Deck 4: Sensation and Perception

Question 1

Regarding the sensory abilities of humans, which of the following statements is FALSE?

A)Our sensory receptors do not transduce all of the energies they encounter.
B)Many types of stimuli cannot be sensed directly because we lack sensory receptors to transduce the energy.
C)Some sense receptors transduce only part of their target energy range.
D)Because our sense organs are able to convert one kind of energy into another, they are known as feature detectors.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

The process by which the brain organizes sensations into meaningful patterns is known as

A)reception.
B)adaptation.
C)perception.
D)cognition.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The process of detecting physical energies with the sensory organs is called

A)sensation.
B)perception.
C)adaptation.
D)cognition.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Objective scientific methods used in which field enable us to better understand the how of both sensation and perception?

A)kinesics
B)parapsychology
C)psychoanalysis
D)psychophysics

Question 5

Much, if not all, of the two-step process of sensation and perception is

A)unconscious.
B)learned.
C)best explained through introspection.
D)best explained through the subjective methodology used by the parapsychologists.

Question 6

Regarding sensation and perception, which of the following statements is FALSE?

A)We are constantly surrounded by electromagnetic radiation, heat, pressure, vibrations, molecules, and mechanical forces.
B)The senses are enough to give people a completely accurate "picture" of reality.
C)During the process of perception, our brain assembles sensations into a meaningful "picture" of events.
D)Unless your senses translate information into a form your brain can understand, you will experience only a void of silence and darkness.

Question 7

In order to take your psychology quiz, you must read and process the information. The ability to organize the black marks on the paper into meaningful patterns involves the process of

A)perception.
B)sensation.
C)sensory adaptation.
D)sensory accommodation.

Question 8

Your eyes transduce only a tiny fraction of the entire range of electromagnetic energies, which we call the

A)perceptual limit.
B)visible spectrum.
C)biological transduction range.
D)spectral analysis limitation.

Question 9

Our sensory systems act as data selection systems. This means that they

A)can change one form of energy to another.
B)transmit information to the brain in the form of codes.
C)select and analyze information and send only the most important data to the brain.
D)are only sensitive to a small range of sensations that will require additional interpretation by the brain.

Question 10

In order to take your psychology quiz, you must read and process the information. The initial step of your eyes detecting the black marks on the page depends on the process of

A)perception.
B)sensation.
C)sensory adaptation.
D)sensory accommodation.

Question 11

You are reading the chapter on sensation and perception. You look away from this book, casting your gaze somewhere else in the room. Seemingly in an instant, your eyes come to rest upon some other aspect of your room, such as a lamp or your bed. Introspecting on this experience does not explain how your eyes did the sensing, how the messages streamed back to your brain, or how your brain constructed your percept. This illustrates that the two-step process of sensation and perception is a(n)__________ process.

A)learned
B)unconscious
C)conscious
D)conditioned

Question 12

You are reading the chapter on sensation and perception. You look away from this book, casting your gaze somewhere else in the room. Seemingly in an instant, your eyes come to rest upon some other aspect of your room, such as a lamp or your bed. Which of the following would best allow us to understand how this unconscious process occurs?

A)introspection
B)psychoanalysis
C)parapsychology
D)psychophysics

Question 13

The ears of bats can transduce and hear sound waves that humans cannot. This allows them to fly in complete darkness by using

A)feature detectors.
B)depth cues.
C)hyperopia.
D)echolocation.

Question 14

Dr. Azure measures sound waves and electromagnetic radiation and relates them to the sensations people experience as loudness and brightness, respectively. Dr. Azure is conducting research in the area of

A)physiological psychology.
B)neurological psychology.
C)psychophysics.
D)sensory deprivation.

Question 15

Sense receptors are biological transducers, which means that they

A)select from a broad range of stimulation.
B)analyze the environment into important features.
C)convert one form of energy to another.
D)detect only a limited range of energies.

