Deck 5: Sensation and Perception

Question 1

The path of a light wave, as it enters the human eye, is:

A)from the cornea, through the lens, and then through the pupil
B)from the pupil, through the cornea, and then through the lens
C)from the cornea, through the pupil, and then through the lens
D)from the pupil, through the lens, and then through the cornea

Answer 1

from the cornea, through the pupil, and then through the lens

Question 2

An artist is attempting to create just the right amount of brightness in the background of a painting.Which aspect of light is the artist manipulating?

A)accommodation
B)hue
C)intensity
D)transduction

Answer 2

intensity

Question 3

An artist is combining pigments to obtain a desired color.The artist is trying to find the right:

A)accommodation
B)hue
C)brightness
D)transduction

Answer 3

hue

Question 4

The intensity of the light that is reflected from an object:

A)is the physical distance from one energy cycle to the next
B)is a function of the amount of light that falls on an object
C)determines the perceived color or hue of a stimulus
D)determines the amount of accommodation in the vitreous humor

Question 5

The elementary features or building blocks of experience are the basis of:

A)perception
B)transduction
C)kinesthetic feedback
D)sensation

Question 6

The process through which rods and cones convert electromagnetic energy into neural signals is an example of:

A)accommodation
B)sensory adaptation
C)sensory interaction
D)transduction

Question 7

The physical distance from one cycle of electromagnetic energy to the next determines the:

A)hue or color that will be perceived
B)absolute threshold of light
C)brightness that will be perceived
D)intensity of the light wave

Question 8

Based on the relationship between perception and the physical properties of light, you should infer that if the human nervous system were not wired to respond to differences in the intensity of reflected light, people would not be able to:

A)detect differences in colors
B)detect differences in brightness
C)respond accurately to movement
D)have full peripheral vision

Question 9

Based on the relationship between perception and the physical properties of light, you should infer that if the human nervous system were not wired to respond to differences in the wavelengths of reflected light, people would not be able to:

A)detect differences in brightness
B)respond accurately to movement
C)detect differences in colors
D)have full peripheral vision

Question 10

The dimension of light that produces color is:

A)accommodation
B)hue
C)brightness
D)transduction

Question 11

Perception refers to:

A)the elementary features or building blocks of experience
B)the collection of processes used to arrive at a meaningful interpretation of an experience
C)the process of translating external messages into neural impulses
D)the physical properties of stimuli in the environment

Question 12

The transparent and protective outer covering of the eye is the:

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

Question 13

Transduction refers to:

A)the elementary features or building blocks of experience
B)the collection of processes used to arrive at a meaningful interpretation of an experience
C)the process of translating environmental energy into neural impulses
D)the physical properties of stimuli in the environment

Question 14

The wavelength of the light that is reflected from an object:

A)is a function of the amount of light that falls on an object
B)determines the perceived brightness of a stimulus
C)is the physical distance from one energy cycle to the next
D)determines the amount of accommodation in the vitreous humor

Question 15

The intensity of reflected electromagnetic waves determines the:

A)brightness that will be perceived
B)subliminal interpretation of the incoming energy
C)hue or color that will be perceived
D)wavelength of the light wave

Question 16

The mixture or purity of wavelengths in electromagnetic energy influences our perception of an object's:

A)color saturation or richness
B)brightness
C)absolute threshold
D)sharpness or focus

Question 17

The small part of the electromagnetic spectrum that is processed by the visual system is:

A)light
B)hue
C)brightness
D)transduction

Question 18

The collection of processes used to arrive at a meaningful interpretation of an experience is called:

A)accommodation
B)transduction
C)perception
D)sensation

Question 19

Sensations are:

A)the elementary features or building blocks of experience
B)the processes used to translate external messages into neural impulses
C)the collection of processes used to arrive at a meaningful interpretation of an experience
D)the physical properties of stimuli in the environment

Question 20

The Cyborgs who live on planet Gamma-Delta-II are able to see infrared, in addition to the normal visual spectrum.This means that compared to humans, the Cyborgs can detect:

A)light waves that have a higher amplitude
B)shorter wavelengths of light
C)light waves that have a lower amplitude
D)longer wavelengths of light

Question 21

The cells in the eye that convert electromagnetic energy into neural signals are called:

A)bipolar cells
B)rods and cones
C)ganglion cells
D)feature detectors

Question 22

The lens is the:

