Deck 4: Sensation and Perception

Question 1

The proportion of cones is greatest in which part of the retina?

A) the blind spot
B) the cornea
C) the fovea
D) the periphery

Answer 1

the fovea

Question 2

When you see something,

A) energy comes out of your eye.
B) energy goes into your eye.
C) energy both goes into and out of your eye, simultaneously.
D) energy first comes out of your eye then goes into it.

Answer 2

energy goes into your eye.

Question 3

What happens during vision?

A) Energy goes out of your eyes to the object
B) Energy goes from the object to your eyes
C) Energy travels both from your eyes and from the object
D) No energy passes in either direction.

Answer 3

Energy goes out of your eyes to the object

Question 4

The adjustable opening in the eye, through which light passes, is the

A) retina.
B) iris.
C) fovea.
D) pupil.

Question 5

Which of our senses detects part of the electromagnetic spectrum?

A) olfaction
B) vision
C) hearing
D) taste

Question 6

The interpretation of a pattern of stimuli from the environment (as opposed to mere conversion of energy into a pattern of responses) is called

A) assimilation.
B) accommodation.
C) perception.
D) sensation.

Question 7

Our sense organs are packed with specialized cells called __________ that convert environmental energies into signals for the nervous system.

A) stimuli
B) adaptors
C) receivers
D) receptors

Question 8

Which of the following is necessary for vision?

A) You send energy out of your eyes.
B) Energy comes into your eyes.
C) Energy goes into and out of your eyes at the same time.
D) Energy first goes out of your eyes and then comes back in.

Question 9

The continuum of all frequencies of radiated energy, from gamma rays to TV transmissions, is referred to as

A) sound.
B) the phi effect.
C) light.
D) the electromagnetic spectrum.

Question 10

What makes the electromagnetic radiation from 400 nm to 700 nm visible?

A) Those wavelengths match the frequency of action potentials produced in the optic nerve.
B) Our visual receptors are adapted to respond to those wavelengths.
C) Those wavelengths have greater amplitude than other wavelengths.
D) Those are the only wavelengths that can pass through the vitreous humor.

Question 11

If you want to see something in detail you focus it on the

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

Question 12

When you see something,

A) energy comes from the object into your eyes.
B) energy goes out of your eyes to the object.
C) energy goes both from the object and from your eyes.
D) no energy passes in either direction.

Question 13

The conversion of energy from the environment into a pattern of responses by the nervous system (as opposed to interpreting that information) is called

A) assimilation.
B) accommodation.
C) perception.
D) sensation.

Question 14

As light passes through the eye it is focused by the __________, which always focuses light in the same way, and the __________, which is flexible and enables focusing on objects at different distances by varying its thickness.

A) cornea...lens
B) aqueous humor...vitreous humor
C) fovea...retina
D) iris...pupil

Question 15

Which part of the electromagnetic spectrum are humans capable of detecting with the unaided eye?

A) all of it
B) 400-700 nm
C) 10,000-100,000 nm
D) none of it

Question 16

Compared to the periphery of the eye, the fovea has better perception of

A) color and movement.
B) faint light and detail.
C) color and detail.
D) movement and faint light.

Question 17

Our ability to change the focus of our eyes to see objects at different distances depends on changes in the

A) frequency of impulses in the optic nerve.
B) thickness of the lens.
C) position of the retina.
D) width of the pupil.

Question 18

Which part of the human retina has the best color vision?

A) the area surrounding the optic nerve
B) the fovea
C) the periphery
D) the cornea

Question 19

Which part of the eye changes its shape to enable us to focus first on a distant object and then on a nearby object?

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

Question 20

The central part of the human retina is called the

A) basilar membrane.
B) blind spot.
C) fovea.
D) cochlea.

Question 21

Animal species with good color vision (such as most birds) generally have

A) a relatively elongated eyeball.
B) a relatively flattened eyeball.
C) a high percentage of cones in the retina.
D) a high percentage of rods in the retina.

Question 22

Why are some people nearsighted (myopic)?

A) Their fovea is in the shadow of the pupil.
B) Their lens has become stiff and inflexible.
C) Their eyeball is elongated; the distance from pupil to retina is long.
D) Their eyeball is flattened; the distance from pupil to retina is short.

Question 23

For people to be able to focus both on nearby objects and on objects far away, they can see best if the shape of their eyeballs is

A) flattened.
B) elongated.
C) spherical.
D) lopsided.

