Deck 5: A: Sensation and Perception

Question 1

Which sequence best reflects the route that light energy takes as it moves through the eye from the outside world?

A)cornea,anterior chamber,pupil,vitreous humour,retina.
B)anterior chamber,pupil,cornea,vitreous humour,retina.
C)pupil,vitreous humour,cornea,anterior chamber,retina.
D)anterior chamber,cornea,pupil,retina,vitreous humour.

Answer 1

cornea,anterior chamber,pupil,vitreous humour,retina.

Question 2

Which cognitive process is best defined as apprehending objects and events in the environment,sensing them,identifying them,and reacting to them?

A)sensation.
B)learning.
C)thinking.
D)perception.

Answer 2

perception.

Question 3

Which topic of discussion would most likely include the words "payoff matrix," "hits" and "false alarms"?

A)gate-control theory.
B)signal detection theory.
C)accommodation.
D)nociceptive pain.

Answer 3

signal detection theory.

Question 4

A researcher is collecting data in an auditory signal detection task.One participant is making many more correct rejections than false alarms and many more misses than hits.Why would this outcome most likely occur?

A)The participant is a yea sayer.
B)The cost of false alarms is low.
C)The participant's hearing is very acute.
D)The participant is a nay sayer.

Question 5

A superhero in a comic book boasts that his senses are so well developed that he can see a candle flame at night at a distance of 30 miles,hear the tick of a watch at 20 feet,detect the presence of one teaspoon of sugar in 20 gallons of water,and smell one drop of perfume that has been sprayed in an area equivalent to a three-room apartment.Which one of these claims is extraordinary?

A)seeing the flame from a candle at a distance of thirty miles.
B)hearing the tick of a watch at a distance of twenty feet.
C)tasting the presence of a teaspoon of sugar in 20 gallons of water.
D)smelling the perfume in an area the size of a three-room apartment.

Question 6

Why are psychologists who study sensory processes most likely to use signal detection theory?

A)It allows for the detection of experimenter expectancy effects.
B)It separates sensory processes from response bias.
C)It determines why an individual would be a "nay sayer."
D)It determines the single,true absolute threshold.

Question 7

An individual has trouble hearing and is being tested for a hearing aid.The individual is presented with tones of various intensities and is asked to indicate whenever a sound is detected.Which measurement is likely being determined?

A)difference threshold.
B)absolute threshold.
C)the just noticeable difference.
D)response bias.

Question 8

During which stage of the perceptual process do higher-level cognitive processes,such as memories,values,beliefs,and attitudes assign meaning?

A)sensation
B)perceptual organization
C)synthesis
D)identification and recognition

Question 9

Which example is most like the sensory process of transduction?

A)The use of solar panels to run washing machines.
B)The increasing sensitivity of other senses when one sense is lost.
C)The tendency of plants to turn their leaves toward the sun.
D)The development of an adolescent into an adult.

Question 10

After repeatedly tasting a new potato chip and then an old style chip,a test subject finally states that all potato chips taste the same.Which measurement has most likely been determined?

A)difference threshold.
B)absolute threshold.
C)accommodation.
D)response bias.

Question 11

A researcher is testing a man for his visual absolute threshold.The researcher presents a dim light and asks the man if he detected it.The young man wants to please the researcher,so he says "yes" every time a stimulus is presented.What approach should be taken to address this situation?

A)have a research assistant present the stimuli.
B)present no stimulus at all on some trials.
C)present a very bright stimulus on some trials.
D)identify the trials where demand characteristics are believed to be at play.

Question 12

What is the operational definition of a difference threshold?

A)The point at which two stimuli are recognized as different 25% of the time.
B)The point at which two stimuli are recognized as different half of the time.
C)The point at which two stimuli are recognized as different all of the time.
D)Sthe mallest quantity of physical energy that can be detected.

Question 13

On each trial,observers respond by saying "yes" if they think a signal was present and "no" if they think it was not present.If a stimulus is not presented,but the observer believes it was presented,what type of response is being made?

A)hit.
B)miss.
C)false alarm.
D)response bias.

Question 14

What is the operational definition of the absolute threshold?

A)the stimulus level at which a sensory signal is detected.
B)the stimulus level at which a sensory signal is presented.
C)the stimulus level at which a sensory signal is detected half the time.
D)the stimulus level at which a sensory signal is detected all of the time.

