Deck 4: B: Sensation and Perception

Question 1

What do we call the stimulation of sense organs

A) sensation
B) detection 
C) activation
D) perception

Answer 1

 sensation

Question 2

When you first put on a pair of tight-fitting pants in the morning you may be aware of pressure on your waist; however,after a few minutes the pants will not feel as tight.What does this example illustrate

A) sensory adaptation
B) synaesthesia 
C) subliminal perception
D) just-noticeable-difference

Answer 2

 sensory adaptation

Question 3

In order to determine thresholds for detection of a spice,researchers diluted various amounts of the spice in 10 litres of water and determined whether those concentrations could be detected by people with normal taste perception.Participants were always able to detect 5 grams of the spice,and never able to detect 1 gram of the spice.About half of the time,participants could detect 2 grams of the spice,and nearly always detected 3 grams.In this example,what is the absolute threshold for detection of this spice

A) 1 gram
B) 2 grams 
C) 3 grams
D) 5 grams

Answer 3

 2 grams 

Question 4

What is the term for the gradual decline in sensitivity to stimuli that follows prolonged stimulation

A) sensory overload
B) perceptual adaptation 
C) perceptual overload
D) sensory adaptation

Question 5

At the absolute threshold,what proportion of the time is a target stimulus detected

A) 1 percent of the time
B) 25 percent of the time 
C) 50 percent of the time
D) 100 percent of the time

Question 6

According to signal-detection theory,what is the term for thinking that you heard your phone ring when it did not

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

Question 7

If you have undergone sensory adaptation for the sounds that are all around you as you study in the library,what will you be most likely to do

A) be unable to concentrate 
B) block out all sounds and ignore any changes 
C) become increasingly irritated by the sounds if they do not change 
D) notice when the quality of those sounds changes

Question 8

What is the minimum stimulus intensity that an organism can detect

A) the detection threshold
B) the just noticeable threshold 
C) the signal-detection threshold
D) the absolute threshold

Question 9

Nicole is a vision scientist who conducts studies where people are presented with lines of different orientations.She documents how different those orientations need to be for people to perceive a difference.What do we call this type of research

A) sensation
B) signal-detection 
C) psychophysics
D) physiological psychology

Question 10

What is perception

A) subjectivity of emotional experience 
B) selection, organization, and interpretation of sensory input 
C) the study of how physical stimuli are translated into psychological experience 
D) stimulation of the sense organs

Question 11

The detection of stimuli involves decision processes as well as sensory processes,which are both influenced by a variety of factors besides stimulus intensity.Which of the following reflects this fact

A) subliminal perception
B) signal-detection theory 
C) sensory adaptation
D) Weber's law

Question 12

When Jessica's furnace stopped working,she didn't notice that the temperature had dropped until it was two degrees colder than the usual programmed temperature.What is the psychophysics term for the two-degree difference between the usual temperature and the temperature at which Jessica noticed that it was colder

A) a just noticeable difference
B) a sensation threshold 
C) an absolute difference
D) a Weber fraction

Question 13

If Bill has grapheme-colour synesthesia,what would Bill experience

A) colour blindness
B) letters or digits in different colours 
C) blurring of colours
D) hearing sounds as colours

Question 14

Which statement best summarizes researchers' views concerning subliminal perception

A) Subliminal perception does not influence behaviour, but it appears likely to have practical importance. 
B) While subliminal perception may influence behaviour, it appears unlikely to have much practical importance. 
C) Subliminal perception has no demonstrated effect on behaviour. 
D) Subliminal perception may influence behaviour and it appears likely to have practical importance.

Question 15

According to signal-detection theory,what is the term for sleeping through your alarm in the morning

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

Question 16

According to signal-detection theory,what is the term for waking up to your alarm in the morning

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

Question 17

"Can we be influenced by things that we are not consciously aware of " Which topic addresses this question

A) subliminal perception
B) sensory adaptation 
C) psychophysics
D) signal-detection theory

Question 18

Which of the following describes light as the stimulus for vision

A) a form of electromagnetic energy
B) a form of mechanical energy 
C) the result of vibrations of molecules
D) a form of chemical energy

Question 19

If the just noticeable difference (JND)for detecting a change in the weight of your shopping bag is 50 grams,what would the JND be if your shopping bag were twice as heavy

