Deck 5: Sensation and Perception

Question 1

Alexis is participating in a perception experiment where she will be paid $10 for every letter she sees flashed briefly on a computer screen. If Alexis says there is a letter but there is not, she is not penalized - she just does not receive $10 for those responses.
Given this situation, Alexis will do well financially to use a decision criterion.

A) bold; she'll commit more false alarms but also increase her "hits"
B) conservative; she'll commit more false alarms but also increase her "hits"
C) bold; this will prevent making false alarms
D) conservative; this will prevent making false alarms

Answer 1

conservative; she'll commit more false alarms but also increase her "hits"

Question 2

Terry enjoys riding his bike long distances. While riding along busy city streets, Terry must be aware of the vehicles that approach him and then pass him. With experience, Terry is now able to sense an approaching car 90% of the time. This sensitivity means Terry has a(n) threshold for vehicle detection.

A) absolute
B) ultimate
C) low
D) high

Answer 2

low

Question 3

A researcher is conducting a study with owls at the zoo to determine how sensitive they are to various sounds and what is the smallest sound that they can detect. The work of this researcher is most consistent with the goals of which scientific area?

A) neuropsychology
B) psychophysics
C) psychotherapy
D) psychoneuroimmunology

Answer 3

psychophysics

Question 4

Dr. Haller is conducting an experiment related to vision. He places his subjects in a dark room and after they have acclimated, he presents them with visual stimuli of varying strengths and attempts to determine the minimal amount of light that people can detect. Dr. Haller is specifically trying to determine a(n):

A) maximum threshold.
B) absolute threshold.
C) difference threshold.
D) minimum threshold.

Question 5

Which of the following is most accurate regarding research on the effectiveness that subliminal stimuli on attitudes and behaviour?

A) Subliminal stimuli have no effect on desired behaviours.
B) As far as consumer behaviour is concerned, persuasive stimuli above the absolute threshold are far more likely to be influential than subliminal stimuli.
C) Subliminal stimuli can influence behaviour but not attitudes.
D) Subliminal stimuli are powerful and valid methods of changing attitudes and behaviour.

Question 6

Susan is participating in a signal detection study on hearing. Susan just said that she was able to hear a sound and in fact, a sound actually was presented to her. Susan's response would be an example of a:

A) correct rejection.
B) miss.
C) hit.
D) stimuli threshold.

Question 7

How certain a person needs to feel before saying that a particular stimulus is present is referred to as the:

A) choice threshold.
B) decision criterion.
C) difference threshold.
D) transduction.

Question 8

The most accurate order of the stages in sensory processing and perception of information is from:

A) reception to reconstruction to analysis to recognition.
B) reception to transduction to matching to interpretation.
C) reception to analysis to translation to recognition.
D) reception to comparison to reconstruction to interpretation.

Question 9

The lowest intensity at which a stimulus can be detected 50 percent of the time is the:

A) absolute threshold.
B) subliminal stimulus.
C) difference threshold.
D) decision criterion.

Question 10

Occasionally, people who have been blind since birth will have their vision restored. Afterwards, they are able to notice light and various colours but they often have
Continual difficulty making sense of this new sensory information. Examples like these best demonstrate the difference between:

A) sensation and perception.
B) sensation and transduction.
C) rods and cones.
D) perception and organizing sensory input.

Question 11

The two kinds of sensory capabilities studied in psychophysics are:

A) the ability to produce neurotransmitters and the ability to produce hormones.
B) the absolute limits of sensitivity to stimuli and sensitivity to changes in stimuli.
C) the ability to organize stimuli and the ability to make sense of stimuli.
D) the functions of the rods and cones.

Question 12

A participant in a signal detection study has the tendency to be bolder in her decisions regarding the presence of a target stimulus. As a result, she has more hits, but also has more false alarms. This example demonstrates how ________ can affect _.