Question 15

Eve had forgotten that she had put on earrings until Adam said that he liked them.What was the likely source of Eve's lack of awareness?

A)sensory adaptation.
B)a response bias.
C)the difference threshold.
D)Weber's law.

Question 16

In the context of perception,from which stimuli do we derive our information?

A)proximal
B)distal
C)peripheral
D)differential

Question 17

Under which conditions do rods operate best?

A)Bright light
B)Moderate light
C)Coloured light
D)Near darkness

Question 18

Which research topic best characterizes a psychophysics study?

A)The relationship between personality and physical size
B)The effect of light intensity on the experience of brightness
C)Moving objects through space in the absence of physical touch
D)The effect of aerobic exercise on psychological adjustment

Question 19

A consultant is trying to convince a manufacturer that changing the taste of their drink product slightly will not be detected as much as if they were in the perfume business where clients would detect a similar slight change in odour.Based on Weber's research with different sense dimensions,is the consultant's claim accurate and if so,why?

A)Yes,because Weber's constant for odour is greater than Weber's constant for taste.
B)Yes,because a person will be more sensitive to changes in odours than changes in taste.
C)No,because a person will be more sensitive to changes in taste than changes in odour.
D)No,because people are equally sensitive to changes in taste and odour.

Question 20

An elderly man jokes that his arms have gotten too short to be able to read the morning newspaper without his glasses.What is the most likely source of his vision problem?

A)the decreased ability to accommodate.
B)flattening of the cornea.
C)the inability of the lens to thicken properly.
D)ciliary muscles that are too strong.

Question 21

What is the fovea?

A)the location of the blind spot.
B)an area in the retina where rods are particularly dense.
C)the location of amacrine cells.
D)an area in the retina where vision is sharpest.

Question 22

When listening to a piece of classical music,which dimension of sound allows a musician to discriminate among the various instruments that are being played?

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

Question 23

It is common practice to treat amblyopia,or 'lazy eye',in children by patching up the healthy eye.According to the research of Murphy and colleagues,which advice about the procedure is appropriate?

A)It is recommended because it allows the amblyopic eye to 'catch up' to the healthy eye.
B)It is recommended because the healthy eye is overpowering the amblyopic eye.
C)It is not recommended because the healthy eye loses some visual acuity after wearing the patch.
D)It is not recommended because the amblyopic eye doesn't improve after the procedure.

Question 24

Which noise level is closest to the level at which sound can initially be expected to cause hearing loss?

A)65 decibels
B)90 decibels
C)115 decibels
D)140 decibels

Question 25

Which type of colour blindness is the most common?

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

Question 26

Which colour has an intermediate amount of saturation?

A)white.
B)beige.
C)yellow.
D)gray.

Question 27

Which of the following terms does not belong with the others?

A)frequency
B)hue
C)saturation
D)brightness

Question 28

When combining wavelengths in an additive colour mixture,what will mixing complementary colours do?

A)create the sensation of white light.
B)produce a negative afterimage.
C)be perceived as black.
D)produce different effects,depending on the colours that are mixed.

Question 29

Which contemporary version of colour vision was supported by Leo Hurvich and Dorothea Jameson?

A)there are four types of colour cones in the retina,rather than three.
B)ganglion cells combine outputs of cone types in an opponent-process manner.
C)colour cones are equally responsive to all wavelengths of light.
D)people who are colour-blind possess an inhibitory system,but lack an excitatory system.

Question 30

Why was the opponent-process theory preferred over the trichromatic theory of colour vision?

A)It explained the existence of complementary afterimages.
B)It supported the greater prevalence of colour blindness in males.
C)It clarified why yellow/blue colour blindness is less common.
D)It indicated why some people see no colour at all.

Question 31

When a child combines the yellow and blue crayon colours in her drawing,the resulting colour is green.Why is this so?

A)Because in an additive colour mixture,combining these two colours yields green.
B)When yellow and blue are combined,the yellow absorbs the yellow,and the blue absorbs the blue,leaving green as the only remaining colour.
C)The only wavelengths that are not absorbed look green.
D)Because of an afterimage created by the particular addition of these two colours.

Question 32

Which statement best characterizes the trichromatic theory of colour vision?

A)There are three types of rods,each sensitive to red,blue,and green.
B)There are three types of cones,each sensitive to red,blue,and green.
C)There are three types of retinal ganglion cells,each of which is capable of responding to red,blue,or green,but not their afterimages.
D)There are sections of the visual cortex which respond most directly to each of the colours red,blue,and green.

