Deck 3: Sensation and Perception

Question 1

A __________ is a system that translates data from outside the nervous system into activity within the nervous system.

A)perception
B)stimulus
C)receptive field
D)sense

Answer 1

sense

Question 2

While walking outside, you notice the sun shining. Your ability to see the sunshine is related to visual processing of the light in your brain. The process by which physical energy (the sunshine)has been converted to neural activity in your brain is called

A)reticular formation.
B)habituation.
C)transduction.
D)accommodation.

Answer 2

transduction.

Question 3

Liz Lemon needed to remember to pick up lunch for her writing staff, so she tied a string around her finger to help remember. Unfortunately, by noon, she no longer noticed the string around her finger. This was most likely due to

A)perceptual constancy.
B)kinesthetic perception.
C)transduction.
D)sensory adaptation.

Answer 3

sensory adaptation.

Question 4

Marcella has decided to switch from playing the oboe to the flute. She knows that the notes she plays will be moving to a higher pitch, which is to say that they will be increasing their

A)wavelength.
B)frequency.
C)amplitude.
D)timbre.

Question 5

Brittany observed that the people having conversations on cell phones were quite loud-spoken, while those having conversations on pay phones were quite soft-spoken. Those using cell phones were producing a higher __________ of sound waves than were those using pay phones.

A)amplitude
B)frequency
C)timbre
D)wavelength

Question 6

The psychological dimensions loudness and pitch are determined by a sound wave's ________ and _______.

A)frequency; timbre
B)amplitude; frequency
C)decibels; hue
D)amplitude; timbre

Question 7

A system is only considered to be a "sense" if it

A)translates information from the environment so that the nervous system can be affected by it.
B)is linked to a corresponding perceptual process.
C)can use top-down and bottom-up processing.
D)involves information from the environment.

Question 8

You didn't notice the sensation of your socks rubbing against your skin prior to reading this question because of the sensory process known as

A)stereopsis.
B)timbre.
C)sensory adaptation.
D)somato-vestibular transduction.

Question 9

During his adventures around the galaxy, Arthur Dent relied on an earpiece that deciphered all the strange alien languages he heard. Similarly, receptors in the ear encode sound waves into neural activity that the brain can understand, a process called

A)transduction.
B)synthesis.
C)transcription.
D)accommodation.

Question 10

Sensation consists of __________, and perception consists of __________.

A)responding to changes in stimuli; adapting to a non-changing stimulus
B)adapting to a non-changing stimulus; responding to changes in stimuli
C)collecting raw information through the senses; interpreting environmental information using knowledge, experience, and understanding of the world.
D)interpreting environmental information; collecting raw information about the environment

Question 11

The process of translating the physical properties of a stimulus into a pattern of neural activity that allows us to identify those properties is known as

A)encoding.
B)reception.
C)perception.
D)transduction.

Question 12

The structures responsible for the process of transduction are known as ________, which are cells that are specialized to detect certain forms of energy from our surroundings.

A)perceptive structures
B)top-down neurons
C)neural receptors
D)schema detectors

Question 13

Mr. Wizard introduces the children on his TV show to accessory structures of our sensory systems. He tells them these structures are responsible for

A)modifying physical energy from the outside world.
B)converting physical energy into neural activity.
C)carrying information from receptors to the brain.
D)interpreting physical energy in a meaningful way.

Question 14

When you sit in your classroom listening to the teacher, you are probably unaware of the sound of the air conditioning unit, heater, or the hum of the lights in the classroom. When reading this question, you may suddenly become aware of those stimuli. The fact that you had acclimated to them to the point of no longer be aware of them is called ________.

A)transduction
B)signal detection
C)feature analysis
D)sensory adaptation

Question 15

Tim and Amy are listening to their TV surround-sound system. They are impressed with the low tones of the grizzly bear in the movie that they are watching. Tim and Amy are happy with the __________ of sound.

A)timbre
B)frequency
C)amplitude
D)frequency and amplitude

Question 16

Emilio wants to play a prank on his friend, so he buys an air-horn and sneaks up behind his buddy. He presses the button, and a deafening blast of noise comes out of the horn, causing his friend to jump straight out of his chair. The horn that Emilio used seems to have

A)a low frequency.
B)a short wavelength.
C)a very high amplitude.
D)no timbre.

