Deck 3: Sensation and Perception

Question 1

After you are aware that a stimulus exists, the _____ threshold is reached when you are then able to notice an increase or decrease in that stimulus.

A)comparative
B)standard
C)difference
D)absolute

Answer 1

difference

Question 2

Which component of the eye contains the visual receptors?

A)sclera
B)retina
C)cornea
D)posterior chamber

Answer 2

retina

Question 3

When this part of the eye loses some of its ability to flatten and bulge in order to focus clearly on objects at different distances, we may need eyeglasses.

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

Answer 3

lens

Question 4

Our sense organs have highly specialized cells that detect and respond to sensory stimuli. These specialized cells are _____ receptors.

A)sensory
B)perceptual
C)response
D)somatic

Question 5

The part of the eye that does the first step in vision by bending light rays inward, directing them through the pupil, is the _____

A)iris.
B)lens.
C)cornea.
D)fovea.

Question 6

Loud music has to be turned up much louder for us to notice the difference. When music is playing softly, we notice the difference if it is turned up just a little. This is an example of _____

A)Weber's law.
B)the absolute threshold.
C)the fixed change law.
D)Broca's law.

Question 7

Which part of the eye is a muscle that regulates the size of the pupil?

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

Question 8

Our sensory receptors convert sensory stimuli from our environment into a form that can be sent to, and used by, the brain. This process is called _____

A)assimilation.
B)transduction.
C)transmission.
D)adaptation.

Question 9

After information is brought in through sensory receptors, it goes through a conversion process before the brain is able to process it. This process is called _____

A)accommodation.
B)transduction.
C)adaptation.
D)assimilation.

Question 10

Scientists arbitrarily set the limit for _____ as stimulation that can be detected 50 percent of the time.

A)Weber's law
B)the absolute threshold
C)the difference threshold
D)the saturation point

Question 11

Sensation and perception are _____

A)completely separate processes.
B)independent of each other.
C)one-way processes.
D)interactive.

Question 12

The amount of light entering the eye is controlled by the _____

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

Question 13

The _____ is the narrow band of light waves that our eyes can respond to.

A)optic chiasm
B)perceptual set
C)fovea
D)visible spectrum

Question 14

As Annalisa is sitting in her bedroom listening to the radio, she notices that it suddenly sounds louder. She looks and is not surprised to find her little sister turning up the volume. How could Annalisa tell that the radio became louder before she saw what her sister was doing?

A)It exceeded her saturation threshold.
B)It exceeded her difference threshold.
C)It exceeded her standard threshold.
D)It exceeded her absolute threshold.

Question 15

Brendan just got married and is not used to wearing a wedding band on his left hand. Joel, his best man and a psychology student, correctly reassures him with which of the following statements?

A)"Don't worry, because of transduction, you'll soon get used to the ring on your finger."
B)"Because of assimilation, within a few hours you won't even know it is there."
C)"That is something you are just going to have to get used to-you will always be aware of the weight of the ring on your finger."
D)"The good news is that sensory adaptation will soon kick in, and you won't even notice the ring on your finger."

Question 16

The sensory stimuli, such as sound waves, we receive from the environment has to be converted into _____ signals in order to be transmitted to our brain.

A)electrochemical
B)stronger
C)muscle
D)wave

Question 17

When information is taken in through the senses, the process is referred to as _____

A)synesthesia.
B)processing.
C)sensation.
D)perception.

Question 18

During a classroom experiment, Jay found out that he could sense a hair on his arm when it was barely touched with a pencil tip by Gerard. However, Jay had to wiggle a hair on Gerard's arm back and forth several times before Gerard could detect the sensation. The scientific explanation for this is that Jay and Gerard have different _____ thresholds.

A)difference
B)Weber's
C)standard
D)absolute

Question 19

When information taken in through the senses is organized and interpreted, the process is referred to as _____

A)synesthesia.
B)perception.
C)sensation.
D)processing.

Question 20

The smallest increase or decrease in a physical stimulus that you can detect at least 50 percent of the time is called the _____ difference.

A)minimum
B)just sensed
C)saturation
D)just noticeable

Question 21

Why do we have a blind spot in our visual field?

A)from looking at the sun too much
B)because of an opening through which the optic nerve passes
C)because of the way the lens focuses light, a spot is missed on the retina
D)from the fovea's placement

Question 22

Some people have nearsightedness (myopia)or farsightedness (hyperopia)because the distance between their _____ and their _____ is either too short or too long.