Question 33

Where in the brain do the optic nerves from each eye first come together?

A)thalamus
B)corpus collosum
C)optic tract
D)optic chiasma

Question 34

Sir Thomas Young proposed the existence of only three colour receptors.How did he explain the sensation of so many other colours?

A)He could not explain the sensation of other colours,although many years later another scientist did.
B)All other colours are additive or subtractive combinations of the colours he identified.
C)The brain "learns" to sense other colours,but only after experience with the first three.
D)All other colours were afterimages of the three colours he identified.

Question 35

Which description best explains the process of dark adaptation?

A)improved sensitivity of rods over time.
B)improved sensitivity of cones over time.
C)improved sensitivity of amacrine cells over time.
D)improved sensitivity of bipolar cells over time.

Question 36

How is the pitch of a sound wave determined?

A)By intensity
B)By amplitude
C)By frequency
D)By height

Question 37

How do the cells of the retina process visual information?

A)bipolar cells and ganglion cells spread the signal within the retina,and horizontal and amacrine cells send the signal to the brain.
B)horizontal and amacrine cells spread the signal within the retina,and bipolar cells send the signal to the brain.
C)horizontal cells send the signal to the brain,and amacrine cells spread the signal across the retina.
D)ganglion cells send the signal to the brain,and horizontal and amacrine cells spread the signal across the retina.

Question 38

At night,when one looks at a star directly,the image of the star hits the fovea of the retina and it is difficult to see it clearly.Why does this phenomenon occur?

A)The fovea is densely packed with rods.
B)The fovea is rod-free.
C)The fovea is adjacent to the blind spot.
D)The cells in the fovea are hyperpolarized.

Question 39

Near the end of a negative afterimage demonstration,the audience looked at a blank white screen,but responded that they had seen a red and white Canadian flag.What colour was the original flag that they were likely required to view at the onset of the demonstration?

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

Question 40

A member of a rock band has become concerned with whether or not the band's music is contributing to deafness among members of the audience.Which factor should be of most concern?

A)the frequency of sine waves
B)the pitch of the music
C)the number of decibels
D)if harmonics are present in the music

Question 41

What happens immediately after the stirrup vibrates against the oval window?

A)nerve impulses leave the cochlea.
B)fluid in the cochlea causes the basilar membrane to move.
C)the tympanic membrane begins to vibrate.
D)the hammer and the anvil begin to move.

Question 42

Tim has suffered an injury to his olfactory bulb.How will Tim's behaviour most likely be affected?

A)He will not be able to taste food.
B)He will not be able to verbalize.
C)He will not be able to smell.
D)He will not be able to discriminate differences in sound.

Question 43

What are pheromones?

A)chemicals found in the brains of some birds that enable them to detect gravitational fields.
B)chemical substances used by some species to communicate with each other.
C)medications given to people suffering from chronic pain.
D)special receptors on the bodies of some fish that enable them to detect distortions in electrical fields.

Question 44

Which statement about conduction deafness is accurate?

A)It is the most serious form of hearing impairment.
B)It may result from malfunctioning bones in the middle ear.
C)It refers to a defect in the neural mechanisms.
D)It can be successfully treated with a cochlear implant.

Question 45

What has research on the perception of pitch revealed?

A)frequency theory works best for frequencies above 5,000 Hz.
B)place theory works best for frequencies below 1,000 Hz.
C)both place and frequency theories work between 1,000 and 5,000 Hz.
D)neither place nor frequency theory work between 1,000 and 5,000 Hz.

Question 46

Which theory of pitch relies on the rate of vibration in the basilar membrane,does not depend on where in the basilar membrane the vibrations take place,and equates rate of firing with a neural code for pitch?

A)place theory.
B)frequency theory.
C)gate-control theory.
D)opponent-process theory.

Question 47

What are the basic taste qualities?

A)simple,complex,and interactive.
B)temperature,texture,and chemical composition.
C)bland,savoury,spicy,rancid,and tart.
D)sweet,sour,bitter,saline,and umami.

Question 48

What type of sound detection is best explained by the "volley principle"?

A)high-amplitude
B)low-amplitude
C)high-frequency
D)low-frequency

Question 49

Which statement most accurately describes the mechanism that allows us to sense warmth and coolness?