A) 25 grams
B) 50 grams 
C) 75 grams
D) 100 grams

Question 20

If your roommate slowly and carefully turns up the volume on the stereo until you can determine "now it's louder than it was before," which of the following represents how much the volume increased

A) a just noticeable difference
B) a proportional difference 
C) a perceivable difference
D) a fractional difference

Question 21

What determines our perception of colour

A) amplitude of light waves
B) frequency of light waves 
C) wavelength of light waves
D) purity of light waves

Question 22

Which structure of the eye absorbs light,processes images,and sends visual information to the brain

A) retina
B) rods 
C) lens
D) fovea

Question 23

What is the optic disc

A) It is the layer of muscle that operates the lens and degenerates with age. 
B) It is the hole in the retina where the optic nerves exit the eye, causing a blind spot. 
C) It is the area on the retina where cones are most densely represented, causing a focal point. 
D) It is the low-acuity outer area of the retina that contains a high density of rods.

Question 24

Which aspect of vision is associated with rods

A) daytime vision
B) peripheral vision 
C) high visual acuity
D) colour vision

Question 25

What is the retinal area that,when stimulated,affects the firing of a visual cell

A) fovea
B) focal point 
C) receptive field
D) visual field

Question 26

If your entire retina was like the fovea,which aspect of vision would you be best able to accomplish

A) motion detection
B) peripheral vision 
C) visual acuity
D) night vision

Question 27

Jacqueline has gone to get her eyes checked because she has been having trouble focusing.Her optometrist tells her that it is due to the normal aging of her lens.Which process is likely impaired

A) refraction
B) constriction 
C) accommodation
D) dilation

Question 28

If you walk from a bright room to a dark room,which of the following would occur after five minutes in the dark

A) Your peripheral vision would be enhanced. 
B) Your absolute thresholds for object detection would be increasing. 
C) Your dark adaptation would be essentially complete. 
D) Your cones would have adapted to a greater degree than did your rods.

Question 29

What differs between a red light and a green light

A) purity
B) complexity 
C) wavelength
D) amplitude

Question 30

If you did not have saccades,what would you lose the ability to see

A) poorly illuminated scenes
B) objects that don't change 
C) moving things
D) colours

Question 31

Multiple rods and cones within an area of the retina will send information to a single visual cell.What do we call that area

A) fovea
B) optic disc 
C) light adaptation region
D) receptive field

Question 32

Which statement does NOT accurately describe the retina

A) It is located in the middle of the eye. 
B) It is part of the central nervous system. 
C) It is neural tissue lining inside the back surface of the eye. 
D) It is located at the back of the eye.

Question 33

If someone has a problem with colour vision due to defective receptors,which receptor could be the problem

A) rods
B) hair cells 
C) cilia
D) cones

Question 34

If a person views three lights that differ only in amplitude,what would the person perceive about the lights

A) They are different shades of the same colour. 
B) They differ in colour. 
C) They differ in brightness. 
D) They differ in saturation.

Question 35

Which aspect of vision is associated with cones

A) dark adaptation
B) night vision 
C) peripheral vision
D) colour vision

Question 36

Which structure of the eye changes size to help regulate the amount of light entering the inner areas of the eye

A) retina
B) pupil 
C) lens
D) cornea

Question 37

Which structure of the eye focuses light rays onto the retina

A) pupil
B) optic disk 
C) cornea
D) lens

Question 38

What is the transparent structure on the surface of the eye where light first enters the eye

A) lens
B) cornea 
C) retina
D) pupil

Question 39

If a person views two red lights,but one is more obviously red than the other,what differs between the two lights

A) purity of the light
B) wavelength 
C) brightness of the light
D) wave amplitude

Question 40

If an animal species is normally active at night,which receptors should be most common in its visual system

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

Question 41

What method is a child using if he mixes yellow and blue finger-paints together to produce green

A) primary colour mixing
B) complementary colour mixing 
C) subtractive colour mixing
D) additive colour mixing

Question 42

Given our present knowledge concerning colour vision,what theory provides the most accurate explanation of how we perceive colour

A) Both the trichromatic and opponent process theories are required to explain it. 
B) The opponent process theory is more accurate. 
C) The trichromatic theory is more accurate. 
D) Neither trichromatic nor opponent process theory is sufficient, so a new theory is required.