A) situational characteristics; decision criterion
B) participant characteristics; decision criterion
C) participant characteristics; situational characteristics
D) situational characteristics; participant characteristics

Question 13

The term "decision criterion" refers to:

A) the particular signal detection criteria a researcher used to determine an absolute threshold.
B) how certain a person must feel that a stimulus is present before saying that it is present.
C) the particular signal detection criteria a researcher used to determine a difference threshold.
D) the difference between an absolute and a difference threshold used to determine if a stimulus is present.

Question 14

Bob is a participant in a signal detection study. On the last clinical trial, Bob said that he saw a stimulus and in fact there was no stimulus present. Bob's answer would be classified as a:

A) hit.
B) correct rejection.
C) false alarm.
D) miss.

Question 15

Which of the following was mentioned as an example of a situational characteristic that influences decision criterion?

A) the person's tendency to say "no"
B) the costs associated with uncertainty
C) the costs associated with an incorrect decision
D) the person's tendency to say "yes"

Question 16

One night on a family camping trip, Samantha was lying awake in her tent when all of a sudden, she saw a bright flash of light, so bright in fact, that it light up the entire inside of the tent. Then there was a loud rumble that seemed to shake the ground she was sleeping on. The light and the rumble are sensed by Samantha, and she the
Phenomena as a thunderstorm.

A) knows
B) senses
C) identifies
D) perceives

Question 17

A researcher is designing a signal detection experiment. She decides to tell a participant that she will lose a dollar for every miss she has, but she will not receive any reward for hits. In this instance, the researcher's manipulation of situational factors, such as the cost for a miss, will likely have an impact on the participant's _.

A) stimulus detection
B) stimulus response
C) decision criterion
D) characteristics

Question 18

Which of the following was mentioned as an example of a participant characteristic that influences the decision criterion?

A) the costs associated with incorrect decisions
B) the rewards associated with correct decisions
C) the person's tendency to say "yes"
D) when the absolute threshold is changed from 50 percent correct identification to 75 percent correct

Question 19

Regarding the impact of subliminal messages on attitudes and behaviour, research has found that subliminal messages have:

A) a stronger impact on attitudes than on behaviours.
B) no impact on attitudes and behaviours.
C) a stronger impact on behaviours than on attitudes.
D) an equal impact on attitudes and behaviours.

Question 20

When a stimulus is so small that the sensory receptors can detect it, yet there is no conscious awareness of the stimulus, it is called a:

A) subliminal stimulus.
B) preconscious stimulus.
C) minimum stimulus.
D) threshold stimulus.

Question 21

The owl and other nocturnal creatures need exceptional vision due to the low levels of light at night when they are hunting for food. Because their ability to survive depends on this keen sense of sight, their retinas contain _.

A) rods but no cones
B) more rods than cones
C) cones but no rods
D) more cones than rods

Question 22

A limitation of Weber's law is that:

A) it doesn't allow for sensitivity comparisons between different sensory modalities.
B) it doesn't hold true for extremely low or high intensities of stimulation.
C) it only applies to absolute thresholds but not to difference thresholds.
D) it doesn't hold true for moderate intensities of stimulation.

Question 23

Myopia is to hyperopia as:

A) focusing the visual image in front of the retina is to focusing the visual image too near the lens.
B) focusing the visual image behind the retina is to focusing the visual image too far from the lens.
C) focusing the visual image in front of the retina is to focusing the visual image behind the retina.
D) focusing the visual image behind the retina is to focusing the visual image in front of the retina.

Question 24

As Jesse closes her eyes, Joe puts two tiny boxes in Jesse's hands. In her right hand, the box is empty, but the box in her left hand contains two small Hershey's kisses. Jesse has no problem picking the box in her left hand as the heavier of the two. However, Joe next takes two equal 2-pound bags of candy and adds the two small kisses to one of the bags. Then Joe puts a bag of candy in each of her hands and Jesse is unable to pick which one has the extra kisses. This inability to perceive the weight in the second situation can be explained by:

A) absolute threshold
B) different tolerance levels
C) Weber's law
D) sensory adaptation

Question 25

You have just prepared a bath for yourself and as you are getting in, the water feels very hot, almost too hot. However, you continue to ease yourself into the tub and pretty soon, even though it has remained the same temperature, the water no longer feels so hot. The characteristic of sensory neurons that is responsible for this phenomenon is known as:

A) signal detection.
B) sensory threshold.
C) the refractory period.
D) sensory adaptation.