A)cornea; lens
B)iris; pupil
C)rods; cones
D)lens; retina

Question 23

The last vision-processing step before signals are sent to the brain is in the _____

A)amacrine cells.
B)bipolar cells.
C)horizontal cells.
D)ganglion cells.

Question 24

The nerve fibers from the _____ half of each retina go to the _____ hemisphere.

A)right; left
B)right; right
C)left; left
D)back; front

Question 25

When you look directly at an object, the image of the object focuses on a spot where many receptor cells called cones are packed together. This spot, which also gives us our sharpest vision, is the _____

A)retina.
B)ganglion.
C)fovea.
D)blind spot.

Question 26

While at The Home Depot picking out a color of paint for her bathroom, Leticia narrows her search down to two options. She likes the color of the first one and the purity in color of the second one. Leticia's decision is between the _____ of the first paint choice and the _____ of the second paint choice.

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

Question 27

_____ is purity of a color, or the degree to which the light waves producing it are of the same wavelength.

A)Saturation
B)Trichromaticity
C)Brightness
D)Hue

Question 28

Alec has always been able to see a wide array of vibrant colors, but he has not been so fortunate when it comes to seeing at night or in otherwise dim lighting. Alec speculates that his color vision is far superior to his night vision. Based on his speculation, which of the following would be true?

A)Alec has rods that function well, but cones that are not as effective as they could be.
B)Alec has no rods in his retinas.
C)Alec has cones that function very well, but rods that are not as effective as they could be.
D)Alec has no cones in his retinas.

Question 29

_____ is the dimension of light that refers to the specific color perceived.

A)Trichromaticity
B)Hue
C)Saturation
D)Brightness

Question 30

If our visual perception depended only on the feature detectors in the visual cortex, what would we see?

A)whole images but without any color
B)only horizontal lines
C)only lines at a forty-degree angle
D)collections of isolated features

Question 31

The receptor cells that allow us to see color and fine detail in adequate light are the _____

A)rods.
B)focus cells.
C)cones.
D)color cells.

Question 32

The first stage of vision processing takes place in the _____

A)retina.
B)brain.
C)occipital lobe.
D)lens.

Question 33

Our visual perceptions are complete only when _____ has (have)combined and assembled millions of pieces of visual information into a whole.

A)the occipital lobe
B)the thalamus
C)numerous brain areas
D)the brain stem

Question 34

_____ is the intensity of light energy perceived as a color, which is based on the amplitude of the light wave.

A)Hue
B)Trichromaticity
C)Saturation
D)Brightness

Question 35

The axons of the ganglion cells bundle together to make the two _____ nerves, which come together at the _____

A)optic; optic chiasm.
B)visual; blind spot.
C)suprachiasmatic; optic chiasm.
D)fovea; visual chiasm.

Question 36

Our eyes can respond to as little as five photons of light because of the extreme sensitivity of our _____ to light.

A)cones
B)light cells
C)adaptive cells
D)rods

Question 37

The receptor cells for vision are located in the _____ and are called _____ and _____

A)cornea; rods and cones.
B)retina; rods and cones.
C)lens; adaptation and focus cells.
D)retina; adaptation and focus cells.

Question 38

Our vision can adapt to change between bright light and dark, but it takes a moment because the _____ in our receptor cells must break apart into _____ and _____ for light adaptation and recombine for dark adaptation.

A)color sensors; black; white
B)rhodopsin; opsin; retinal
C)opsin; rhodopsin; retinal
D)pigment; rods; cones

Question 39

The optic nerve fibers synapse on the _____, which transmits the neural impulses to the _____

A)hypothalamus; thalamus.
B)thalamus; frontal cortex.
C)thalamus: primary visual cortex.
D)optic chiasm; occipital lobe.

Question 40

Which of the following sequences is correct? On its way to the brain, light signals are _____ and then _____

A)transduced by rods and cones; passed to amacrine, bipolar and horizontal cells.
B)sent through the fovea; transduced by amacrine, bipolar and horizontal cells.
C)converted by ganglion cells; sent to the rods and cones.
D)transduced by rods and cones; sent next to the V1 area.

Question 41

Which of the following traces the correct path of sound waves in the ear?