Question 43

While visiting the art museum,Laura stared at a black-and-white photograph in a blue frame for over a minute.When she looked away from the photograph she saw an afterimage of a rectangle.Consistent with the opponent process theory,what colour was the rectangle

A) yellow
B) green 
C) blue
D) red

Question 44

Which list represents the main pathway that visual signals travel from the eye to the visual cortex

A) optic nerve, thalamus, optic chiasm, occipital lobe 
B) optic nerve, thalamus, optic chiasm, temporal lobe 
C) optic nerve, optic chiasm, thalamus, occipital lobe 
D) optic nerve, optic chiasm, thalamus, temporal lobe

Question 45

If lights representing all wavelengths of the visible spectrum are combined,what colour would a person perceive

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

Question 46

Because of the pathway that visual information travels from the eye to the visual cortex,where are images seen in the left visual field received

A) half of the right visual cortex and half of the left visual cortex 
B) only the left visual cortex 
C) both the left and right visual cortex 
D) only the right visual cortex

Question 47

While visiting the art museum,Laura stared at a black-and-white photograph in a red frame for over a minute.When she looked away from the photograph she saw an afterimage of a rectangle.Consistent with the opponent process theory,what colour was the rectangle

A) blue
B) red 
C) green
D) yellow

Question 48

What is being combined when you are using additive colour mixing

A) lights of different colours
B) pigments of different colours 
C) two or more colours
D) the three primary colours

Question 49

A perceptual set involves a person's readiness to perceive a stimulus in a particular way.Which of the following is NOT a factor that might influence how a person interprets sensory input

A) information given to the person about the stimulus 
B) previous experiences 
C) the fact that people's experience of the world is objective 
D) the person's expectations

Question 50

Which species would you expect to have the largest number of cones on the retina

A) a nocturnal species 
B) an Antarctic species 
C) a species that hunts small prey in the daytime 
D) a species that must detect predators from all directions

Question 51

If you stare at a colourful image and then stare at a white surface,you will experience an afterimage.Which theory of colour vision is supported by this phenomenon

A) subtractive colour theory
B) additive colour theory 
C) trichromatic theory
D) opponent process theory

Question 52

Jamie can identify objects,but she doesn't seem to be able to reach out and grab them appropriately.If Jamie has brain damage associated with vision for action,where would you expect that damage to be located

A) primary visual cortex
B) temporal lobe 
C) dorsal stream
D) ventral stream

Question 53

Which of the following is consistent with the trichromatic theory of colour vision

A) complementary colour afterimages 
B) additive colour mixing 
C) the visual receptors consist of rods and cones 
D) subtractive colour mixing

Question 54

If a thirsty person is sitting across the table from a bottle of water,how would his estimate of the distance of the bottle of water differ from a person who is not thirsty

A) It would not likely differ. 
B) It would likely be more accurate. 
C) He would likely estimate it to be farther away. 
D) He would likely estimate it to be closer.

Question 55

You are in class one day and someone turns out the lights.You can see nothing right away,but after a few moments you are able to perceive some shapes and forms due to small amount of light which is entering the room through a crack under the door.What sensory process are you experiencing

A) stimulus detection
B) perceptual adjustment 
C) synesthesia
D) sensory adaption

Question 56

Which statements best describes how visual information is transmitted to the brain

A) Signals from the fovea of each eye go to the left hemisphere and signals from the remaining areas of the retina go to the right hemisphere. 
B) Signals from both eyes go to both hemispheres of the brain. 
C) Signals from each eye go to only the corresponding (same) hemisphere of the brain. 
D) Signals from each eye go to only the opposite hemisphere of the brain.

Question 57

One cell in the visual cortex responds only to vertical lines presented in a specific portion of the visual field.Another cell responds only to vertical lines that are moving across the visual field.Which term applies to both cells

A) complex cell
B) simple cell 
C) threshold detector
D) feature detector

Question 58

What is the correct order that neural signals travel from the eye to the brain

A) receptor, ganglion cell, optic nerve
B) optic nerve, ganglion cell, receptor 
C) receptor, optic nerve, ganglion cell
D) ganglion cell, receptor, optic nerve

Question 59

After visual information is processed in the primary visual cortex,it is often routed to other cortical areas for additional processing.Where does information travel if it is used for facial recognition

A) to the occipital lobe
B) to the parietal lobe 
C) to the temporal lobe
D) to the frontal lobe

Question 60

When Max sees sees the colour "red" when he hears the word "train".What condition does Max have