Question 26

Jane participates in an experiment where she is asked to look at nine different pictures of the same person. Unbeknownst to her, immediately before each picture is presented an unpleasant picture is briefly flashed so quickly that she is unaware of it. After viewing all nine photos of the person, she is asked some questions related to her attitude towards the person. How is Jane is likely to respond given the research findings from studies on subliminal perception?

A) Jane would only express a more negative attitude towards the person if she was consciously aware of at least one of the briefly flashed unpleasant pictures.
B) Jane is likely to express a more negative attitude towards the person compared to participants in a control group that were not exposed to the unpleasant pictures.
C) Jane's attitude towards the person is unlikely to be influenced by the presence of the subliminally presented unpleasant pictures, but if she were to meet the individual she would unconsciously behave more negatively towards the person.
D) Jane's attitude towards the person is unlikely to be influenced by the presence of the subliminally presented unpleasant pictures.

Question 27

The diminishing sensitivity of a neuron to an unchanging stimulus is called:

A) neuron adjustment.
B) bottom-up processing.
C) shadowing.
D) sensory adaptation.

Question 28

Elizabeth is on a business trip. She is staying in a nice hotel in the heart of the big city. Unfortunately, Elizabeth is unable to fall asleep because her room is on a busy street and the traffic noise is constant. Eventually, Elizabeth's sensory neurons will respond to the constant traffic noise and _.

A) increase their activity and therefore increase Elizabeth's sensory threshold.
B) increase their activity, thereby diminishing her sensitivity to the noise.
C) decrease their activity, thereby diminishing her sensitivity to the noise.
D) decrease their activity and therefore increase Elizabeth's sensory threshold.

Question 29

Jennifer plays her music very loud while she studies. Upset by how loud the music is, her mother insists Jennifer turn the music down. After 10 minutes, Jennifer's mom asks her daughter once again to please turn down the volume of the music. Jennifer insists she already turned it down although her mother swears it is as loud as it always was. The fact that Jennifer hears the music as softer and her mother experiences the volume as unchanged indicates that, clearly, Jennifer and her mother have different _.

A) difference thresholds
B) tolerance levels
C) signal detection
D) absolute thresholds

Question 30

A useful application of Weber fractions is that:

A) they minimize the problems associated with misses.
B) they allow for sensitivity comparisons between the different sensory modalities.
C) they minimize the problems associated with false alarms.
D) by looking at them, we can tell what the absolute threshold is.

Question 31

Ben's grandfather has not been able to read Ben a bedtime story for quite some time now. Grandpa says his eyes are just getting tired very early in the evening but Ben knows that his grandfather is unable to focus on reading because the lens in his eyes have become unable to focus the words directly onto the retina. His grandfather's lens are:

A) too thick, so the image is focused too near the lens
B) too thin, so the image is focused too near the lens
C) too thin, so the image is focused too far from the lens
D) too thick, so the image is focused too far from the lens

Question 32

Joey has no trouble seeing when he's reading books and working on his computer, but he has a fair amount of difficulty seeing things in the distance. Joey most likely suffers from:

A) colour blindness.
B) farsightedness.
C) myopia.
D) hyperopia.

Question 33

When attempting to locate a constellation in the night sky, Sally notices that she can see the stars better if she doesn't look directly at them. In doing this, the light from the star she wishes to see falls away from the fovea to the part of the retina that has a higher concentration of , which are better adapted to seeing at night.

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

Question 34

Weber's law states that the difference threshold is directly proportional to the ________ of the stimulus with which a comparison is being made.

