Deck 4: Sensing and Perceiving Our World

Question 1

Mike May, who went blind at age three, had surgery to restore his sight when he reached adulthood. However, although he had functioning eyes, it took him several years to learn how to "see" again. Your text speculates that this is because Mike's __________.

A) somatosensory cortex compensated for his loss of vision and was causing an overload once Mike's eyes functioned again
B) frontal lobes developed social filtering and would only gradually allow him to take in new, unfamiliar visual information
C) visual cortex likely took on other roles after he lost his sight and therefore had to rewire for seeing
Again
D temporal poles never had the experience of appropriately identifying visual information from his
) environment and were slow to learn this novel task

Answer 1

visual cortex likely took on other roles after he lost his sight and therefore had to rewire for seeing
Again
D temporal poles never had the experience of appropriately identifying visual information from his
) environment and were slow to learn this novel task

Question 2

We are said to be experiencing _________________ when physical energy from our environment comes into contact with our sense organs.

A) perception
B) sensation
C) transduction
D) migration

Answer 2

sensation

Question 3

__________________ happens when the brain interprets and comprehends information that is received from sensory organs.

A) Adaptation
B) Interoception
C) Sensation
D) Perception

Answer 3

Perception

Question 4

Leah no longer feels the chair underneath her as she sits in the classroom-she has stopped attending to the stimulation. Psychologists call this experience __________.

A) convergence
B) accommodation
C) sensory adaptation
D) sublimation

Question 5

Transduction is the __________.

A) conversion of physical information into neural information
B) lowest intensity of stimulation a person can detect 50 percent of the time
C) study of the perception of physical stimuli
D) effect of an individual's frame of mind on his or her perceptions

Question 6

The sound of a bell that a research subject can hear in 50 percent of an experiment's trials is that person's __________.

A) just noticeable difference
B) Weber's law
C) absolute threshold
D) amplitude

Question 7

A doctor diagnoses Maggie with strep throat, and medical tests verify that she does actually have it. According to signal detection research, the doctor has committed a __________.

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

Question 8

The security guards at a concert have to search everyone who enters the area for cameras, and they confiscate each camera. Most people searched did not have cameras, and therefore, according to signal detection research, the security guards committed many ___________.

A) hits
B) misses
C) correct rejections
D) false alarms

Question 9

Matilda did not hear the phone ringing when her girlfriend called. Signal detection theorists would call this a __________.

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

Question 10

Which of the following is assumed to be true under signal detection theory?

A) The absolute threshold is constant in an individual's perception.
B) Signal detection trials are more like real world experiences than are absolute threshold experiments.
C) A subject's sensitivity to stimuli is constant.
D) none of these.

Question 11

What is a difference threshold (just noticeable difference)?

A) The smallest amount of change between two stimuli that an individual can detect 50 percent of the time.
B) The smallest amount of physical stimulation that an individual can detect 50 percent of the time.
C) The largest amount of physical stimulation that an individual can detect 50 percent of the time.
D) The smallest amount of physical energy that an individual needs to be able to carry out a weight-lifting task.

Question 12

Colin, who has been arguing with his co-workers all day, thinks the movie he saw this evening was a lot more violent than his wife thought it was. Colin's evaluation of the movie was probably influenced by his __________.

A) linear perspective
B) convergence
C) perceptual set
D) texture gradient

Question 13

Light enters the interior of the eye through the __________.

A) retina
B) diaphragm
C) iris
D) pupil

Question 14

The ______________ adjusts the pupil to control the amount of light entering the eye.

A) lens
B) iris
C) anvil
D) retina

Question 15

Muscles around the ____________ change the eye's shape to allow it to focus light on the retina as appropriate to the distance of the object.

A) pupil
B) iris
C) forehead
D) lens

Question 16

________________ in the retina convert light into neural impulses.

A) Photoreceptors
B) Rods
C) Cones
D) all of these

Question 17

Luke is in the woods at night, yet he can still see the path below and the trees around him. This is due to the action of __________.

A) rods
B) cones
C) afterimages
D) interposition

Question 18

Which of the following describes the role of ganglion cells in vision?

A) They transport neurotransmitters from the temporal to the frontal lobes.
B) They carry nerve impulses across the corpus callosum to the somatosensory cortex.
C) Each ganglion cell's dendrites control vital eye muscles.
D) Their axons transmit visual information from the eye to the brain.

Question 19

The blind spot of the eye is __________.

A) where the optic nerve leaves the eye
B) not covered with receptor cells
C) an area where no vision occurs
D) all of these.

Question 20

The optic nerves of the left eye and the optic nerves of the right eye cross in an area called the __________.

A) blind spot
B) optic chiasm
C) basal ganglia
D) lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN)

Question 21

Which of the following is true with respect to information presented in the left visual field? It is processed __________.

A) in the left hemisphere
B) in the right hemisphere
C) first in the corpus callosum and then in the frontal cortex
D) first in the pons and then in the medial forebrain bundle

Question 22

Which of the following correctly portrays the general pathway for the process of vision?

