Deck 4: Section 4: Sensation and Perception

Question 1

People with a liberal decision criterion make many hits but also have many misses.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

The field of psychophysics is primarily concerned with developing scales to measure the intensity of a stimulus.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The more conservative a decision criterion is, the more likely that misses will occur.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

The field of psychophysics was developed by Gustav Fechner.

Question 5

Sensation and perception are related, but separate, events.

Question 6

Transduction occurs for every sense EXCEPT that of smell.

Question 7

Stimulation below our absolute threshold will never be detected.

Question 8

The field of psychophysics was developed by Wilhelm Wundt.

Question 9

You can easily tell the difference between 1 and 2 pounds, but not 200 and 201 pounds, illustrating an absolute threshold for perceiving differences in weight.

Question 10

Research on cell phone use and attention in driving suggests that laws requiring hands-free cell phones could significantly reduce accidents.

Question 11

Although the term used is "absolute threshold," 50 percent of the time a signal at this level goes undetected.

Question 12

Radiologists attempting to determine if a growth is cancerous probably will adopt a liberal decision criterion.

Question 13

Perception does not begin until transduction has occurred.

Question 14

Signal detection accounts of perception assume the existence of thresholds.

Question 15

You can easily tell the difference between 1 and 2 pounds, but not 200 and 201 pounds, illustrating Weber's Law.

Question 16

An organism's sensitivity to prolonged stimulation tends to increase over time.

Question 17

False alarms are common when one adopts a conservative decision criterion.

Question 18

Although the just-noticeable difference is known to be a fixed quantity, the actual value of this quantity is different for each sense.

Question 19

The sensory threshold of being able to detect a teaspoon of sugar dissolved in 2 gallons of water is an example of a difference threshold.

Question 20

Sensation and perception occur simultaneously.

Question 21

The lens focuses light on the area of the retina known as the optic nerve.

Question 22

The length of a light wave determines the color we perceive.

Question 23

With respect to light, purity refers to the number of distinct wavelengths that make up the light.

Question 24

The blind spot is an area of the retina that lacks both rods and cones.

Question 25

The size of the pupil is controlled by the iris.

Question 26

The process by which the lens changes shape in order to focus light on the retina is termed phototransduction.

Question 27

When you walk into a dark movie theater, you depend on the cones in your retina to help you find your way to an empty seat.

Question 28

The length of a light wave determines the brightness we perceive.

Question 29

Our senses will adapt more quickly to a stimulus if that stimulus is presented occasionally rather than constantly.

Question 30

The amplitude of a light wave determines its purity or richness of color.

Question 31

Color is a property of light.

Question 32

The colored portion of the outer eye is called the cornea.

Question 33

Visual acuity is best when light is projected onto the optic nerve.

Question 34

Our perceptual systems respond more strongly to changes in the level of stimulation than to constant stimulation.

Question 35

Nearsightedness (myopia) results when images are focused in front of the retina.

Question 36

The axons of retinal ganglion cells form the optic nerve.

Question 37

We perceive the shortest visible wavelengths as deep purple.

Question 38

Cones are much more sensitive to low levels of light than are rods.

Question 39

LASIK surgery involves physically reshaping the lens.

Question 40

There are more rods than cones in the retina.

Question 41

Neurons in area VI are specialized for encoding the emotional meaning of a visual stimulus.

Question 42

The area of the occipital lobe that contains the primary visual cortex is termed area V1.

Question 43

The three primary colors of light are red, blue, and yellow.

Question 44

Red and yellow are opponent colors.

Question 45

L-cones detect blue light.

Question 46

The dorsal visual stream sometimes is referred to as the "how pathway."

Question 47

M-cones detect green light.

Question 48

A key feature of the color-opponent system is sensory adaptation.

Question 49

We perceive the longest visible wavelengths as bright yellow.

Question 50

What we perceive as the color white is really the absence of light waves.

Question 51

The dorsal visual stream processes the shape and identity of an object.

Question 52

Someone who cannot recognize familiar faces may have suffered damage in the ventral stream of visual processing.

Question 53

An object presented in the right visual field ultimately will be processed in area V1 of the right occipital lobe.

Question 54

Men are more likely to be color-blind than women.

Question 55

When combining light, mixing a red spotlight and a green spotlight creates the perception of yellow light.

Question 56

Neurons in area VI are specialized for encoding edge orientation.

Question 57

If you stare at something green for a long time and then look at a white surface, you will perceive the color red.

Question 58

The lateral geniculate nucleus is contained in area V1 of the occipital tract.

Question 59

Visual information passes through the thalamus before reaching area VI.

Question 60

Objects in the left visual field can only be detected by the left eye.

Question 61

When shown an image with an ambiguous figure and ground, such as the Rubin vase, we tend to perceive both possible interpretations simultaneously.

Question 62

Researchers have found that a specialized area in the temporal lobe responds only when faces are presented in the visual field.

Question 63

According to feature-integration theory, cones are the glue necessary to bind features together.

Question 64

Parts-based object recognition theories argue that object recognition involves deconstructing objects into geons.

Question 65

Image-based object recognition theories are challenged by the fact that we easily recognize the face of our mothers from the faces of other women.

Question 66

Specialized neurons that respond to specific objects such as buildings but not to other objects such as tools provide evidence for the modular view of object recognition.

Question 67

The distributed view of object recognition states that there are specialized areas in the brain that respond only to specific objects (e.g., faces).

Question 68

Thanks to perceptual constancy, you probably can recognize the Mona Lisa regardless of the angle from which you view it.

Question 69

The Gestalt grouping principle of similarity states that elements of a visual image that move together are perceived as parts of a single moving object.

Question 70

According to feature-integration theory, attention is not required to detect the size, shape, and color of an object.

Question 71

As attention to the task increases, the number of illusory conjunctions made decreases.

Question 72

Feature binding appears to occur primarily in the occipital lobe.

Question 73

Gestalt psychology emphasizes how a unified object is broken down into its component parts.

Question 74

Perceptual constancy means that humans are more likely to detect changing environmental stimuli than a constant stimulus.

Question 75

Letter is to alphabet as geon is to parts inventory.

Question 76

Perceptual constancy is one reason why humans find it difficult to perceive changes in stimuli.

Question 77

When confronted with two or more possible interpretations of an object's shape, we tend to perceive the simplest one.

Question 78

Parts-based object recognition theories would have problems explaining how you can distinguish your yellow Labrador Retriever from the neighbor's Golden Retriever.

Question 79

An illusory conjunction occurs when we see a green afterimage immediately after staring at a red image.

Question 80

Someone with visual form agnosia might recognize an object as a pencil but will not be able to write with it.