A)There are only receptors for warmth which work like a thermometer.
B)There are only receptors for coolness which work like a thermometer.
C)The brain integrates separate warm and cool signals.
D)Meissner corpuscles sense warmth and Merkel disks sense coolness; inputs from these receivers are directly "felt" by the brain.

Question 50

Vision is to the rods and cones as hearing is to the

A)tympanic membrane
B)oval window
C)hair cells on the basilar membrane
D)cochlea

Question 51

Why is radio static perceived as noise?

A)It is composed of simple structures of fundamental frequencies and harmonics.
B)It contains multiple amplitudes.
C)It has a fundamental frequency.
D)It contains many audible frequencies.

Question 52

Why does a tuning fork produce a pure tone?

A)It creates multiple sine waves.
B)It creates a single sine wave.
C)It creates one frequency and many amplitudes.
D)It creates all possible frequencies.

Question 53

There is an interactive exhibit on the senses at a science fair.For the sense of hearing,there is a gigantic ear through which viewers can walk.What is the order in which patrons will encounter the structures listed below,as they move through the ear?

A)tympanic membrane,middle ear,auditory nerve,pinna,cochlea
B)cochlea,middle ear,pinna,tympanic membrane,auditory nerve
C)auditory nerve,tympanic membrane,pinna,cochlea,middle ear
D)pinna,tympanic membrane,middle ear,cochlea,auditory nerve

Question 54

When do Meissner corpuscles respond best?

A)when the skin experiences steady pressure
B)when the skin is touched by something warm
C)when the skin rubs against another object
D)when the skin is exposed to a sharp object

Question 55

A man is suing a local restaurant because he claims that the food that he was served contained spices that permanently damaged his taste receptors.Does this lawsuit have merit?

A)Yes.The taste buds may have been damaged,and are irreplaceable.
B)Yes.This is a common reaction to eating spicy foods.
C)No.The taste buds get replaced every few days,so he is likely to regain his sense of taste.
D)No.The taste buds are durable and are rarely damaged.

Question 56

Hearing is to hair cells as the sense of smell is to

A)olfactory cilia
B)olfactory bulbs
C)papillae
D)saccules

Question 57

According to the place theory of pitch perception,what happens when one is presented with a high-frequency tone?

A)A greater number of action potentials reach the auditory nerve.
B)The bones of the middle ear move at a faster rate.
C)The movement of the basilar membrane is greatest at the end of the cochlea (farthest away from the oval and round windows).
D)The movement of the basilar membrane is greatest at the base of the cochlea (closest to the oval and round windows).

Question 58

A man returns from the doctor after having been informed that he is suffering from nerve deafness.Should he be concerned?

A)No,because this form of deafness can be managed well through the use of a hearing aid.
B)No,because this type of deafness can easily be cured by microsurgery.
C)Yes,because it means that his middle ear has sustained damage.
D)Yes,because it is a serious type of deafness that is not easily treated.

Question 59

What are the hammer,anvil,and stirrup?

A)small bones in the middle ear.
B)structures on the basilar membrane.
C)fluid-filled chambers in the cochlea.
D)components of the tympanic membrane.

Question 60

Motion sickness occurs when signals from the vestibular system are in conflict with signals from which other system?

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

Question 61

On a warm summer day,a student is sitting in the shade of a tree reading a novel when the tapping of a woodpecker on a nearby tree is momentarily distracting.This shift in attention is an example of which component of attention?

A)shadowing
B)dichotic viewing
C)goal-directed selection
D)stimulus-driven capture

Question 62

From her seat in the top row of the stadium,the football fan had a great view of the halftime entertainment.As she watched,two large groups of band members were marching toward,then through one another,in opposite directions.Which Gestalt law allows her to keep track of each separate group?

A)proximity.
B)similarity.
C)closure.
D)common fate.

Question 63

James has a pocket full of pennies and nickels that spill all over the floor.When James looks at the scattered pile,he notices that he automatically groups the two types of coins according to colour.Which grouping principle is being described?

A)similarity
B)proximity
C)figure-ground
D)continuity

Question 64

A child is driving a bumper car in an amusement park.At the last instant he swerves to avoid a crash with another car.Which cue allows the child to sense how quickly another car is approaching?

A)The speed of the air molecules impacting on his face.
B)The rate at which his retinal image of the other car expands.
C)The peripheral cue associated with motion parallax.
D)The increasing intensity of the sound made by the other car.