A) Thalamus à Retina à Visual cortex à Optic nerve
B) Retina à Thalamus à Optic nerve à Visual cortex
C) Retina à Optic nerve à Thalamus à Visual cortex
D) Optic nerve à Thalamus à Retina àSomatosensory cortex

Question 23

Specialized neurons called __________________ analyze and respond to specific attributes and shapes of objects in our visual field.

A) lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN)
B) olfactory neurons
C) glial cells
D) feature detectors

Question 24

When experiments closed one eye of a newborn cat, what happened to the cat's visual system?

A) Although the cat could see shapes and shadows, its vision did not develop correctly.
B) The part of the brain originally devoted to vision for the closed eye began to receive and process information from the open eye.
C) The part of the brain responsible for processing vision for the open eye became overloaded and diverted . some of its tasks to other brain regions.
D) The cat's entire visual system shut down, rendering the cat blind.

Question 25

Which of the following is likely dependent upon experience to be perceived visually correctly?

A) depth
B) gender
C) faces
D) all of these

Question 26

Which of the following describes the "Halle Berry neuron" mentioned in the text?

A) Actor Halle Berry has neurons specific to acting that have not been found in others.
B) One particular research subject had neurons that fired exclusively to photos and depictions of actor Halle Berry.
C) Research shows that fans of actor Halle Berry have a specific type of neuron in common that nonfans of Berry do not have.
D) none of these.

Question 27

Christophe is looking at a lighted sign on which a rapid succession of lit bulbs appears to be an arrow in motion pointing to a store. This visual effect is called __________.

A) apparent motion
B) depth perception
C) the devil's fork
D) the moon illusion

Question 28

Neurons that fire when images move, but not when the eye moves, are called _________.

A) complex cells
B) simple cells
C) real movement neurons
D) none of these

Question 29

Which of the following processes allows us to perceive depth due to the distance between images projected on our two retinas?

A) linear perspective
B) binocular disparity
C) texture gradient
D) all of these

Question 30

One's eyes move inward when an object moves closer in a process known as __________.

A) convergence
B) divergence
C) binocular disparity
D) motion parallax

Question 31

A car is partially obstructing Cara's view of the garage and therefore Cara knows the car is in front of the garage. This cue to depth is known as __________.

A) texture gradient
B) interposition
C) linear perspective
D) convergence

Question 32

Sapphie is flying a kite, and as it flies farther up into the sky it looks like it is getting smaller and smaller. However, Sapphie knows the kite is not shrinking, due to her brain's ability to maintain __________.

A) linear perspective
B) texture gradient
C) motion parallax
D) perceptual constancy

Question 33

_______________ psychologists recognize that we perceive wholes as more than just the sum of their parts.

A) Evolutionary
B) Gestalt
C) Humanistic
D) Behavioral

Question 34

Lillian sees a store sign that says CL SED. Due to the Gestalt law of __________, Lillian knows the store is closed even though the sign is missing a letter.

A) similarity
B) proximity
C) closure
D) continuity

Question 35

Escher's famous face-vase figure is a classic example of the Gestalt principle of __________.

A) continuity
B) interposition
C) sublimination
D) figure-ground

Question 36

Which of the following perceptual phenomena may be offered as an explanation for the "moon illusion"?

A) perceptual constancy
B) monocular depth cues
C) figure-ground
D) law of proximity

Question 37

Yesenia is at a junkyard looking for car parts. As she wanders through the rows of cars, she sees familiar wheels, a windshield, doors, a hood, and a trunk, and she realizes she is looking at her model car. This type of visual perception is known as __________.

A) bottom-up processing
B) top-down processing
C) perceptual set
D) synesthesia

Question 38

Lincoln is pretty sure he sees his sister far off in the crowd. When he gets closer, he sees her familiar hair style and unmistakable nose, and knows it is she. This type of visual perception is called __________.

A) sensory adaptation
B) law of consistency
C) bottom-up processing
D) top-down processing

Question 39

The maximum wavelength on the electromagnetic spectrum that humans can see will lead to the perception of which of the following colors?

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

Question 40

The trichromatic theory of color vision states that all colors humans experience result from a mixture of which three colors of light?

A) white, red, blue
B) red, blue, and green
C) green, yellow, blue
D) black, yellow, green

Question 41

Which of the following is a theory of color vision that can explain color afterimages as well as some instances of color blindness?

A) opponent process
B) trichromatic
C) gate control
D) bottom-up

Question 42

The most common forms of color blindness result from deficiencies of __________.

A) rods
B) cones
C) corneas
D) all of these

Question 43

The ________________ of a sound wave determines our perception of loudness.

A) adaptation
B) purity
C) frequency
D) amplitude

Question 44

Despina's neighbors are complaining that the sound of her television is too loud. In other words, the television is emitting too many __________.