A)tympanic membrane, ossicles, oval window, cochlea
B)oval window, ossicles, tympanic membrane, cochlea
C)pinna, hammer, anvil, stirrup, oval window
D)hair cells, eardrum, ossicles, cochlea

Question 42

Hearing loss most often results from damage to the sensory receptors caused by _____

A)the process of aging.
B)the buildup of earwax.
C)exposure to excessive noise.
D)chronic ear infections.

Question 43

The sensory receptors that transduce sound waves into electrical signals to be transmitted to the brain are called _____

A)hearing cells.
B)cochlear cells.
C)inner ear cells.
D)hair cells.

Question 44

What is the basic function of the outer ear?

A)to protect the hair cells
B)to concentrate and funnel sound waves to the eardrum
C)to amplify low-intensity sounds to detectable levels
D)to filter out high-intensity sound waves that can be harmful

Question 45

Chris is color-blind. Based on the research about color-blindness, which of the following is FALSE?

A)Chris will likely have some difficulty matching clothes.
B)Chris will only be able to see black, white, and shades of gray.
C)Chris will likely have the most difficulty distinguishing green from red.
D)Chris is likely a male.

Question 46

The same musical note played on a guitar, a piano, and a flute does not sound the same because most sounds consist of several different frequencies. This distinctive quality of a sound is called _____

A)hertz.
B)amplitude.
C)unique.
D)timbre.

Question 47

Which of the following properties of sound would be the most similar to the color (hue), of light?

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

Question 48

Janice has nine genes for color perception on her x chromosomes. This means that Janice will _____

A)be able to see ultraviolet light.
B)have synesthesia.
C)perceive finer distinctions of shades of color.
D)be color blind.

Question 49

The _____ theory explains hearing in terms of hair cells vibrating the same number of times per second as the sounds, whereas, the _____ theory explains hearing in terms of a particular pitch and where it vibrates most along the basilar membrane.

A)frequency; opponent-process
B)frequency; place
C)top-down; opponent-process
D)place; frequency

Question 50

The _____ theory is the theory of color vision that suggests three types of cones in the retina each make a maximal chemical response to one of three colors: blue, green, or red.

A)opponent-process
B)rainbow
C)three-cone
D)trichromatic

Question 51

The _____ theory is the theory of color vision that suggests three kinds of cells respond by increasing or decreasing their rate of firing when different colors are present.

A)opponent-process
B)decreasing-rate
C)three-cone
D)trichromatic

Question 52

The negative afterimage we see after staring at an image and then looking at a blank space provides support for the _____ theory of color vision.

A)top-down
B)bottom-up
C)opponent-process
D)trichromatic

Question 53

Why would a person born without ossicles have difficulty hearing well?

A)No sound waves would reach the eardrum.
B)Sound waves would not be amplified before reaching the cochlea.
C)There would be no sensory receptors to transduce the sound waves.
D)The eardrum would not be able to vibrate.

Question 54

The force with which air molecules move determines _____, which is measured in units of _____ as _____

A)loudness; decibels; amplitude.
B)frequency; hertz; timbre.
C)timbre; vibrations; amplitude.
D)saturation; frequencies; hertz.

Question 55

The difference between perceiving many fine distinctions between colors and being color blind begins at the _____ level.

A)retinal
B)visual cortex
C)genetic
D)phenotypical

Question 56

The three smallest bones in the human body are in the _____ ear; together they are called the _____

A)outer; pinnas.
B)inner; otoliths.
C)middle; ossicles.
D)middle; hammers.

Question 57

_____ is the number of cycles completed by a sound wave in one second, measured as _____ determining the _____ of a sound.

A)Pitch; frequency; oscillations
B)Hertz; frequency; cycles
C)Frequency; tone; pitch
D)Frequency; hertz; pitch

Question 58

The more force air molecules move with, the _____ the sound you will hear is.

A)higher
B)lower
C)louder
D)softer

Question 59

_____ provides information about the position and movement of body parts in relation to each other.

A)Gustation
B)Audition
C)The kinesthetic sense
D)The vestibular sense

Question 60

The tiny bones in the ear are called the _____

A)oval, hammer, and stick.
B)hammer, triangle, and stirrup.
C)saddle, stirrup, and spur.
D)hammer, anvil, and stirrup.

Question 61

An olfactory stimulus travels from receptor to _____

A)olfactory bulb.
B)thalamus.
C)amygdala.
D)pons.