Question 65

A child has discovered that he can type with his eyes closeD)He even realizes when he has made an error before he sees his mistake.What is the likely source of this new-found ability?

A)the semicircular canals.
B)the saccule and utricle.
C)the kinesthetic sense.
D)the vestibular system.

Question 66

Which statement about Melzack's gate-control theory is accurate?

A)The gate is permanently closed in people who are paralyzed.
B)Not all pain signals are allowed through the gate.
C)Individuals have no control over whether the gate is opened or closed.
D)Individuals have full control over whether the gate is opened or closed.

Question 67

Where are the kinesthetic receptors located?

A)In the taste buds.
B)In the nose.
C)In the fluid-filled sacs and canals in the inner ear.
D)In the joints,muscles,and tendons.

Question 68

Which term best explains why the clouds typically appear to be closer than the sky?

A)colour afterimages.
B)change blindness.
C)figure/ground perception
D)the law of proximity.

Question 69

Which part of the visual system is most clearly linked to the depth cue of convergence?

A)optic disk.
B)conjunctiva.
C)eye muscles.
D)optic chiasma.

Question 70

A medical student hopes to be a surgeon.Observing an operation,she focuses her attention on the way her teacher is holding the scalpel and the angle between the blade and the skin.What type of attentional focus is being described?

A)goal-directed selection.
B)stimulus-driven capture.
C)invariant perception.
D)unconscious inference.

Question 71

Most of the crowd at the Grey Cup game is wearing the blue colours of the home team and a much smaller number is wearing the red colours of the away team.Which Gestalt law best illustrates the way in which these colours seem to automatically group themselves together?

A)proximity.
B)common fate.
C)similarity.
D)effect.

Question 72

What must occur for retinal disparity and convergence cues to be of any value?

A)people must keep one eye closed.
B)people must have two working eyes.
C)the head must be moved slowly back and forth.
D)objects must be farther than ten feet away.

Question 73

What have scientists discovered about pain mechanisms?

A)there is one set of receptors that responds to all forms of pain-producing stimuli.
B)the location and intensity of pain is identified by mechanisms in the spinal cord.
C)pain signals are sent to the central nervous system via two pathways.
D)pain signals are first sent to the brain via the reticular formation.

Question 74

Which statement about supertasters is based on research?

A)men are more likely to be supertasters than are women.
B)supertasters are likely to have fewer pain receptors on their tongues.
C)supertasters have more taste buds than nontasters.
D)there is no genetic component to supertasting abiity.

Question 75

In an experiment on attention described in the textbook,researchers attempted to create visual displays that would put goal-directed selection and stimulus-driven capture into competition.What did the findings suggest?

A)the perceptual system of humans is organized so that changes in the environment are readily habituated.
B)goal-directed selection is sufficiently powerful to consistently withstand the effects of stimulus-driven capture.
C)in some circumstances,stimulus-driven capture wins out over goal-directed selection.
D)it is not possible to design a task in which stimulus-driven capture and goal-directed selection compete directly.

Question 76

What does Ronald Melzack's neuromatrix theory of pain suggest?

A)pain radiates out from the central axis of the body and downward from the head.
B)some people do not experience pain.
C)people often experience pain with little or no physical cause.
D)every painful experience has emotional as well as physical consequences.

Question 77

A student in a geometry class watches as the teacher hastily draws various geometric shapes on the blackboard.Which term best captures the student's ability to see the incomplete figures as complete?

A)closure.
B)figure and ground.
C)temporal integration.
D)continuation.

Question 78

Taking his first train ride,a child is amazed at how quickly the fence posts along the tracks are whizzing by,but the farm in the distance hardly seems to move.Which term best describes this phenomenon?

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

Question 79

Research suggests that our moment-to-moment visual impressions of the world do not preserve precise details.What is one reason for this less-than-perfect representation?

A)the world itself is generally a stable source of information.
B)temporal integration is employed when it is not needed.
C)spatial integration is used when temporal integration is needed.
D)the visual system has evolved to register only certain details.

Question 80

The fans love the new scoreboard at the ballpark.Every time a batter hits a home run,flashing lights on the scoreboard make it look as though an imaginary ball is leaving the field.Which term best explains this illusion?

A)the Ponzo illusion.
B)the law of proximity.
C)relative motion parallax.
D)the phi phenomenon.