Deck 4: Sensation

Question 1

We smell a rotten egg only because the hydrogen sulfide molecules in the air flow over the sensory cells in our nasal cavities. In this example, what is the distal stimulus?

A) our nasal cavities
B) the air
C) the rotten egg
D) the hydrogen sulfide

Answer 1

the hydrogen sulfide

Question 2

Research examining individuals who are supertasters suggests that this ability is __________.

A) learned
B) genetic
C) acquired
D) initially a genetic ability, but then becomes more learned

Answer 2

genetic

Question 3

What is a proximal stimulus?

A) an object or event in the world
B) a pattern of activity in a sensory organ
C) an image on one's retina
D) a perceptual anomaly

Answer 3

a pattern of activity in a sensory organ

Question 4

Which of the following is a fundamental tenet of early British empiricism?

A) All knowledge is acquired through the senses.
B) Some individuals enter life with a tabula rasa; others do not.
C) Some basic categories of human knowledge, such as time, space, and causality, are present at birth.
D) Certain skills, such as the ability to interpret sensory experience, are innate.

Question 5

What is a distal stimulus?

A) an object or event in the world
B) a pattern of activity in a sensory organ
C) an image on one's retina
D) a perceptual anomaly

Question 6

Which of the following is NOT one of the senses involving touch?

A) pain
B) temperature
C) chemical
D) pressure

Question 7

What failing did the empiricist George Berkeley find with the idea that the proximal stimulus is the messenger that allows us to receive information from the visual world?

A) One's perception of the visual world is also dependent on the distal stimuli.
B) The distal stimuli often offer more information on the visual world than the proximal stimuli do.
C) The retina is a two-dimensional surface and cannot inform us about a three-dimensional world.
D) Both a and b

Question 8

The philosophical viewpoint called empiricism takes the position that __________.

A) the mind contains innate categories of space and time
B) the mind is like a computer, always actively processing information
C) we are born with a soul that is different from the mind and outlasts the body
D) our senses passively receive experiences

Question 9

Which is the best analogy for how taste buds function?

A) a chemical broadcasting service
B) a sponge
C) a net
D) a screening service

Question 10

Which of our senses is(are) a human's most dominant sense(s)?

A) vision
B) audition
C) olfaction
D) both a and b

Question 11

John Locke was once asked how a person who had been born blind, but suddenly had his vision restored, would be able to interpret the visual world. Knowing what you do about Locke's empiricist philosophy, what would you say Locke's answer was?

A) Locke suggested that the person would have to learn about the visual world by way of the visual images.
B) Locke suggested that the person would be unable to see light because the retina would have atrophied.
C) Locke suggested that the person would be able to see size, color, distance, and depth because perception of these is innate.
D) Locke suggested that the person would see normally because interpretation of one's visual world is innate.

Question 12

Sounds in the environment enter the ear and cause a membrane in the inner ear to vibrate. In the case of audition, what does vibration of the inner ear membrane represent?

A) the proximal stimulus
B) the distal stimulus
C) a measure of adaptation
D) a neural basis for the tabula rasa

Question 13

What is the meaning of the phrase "tabula rasa"?

A) blank slate
B) I think, therefore I am.
C) To do is to be.
D) Existence precedes essence.

Question 14

A man is looking at a tree. What is the proximal stimulus?

A) the tree
B) the light waves reflected by the tree
C) the image cast by the tree on the man's retina
D) the pattern of nerve impulses triggered by the retinal image and conducted by the optic nerve to the brain

Question 15

According to the book, a supertaster __________.

A) is more likely to savor and enjoy food than the average individual
B) represents about 75% of the population
C) tends to crave sweets and strong tastes
D) has a significantly greater number of taste receptors than most people

Question 16

A woman is looking at a tree. What is the distal stimulus?

A) the tree
B) the light waves reflected by the tree
C) the image cast by the tree on the woman's retina
D) the pattern of nerve impulses triggered by the retinal image and conducted by the optic nerve to the brain

Question 17

The detection of the position and movement of muscles, tendons, and joints, which tell us the position and motion of our own bodies, is called __________.

