Deck 7: Taking Action

Question 1

When expert gymnasts close their eyes while performing a somersault, they perform

A) better because they eliminated visual distractions.
B) as well as with their eyes open, since doing the routine is automatic.
C) more poorly, because they couldn't make "in-air" corrections.
D) better because they usually train with their eyes closed.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

According to Land and Lee, drivers look ______________ when driving on straight road.

A) directly at the focus of expansion
B) straight ahead, but not directly at the focus of expansion
C) at locomotor flow line
D) at the psychometric curb

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Using the visual direction strategy, walkers stay on target by

A) using flow information to estimate the destination point.
B) going toward the focus of expansion.
C) keeping their body pointed toward the destination.
D) keeping their eyes fixated on the destination.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Hamid et al. (2010) had participants navigate a maze while recording their eye movements. The maze contained landmarks on the walls at corners and at other positions that would not aid maze navigation. After participants learned the maze, the researchers removed half of the landmarks. The results of this study revealed that

A) performance decreased when landmarks were removed that had been viewed longer.
B) participants did not notice that the landmarks were missing and their performance was unaffected.
C) participants had been relying on all landmarks to navigate.
D) performance increased when non-informative landmarks were removded.

Question 5

The movement of elements of the environment relative to the observer is called

A) optic flow.
B) phi movement.
C) affordances.
D) motion ecology.

Question 6

According to Land and Lee, drivers negotiate curves by

A) looking directly at the FOE.
B) looking directly at the road.
C) using a complex combination of affordances.
D) using information in addition to optic flow.

Question 7

According to Gibson, the relationship between movement and flow is

A) movement creates flow, which then provides information to guiding further movement.
B) movement creates flow, but this information does not affect further movement.
C) flow and self-produced movement are related, but both are independent of guiding further movement.
D) flow and movement are not related.

Question 8

Which statement is true concerning the focus of expansion?

A) It always occurs at the point you are fixated on.
B) It always occurs at the point you are moving toward.
C) It continues in the same direction once established.
D) It always contains the fastest flow of information.

Question 9

Lee et al.'s "Swinging Room" studies found that

A) only adults are affected by flow information.
B) only young children are affected by flow information.
C) children will lean back when a forward-swaying flow pattern was created.
D) adults were always able to keep their balance in the moving room.

Question 10

If you close both your eyes while standing on one foot,

A) you can stand longer than if both eyes are open because you eliminate distracting visual information.
B) you can stand longer than if just your "non-dominant" eye is open.
C) you can stand longer with one eye open because you are eliminating binocular disparity cues.
D) you lose your balance more quickly than if your eyes are open.

Question 11

MST neurons that respond to flow

A) tend not to be motion-selective, but are orientation sensitive.
B) are found primarily in the ventral stream.
C) can be selective to outward-expanding or circular motions.
D) have not been found in the monkey brain.

Question 12

Information that remains constant even though the observer is moving is called

A) flow gradient.
B) texture gradient.
C) penumbra constants.
D) invariant information.

Question 13

You are driving a car. Which of the following statements is an accurate reflection of flow in this situation?

A) Optic flow is slower near the car.
B) Optic flow does not occur for information in the periphery.
C) Optic flow is faster farther away from the car.
D) Optic flow does not occur for the focus of expansion.

Question 14

Britten and vanWezel used __________ to show that MST neurons help determine perception of the direction of movement.

A) electrical stimulation of neurons
B) ablation
C) fMRI recordings
D) transcranial magnetic stimulation

Question 15

The ecological approach emerged as a reaction

A) to the structuralist approach.
B) to the artificiality of laboratory approach to studying vision.
C) to the over-reliance on brain imaging techniques.
D) to pointillism.

Question 16

The ecological approach was developed by

A) J.J. Gibson.
B) David Marr.
C) Max Wertheimer.
D) Ronald Rensink.

Question 17

"Optical flow neurons" have been found in the monkey's

A) medial temporal (MT) cortex.
B) medial superior temporal (MST) area.
C) striate cortex.
D) superior temporal sulcus.

Question 18

In Janzen and vanTurennout's study of using landmarks as "decision points" in a navigating through a museum, participants

A) had greater brain activation in the MST when they saw "non-decision" points than when they saw "decision points."
B) had lower recognition scores for landmarks than non-landmarks.
C) had greater brain activation in the parahippocampal gyrus for "decision points" than "non-decision points."
D) recognized "decision points" better when cells in their temporal cortex were microstimulated.

Question 19

Using the "Swinging Room" technique, the earliest evidence of optic flow was demonstrated in participants who were

A) 2 weeks old.
B) 4 months old.
C) 1 year old.
D) 13 years old.

Question 20

"Blind walking" studies have shown that

A) participants cannot locate nearby objects with their eyes closed.
B) flow information is necessary for navigation; blindfolded participants cannot walk to a target location they have just seen.
C) blindfolded participants can navigate short distances as long as they walk in a straight line.
D) blindfolded participants can navigate short distances when walking in a straight line or making an angled turn.

Question 21

After damage to her _______ Cathy has no trouble finding her way to location on major roads in town, but she becomes lost on side roads, even those she had driven many times.

A) hippocampus.
B) medial superior temporal area.
C) retrosplenial cortex.
D) superior temporal sulcus.

Question 22

Name and discuss two characteristics of optic flow.