Question 17

Imagine that humans can taste a new sensation, called "highlight," that allows the person to taste the brightness of the food they are eating. Everyone would need a new type of __________ cell to taste this new sensation.

A)neural receptor
B)ganglion
C)bipolar
D)interneuron

Question 18

Another name for neural receptors is ________.

A)perceptual ganglions
B)myelin sheaths
C)feature detectors
D)sensory receptors

Question 19

Whales produce very low, drawn out sounds, called whalesong, that are quite loud and very low in pitch. The waveform produced by these sounds would have a __________ wavelength and __________ frequency.

A)long; low
B)long; high
C)short; low
D)short; high

Question 20

Terry loves to listen to the violin. As a joke, Carry replaced Terry's favorite CD, "Sounds of the Violin," with the CD "Sounds of the Cello." When the music started playing, Terry immediately knew that the sounds were not made by the violin because each instrument has a unique

A)intensity.
B)amplitude.
C)saturation.
D)timbre.

Question 21

In a freak accident involving ice, a potato gun, and a ballpoint pen, Justin damages part of his ear. Now, Justin can no longer generate vibrations that match the sound waves entering his ear. Justin most likely damaged his

A)cochlea.
B)organ of Corti.
C)basilar membrane.
D)eardrum

Question 22

Shane was on the rifle team all through high school and college. After years of exposure to the excessive noise of gunfire, Shane became partially deaf when the hair cells in his ears were damaged. Shane most likely has __________ deafness.

A)nerve
B)cochlear
C)conduction
D)fused

Question 23

A company that said its hearing aid could help people with nerve deafness has been forced to take its advertisements off the air. Research shows the only type of deafness that can be treated with a conventional hearing aid is __________ deafness, which is caused when the bones of the middle ear, known as the __________, fuse together.

A)transduction; ulna, femur, and trachea
B)conduction; hammer, anvil, and stirrup
C)tympanic; cochlea, pinna, and Corti
D)topographical; hammer, anvil, and stirrup

Question 24

Mel has an unusual condition where she feels like she has a visual experience when she smells odors. She tells her neurologist that the scent of tomatoes "looks green" to her, while public bathrooms often "look blue" because of the way they smell. Mel may be diagnosed with

A)prosopagnosia.
B)dystonia.
C)synesthesia.
D)presbyopia.

Question 25

Although it does not work for all cases, the surgical installation of a cochlear implant may help some people with ________ to overcome their hearing loss.

A)protanopia
B)conduction deafness
C)presbyopia
D)nerve deafness

Question 26

Which of the following structures in your ear would vibrate in response to listening to your favorite music on the radio?

A)The cochlea
B)The tympanic membrane
C)The acoustic nerve
D)The pinna

Question 27

A condition that causes a person to experience an unusual mixture of sensory and perceptual functions is called

A)top-down processing.
B)agnosia.
C)aphasia.
D)synesthesia.

Question 28

Haley is very upset about her hearing loss, but she is thrilled when the doctor tells her that they can treat her deafness by breaking apart the bones in her middle ear. Haley is experiencing __________ deafness.

A)conduction
B)nerve
C)transduction
D)tympanic

Question 29

On which auditory accessory structure would you be most likely to wear the beautiful diamond earring that you were given as a birthday gift?

A)the tympanic membrane
B)the anvil
C)the hammer
D)the pinna

Question 30

If you are trying to explain how the amplitude of a sound wave relates to the loudness of the sound that it produces, which of the following statements would you not make?

A)When one is high, the other is high.
B)When one is low, the other is high.
C)Both are determined by the sound's timbre.
D)Both are determined by the sound's wavelength.

Question 31

When he watches the movie Halloween , Julio gets creeped out by the music. When you laugh at him, he says, "Those repetitive high notes on the piano scare me out of my mind! Even if I can barely hear the music, it still freaks me out." Julio is referring to the __________ of the music.