Question 16

The minimum amount of energy needed for a sensation to occur is called

A)the absolute threshold.
B)a transducer level.
C)data reduction threshold.
D)perceptual limit.

Question 17

Regarding the two-step process of perception, which of the following statements is FALSE?

A)Much, if not all, of this two-step process is unconscious so that we are usually aware only of the result, the percept.
B)Each sense translates a specific type of physical energy into patterns of activity in the neurons.
C)Scientists use introspection to study how messages are streamed back to your brain to form your percept.
D)The senses act as data reduction systems, sending only the most important information to the brain.

Question 18

Which of the following animals have special organs that can sense the bioelectric fields of other living creatures?

A)owls
B)honey bees
C)bats
D)fish

Question 19

The primary function of the senses is to act as devices that convert one kind of energy into another. They are

A)visual adapters.
B)biological assimilators.
C)phosphenes.
D)biological transducers.

Question 20

Regarding the sensation of various species, which of the following statements is FALSE?

A)The eyes of honeybees transduce parts of the electromagnetic spectrum that are invisible to humans.
B)Bats' ears transduce sound waves that humans cannot hear.
C)Research has shown that the human eye transduces all of the electromagnetic spectrum to the brain, but the brain is unable to perceive it.
D)Many fish have special organs that can sense the bioelectric fields of other living things.

Question 21

Visual "pop-out," or the eye-catching effect, of such visual stimuli as lines, shapes, edges, spots, and colors occurs because your visual system is highly sensitive to perceptual

A)amplitudes.
B)transducers.
C)features.
D)thresholds.

Question 22

In a drawing, a single vertical line is placed among a group of slanted lines. This effect, which is so basic that babies as young as three months respond to it, is called

A)the somesthetic effect.
B)visual pop-out.
C)the gate-control effect.
D)stereoscopic vision.

Question 23

Sensory adaptation refers to a decrease in sensory response that accompanies

A)perceptual defense.
B)threshold shifts.
C)an unchanging stimulus.
D)selective attention.

Question 24

Which of the following explains why you are not constantly aware of the pressure of your wristwatch on your arm or your shoes on your feet?

A)sensory adaptation
B)sensory gating
C)sensory conflict
D)perceptual localization.

Question 25

The visual system is able to analyze incoming sensory information into lines, angles, shading, and movement because it has a set of

A)sight cells.
B)second stage sensors.
C)feature detectors.
D)neurological transducers.

Question 26

You go into your son's room, only to be met with a combination of smells, including day-old pizza, wet towels, and gym shoes. Your son seems unconcerned with the putrid odors. When you ask how he can stand the stench of his "pig sty," he replies that he does not smell anything because of __________. (Well, at least he's listening in psychology class.)

A)sensory adaptation
B)sensory gating
C)sensory conflict
D)selective attention

Question 27

Important elements of a stimulus pattern, such as lines, shapes, edges, spots, and colors, are referred to as

A)perceptual features.
B)sensory amplifiers.
C)perceptual transducers.
D)phosphenes.

Question 28

Owls, who hunt at night, can hear sounds that cannot be heard by humans, which illustrates that, compared to humans, they have a much

A)higher absolute threshold for sounds.
B)lower absolute threshold for sounds.
C)higher sensory adaptation level for sounds.
D)lower sensory adaptation level for sounds.

Question 29

In their experiments on the brain and perceptual features, Blakemore, Cooper, Grobstein, and Chow found that the kittens raised in the vertically-striped rooms

A)bumped into chair legs.
B)missed when they tried to jump to horizontal surfaces.
C)had difficulty walking in a straight line.
D)experienced no difficulty in any visual task since the eyes easily adapt.

Question 30

When you first get into the swimming pool, the water feels rather cool, but after swimming for a while, the water feels fine. A friend asks you how the water is, and you tell her the "water's great." She jumps in and then accuses you of lying because the water is freezing. You really were not lying. It is just that you experienced

A)sensory gating.
B)sensory adaptation.
C)sensory conflict.
D)selective attention.

