency sounds than people. This suggests that there is an anatomical difference in the:

A) eardrum
B) cochlea
C) auditory nerve
D) basilar membrane

Question 55

The ____________ does most of the focusing of the light onto the retina and the ____________ allows for more accuracy of focusing.

A) cornea; pupil
B) pupil; lens
C) lens; cornea
D) cornea; lens

Question 56

Bincheng has been taught to visualize the pain from his migraine headaches as simply a part of his experience of life. While he is engaging in this activity, an fMRI scan of his brain would be likely to show ____________ activity in the part of the brain that registers ____________.

A) more; the emotional aspect of pain
B) more; the sensory input of pain
C) less; the emotional aspect of pain
D) less; the sensory input of pain

Question 57

If a key is pressed on a piano, the frequency of the resulting sound will determine the ____________ and the amplitude will determine the ____________ of the perceived musical note.

A) timbre; intensity
B) intensity; timbre
C) loudness; pitch
D) pitch; loudness

Question 58

Encharta is sitting outside, looking at her beautiful garden. As the sun goes down, the colours become less bright and finally all become shades of grey. This is because:

A) the amount of photopigment is decreasing
B) the amount of photopigment is increasing
C) the cones are taking over for the rods
D) the rods are taking over for the cones

Question 59

Where do molecules of photopigment reside?

A) in the iris
B) in the rods and cones
C) in the amacrine cells
D) in the ganglion cells

Question 60

Someone who needs reading glasses has problems ____________ her lens. Someone who needs glasses to see objects at a distance has problems ____________ his lens.

A) thickening; flattening
B) flattening; flattening
C) thickening; thickening
D) flattening; thickening

Question 61

Edges are emphasized in vision by:

A) sensory coding
B) transduction of light
C) lateral inhibition
D) changes in photopigment

Question 62

Red, yellow, and blue are the ____________ primary colours; when they are combined they make ____________.

A) additive; white
B) additive; black
C) subtractive; white
D) subtractive; black

Question 63

Red and green appear to be opposite colours because of the activity of ganglion cells that are:

A) excited by L cones and inhibited by M cones
B) excited by M cones and inhibited by L cones
C) excited by L cones and inhibited by S and M cones
D) excited by S cones and inhibited by L and M cones

Question 64

Diane is experimenting with the lighting she will use at a rock concert. When she lights the stage blue, she is flooding it with ____________ wavelengths of light. If she wants to change the stage to look red, she will need to shift the light to include ____________ wavelengths. To change from red to green, she will need to move to ____________ wavelengths.

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

Question 65

The cells whose firing rates are being decreased during the detection of edges are being inhibited by:

A) adjacent cells stimulated by light
B) light falling on the centre of their receptive fields
C) light falling on the surrounds of their receptive fields
D) the absence of light falling on their receptive fields

Question 66

In one of the most common types of visual receptive fields, light falling in the centre region ____________ the cell and light falling in the surrounding region ____________ the cell.

A) inhibits; activates
B) inhibits; inhibits
C) activates; activates
D) activates; inhibits

Question 67

Red, green, and blue are the ____________ primary colours; when they are combined they make ____________.

A) additive; white
B) additive; black
C) subtractive; white
D) subtractive; black

Question 68

Cameron has an inner ear infection. In addition to the pain in his ear, Cameron is most likely to:

A) develop double vision
B) have trouble locating himself in space
C) lose his appetite
D) feel dizzy

Question 69

The axons from ____________ cells form the ____________, which exits the eye at the back of the retina.

A) ganglion; optic nerve
B) amacrine; optic nerve
C) ganglion; optic chiasm
D) amacrine; optic chiasm

Question 70

Yellow is considered to be one of the primary colours, but there is no cone specialized to respond to yellow light. When we see yellow it is because the light is stimulating:

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

Question 71

Susan is wearing a bright red skirt. She is trying to decide whether she wants to wear a pink top or a brown top with it. If she decides on the pink top, then the top and the skirt will vary in ____________. If she decides on the brown top, then the top and the skirt will vary in ____________.

A) hue; saturation
B) hue; brightness
C) brightness; hue
D) saturation; hue

Question 72

Punita has been experimenting with abstract art. When she painted a large black circle on the white canvas, she observed that the circle seemed to have a darker black outline with an intense white ring around it. This effect could be explained by:

A) colour contrast
B) lateral inhibition
C) simultaneous contrast
D) sensory transduction

Question 73

Sameer is mixing paint. He starts with a very deep 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 simultaneous contrast

Question 74

Your friend Kylie doesn't believe that she has a blind spot in her field of vision, because she does not notice it. You should tell her that:

A) she might be right; not everyone has a blind spot
B) if she were to close one eye and look into the distance, she would probably notice it
C) the reason she doesn't notice it is that her brain fills in the gap left by her blind spot automatically
D) the idea that humans have a blind spot is actually still being debated

Question 75

When Maggie comes home, she is surprised to see that her roommate has painted their living room red. The room looks so dazzlingly 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 76

A visual receptive field can best be described as:

A) the area in the visual system where all rods and cones are located
B) the area of visual space to which particular visual neurons are sensitive
C) group of sensory receptors in the primary visual cortex
D) the optic chiasm

Question 77

A grey square is placed first on a white sheet of paper and then on a black sheet of paper. The square will be ____________ on the black as on the white background.

A) equally bright but appear darker
B) equally bright but appear lighter
C) brighter and appear lighter
D) less bright but appear equally light

Question 78

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

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

Question 79

We cannot see a shade of bluish yellow because:

A) there is no set of cones responsive to combined shades
B) there is no set of cones responsive to wavelengths associated with yellow
C) ganglion cells that are excited by S cones are inhibited by M and L cones
D) ganglion cells that are excited by L cones are inhibited by M cones

Question 80

Yuming becomes nauseous while driving down a curvy mountain road. Her uncomfortable feeling is due to:

A) the feedback receptors of her kinesthetic system getting overloaded
B) conflicting signals from the visual and vestibular systems
C) conflicting signals from the visual and kinesthetic systems
D) the feedback receptors of her vestibular system getting overloaded