A)loudness
B)timbre
C)pitch
D)compression

Question 32

Vince wants to prove his love to his girlfriend. He was thinking of giving her sunflowers, but on this starry, starry night he decides to cut off one of his outer ears and give it to her. Having taken a course in Psychology (and not Art History), Vince's girlfriend replies, "How sweet, you have given me a(n)__________ from your auditory system."

A)primary sensory cortex
B)receptor
C)accessory structure
D)transductor

Question 33

Z. Z. Bottom has been playing loud rock music for so long that his hearing is impaired. What has probably happened is that the

A)hair cells have been damaged on the basilar membrane.
B)primary auditory cortex has been damaged.
C)tympanic membrane has been punctured.
D)pinna has grown thicker in response to the loud sounds.

Question 34

Creighton has been working in construction for many years. At first, his co-workers warned him to wear earplugs, but he refused. Now, he can no longer hear sounds at high pitches. Creighton's __________ have been damaged.

A)hair cells
B)conduction bones
C)semicircular canals
D)oval and round windows

Question 35

Before a concert, the director has the leaders from each section of the band play a tuning note. There is a noticeable difference in the quality of sound emitted by the different instruments. The psychological dimension of sound that accounts for this difference is known as

A)amplitude.
B)frequency.
C)timbre.
D)loudness.

Question 36

Clifford the cat can move his accessory structures for hearing to help him localize the source of even a very faint sound. In other words, unlike most humans, Clifford can move his

A)basilar membrane.
B)stapes.
C)pinnae.
D)organs of Corti.

Question 37

The visible part of the ear that can be seen on the side of your head is your ________.

A)pinna
B)organ of Corti
C)ossicle
D)cochlea

Question 38

The evil scientist, Simon B. Sinister has captured our hero, Wonderdog. Simon attaches electrodes to the receptors in Wonderdog's cochlea. When Simon electrically stimulates the receptors, what will be the effect on Wonderdog?

A)Wonderdog will experience no pain.
B)Wonderdog will lose consciousness.
C)The bones of Wonderdog's middle ear will fuse together.
D)The stimulation will cause Wonderdog to hear a noise.

Question 39

Balint and Ameilia both have lost some of their hearing ability. The hair cells that feed information to Balint's acoustic nerve were damaged when he stood too close to the speakers at loud concerts. In Amelia's case, the neurons that normally carry sound messages from the cochlea to her brain were damaged by disease. Balint has __________ deafness, and Amelia has __________ deafness.

A)conduction; conduction
B)conduction; nerve
C)nerve; conduction
D)nerve; nerve

Question 40

Transduction of auditory information takes place in the

A)fovea.
B)pinna.
C)cochlea.
D)malleus.

Question 41

Oscar likes to run at night. Even though it is dark, Oscar can see because his eyes have specialized cells that convert the low levels of light energy into neural activity. These cells are known as

A)corneas.
B)foveas.
C)photoreceptors.
D)papillae.

Question 42

Gabe impressed his friends by showing them a machine he built that could change an object's color by altering the __________ of light the object reflected.

A)amount
B)wavelength
C)type
D)intensity

Question 43

Dr. Laboy's research on human hearing shows that if a person listens to a tone of 1,000 cycles per second (hertz), the acoustic nerve produces 1,000 action potentials per second. Dr. Laboy's results support the idea of

A)topographical representation.
B)convergence.
C)the volley theory.
D)the place theory.

Question 44

As electromagnetic radiation enters the eye, it is transformed by the accessory structures of the __________ before transduction occurs.

A)cornea, lens, and rods
B)cones and rods
C)photopigments
D)cornea, lens, and pupil

Question 45

Dee says that she has developed special sunglasses to enable people to see light with wavelengths of 550 to 700 nanometers. Would these be useful for humans?

A)No-these frequencies are already visible to humans.
B)Yes-but only for seeing very faint lights.
C)No-unless one is looking at very bright lights.
D)Yes-these frequencies are normally outside of human range.

Question 46

When Ray leaves his dark room and enters the bright hallway, his eyes begin to adjust to the increased amount of light. During this process, Ray's __________ will constrict, allowing less light to pass through.

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

Question 47

Adaptation to darkness is possible because of the presence of __________ in the periphery of your retina.