Question 23

Mirror neurons

A) help an individual understand another person's actions and react appropriately.
B) help an individual imitate observed behaviors.
C) have been discovered in the premotor cortex.
D) all of these

Question 24

Patients with ________ often have difficulty pointing at objects and adjusting their reach "paths" to avoid obstacles.

A) optic ataxia.
B) prosopagnosia.
C) object agnosia.
D) Capgras syndrome.

Question 25

Joe enters a room, sees a novel object, and promptly walks over and sits on it. The object was about the size of a small table and had a flat, smooth surface at approximately knee height. If asked to explain Joe's behavior, Gibson would likely say that Joe

A) was acting based on affordances.
B) had sustained damage to his hippocampus.
C) had learned the function of the object from optic flow.
D) was suffering from optic ataxia.

Question 26

Which of the following is not one of the proposed functions of mirror neurons?

A) Predicting others' intentions.
B) Facilitate the binding of information sources.
C) Understand the meaning of sentences.
D) Aids interpretation of facial expressions.

Question 27

In monkey hand grip experiments, a monkey briefly sees an object, the lights go out, then the monkey is prompted to reach for the object. When the monkey reaches for the object

A) he often will use the wrong grip because he is unable to see the object in the dark.
B) he will use the correct grip only if his attention is redirected to the object.
C) neurons that respond to the specific grip being used will be activated.
D) neurons may be preferentially activated as a result of just seeing the object.

Question 28

Softball players were asked to estimate the size of a softball immediately after a game. When perceived ball size was examined in relation to batting average, it was revealed that

A) tired players (regardless of batting average) provided smaller ball-size estimates than rested players.
B) rested players with high batting averages provided smaller ball-size estimates than tired players with high batting averages.
C) players with better batting averages provided larger ball-size estimates than players with lower batting averages.
D) rested players with lower batting averages provided larger ball-size estimates than tired players with low batting averages.

Question 29

Discuss research that shows how vision is important in performing a somersault.

Question 30

M.P., a person with brain damage that resulted in the inability to name objects, could

A) identify objects more accurately when given the name of the object.
B) identify objects more accurately when given the function of the object.
C) not identify any of the objects, even when given both the name and function.
D) identify the object more accurately if permitted to interact with the object.

Question 31

The results of Bhalla and Proffitt's (1999) physical-fitness-and-hill-steepness study demonstrated that

A) individual fitness level does not affect perception of hill steepness.
B) fit individuals perceived hills as being more steep because they were fatigued.
C) less physically fit individuals perceived the hill as being more steep.
D) none of these.

Question 32

PPR activity in humans occurs

A) only when making a saccade.
B) only when making a smooth eye movement.
C) when the observer holds a target location in mind.
D) only if the person has damage to the temporal lobe.

Question 33

After damage to his _______ Mantio is able to recognize landmarks in his hometown, but is unable to determine which direction he should go from those landmarks to arrive at his house.

A) hippocampus.
B) medial superior temporal area.
C) retrosplenial cortex.
D) superior temporal sulcus.

Question 34

Affordances

A) provide a counterexample to Gibson's ecological approach.
B) are used to explain the flow of information organizational principles.
C) provide the observer possibilities for action.
D) arise from the interaction between flow and depth cues.

Question 35

Individuals with damage to the parietal regions associated with reaching have difficulty with reaching tasks. An analysis of their reach "paths" reveals that the parietal region

A) provides guidance for where to reach.
B) calculates the distance required to reach for an object.
C) is responsible for motor coordination.
D) provides guidance for reaching and avoiding obstacles

Question 36

Mirror neurons in the monkey fire

A) when the monkey sees the experimenter grasp a piece of food, and when the monkey also grasps the food.
B) when the experimenter grasps the food with his/her fingers, and when the experimenter picks up the food using pliers.
C) when the monkey sees the food reflected in a mirror.
D) when the monkey grasps the food with his/her fingers, and when the monkey picks up the food using pliers.

Question 37

Elena looks at a banana and realizes that the banana is "eat-able." This an example of

A) optic flow.
B) a texture gradient.
C) ataxia.
D) an affordance.

Question 38

Which of the following situations would most likely cause an audiovisual mirror neuron to fire?

A) When the monkey only hears the sound of a breaking peanut.
B) When the monkey sees a peanut breaking and hears the sound of the peanut breaking.
C) When the monkey sees a stick being dropped and hears the sound of the peanut breaking.
D) When the monkey grasps the peanut and sees the experimenter grasps the peanut with pliers.

Question 39

The neurons that signal the monkey's intention to grab an object are mostly found in the

A) hippocampus.
B) superior colliculus.
C) parietal reach region (PRR).
D) nystagmus parietal radius (NPR).

Question 40

Which of the following factors has not been shown to influence action-based object perception?

A) Anticipation of having help to lift an object.
B) Describing the object to someone before interacting with it.
C) Recent success or failure while interacting with an object.
D) Anticipated difficult of the task.

Question 41

Describe a "blind-walking" experiment, and discuss how the results are related to optic flow.

Question 42

(a) What are affordances?
(b) Provide an example of an object and what action it affords.
(c) Describe whether or not an object could have more than one affordance associated with it.

Question 43

Describe evidence from monkey studies that suggests that mirror neurons do more than respond to patterns of motion.

Question 44

One research found that tennis players who have recently won a match perceive the net as being lower than those who have recently lost. Describe how these differences in perception might arise.

Question 45

Describe how wayfinding is affected by retrosplenial cortex and hippocampal damage.

Question 46

Describe the role landmarks play in wayfinding. Support your claims with evidence from the studies discussed in the chapter.