Question 24

Why do you see color better in the fovea than in the periphery?

A) The fovea is closer to the pupil.
B) The fovea is closer to the optic nerve.
C) The fovea has a higher metabolic rate.
D) The fovea has more cones.

Question 25

What causes some people to become nearsighted (myopic) or farsighted?

A) differences in the width of the pupil
B) differences in the shape of the eyeball
C) differences in the location of the optic nerve
D) differences in the proportion of rods and cones

Question 26

Which of the following is NOT true of the rods in the retina?

A) important for color vision
B) more numerous in the periphery than in the fovea
C) specialized for vision in dim light
D) less sensitive to detail than the cones

Question 27

As a person grows older, why does it become more difficult to focus on nearby objects?

A) The velocity of action potentials from the eye to the brain decreases.
B) The lens becomes less flexible.
C) The pupil becomes smaller.
D) The fovea moves toward the periphery of the retina.

Question 28

As people grow older, the lens of each eye becomes less flexible. How does that change their vision?

A) They have more trouble adapting to dim light.
B) They have more trouble focusing on nearby objects.
C) Objects toward the periphery of the visual field look smaller than before.
D) Colors appear less bright than before.

Question 29

Which of the following is NOT true of the cones in the retina?

A) more useful than rods in bright light but less useful in dim light
B) responsible for color vision
C) located mostly in the peripheral areas of the retina
D) more numerous in the pigeon retina than in the rat retina

Question 30

The cones in the retina are

A) less important for color vision.
B) more numerous in the periphery of the retina.
C) more sensitive to detail.
D) more sensitive to very dim light.

Question 31

Why are people generally unable to distinguish color in their extreme peripheral vision?

A) Receptors in the periphery are mostly rods.
B) Receptors in the periphery are too close to the blind spot.
C) Yellow pigments in the periphery filter out many wavelengths.
D) Colored light is diffracted by the eyeball like a rainbow so it does not reach the periphery.

Question 32

A person with myopia has trouble seeing

A) nearby objects.
B) moving objects.
C) faraway objects.
D) the difference between red and green.

Question 33

Why do you have better color vision in the fovea than in the periphery of the retina?

A) More receptors pool their resources to excite the next cell near the fovea than in the periphery.
B) The fovea has a higher proportion of cones than the periphery does.
C) The eyeball is more spherical near the fovea than in the periphery.
D) The periphery is in the shadow of the pupil.

Question 34

Compared to the cones, the rods

A) have greater sensitivity to detail.
B) are more numerous in the periphery of the retina.
C) are more important for color vision.
D) are less effective for vision in dim light.

Question 35

The proportion of rods is greatest in which part of the human retina?

A) the periphery
B) the fovea
C) the blind spot
D) the cornea

Question 36

The rods in the retina are specialized for

A) vision in the center of the retina.
B) highly detailed vision.
C) vision in dim light.
D) color vision.

Question 37

The visual receptors (rods and cones) are located in the

A) retina.
B) pupil.
C) optic nerve.
D) lens.

Question 38

Rods and cones are located in the

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

Question 39

How does vision in the periphery differ from vision in the fovea?

A) Vision in the periphery is more sensitive to detail.
B) Vision in the periphery is more likely to be color-blind.
C) Vision in the periphery is more likely to be nearsighted.
D) Vision in the periphery is more likely to be farsighted.

Question 40

Compared to the rods, the cones in the retina are

A) more sensitive to very dim light.
B) more common toward the fovea.
C) less sensitive to detail.
D) less important for color vision.

Question 41

Dark adaptation occurs over a longer period of time in __________ than in __________.

A) rods...cones
B) cones...rods
C) red light...blue light
D) blue light...red light

Question 42

The route of visual information from the visual receptors (rods and cones) to the brain is

A) receptors--optic nerve--bipolar cells--ganglion cells--brain
B) receptors--optic nerve--ganglion cells--bipolar cells--brain
C) receptors--ganglion cells--optic nerve--bipolar cells--brain
D) receptors--bipolar cells--ganglion cells--optic nerve--brain

Question 43

At the point where the optic nerve exits from the retina, we perceive

A) shades of reds, and greens more than yellows and blues.
B) shades of yellows and blues more than reds and greens.
C) only shades of black and white.
D) nothing (blindness).