Question 31

Regarding difference thresholds, which of the following statements is TRUE?

A)Difference thresholds occur when we can first detect some stimulus.
B)Difference thresholds occur when we can first detect the change in the intensity of a stimulus.
C)Difference thresholds involve the decrease in sensory response to an unchanging stimulus.
D)Difference thresholds involve the mental process of organizing sensations into meaningful patterns.

Question 32

In order for a frog's visual bug- detector to be activated, the bug must be

A)a dark color.
B)coming closer to the frog.
C)stationary.
D)moving.

Question 33

Experiments with cats raised in environments which emphasized one feature over another showed that

A)even though cats did not have experience with some features, they could easily learn about them.
B)there was an actual decrease in brain cells tuned to the missing feature.
C)when returned to a normal environment, the cats became frightened and refused to move around.
D)there was an actual increase in brain cells tuned to the missing feature.

Question 34

A researcher presents two lights of varying brightness to a subject who is asked to respond same or different as he or she compares the intensities. The researcher is seeking the __________ threshold.

A)difference
B)absolute
C)subliminal
D)phosphene

Question 35

As the senses process information, they divide the world into basic stimulus patterns known as

A)phosphenes.
B)perceptual features.
C)perceptual sets.
D)sensory adaptations.

Question 36

In their experiments on the brain and perceptual features, Blakemore, Cooper, Grobstein, and Chow found that the kittens raised in the horizontally-striped rooms

A)bumped into chair legs.
B)missed when they tried to jump to horizontal surfaces.
C)had difficulty walking in a straight line.
D)experienced no difficulty in any visual task since the eyes easily adapt.

Question 37

A minimum change in sensory intensity that is noticeable to an observer and can be coded into neural messages is known as the

A)absolute threshold.
B)psychophysical equation.
C)difference threshold.
D)transduction limit.

Question 38

Sensory receptors respond best to

A)changes in stimulation.
B)changes in threshold.
C)subliminal images.
D)repetitive stimuli.

Question 39

The decrease in sensory response to an unchanging stimulus is known as

A)sensory conflict.
B)sensory gating.
C)sensory adaptation.
D)selective attention.

Question 40

In their experiments on the brain and perceptual features, Blakemore, Cooper, Grobstein, and Chow found that

A)the kittens raised in the vertically-striped rooms ran into chair legs in the normal environment.
B)the kittens raised in the horizontally-striped rooms had difficulty jumping onto a chair in the normal environment.
C)there was an actual decrease in brain cells tuned to the missing features.
D)all of these findings were true.

Question 41

As you focus on your cell phone conversation while driving, you miss the road sign where you needed to make a turn and drive 20 miles out of the way. This is an example of

A)psychokinesis.
B)inattentional blindness.
C)retinal disparity.
D)an apparent-distance illusion.

Question 42

Although the senses reduce a mixture of sights, sounds, odors, tastes, and touch sensations to more manageable amounts, they are still too much for the brain to handle. That's why the brain further filters sensory information through

A)selective accommodation.
B)sensory deceleration.
C)selective attention.
D)control biasing.

Question 43

When you are in a group of people, surrounded by voices, you can choose to focus on the voice of the person you are facing or even choose to eavesdrop on conversations around the room. This is known as

A)the "cocktail party effect."
B)the multisensory approach.
C)"mindblindness."
D)the sound threshold barrier.

Question 44

Which of the following can be thought of as a "bottleneck," or a narrowing in the information channel linking the senses to perception, that is, when one message enters the bottleneck, it seems to prevent others from passing through?

A)selective attention
B)sensory gating
C)sensory adaptation
D)subliminal attention

Question 45

Regarding inattentional blindness, we are more likely not to perceive something when

A)we are experiencing retinal disparity.
B)our attention is narrowly focused.
C)we are experiencing subliminal adaptation.
D)our attention is broadly focused.