A)the fovea
B)cones
C)rods
D)rhodopsin

Question 48

Bryan reads the newspaper to his grandmother because the muscles in her eyes can no longer change the shape of her inflexible lenses. This problem with __________ keeps her from focusing small print on her retina.

A)ocular accommodation
B)photopigmentation
C)eye convergence
D)fovea strength

Question 49

Azul's job is to create an exhibit at the science museum that lets people walk through a giant "eye" so they can understand how it works. The current group of visitors has stepped through the pupil to see a structure that bends light rays and focuses them onto a surface at the back of the eye. This structure that bends and focuses the light rays is known as the

A)lens.
B)cornea.
C)retina.
D)pinna.

Question 50

Ben and Jennifer got into a heated argument. Jennifer punched Ben in the eye, damaging his fovea. Ben is most likely going to have trouble

A)seeing things at night.
B)recognizing familiar stimuli.
C)noticing the details of objects.
D)sensing objects in his peripheral field of vision.

Question 51

Kerri does not like light and wants to see no light at all. She could accomplish this by removing the __________ from both of her eyes.

A)corneas
B)lenses
C)retinas
D)basilar membranes

Question 52

When trying on new glasses at Lensmasters, Kevin remarks that he can see more details when he looks directly at the letter chart rather than when he looks from the side of his eye. Dr. Eyenstein says, "Well Kevin, that happens because your __________ is greatest in the __________."

A)visual acuity; optic chiasm
B)visual acuity; fovea
C)retinal disparity; optic chiasm
D)retinal disparity; fovea

Question 53

Visible light is electromagnetic radiation with a light wavelength range of about __________ nanometers.

A)200 to 400
B)200 to 900
C)400 to 750
D)400 to 2,000

Question 54

Because they rest on the surface of the eye, wearing contact lenses for extended periods could increase the risk of damage to which accessory structure of the eye?

A)Lens
B)Retina
C)Pupil
D)Cornea

Question 55

Laurie is watching Teletubbies . The lens in her eye bends light rays so that the image of La La and Po is focused on a certain point of the retina. The ability for her lens to change shape to bend light is called

A)assimilation.
B)sensory adaptation.
C)ocular accommodation.
D)anchoring.

Question 56

Karlie is always told that she has beautiful green eyes. To which part of her eye are people most likely to be referring when they tell her this?

A)Cornea
B)Iris
C)Pupil
D)Lens

Question 57

Suppose you are walking to the movie theater on a bright sunny day. Once you enter the dark theater, you nearly trip over your feet because you can't see a thing. After you find a seat, you watch the movie for about thirty minutes and then decide to head to the lobby for some popcorn. When you stand up, you realize that you can see much more clearly than before. This example best illustrates

A)the blind spot.
B)ocular accommodation.
C)dark adaptation.
D)opponent-process theory.

Question 58

What color we sense depends mainly on

A)light intensity.
B)the amount of photoreceptors in our retinas.
C)brightness.
D)light wavelength.

Question 59

"The location of motion and stimulation of the basilar membrane determines the pitch that we hear when exposed to a given sound wave." This is the crux of the ________ theory of pitch perception.

A)topographical
B)place
C)frequency
D)diurnal

Question 60

As adults age, the elasticity (or flexibility)of the lenses in their eyes may decrease. As a result, some older adults may become ________.

A)farsighted
B)astigmatic
C)nearsighted
D)night blind

Question 61

Seth was watching for the International Space Station to pass in the sky on an extremely dark night. Seth should look for Mir out of the __________ of his eyes because that is where the __________ are located.

A)corner; cones
B)corner; rods
C)center; cones
D)center; rods

Question 62

Edwin is able to see normally in low-light conditions and demonstrates a normal ability to detect movements in his periphery. However, he has great difficulty recognizing different colors. He sees the world mostly in shades of gray. Which of the following structures are either impaired or not present in Edwin's eyes?

A)Sclerae
B)Cornea
C)Rods
D)Cones

Question 63

Ophelia has two types of cones: those sensitive to red light and those sensitive to green light. Ophelia has

A)total blindness.
B)spot blindness.
C)normal vision.
D)color blindness.

Question 64

To see a very faint star at night, look slightly away from it because this will

A)focus the star's light on the fovea.
B)speed up the process of dark adaptation.
C)increase the number of rods in the eyes.
D)focus the star's light on rods outside the fovea.