Question 44

The blind spot of the retina is the

A) center of the retina.
B) point where the optic nerve leaves the retina.
C) part of the retina that is in the shadow of the pupil.
D) border between the cone area and the rod area of the retina.

Question 45

Physically, lights of different colors differ in their

A) direction.
B) polarization.
C) intensity.
D) wavelength.

Question 46

The rods of the retina are

A) more numerous in birds than in rats.
B) less useful than cones for vision in dim light.
C) more numerous in the periphery than in the fovea.
D) important for holding the various parts of the eye together.

Question 47

In the human brain, most of the axons from the optic nerve go to the

A) hypothalamus.
B) thalamus.
C) corpus callosum.
D) cerebellum.

Question 48

What makes the blind spot of the retina blind?

A) Axons exit the retina at that point.
B) It is the border between the cone area and the rod area.
C) The shape of the lens prevents light from focusing at that point.
D) It is in the shadow of the pupil.

Question 49

Which lobe of the brain contains the primary area of the cortex for visual processing?

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

Question 50

Dark adaptation involves

A) increased after images.
B) the use of additional cones for visual processing.
C) increased sensitivity to touch and other nonvisual senses.
D) regeneration of molecules called retinaldehydes.

Question 51

According to the trichromatic theory (Young-Helmholtz theory) of color vision, how do we perceive the difference between one color and another?

A) by the velocity of action potentials produced by any given cone
B) by the total amount of activity by cones in a particular area of the retina
C) by the relative amount of excitation of three types of cones
D) by the ratio between the activity of the cones and the activity of the rods

Question 52

Dark adaptation depends on changes that take place in

A) both rods and cones.
B) the cones only.
C) the rods only.
D) neither rods nor cones.

Question 53

The blind spot of the retina is the point where

A) the lens fails to focus an image.
B) the optic nerve leaves the retina.
C) the rod area overlaps the cone area.
D) the pupil casts a shadow onto the retina.

Question 54

Little "blind spots" are created throughout the retina

A) due to the opponent process.
B) because receptor cells in the left eye and right eye alternate firing.
C) because some receptors fall in the shadows created by blood vessels in the retina.
D) due to the continual process of death and rebirth of the receptor cells.

Question 55

It is hard to perceive color when the light is dim, because vision in dim light depends on the

A) rods.
B) basilar membrane.
C) fovea.
D) cones.

Question 56

The primary area of the cortex for visual processing is on the __________ lobe.

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

Question 57

The optic nerve exits the retina at the

A) fovea.
B) blind spot.
C) cornea.
D) pupil.

Question 58

Research by William Dobelle and others suggest the MOST important part of the body for vision is

A) the visual cortex.
B) the retina.
C) the eye itself.
D) the fovea.

Question 59

After you have thoroughly adapted to extremely dim light, you can see objects more easily in the

A) periphery of the retina.
B) fovea of the retina.
C) left half of each retina.
D) upper half of each retina.

Question 60

The optic nerve is composed of axon fibers from

A) ganglion cells.
B) both cones and rods.
C) cones.
D) rods.

Question 61

When a given bipolar cell increases its activity over its spontaneous rate, you see green. According to the opponent-process theory of color vision, when that cell decreases its activity below its spontaneous rate, you will see

A) red.
B) light green.
C) white.
D) blue.

Question 62

When red light strikes a certain set of cones, a particular bipolar cell connected to them increases its activity. When green light strikes the same cones, the bipolar cell decreases its activity. This observation tends to support which theory?

A) the Gestalt theory
B) the opponent-process theory
C) the retinex theory
D) the trichromatic theory

Question 63

Which of the following would cause someone to experience negative afterimages?

A) pressure on the optic nerve at the point where it exits the retina
B) adapting to complete darkness and then looking at a dimly lit scene
C) failing to include enough vitamin A in the diet
D) staring at a red object and then looking at a white surface

Question 64

Which of these observations gave rise to the retinex theory of color vision?

A) Color vision is well developed in the fovea but not in the periphery.
B) The apparent color of an object depends on the color of nearby objects.
C) Most people who have trouble seeing red have trouble seeing green as well.
D) It is possible to match any color by mixing three other colors.