Question 62

What are the five primary tastes?

A)hot, sour, spicy, sweet, origami
B)salty, sour, spicy, sweet, tart
C)bitter, salty, sour, sweet, umami
D)peppery, salty, sour, sweet, acidic

Question 63

Gloria says that it relieves the pain in her broken finger when she takes a multivitamin. Her mother taught her this trick. Jeff says it's all in her head. He is correct because _____

A)multivitamins can't relieve pain.
B)Gloria's mother made this up.
C)the placebo effect causes brain changes.
D)multivitamins increase the availability of endorphins.

Question 64

_____ is the mental process of making meaning out of sensory information.

A)Abstraction
B)Sensations
C)Perception
D)Consciousness

Question 65

The sense of smell is also known as _____

A)olfaction.
B)the salivary sense.
C)chemical infarctation.
D)gustation.

Question 66

Which of the following could explain why women in general have more pain tolerance than men do?

A)Testosterone stimulates pain receptors when they activate.
B)Women are socialized differently.
C)Women multitask so much more than men do.
D)Estrogen sensitizes neurons to endorphins.

Question 67

The reason that there are three semicircular canals is so that _____

A)we have one canal to sense motion in each of the three planes.
B)we can see the world in three dimensions.
C)we can detect sound locations in the three-dimensional world.
D)we have an extra if one is broken.

Question 68

Laverne looks at the tongue of her friend and sees all kinds of bumps on her tongue. "Girl," she says, "you sure have a lot of _____

A)olfactory receptors."
B)taste buds."
C)papillae."
D)taste receptors."

Question 69

Felicia's Mom nags her about not getting her son to eat more broccoli and salad greens. Felicia tries to explain to her mother that it is difficult because _____

A)he is a super taster.
B)he is a nontaster.
C)he has no papillae.
D)he has no sense of smell.

Question 70

Smell signals are transmitted to neurons in the _____, then to other parts of the limbic system for _____ interpretation.

A)temporal lobes; cognitive
B)aqueductal grey area; smell
C)peripheral nervous system; sympathetic nervous system
D)limbic system; emotional

Question 71

Which of the following is true about our sense of touch?

A)We can lose it and get along just fine.
B)It is critical to our survival.
C)Our kinesthetic sense will make up for the loss.
D)It comes from chemoreceptors in our skin.

Question 72

The vestibular senses are concerned with _____

A)touch, pressure, temperature, and pain.
B)the location of body parts in relation to the ground and to each other.
C)movement and orientation.
D)your location as compared to the position of the sun.

Question 73

According to _____-control theory, interference from other neural messages reduces our perception of pain by _____

A)pain; producing endorphins.
B)spinal; changing our focus.
C)attention; reducing our attention to it.
D)gate; blocking some pain messages.

Question 74

_____ allows us to know where our arms are in relation to our legs.

A)The vestibular sense
B)The cochlear sense
C)Olfaction
D)The kinesthetic sense

Question 75

If you are standing on one foot and you close your eyes, you don't immediately fall over because your _____ fills in for some of the missing visual information.

A)parietal sense
B)olfactory sense
C)photoreceptors
D)kinesthetic sense

Question 76

The skin has many nerve endings that respond to _____ stimulation and send the neural impulses on toward the _____ cortex.

A)gustatory; olfactory
B)tactile; somatosensory
C)emotional; limbic
D)threshold; chemosensory

Question 77

Jan thanks Sally for the "gustatory delight." She is thanking Sally for which of the following?

A)a lovely new perfume
B)a certificate for a massage
C)a delicious birthday cake
D)a great new music CD

Question 78

How does transduction occur in the semicircular canals?

A)Electrical signals are received from the environment.
B)The movement of fluid bends hair cells.
C)Hair cells release a neurotransmitter when stimulated.
D)Receptor cells are activated by sound.

Question 79

Olfaction works through which of the following?

A)hair cells lining the nose
B)receptors that directly receive molecules
C)vaporized molecules that go straight to the brain
D)olfactory bulbs that store odor molecules and pump them to the limbic system

Question 80

What is the best explanation for the dog's superior sense of smell compared to ours?

A)They have long snouts.
B)They are closer to the ground.
C)Their olfactory epithelium is much larger.
D)Their olfactory neurons project into their brain and ours don't.