A) touch
B) kinesethesis
C) pressure
D) transduction

Question 18

Grass pollen causes some people to sneeze because of the effect of the allergen on the immune system, which treats it as a foreign invader. In this example, what is the proximal stimulus?

A) the grass pollen
B) the allergen
C) the immune system's response to the allergen
D) the particular season of the year

Question 19

Taste and smell involve __________, while hearing and seeing involve __________.

A) transducing chemicals; transducing physical signals
B) transducing physical signals; transducing chemicals
C) translating physical phenomena; tranducing physical signals
D) transducing physical signals; transducing chemicals.

Question 20

Which of the following senses has the strongest link to memories?

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

Question 21

What does the equation S = k log I represent?

A) Weber's law
B) Fechner's law
C) the equation for measuring the strength of a sensation
D) the equation for measuring psychological intensity

Question 22

In the equation S = k log I, the S refers to __________.

A) the psychological or subjective magnitude of a stimulus
B) the physical intensity of the stimulus
C) the constant whose value depends on the value of the Weber fraction
D) none of the above

Question 23

Kant's view of perception clashed with __________.

A) the active perceiver model
B) nativism
C) structuralism
D) empiricism

Question 24

According to the empiricists, how do we acquire the ability to interpret the world, given the apparent mismatch between distal and proximal stimuli?

A) This ability is innate.
B) We must learn to ignore the distal and concentrate on the proximal.
C) We acquire this ability through association or learning about the relationship between distal and proximal stimuli.
D) We acquire this ability by ignoring the proximal stimuli and concentrating on distal stimuli.

Question 25

Which of the following is a fundamental tenet of nativist belief?

A) We are all born in a state of tabula rasa.
B) Some individuals enter life with a tabula rasa; others do not.
C) Some basic categories of human knowledge, such as time, space, and causality, are present at birth.
D) All knowledge is acquired through the senses.

Question 26

In the equation S = k log I, the I refers to __________.

A) the psychological magnitude or subjective magnitude of a stimulus
B) the physical intensity of the stimulus
C) the constant whose value depends on the value of the Weber fraction
D) none of the above

Question 27

In the equation , what does the c represent?

A) the intensity of the standard stimulus
B) the change or amount that must be added to the standard intensity to produce a jnd
C) a constant
D) the changed stimulus

Question 28

What relationship is studied in psychophysics?

A) the relationship between physical stimuli and sensory experiences
B) the relationship between physical stimuli and neural events
C) the relationship between proximal stimuli and perceptual interpretation
D) the relationship between the proximal stimuli and distal stimuli

Question 29

The philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) held the position that perception is only possible because the mind __________.

A) is made up of cells with their own receptive fields
B) associates different sensory experiences into coherent wholes
C) organizes sensory information into preexisting categories
D) lacks the capacity for "turning off" the visual world

Question 30

In the equation , what does the ΔI represent?

A) the intensity of the standard stimulus
B) the change or amount that must be added to the standard intensity to produce a jnd
C) a constant
D) the changed stimulus

Question 31

In the equation S = k log I, the k refers to __________.

A) the psychological magnitude or subjective magnitude of a stimulus
B) the physical intensity of the stimulus
C) the constant whose value depends on the value of the Weber fraction
D) none of the above

Question 32

What is the major goal of psychophysics?

A) to relate physical intensity of stimuli to neuronal functioning
B) to understand the processes of transduction
C) to understand how psychological processes can result in physical actions
D) to relate the properties of physical stimuli to attributes of sensation

Question 33

What does represent?

A) Weber's law
B) Fechner's law
C) the equation for measuring the strength of a sensation
D) the equation for measuring psychological intensity

Question 34

What does Fechner's law maintain?

A) The strength of stimulus intensity grows as the intensity of a sensation increases.
B) The strength of a sensation grows as the logarithm of stimulus intensity.
C) The logarithm of the strength of a sensation is a linear function of the logarithm of stimulus intensity.
D) The strength of a sensation is a linear function of stimulus intensity.

Question 35

In the equation , what does the I represent?

A) the intensity of the standard stimulus
B) the change or amount that must be added to the standard intensity to produce a jnd
C) a constant
D) the changed stimulus

Question 36

What is the name given to the scientific study of the relationships between sensory experiences and the physical characteristics of the environmental stimuli that give rise to these experiences?