Question 46

When you are in a group of people, surrounded by voices, you can choose to focus on the voice of the person you are facing or even choose to eavesdrop on conversations around the room. This is a good example of

A)selective adaptation.
B)selective attention.
C)sensory overload.
D)sensory deceleration.

Question 47

Simons and Chabris showed participants a film of two basketball teams, one wearing black shirts and the other wearing white. Observers were asked to watch the film closely and count how many times a basketball passed between members of one of the teams, while ignoring the other team. As the observers watched and counted, a person wearing a gorilla suit walked into the middle of the basketball game, faced the camera, thumped its chest, and walked out of view. Which of the following occurred?

A)All of the participants lost count of the number of basketball passes because of the unexpected appearance of the gorilla.
B)Half of the participants failed to notice the gorilla's appearance.
C)All of the participants failed to notice the gorilla's appearance.
D)Only the female participants noticed the gorilla.

Question 48

After a musical concert that you enjoyed without distraction, a companion complains that she heard little of the music due to frequent shuffling and throat-clearing in the audience. The difference in your experience and hers is related to

A)just noticeable differences.
B)subliminal thresholds.
C)sensory adaptation.
D)selective attention.

Question 49

As you sit reading this page, receptors for touch and pressure in the seat of your pants are sending nerve impulses to your brain. Although these sensations have been present all along, you were probably not aware of them until just now. This "seat-of-the-pants phenomenon" is an example of

A)selective attention.
B)selective accommodation.
C)sensory deceleration.
D)sensory gating.

Question 50

Which of the following processes can be consciously controlled?

A)sensory coding
B)selective attention
C)sensory adaptation
D)sensory transduction

Question 51

You are conducting an experiment in which participants are asked to focus intensely on the black star in the center of the screen. A small blue triangle is flashed for a moment in the right top corner. The failure of some of the participants to see the small blue triangle on the screen illustrates

A)psychokinesis.
B)retinal disparity.
C)inattentional blindness.
D)an apparent-distance illusion.

Question 52

Failure to perceive a stimulus that is in plain view but not the focus of attention is known as

A)inattentional blindness.
B)habituation.
C)adaptation level.
D)subliminal stimuli.

Question 53

The ability to selectively attend to incoming sensory information is believed to result from

A)the inability of the brain to handle more than one message at a time.
B)faulty transmission of neural impulses.
C)the brain's ability to give some messages priority while putting others on hold.
D)a mismatch between the sensory systems.

Question 54

A researcher presents a blindfolded subject with a sweet liquid and then adds a drop of sweetener to the liquid and has the subject taste it. This process continues until the subject tells the researcher that the liquid tastes "sweeter." Regarding the sense of taste, this researcher is seeking the __________ threshold.

A)absolute
B)subliminal
C)phosphene
D)difference

Question 55

Voluntarily placing priorities on sensory messages refers to the process of

A)selective attention.
B)divided perception.
C)repetitious stimulation.
D)subliminal attention.

Question 56

Being able to focus on the traffic signals among all the neon signs and lights illustrates

A)sensory gating.
B)selective attention.
C)control biasing.
D)physiological nystagmus.

Question 57

Which of the following appears to be based on the ability of brain structures to choose and divert incoming sensory messages?

A)sensory deceleration
B)sensory adaptation
C)selective attention
D)selective accommodation.

Question 58

The "seat of your pants phenomenon" and the "cocktail party effect" refer to

A)sensory conflict and the involuntary focusing on a specific sensory input.
B)mixed attention and the voluntary focusing on many inputs.
C)selective attention and the voluntary focusing on a specific sensory input.
D)subliminal perception and the involuntary focusing on many inputs.