A) magnitude
B) tolerance level
C) signal detection
D) absolute threshold

Question 35

Kendra has no trouble seeing the chalk board in class, but she requires reading glasses when reading her textbooks. Kendra most likely suffers from:

A) nearsightedness
B) colour blindness
C) hyperopia
D) myopia

Question 36

Someone who suffers from hyperopia:

A) has colour blindness that affects only one of the colour systems.
B) can see things well up close but has poor distance vision.
C) has good distance vision but has difficulty seeing things up close.
D) has only black and white vision.

Question 37

If the Weber fraction for tonal pitch is 1/333, then to be able to judge a comparison tone as higher in pitch than one at 3330 Hz it must be at least:

A) 3360 Hz.
B) 3340 Hz.
C) 3666 Hz.
D) 3333 Hz.

Question 38

Which of the following statements regarding rods and cones is true?

A) There are twice as many rods in the eye as there are cones.
B) There are 20 times as many rods in the eye as there are cones.
C) There are 10 times as many rods in the eye as there are cones.
D) There are 10 times as many cones in the eye as there are rods.

Question 39

You have just arrived at the library to study and just as you are starting to read your assignment, a group of students at a nearby table begin a loud conversation. At first, these extra sounds annoy you, but you return to your reading and pretty soon, you are no longer aware of them, even though the students are continuing to talk. This example is most similar to what is known as:

A) sensory adaptation.
B) a perceptual set.
C) transduction.
D) a difference threshold.

Question 40

Sensory adaptation to a stimulus is said to occur when:

A) the sensory stimulus is no longer important to our well-being or survival.
B) sensory neurons no longer respond to the stimulus.
C) the sensory stimulus becomes adaptive to survival.
D) sensory neurons decrease their response to a constant stimulus.

Question 41

Once a light stimulus has been detected by the rods or cones, it is passed first to bipolar cells, and then onto , whose axons form the optic nerve.

A) hair cells
B) ganglion cells
C) optic cells
D) corneal cells

Question 42

Which of the following shows the correct route taken by a light stimulus traveling to the brain?

A) stimulus -> bipolar cell -> ganglion cell -> rod/cone -> brain
B) stimulus -> rod/cone -> ganglion cell -> bipolar cell -> brain
C) stimulus -> bipolar cell -> rod/cone -> ganglion cell -> brain
D) stimulus -> rod/cone -> bipolar cell -> ganglion cell -> brain

Question 43

During the process of dark adaptation, the receptors' sensitivity gradually increases because:

A) the photopigment molecules are regenerated.
B) the fovea's refractory period is over.
C) the ganglion cells have been excited.
D) the bipolar cells have been inhibited.

Question 44

The process whereby brightness sensitivity progressively improves under conditions of low illumination is called adaptation.

A) colour
B) stroboscopic
C) binocular
D) dark

Question 45

Though they did not control the initial stages of dark adaptation (e.g., the first 5 minutes), the second or later part of the darkness adaptation curve (e.g., after 5 minutes)
Is determined specifically by the functioning of the _ _.

A) ganglion cells
B) amacrine cells
C) bipolar cells
D) rods

Question 46

While afterimages are not adequately explained by the trichromatic theory of colour, they can be readily explained by theory.

A) Hubel-Wiesel feature detector
B) dual-process
C) red-green colour-blindness
D) opponent-process

Question 47

Perhaps the most dangerous time of day to drive a car is twilight. The low levels of light at this time of day hinder our ability to see other cars. In fact, from what we know about the capabilities of the rods and cones in low illumination, the safest colour of car to be driving would be:

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

Question 48

Some towns are changing the colour of their fire engines from red to yellow-green. This is because this colour increases the dim-lighting visibility of the trucks to:

A) the ganglion cells.
B) the bipolar cells.
C) both the rods and cones.
D) only the rods.

Question 49

The presence of afterimages and the ability of some people with red-green colour blindness to perceive the colour yellow were not consistent with which theory of colour?

A) Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory
B) Weber's law
C) Hering's opponent-process theory
D) Hubel-Wiesel feature detector theory

Question 50

Rods and cones translate light into nerve impulses through the action of specific protein molecules called:

A) photopigments.
B) cornea cells.
C) stroboscopic cells.
D) light transducers.

Question 51

All of the following are cone sensitivity colour pairs predicted by the opponent-process theory of colour EXCEPT:

A) red-green.
B) black-white.
C) blue-green.
D) yellow-blue.

Question 52

According to the opponent-process theory of colour, if you stare steadily at a black stimulus, when you close your eyes the afterimage will be:

A) black
B) red
C) green
D) white

Question 53

The process in which the qualities of a sensory stimulus are converted into nerve impulses is called:

A) sensory modification.
B) sensory adaptation.
C) transduction.
D) conversion.

Question 54

The Department of Transportation contacts you and asks what colour they should make their road signs so that they will be most visible at night. Given what you have learned in this class about the sensitivity of rods under conditions of low illumination, one colour
That you would NOT want to pick is:

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

Question 55

In the visual system, negative colour afterimages demonstrate the operation of:

A) opponent processes.
B) red-green and black-white processes.
C) trichromatic processes.
D) subtractive colour processes.

Question 56

At a party last week, Ben played a game similar to a scavenger hunt. Each child was given a list of ten items to retrieve from the kitchen within three minutes. The twist was that the lights in the kitchen were turned off and the shades were drawn leaving the room in complete darkness. One by one, the children would emerge from the room having
Found only two or three of the items. Ben, who had just learned about dark adaptation in school, easily won the game by:

A) letting his eyes adjust in a dark room until it was his turn to play the game
B) wearing a blindfold before and during the game to keep the other senses sharp
C) keeping his eyes closed while in the kitchen and relying on memory
D) volunteering to go first and immediately jumping into the kitchen

Question 57

The Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory of colour vision assumes that:

A) there are three types of colour receptors in the retina, each of which is most sensitive to one of three wavelengths of light
B) aspects of the dual-process theory and the opponent-process theory are combined to explain colour vision
C) colour is determined by feature detectors in the visual cortex, each of which responds to two different wavelengths
D) there are three types of colour receptors in the retina, each of which responds to two different wavelengths

Question 58

Except on the red end of the colour spectrum, research has determined that rods have much greater brightness sensitivity than _.

A) hair cells
B) bipolar cells
C) optic nerves
D) cones

Question 59

Lisa is participating in a psychology experiment. She is seated in a dimly lit room and is told to look straight ahead at the blank screen. Lisa's task is to detect points of light as they appear on the screen, and Lisa will be paid $10 for every point of light she correctly detects. Several minutes into the experiment, Lisa is discouraged by how few light points she is seeing, so she changes her strategy and starts focusing off to the side of the screen rather than in the middle of the screen as she had been. Sure enough, by the end of the
Experiment, Lisa has enough money to buy the pizza for tonight's study group. Lisa's new strategy worked because:

A) the image then fell on the part of the retina more densely packed with rods.
B) the image then fell on the part of the retina more densely packed with cones.
C) the image then fell on the outside of the retina where the cones are denser.
D) the image then fell on the fovea where the dim light is more easily detected.

Question 60

The Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory was not supported by a phenomenon which occurs if a stimulus is viewed steadily and is then withdrawn. This phenomenon is known as:

A) a subliminal stimulus
B) temporary colour blindness
C) an afterimage
D) a dual stimulus

Question 61

A measurement in cycles per second and that is translated into the auditory quality of pitch is called _.

A) Decibels
B) Frequency
C) Amplitude
D) Loudness

Question 62

More recent research on colour transduction has indicated that the opponent-process theory of colour was inaccurate because opponent processes are actually determined NOT by the cones but by the:

A) occipital lobe.
B) rods.
C) bipolar cells.
D) ganglion cells.

Question 63

The process in which visual information, such as colour, distance, and movement, is simultaneously analyzed is referred to as:

A) parallel processing.
B) transduction.
C) hierarchical processing.
D) adaptation.