Question 65

One advantage of the opponent-process theory of color vision, in contrast to the trichromatic theory, is that the opponent-process theory can more easily account for

A) the differences between rods and cones.
B) the phenomenon of negative afterimages.
C) species differences in color vision.
D) the fact that the retina contains three types of cones.

Question 66

According to the retinex theory of color vision, we perceive color by

A) the ratio between the rate of firing by the cones and by the rods in the retina.
B) varying levels of activity by the three types of cones.
C) a comparison by the cortex of light patterns in different parts of the retina.
D) a red-green system and a yellow-blue system.

Question 67

When a given bipolar cell in the retina increases its activity, you see yellow. According to the opponent-process theory, when that cell decreases its rate of firing, you'll see

A) green.
B) red.
C) blue.
D) black.

Question 68

A piece of paper contains a number of tiny colored dots. If you stand far away and look at the paper, which color of dots is most likely to appear black?

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

Question 69

The retinex theory of color vision attempts to account for the fact that

A) people can recognize all the colors even while wearing green-tinted lenses.
B) people have better color vision in the fovea of the retina than they do in the periphery.
C) it is possible to mix various amounts of three kinds of light to match a light of any other color.
D) after staring at a bright green object for a minute, one can look away and see a red afterimage.

Question 70

Which of the following most strongly supports the retinex theory of color vision?

A) We can match any color by some mixture of three other colors.
B) People who have trouble seeing red usually have trouble seeing green as well.
C) The apparent color of an object depends on the color of other objects we see at the same time.
D) Small blue dots, when viewed from a distance, are likely to appear black.

Question 71

According to the opponent-process theory of color vision, we perceive color by

A) different frequencies of impulses by each receptor in the retina.
B) varying levels of activity by three types of cones.
C) a red-green system, a yellow-blue system, and a black-white system.
D) a comparison by the cortex of light patterns in different parts of the retina.

Question 72

According to the trichromatic (Young-Helmholtz) theory, we perceive green when

A) cones fire impulses at an intermediate frequency.
B) cones fire impulses at an intermediate velocity.
C) cones in the center of the retina are more active than those in the periphery.
D) the medium-wavelength cones are more active than other cones.

Question 73

The retinex theory of color vision emphasizes the influence of

A) genetically determined differences among human observers.
B) culturally determined differences among human observers.
C) comparisons from what you see in different parts of the visual field.
D) the ratio between the wavelengths of light and the intensity of the light.

Question 74

The opponent-process theory of color vision accounts for the observation that

A) after staring at something of one bright color for a while, we can look away and see a different color.
B) the most common kind of color vision deficiency is much more common in men than it is in women.
C) we have better color vision in the fovea than we do in the periphery of the eyes.
D) it is easier to see small red spots from a distance than it is to see equally small blue spots from the same distance.

Question 75

Which of the following most directly lends support to the opponent-process theory of color vision?

A) We can recognize all colors even while wearing tinted glasses.
B) Rods and cones contribute to vision in different ways.
C) We see negative afterimages after staring at a bright-colored image.
D) It is possible to match any color of light by mixing three other colors.

Question 76

According to the trichromatic theory (Young-Helmholtz theory), how do we perceive color?

A) by a red-green system and a yellow-blue system
B) by the frequency of impulses in each receptor cell
C) by the ratio of firing among three types of cones
D) by comparing responses in different regions of the retina

Question 77

According to the trichromatic (Young-Helmholtz) theory, we perceive white when

A) all three types of cones are equally active.
B) both the red-green and the yellow-blue systems are at their neutral point.
C) a cone produces impulses at a high, steady rate.
D) cones fire impulses at the same rate as rods.

Question 78

The term "color constancy" refers to the fact that

A) you see mostly red and green in the fovea, mostly yellow and blue in the periphery.
B) a green apple still looks green even when you wear red-tinted glasses
C) you continue to see color briefly after the lights are turned off.
D) .after you stare at a brightly colored object and then look away, you see a different color.

Question 79

According to the trichromatic (Young-Helmholtz) theory, we perceive color by

A) the relative levels of activity by three types of cones.
B) different velocities of impulses by each receptor in the retina.
C) different frequencies of impulses by each receptor in the retina.
D) a red-green system and a yellow-blue system.

Question 80

According to the retinex theory we perceive color through the combined contributions of the

A) rods and cones.
B) cortex and retina.
C) left hemisphere and right hemisphere.
D) bipolar cells and ganglion cells.