A) psychology
B) biology
C) psychophysics
D) psychobiology

Question 37

The nativist philosopher Immanuel Kant argued that human knowledge derives from sensory experience, as well as preexisting categories for interpreting sensations. Which of the following is not one of these perceptual categorizations mentioned by the textbook authors?

A) causality
B) identity
C) space
D) time

Question 38

The primary difference between Kant's view of perception and that of the British empiricists was that Kant believed __________.

A) in an unconscious
B) in innate categories of space, time, and causality
C) we were born a "tabula rasa"
D) there was no explanation for the role of the so-called proximal stimulus

Question 39

According to the empiricists, how is one sensation linked to another?

A) through transduction
B) through sensitization
C) through association
D) through the distal stimuli

Question 40

Research in psychophysics addresses which of the following questions?

A) What types of stimuli can be detected?
B) What types of stimuli can be discriminated?
C) What types of stimuli can be recognized?
D) All of the above.

Question 41

What does signal-detection theory take into account that classical psychophysical theory did not?

A) absolute and difference thresholds
B) sensitivity and response criterion
C) Weber's and Fechner's laws
D) transduction and detection

Question 42

What is the Weber fraction?

A) the absolute threshold divided by the comparison stimulus
B) the standard stimulus divided by the jnd
C) the difference threshold divided by the intensity of the standard stimulus
D) the jnd divided by the absolute threshold

Question 43

What does Weber's law assert?

A) Only three types of color receptors are required to see the full color spectrum.
B) A constant, low-pitched stimulus produces a stronger sensation than an infrequent, high-pitched stimulus.
C) Different sound frequencies trigger activity in different neurons.
D) The difference threshold is a constant proportion of stimulus intensity.

Question 44

Most people can just detect the difference between 5 spoonfuls of sugar in a gallon of water and 6 spoonfuls of sugar in a gallon of water. If Weber's law holds, these same people should be able to just tell the difference between 25 spoonfuls of sugar in a gallon of water and __________ spoonfuls of sugar in a gallon of water.

A) 6
B) 30
C) 50
D) 100

Question 45

What does it mean if Weber's fraction is smaller for vision than for hearing?

A) Vision is more sensitive than hearing.
B) Hearing is more sensitive than vision.
C) Vision is more functionally important than hearing.
D) Hearing is more functionally important than vision.

Question 46

According to Weber's law, which of the following should be true?

A) There are only three types of color receptors required to see the full color spectrum.
B) A constant, high-pitched stimulus produces a stronger sensation than an infrequent, low-pitched stimulus.
C) Different light wavelengths trigger activity in different neurons.
D) The difference threshold is a constant proportion of the intensity of a stimulus.

Question 47

The smaller the Weber fraction, __________.

A) the less sensitive the sense modality
B) the higher the response criterion
C) the more sensitive the sense modality
D) the shorter the duration of response to any sensory impression

Question 48

Suppose you can just tell the difference between lifting 100 grams and 102 grams. According to Weber's law, you would need to add __________ grams to tell the new weight from a standard weight of 1,000 grams.

A) 2
B) 10
C) 20
D) 100

Question 49

A research participant listens to a 1,000 hertz tone. The frequency of the tone is slowly increased, and the participant is instructed to acknowledge when she hears a change in the tone of the pitch. At 1,050 hertz, the participant notes that the pitch of the tone is not the same as it was before. In this case, what does the change of 50 hertz represent?

A) the absolute threshold
B) the difference threshold
C) a hypothetical change in the physical sensation
D) discrimination learning in classical conditioning

Question 50

To what does the difference threshold refer?

A) the concept of individual differences
B) the maximum amount of energy required to reliably perceive a change in the original stimulus
C) the minimum amount of energy required to reliably perceive a change in the original stimulus
D) the minimum amount of energy required for detection of a stimulus

Question 51

A certain species of rodent can just tell the difference between plain water and water that contains 1 gram of salt per liter of water (a 1% solution). What does this best illustrate?