A) frequencies
B) decibels
C) heuristics
D) papillae

Question 45

Roy says he heard a sound at 160 dB. What likely happened?

A) He asked the speaker to repeat her words because he did not hear them.
B) He responded to the individual in the same, normal, conversational tone of voice.
C) His eardrums burst.
D) none of these.

Question 46

Dominic's voice is a high frequency. How would his voice most likely be described?

A) high pitched
B) low voiced
C) jittery
D) boring

Question 47

Phoebe, who is in a rock band, can distinguish the sound of the guitar from the sound of the bass even though they are both playing the same note-a low

A) frequencies
B) amplitudes
C) purities
D) pitches

Question 48

Which of the following are bones from the ear that vibrate and amplify sound waves?

A) Pinnae
B) Hammer, anvil, and stirrup
C) Semicircular canals
D) Hair cells

Question 49

The sensory receptors for sound are __________.

A) photoreceptors
B) papillae
C) hair cells
D) none of these

Question 50

Lutman and Spencer (1991) and others have shown that factory workers with long-term exposure to sounds of __________ dB will likely sustain hearing loss over time.

A) 30
B) 50
C) 70
D) 90

Question 51

The "mosquito ring tone" is reported to be __________.

A) such a high frequency that most thirty- to forty-year-olds cannot hear it
B) such a low frequency that most thirty- to forty-year-olds cannot hear it
C) such a high frequency that most ten- to twenty-year-olds cannot hear it
D) such a low frequency that most ten- to twenty-year-olds cannot hear it

Question 52

The auditory receives input from __________.

A) the medial geniculate nucleus
B) the visual cortex
C) brain regions involved in speech
D) all of these

Question 53

The right auditory cortex is more active than the left auditory cortex in processing __________.

A) speech
B) non-verbal stimuli
C) language
D) none of these

Question 54

Interoception is the __________.

A) sensation of one's hands and feet
B) sensation of one's brain
C) perception of one's bodily sensations
D) perception of time

Question 55

Tactile receptor cells are called

A) papillae.
B) olfactory epithelium.
C) hair cells.
D) mechanoreceptors.

Question 56

The thalamus relays information about bodily sensations to the __________.

A) visual cortex
B) somatosensory cortex
C) auditory cortex
D) all of these

Question 57

Research has shown that experienced violinists have larger ________________ of brain regions related to hand and finger movements.

A) schemas
B) perceptual sets
C) hemispheres
D) brain maps

Question 58

Acupuncture should successfully alleviate pain according to which of the following theories?

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

Question 59

Endorphin release is most likely used for which of the following scenarios?

A) to assist in a means-end analysis
B) to retrieve a lost memory
C) to block a hurtful memory
D) to kill pain naturally

Question 60

Janice has severe back pain, and her doctor prescribed ______________, an opioid, as an analgesic.

A) acetaminophen
B) ibuprofen
C) oxycodone
D) diazepam

Question 61

Which of the following is a chemosense?

A) hearing
B) tasting
C) seeing
D) none of these

Question 62

Information about smells in our environment travels from the cilia to which of the following parts of the forebrain?

A) corpus callosum
B) hypothalamus
C) olfactory bulb
D) limbic system

Question 63

Humans may have as many as ___________ different types of receptors for olfaction.

A) 3
B) 20
C) 100
D) 1,000

Question 64

_________ cells process taste information.

A) Taste receptor
B) Hair
C) Glial
D) Epithelial

Question 65

Information from taste cells is projected to the __________.

A) occipital lobes
B) brain stem
C) hypothalamus
D) frontal and parietal lobes

Question 66

The signals from taste and smell meet in which of the following brain regions?

A) lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN)
B) orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)
C) nucleus accumbens (NA)
D) corpus callosum

Question 67

Jimmy sees colors when he reads or hears certain letters of the alphabet. He most likely is experiencing a condition known as __________.

A) prosopagnosia
B) synesthesia
C) presbyopia
D) myopia

Question 68

Hubbard and Ramachandran (2005) showed that synesthesia involving the cross-over processing of colors and numbers may be neurologically based in the_____________ lobes.

A) frontal
B) parietal
C) temporal
D) occipital

Question 69

Making Connections in Sensation and Perception The Mü ller-Lyer illusion, which involves a visual illusion based on the perception of the angles and edges of a building, is not usually experienced by people who grow up and live in regions where round huts are predominant. This suggests that which of the following may be influencing the Mü ller-Lyer illusion?

A) Top-down processing
B) The occipital lobes
C) The law of continuity
D) Nearsightedness

Question 70

Research has shown that people from Western cultures tend to focus on _______________ in their visual perceptions of the world.

A) the whole picture
B) the context of the situation
C) background objects
D) foreground objects

Question 71

Which of the following types of psychologists would posit that one reason women have a keener sense of smell than do men is to allow pregnant women to avoid ingesting harmful substances, thereby increasing the chance of leaving descendants?

A) cognitive
B) evolutionary
C) social
D) Behavioral