A)transparent and protective outer covering of the eye
B)light-sensitive surface at the back of the eye
C)flexible piece of tissue that helps focus light toward the back of the eye
D)ring of colored tissue around the opening in the center of the eye

Question 23

In vision, the portion of the retina that, when stimulated, causes the activity of higher order neurons to change is the:

A)prosopagnosia area
B)retinal field
C)peripheral area
D)receptive field

Question 24

Imagine that the human eye only had cones, and no rods.Based on what is known about the differing functions of the visual receptors, you should predict that under these conditions, people would have:

A)poor vision in bright illumination
B)poor peripheral vision
C)no color vision
D)poor visual acuity

Question 25

Lindsay is having trouble focusing on fine details.She is having problems of:

A) visual acuity
B) retinal disparity
C) transduction
D) prosopagnosia

Question 26

The receptor cells in the retina that enable us to distinguish different wavelengths of light are called:

A)cones
B)rods
C)bipolar cells
D)ganglion cells

Question 27

The group of rods or cones that sends information to a single ganglion cell forms:

A)the optic disk for that ganglion cell
B)the blind spot in each eye
C)the receptive field for that ganglion cell
D)an integrated neural net

Question 28

The fovea of the eye:

A)produces a blind spot in individuals with monocular vision
B)helps to focus light accurately on the retina
C)enhances the accuracy of our peripheral vision
D)is the central part of the retina where the cones are concentrated

Question 29

The cornea is the:

A)transparent and protective outer covering of the eye
B)light-sensitive surface at the back of the eye
C)hole in the center of the eye that allows light to enter
D)ring of colored tissue around the opening in the center of the eye

Question 30

The central part of the retina where the cones are concentrated is called the:

A)blindspot
B)optic chiasm
C)fovea
D)lens

Question 31

Because the photoreceptors are distributed unevenly across the retina, you should expect that your night vision will be best when the image of an object:

A)falls slightly to one side of the fovea
B)is focused directly on the fovea
C)falls directly on the blind spot
D)activates more than one set of feature detectors

Question 32

The retina is the:

A)light-sensitive surface at the back of the eye
B)transparent and protective outer covering of the eye
C)hole in the center of the eye that allows light to enter
D)ring of colored tissue around the opening in the center of the eye

Question 33

Visual acuity is the:

A)ability to process fine detail in vision
B)conversion of nervous system impulses into perceived images
C)ability to process color
D)conversion of light waves into nervous system impulses

Question 34

The light-sensitive surface at the back of the eye, that contains rods and cones, is the:

A)iris
B)optic nerve
C)retina
D)cornea

Question 35

In the eye, transduction of the electromagnetic energy into neural impulses occurs:

A)as the light passes through the cornea
B)when the light strikes the rods and cones of the retina
C)when the light passes through the lens
D)in the vitreous humor in the center of the eye

Question 36

The flexible piece of tissue that helps focus light toward the back of the eye is the:

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

Question 37

Imagine that the human eye only had rods, and no cones.Based on what is known about the differing functions of the visual receptors, you should predict that under these conditions, people would have:

A)no color vision
B)poor vision in low illumination
C)poor peripheral vision
D)more accurate depth perception

Question 38

In the retina, the cones are the receptor cells that are:

A)the most sensitive in low illumination
B)the most plentiful
C)the most important to our peripheral vision
D)concentrated in the center

Question 39

Dana sees no glowing embers when she looks directly at the fireplace, but when she looks a little to the side, she can see a dimly glowing spot.The best explanation for this is that:

A)dark adaptation occurs faster outside the fovea
B)rods produce more retinal disparity
C)cones provide better acuity
D)rods are more sensitive to light than cones

Question 40

The ability to process fine detail in vision is:

A)visual acuity
B)retinal disparity
C)transduction
D)prosopagnosia

Question 41

When a person has damage to his or her brain that produces prosopagnosia, the individual loses the ability to:

A)see objects that are in motion
B)detect objects that appear in the left visual field
C)see objects that are at rest
D)recognize faces

Question 42

The blind spot is located in the point in the retina where the:

A)optic nerve leaves the eye
B)fovea is located
C)feature detectors are most plentiful
D)bipolar cells connect with the ganglion cells

Question 43

Based on the research conducted by Hubel and Wiesel, you should infer that when an individual looks at a vertical line and then looks at a horizontal line, he or she will probably activate different:

A)feature detectors
B)channels within the thalamus
C)sensory thresholds
D)lobes in the cerebral cortex