A) an Applied of Fechner's law
B) the constancy of the Weber fraction
C) an exception to the rules of signal detection
D) the difference threshold for this particular rodent

Question 52

You are working out and you adjust the difficulty program on your elliptical machine. You raise the "slope" to make the workout harder. A psychophysicist would call the minimal amount you need to make this adjustment in order to detect a change in the intensity of the stimulus the __________.

A) decision criterion
B) false alarm
C) Weber fraction
D) just-noticeable difference

Question 53

A research participant can just discern the difference between 50 and 51 candles burning in an otherwise darkened room. According to Weber's law, how many lit candles would have to be added to 300 already-lit candles before a participant could just notice the difference in illumination?

A) one additional candle, for a total of 301 candles
B) three additional candles, for a total of 303 candles
C) six additional candles, for a total of 306 candles
D) ten additional candles, for a total of 310 candles

Question 54

Assume that an experiment has determined that, for monkeys, the Weber fraction for vision is 1/25 while that for audition is 1/5. What does this tell us?

A) The monkey can make finer visual discriminations than auditory discriminations.
B) The monkey can make finer auditory discriminations than visual discriminations.
C) Over the range of perceptible stimuli, the monkey's visual sense is as keen as its auditory sense.
D) An auditory stimulus is perceived as being five times as intense as a visual stimulus.

Question 55

To what does the absolute threshold refer?

A) the concept of individual differences
B) the maximum amount of energy required to reliably perceive a change in the original stimulus
C) the minimum amount of energy required to reliably perceive a change in the original stimulus
D) the minimum amount of energy required for detection of a stimulus

Question 56

Weber fraction values for different sensory modalities reveal that __________.

A) we are better at detecting pain than brightness
B) we are better at smelling rubber than feeling pain
C) we are better at tasting salt than detecting brightness
D) we are better at feeling pain than tasting salt

Question 57

A jnd is different from an absolute threshold because a jnd depends on __________.

A) proportional rather than absolute differences
B) distal rather than proximal differences
C) absolute rather than proportional differences
D) proximal rather than distal differences

Question 58

You are taking a hot bath, and you can just detect the difference between a water temperature of 100 and 102 degrees. This would indicate, according to the German physiologist E. H. Weber, that __________.

A) we are sensitive to changes on the order of 2 degrees
B) we are sensitive to proportional differences, in this instance, of 2%
C) we are geared to notice absolute differences, not percentage differences
D) our response criteria are not unreasonably high

Question 59

According to Gustav Fechner, what units should be used to describe a jnd?

A) hypothetical units of psychological sensation
B) the same units that are used to describe the physical stimulus that produces it
C) the frequency of neural impulses per second
D) a description of a jnd should not include units

Question 60

What is true when there is a just-noticeable difference (jnd) between two stimuli?

A) They are detectably different.
B) They cannot be identified as different.
C) Fechner's law is supported.
D) An empiricist approach to psychophysics is appropriate.

Question 61

__________ theory of sensation proposes that particular neurons are "labeled" with the particular quality to which they are receptive.

A) Pattern specificity
B) Place
C) Pattern
D) Specificity

Question 62

In a signal-detection experiment, Frank, the participant, has a very casual attitude and tends to say, "Yes, I hear the tone" most of the time, even when he is in doubt. What will this lead to?

A) an increase in the number of hits
B) an increase in the number of false alarms
C) the researcher's disregard of Frank's data
D) both a and b

Question 63

In a signal-detection experiment, when do we say a "miss" has occurred?

A) when the participant reports seeing a stimulus when none is presented
B) when the participant fails to report seeing a stimulus when one is presented
C) when the participant reports seeing a stimulus when one is presented
D) when the participant correctly reports that there is no stimulus present

Question 64

Responding to any stimulus requires both __________ and __________.

A) detection; the decision to report a response
B) conscious awareness; unconscious awareness
C) vision; audition
D) vision; kinesthesia

Question 65

What is a major advantage of signal-detection methods over traditional ways of measuring thresholds?

A) Signal-detection methods allow the investigator to distinguish between sensitivity effects and tendencies to respond too conservatively or too liberally.
B) Signal-detection methods allow the investigator to separate hits and misses from correct negatives and false alarms.
C) Signal-detection methods allow the investigator to introduce occasional "catch" trials to eliminate response biases.
D) Signal-detection methods allow the investigator to multiply the effects of sensitivity by the magnitude of the response bias.