Question 65

According to the opponent-process theory of color vision, staring at a red image for a minute will produce a __________ afterimage if one looks at a white surface next.

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

Question 66

While daydreaming, Felix was staring at a yellow school bus. When he then looked at a white wall, he saw the color __________. This is best explained by the __________ theory.

A)red; trichromatic
B)red; opponent-process
C)blue; trichromatic
D)blue; opponent-process

Question 67

The __________ theory best explains the phenomenon of afterimages that remain in your visual field after you look away from a visual stimulus.

A)opponent-process
B)feature detection
C)trichromatic
D)gate-control

Question 68

You notice movement out of the corner of your eye and you turn in the direction of the movement so that you can "see better." A squirrel is scurrying away. You could see this only after your head movement allowed you to project the image onto the part of the retina with the highest concentration of __________ called the __________.

A)cones; optic nerve
B)cones; fovea
C)rods; cornea
D)rods; optic chiasm

Question 69

Jake is in a car accident and suffers some mild brain damage. Specifically, the optic nerve in his left hemisphere is completely severed after it leaves the optic chiasm. Visually, Jake would

A)be unable to see anything to the right of his nose.
B)be unable to see anything to the left of his nose.
C)lose vision entirely.
D)lose color vision in his left visual field.

Question 70

You are having trouble reading a word in an exam item because the type is blurry, so you move the page to be able to see the word most clearly. You have probably just focused the word onto your

A)optic nerve.
B)stapes.
C)iris.
D)fovea.

Question 71

Ally and Billy are going to paint their new house. They both like the color blue, but Ally picks out a different color blue than Billy, and they argue about which is the better color for the house. Ally and Billy are arguing about the __________ of the paint.

A)brightness
B)color saturation
C)intensity
D)hue

Question 72

While at the bookstore, you listen in on an author speaking to a crowd of fans about her research and experience working with color in the clothing industry. She talks about the biology behind color, including how our eyes have thousands of receptors that are each sensitive to a different range of light wavelengths. As she continues, you realize she is explaining the __________ theory of color vision.

A)trichromatic
B)synesthetic
C)gate-control
D)opponent-process

Question 73

When you look at a picture, information about the right visual field is sent to the left hemisphere of the brain and information about the left visual field is sent to the right hemisphere of the brain. This crossover occurs in the

A)ganglion cells.
B)bipolar cells.
C)lateral geniculate nucleus.
D)optic chiasm.

Question 74

You wake up in the middle of the night. As you look about your dark bedroom, you can see the outline of a pile of your clothes sitting in a ball on a chair. You are seeing the clothes with your

A)cones.
B)papillae.
C)otoliths.
D)rods.

Question 75

Tara had a theory that she could cheer herself up by staring at a yellow and black smiley face. After spending half an hour staring at one, she looked up at the blank white wall. She was not any happier, but she did see a __________ smiley face on her wall due to opponent-processing.

A)green and white
B)red and green
C)red and blue
D)blue and white

Question 76

Because of an eye injury, you have to temporarily wear a patch over one eye. Using your uncovered eye, you notice that there is a small region of the visual field where you cannot see anything. This is known as

A)temporary blindness.
B)retinal discontinuity.
C)retinal sympathy.
D)the blind spot.

Question 77

The __________ sense is the only one that does not send information to the cortex via the thalamus.

A)auditory
B)visual
C)olfactory
D)cutaneous

Question 78

At the Museum of Science and Industry, Joan finds an exhibit with three colored spotlights. By adjusting the intensity of the red, green, and blue lights and overlapping them, Joan is able to create any color she likes. Which theory of color vision does this support?

A)Opponent-process
B)Synthesis
C)Dichromatic
D)Trichromatic

Question 79

The Acme Corporation has created a pair of specialty goggles that allow the wearer to change the overall intensity of the wavelengths of light coming through the goggles. This action will alter the wearer's sensation of light by changing its

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

Question 80

When you adjust your television by turning up the color purity, you are

A)increasing timbre.
B)decreasing color saturation.
C)increasing color saturation.
D)stimulating fewer cones.