Question 59

You are about to take your psychology test when in the next room a nature video is being shown to another class. You focus intensely on reading and answering the test questions. When you look up a few minutes later, you realize that the video has stopped, and you hadn't even noticed. This situation illustrates your

A)sensory adaptation.
B)selective attention.
C)sensory gating.
D)selective accommodation.

Question 60

You are at a party and are listening intensely to a friend tell the "latest gossip," when another person in the room mentions your name in a conversation in a group to the left of where you are standing. According to research on selective attention, you will most likely

A)shift your attention to the person who mentioned your name.
B)not hear your name mentioned since you are intensely listening to your friend's story.
C)not perceive your name being called since this occurred on your left side, not your right side.
D)shift your attention every 30 seconds, regardless of whether your name was called or not.

Question 61

We cannot "see" the vast majority of the electromagnetic spectrum, including

A)microwaves.
B)X-rays.
C)radio waves.
D)all of these.

Question 62

Attention is aroused by

A)intensity.
B)repetition.
C)contrast or a change in stimulation.
D)all of these.

Question 63

Compared to a muddy brick red, a fire-engine red is said to be more

A)assimilated.
B)aqueous.
C)saturated.
D)accommodated.

Question 64

Humans respond to different wavelengths of light by experiencing differing

A)hues.
B)levels of brightness.
C)amounts of saturation.
D)amplitudes.

Question 65

The basic color categories of red, orange, yellow, green, etc. refer to

A)saturation.
B)brightness.
C)hue.
D)color accommodation.

Question 66

Saturated or pure hues are produced by which type of wavelengths?

A)wide band
B)narrow band
C)combination
D)high amplitude

Question 67

Visible light starts at the "short" wavelengths, which we sense as

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

Question 68

The function of the lens is to

A)locate an image.
B)focus an image on the retina.
C)combine the location and projection on the blind spot.
D)project an image on the cornea.

Question 69

White light is

A)made up of the longest wavelengths.
B)made up of the shortest wavelengths.
C)a mixture of many wavelengths.
D)the absence of any wavelength.

Question 70

The visible spectrum is made up of a narrow range of wavelengths of

A)spectral particles.
B)ionized nanometers.
C)photons.
D)electromagnetic radiation.

Question 71

Commercials that are loud and present unexpected imagery will usually

A)decrease the viewer's attention due to sensory gating.
B)decrease the viewer's attention due to sensory conflict.
C)increase the viewer's attention.
D)have no effect on the viewer's attention.

Question 72

Visible light is made up of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths of

A)400-700 nanometers.
B)20 to 20,000 C.P.S.
C)300-800 decibels.
D)20 to 20,000 hectometers.

Question 73

Light waves of greater amplitude cause colors to appear

A)dull or "washed out."
B)brighter.
C)saturated.
D)transparent.

Question 74

The dimension of vision which corresponds to the amplitude of light waves is

A)hue.
B)brightness.
C)transparency.
D)timbre.

Question 75

Advertisers would be very happy if they heard you humming their jingle around your house because you have fallen prey to an attention-getting device called

A)brightness.
B)motion.
C)contrast.
D)repetition.

Question 76

The spread of electromagnetic energies to which the eyes respond is called the

A)perceptual field.
B)gamma quadrant.
C)visible spectrum.
D)spectral composite.

Question 77

Which of the following cause the colors we see to appear brighter or more intense?

A)narrow bands of wavelengths
B)broad bands of wavelengths
C)waves of greater amplitude
D)waves of lower amplitude

Question 78

When advertisers repeat the name of their product numerous times in the commercial, this repetition will

A)gain the viewer's attention.
B)cause sensory adaptation so the viewer will not remember the product name.
C)elicit a subliminal sensory gating so the viewer will remember the product name.
D)do none of these.

Question 79

We sense the longest wavelengths of visible light as the color

A)white.
B)purple.
C)red.
D)violet.

Question 80

Within one's eye, the light-sensitive cells are called

A)photoreceptors.
B)phosphenes.
C)tympanics.
D)stereocilia.