Question 66

Karen, a candidate for the state police, fails the exam and does not qualify for training at the police academy. This is disappointing because Karen would have made a very good police officer. In signal-detection terms, what do this person's test results represent?

A) a miss
B) a correct negative
C) a false alarm
D) a hit

Question 67

Which factors did early psychophysicists believe to be unimportant when conducting psychophysics experiments?

A) the strength of the stimulus to be tested and the type of stimulus to be tested
B) subjective evaluation and mental fatigue
C) subjective evaluation and generalization
D) the participant's expectations and his or her perception of the payoff

Question 68

What is true of signal-detection theory?

A) Signal-detection theory allows one to separate actual perceptual ability from response tendencies.
B) Signal-detection theory suggests that, for each participant, there exists a constant stimulus intensity corresponding to a zero stimulus.
C) Signal-detection theory suggests that perceived sensation occurs only in the presence of an external stimulus.
D) Signal-detection theory suggests that confusion about whether or not a stimulus has been presented is most likely to occur when the signal is much greater than the noise.

Question 69

Specificity theory proposes that __________.

A) different sensory qualities are signaled by different neurons
B) each sensory quality is signaled by all neurons for that sense modality
C) each individual sensory quality is signaled by a single neuron
D) all of the above

Question 70

Which of the following psychophysical techniques or concepts has been applied to studies of decision making in fields outside of traditional psychology, including criminal justice and medicine?

A) signal detection
B) Fechner's law
C) the Weber fraction
D) the difference threshold

Question 71

Which of the following factors usually influence participants who take part in psychophysics experiments?

A) sensitivity and mental fatigue
B) subjective evaluation and mental fatigue
C) subjective evaluation and generalization
D) expectations and perception of the payoff

Question 72

Which theory involves the idea that responses across different sets of sensory neurons give rise to qualitatively different sensory experiences?

A) specificity theory
B) pattern theory
C) place theory
D) cross-excitation theory

Question 73

Which of the following represents a real-life example of a "miss" in a signal-detection experiment?

A) A jury fails to convict a guilty person.
B) A jury wrongly convicts an innocent person.
C) A jury acquits an innocent person.
D) A jury convicts a guilty person.

Question 74

In signal-detection procedures, which of the following is a "false alarm"?

A) A subject says "no target" when there was no target.
B) A subject says "no target" when there was a target.
C) A subject says "yes target" when there was no target.
D) A subject is supersensitive to stimuli of very minute intensities, such that, for instance, he can hear tones others cannot.

Question 75

According to signal-detection analysis, if individuals differ in terms of how sensitive they are to a signal, then they will differ __________.

A) in their proportions of correct and incorrect responses
B) in their proportions of yes and no responses
C) in their expression of introversion and extraversion as well
D) in their visual acuity as well

Question 76

What is the technical term for describing the conversion of a physical stimulus into a neural impulse?

A) transformation
B) transduction
C) transposition
D) conversion

Question 77

A physical stimulus creates a sensory impression by getting converted into a neural signal. This conversion is called __________.

A) transduction
B) sensory coding
C) kinesthesis
D) signal detection

Question 78

Jack and Truman are participants in an experiment. They sit before a computer screen that flashes words, each of which is exposed for different amounts of time. Their task is to say when they see a real word and to tell what that word was. Let's say Jack reports seeing the word "SEX" on the third trial, whereas Truman does not see "SEX" until the tenth trial. What does this finding reveal about Jack and Truman?

A) They may differ in their perceptual sensitivity.
B) They may differ in their decision criteria.
C) Jack sees more "false alarms" than does Truman.
D) Both a and b are correct answers.

Question 79

Pattern theory suggests that __________.

A) different sensory qualities are signaled by different neurons
B) what allows one to identify the sensory input is the overall pattern of activation
C) each individual sensory quality is signaled by a subset of neurons, but no pattern is formed
D) none of the above

Question 80

On a particular trial in a detection experiment, no stimulus is presented, but the participant reports having perceived one. What is this called?

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