A) dysgraphia
B) auditory mixing 
C) automania
D) synesthesia

Question 61

Which of the following depth cues could be used by an artist to depict depth in a painting

A) convergence
B) retinal disparity 
C) motion parallax
D) interposition

Question 62

There is a difference in the visual image of an object projected to each eye.Which depth cue uses this information

A) accommodation
B) interposition 
C) retinal disparity
D) linear disparity

Question 63

If a radio play-by-play announcer describing each pitch during a baseball game fails to notice a naked fan running across the infield,what would the announcer be demonstrating

A) inattentional blindness
B) feature analysis 
C) perceptual set
D) attentional disturbance

Question 64

What is the basic assumption of Gestalt psychology

A) Our perception of form has a preference for stationary objects over moving objects. 
B) Our perception has a preference for complex forms over simple forms. 
C) Our perception of a "whole" may have qualities that do not exist in any of the parts. 
D) There is a one-to-one correspondence between sensory input and perception.

Question 65

At the level of the retina and brain,which colour vision theory is supported

A) opponent process theory at the retina, but trichromatic theory in the brain 
B) trichromatic theory 
C) trichromatic theory at the retina, but opponent process theory in the brain 
D) opponent process theory

Question 66

Which of the following is NOT an aspect of the sense of touch

A) feeling pressure
B) feeling pain 
C) somatosensory cortex
D) motor cortex

Question 67

If you saw the stimulus "0" in the context of "B0SS" you are likely to see it as a letter,but in the context of "5038" you are likely to see it as a number.What differs between the two contexts that leads to your different understanding of the same stimulus

A) features of the stimulus
B) bottom-up processing 
C) perceptual hypotheses
D) figure and ground

Question 68

Which process is consistent with bottom-up processing

A) recognizing subjective contours
B) dark adaptation 
C) detecting edges in a visual stimulus
D) reading messy handwriting

Question 69

Which type of cue is used by artists to create a perception of depth on a two-dimensional surface

A) accommodation cue
B) binocular cue 
C) disparity cue
D) monocular cue

Question 70

When you look at a pile of loose change,you're very likely to see it as comprising nickels,dimes,quarters,loonies,and toonies.Which perceptual tendency is consistent with this example

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

Question 71

What is illustrated by our perception of reversible figures

A) The same visual input can result in different perceptions. 
B) There is a one-to-one correspondence between sensory input and perception. 
C) Individuals may fail to see fully visible objects. 
D) Expectations do not influence perceptions.

Question 72

When your psychology professor is lecturing to your class,your professor can tell which students are sitting in the first,second,third,etc.,row,in part because students in the closer rows appear to have more distinct or clearer facial features than students in more distant rows.Which depth cue is your professor using

A) linear perspective
B) texture gradient 
C) interposition
D) relative size

Question 73

What is the most general of the Gestalt principles describing how individual elements are grouped into higher-order figures

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

Question 74

What do we call the perceptual tendency to group objects together that are near each other

A) similarity
B) common fate 
C) continuity
D) proximity

Question 75

Which depth perception cue is based on the observation that parallel lines converge in the distance

A) linear perspective
B) height in plane 
C) interposition
D) retinal disparity

Question 76

When your psychology professor is lecturing to your class,your professor can tell which students are sitting in the first,second,third,etc.,row,in part because students in the closer rows obstruct his or her view of students in more distant rows.Which depth cue does this illustrate

A) texture gradient
B) relative size 
C) interposition
D) linear perspective

Question 77

Which Gestalt principle best explains our perception of reversible figures such as the two silhouetted faces/vase figure

A) visual illusion
B) figure-ground 
C) phi phenomenon
D) perceptual constancies

Question 78

Imagine you are sitting at the dinner table and looking at the round plate in front of the person sitting across from you.What shape would the proximal stimulus of the plate be

A) oval
B) the same as the distal stimulus 
C) the proximal stimulus has no form
D) round

Question 79

The house across the street is decorated with a lot of lights for a party.The lights along the roof turn on and off,one at a time,so that it looks as if a light is moving across the edge of the roof.What is the Gestalt term for this illusion

A) continuity
B) the phi phenomenon 
C) Pragnanz
D) figure-ground reversal

Question 80

Which process is consistent with top-down processing

A) reading messy handwriting
B) distinguishing between colours 
C) detecting edges in a visual stimulus
D) dark adaptation