Question 64

The coiled, snail-like tube in the inner ear that is filled with fluid is called the:

A) stirrup.
B) cochlea.
C) cornea.
D) organ of Corti.

Question 65

Individuals with prosopagnosia have difficulty with:

A) pain perception
B) auditory perception
C) facial recognition
D) visual perception

Question 66

Colour blindness is typically assessed by:

A) directly asking people what colours they can't see.
B) presenting people with pictures that contain coloured dots on them.
C) a visual examination of the retina by an ophthalmologist.
D) a biopsy where the missing photopigments are determined.

Question 67

A person who only has a deficiency in the yellow-blue colour system would be called a:

A) colour blind.
B) dichromat.
C) trichromat.
D) monochromat.

Question 68

Cells in the occipital lobe that fire selectively in response to specific visual characteristics are called:

A) ganglion cells.
B) selective cells.
C) feature detectors.
D) discriminating cells.

Question 69

The current modern theory of colour sensation uses the trichromatic theory to explain the behaviour of the cones in colour vision while a modified version of another theory emphasizes the role of ganglion cells is used to explain the presence of afterimages and certain types of colour blindness. The theory that emphasizes the role of ganglion cells is called the theory.

A) colour blindness
B) opponent-process
C) additive colour mixture
D) dual-process

Question 70

Which one of the following statements is false?

A) Subliminal cues alter attitudes toward a particular person.
B) Subliminal cues bias what is perceived at the conscious level.
C) Subliminal messages in movie theatres increased pop and popcorn sales.
D) Subliminal messages are effective on individuals with prosopagnosia.

Question 71

The amplitude of a sound wave determines which sensory quality?

A) loudness
B) frequency
C) pitch
D) hertz

Question 72

Research has shown that subliminal presentations of aggressively toned words cause people to judge

A) aggressive behaviours as more ambiguous.
B) ambiguous behaviours as more aggressive.
C) aggressive behaviours as more aggressive.
D) neutral behaviours as more aggressive.

Question 73

A subliminal stimulus is best defined as being:

A) not perceived consciously but just below the absolute threshold.
B) a marketing term rather than a perceptual phenomenon.
C) perceived consciously, just below the absolute threshold.
D) not perceived consciously and well below the absolute threshold.

Question 74

You are standing on a sidewalk and a bus drives past you with a billboard on the side. With seemingly no effort, your visual system is able to simultaneously process
Information about the words on the billboard, the colour and speed of the bus, and how far away from you the bus is. This simultaneous analyzing of information related to
Different visual characteristics is called:

A) transduction.
B) hierarchical processing.
C) parallel processing.
D) habituation.

Question 75

The two physical characteristics of sound waves are:

A) frequency and pitch.
B) amplitude and frequency.
C) frequency and hertz.
D) amplitude and pitch.

Question 76

Janet likes to play her stereo very loud on Saturday nights. Her upstairs neighbour keeps complaining that the rock music is causing his apartment walls to shake. This complaint is valid, as the amplitude of the sound waves _.

A) are a chemical process and can be physically sensed
B) influences the pressure of waves in the air
C) depend on the type of music not the decibel level
D) distort her neighbour's sense of stability

Question 77

Frequency determines the pitch of a sound, while amplitude determines the of a sound.

A) hertz
B) decibels
C) loudness
D) spectrum

Question 78

A person with a deficiency in only one of the colour systems, such as red-green, would be considered a dichromat, while someone who is colour-blind in two colour systems is labelled _.

A) not colour blind
B) colour blind
C) monochromat
D) trichromat

Question 79

People with normal colour vision are referred to as:

A) dichromats.
B) monochromats.
C) not colour-blind.
D) trichromats.

Question 80

To account for the colour transduction process, the dual-process theory of colour combines elements of the trichromatic theory and the _ theory.

A) opponent-process
B) colour blindness
C) Hubel-Wiesel feature detector
D) Young-Helmholtz