Question 44

There was a brief flash of light in Teray's left visual field.This information would have registered on the

A)left side of each retina before traveling to the right occipital lobe
B)right side of each retina before traveling to the left occipital lobe
C)left side of each retina before traveling to both the left and right occipital lobes
D)right side of each retina before traveling to the right occipital lobe

Question 45

The key idea behind the trichromatic theory of color vision is that:

A)the retina contains three kinds of color receptors
B)increased activation of one type of color cell will decrease activation in another
C)ganglion cells encode most aspects of color
D)each hemisphere of the brain processes color differently

Question 46

The theory of color vision which proposes the human eye has three types of receptors that are sensitive to different ranges of light wavelengths is known as the:

A)opponent-process theory
B)trichromatic theory
C)geon theory
D)Gestalt theory

Question 47

Our increasing sensitivity to light in reduced illumination is due to:

A)light adaptation
B)bipolar sensitivity
C)dark adaptation
D)increased neural impulses in the thalamus

Question 48

Fifteen minutes after Clarissa entered the dark theater from the brightly lit lobby dark adaptation was:

A)complete in her cones, but was still taking place in her rods
B)still taking place in both her rods and her cones
C)complete in her rods, but was still taking place in her cones
D)complete in both her rods and her cones

Question 49

Based on the research conducted by Hubel and Wiesel, you should infer that when an individual looks at a curved line and then looks at a straight line, he or she will probably activate different:

A)feature detectors
B)channels within the thalamus
C)sensory thresholds
D)lobes in the cerebral cortex

Question 50

The receptive field of a ganglion cell refers to:

A)the range of wavelengths that will cause the cell to fire
B)the hemisphere of the brain that receives the neural signal
C)the area of the retina that will trigger the firing of the cell
D)the portion of the thalamus that causes the cell to fire

Question 51

If a retinal cell has a center-surround receptive field, then that cell's rate of firing will increase the most when:

A)no light falls in the center of the receptive field but light falls in the surround
B)light falls in the center of the receptive field but no light falls in the surround
C)equal amounts of light fall in both the center and the surround
D)no light falls in either the center or the surround

Question 52

Hubel and Wiesel discovered cells in the visual cortex of cats that responded only to a specific length of line moving in a specific direction.They called these cells:

A)rods
B)feature detectors
C)cones
D)ganglion cells

Question 53

When a person has damage to his or her brain that causes him or her to lose the ability to recognize faces that had been familiar before, the person is said to suffer from:

A)aphasia
B)akinetopsia
C)blindness
D)prosopagnosia

Question 54

The area of the retina that will trigger the firing of a specific ganglion cell makes up that cell's:

A)retinal web
B)transduction zone
C)visual pathway
D)receptive field

Question 55

Evidence that some cones are especially sensitive to red light, others to green light, and still others to blue light most directly supports the theory of color vision known as the:

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

Question 56

After the neural signals from each visual field separate at the optic chiasm, neural fibers are sent to:

A)the thalamus and the hypothalamus
B)the superior colliculus and the cerebellum
C)the thalamus and the superior colliculus
D)the reticular formation and the temporal lobe

Question 57

The point in the retina where the optic nerve exits the eye produces:

A)a fovea
B)a blind spot
C)transduction
D)the optic chiasm

Question 58

There is a "break" in the dark adaptation curve at about 8 minutes.This occurs because:

A)the rods and cones adapt at different rates
B)the pupil begins increasing in size again at that time
C)the optic chiasm begins to close
D)the last two cone photopigments begin to regenerate rapidly

Question 59

According to the trichromatic theory of color vision, the primary colors associated with the stimulation of cones on the retina are:

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

Question 60

After the neural signals from each visual field separate at the optic chiasm, the majority of the neurons from the optic nerve travel to the:

A)superior colliculus, while 10% travel to the lateral geniculate nucleus in the thalamus
B)left visual cortex, while 10% travel to the right visual cortex
C)lateral geniculate nucleus in the thalamus, while 10% travel to the superior colliculus
D)right visual cortex, while 10% travel to the left visual cortex

Question 61

Processing that is controlled by the physical message delivered to the senses is:

A)top-down processing
B)bottom-up processing
C)figure-to-ground processing
D)opponent processing

Question 62

When the individual elements of a stimulus determine your perception of that stimulus, you are using:

A)top-down processing
B)bottom-up processing
C)figure-to-ground processing
D)opponent processing

Question 63

According to the opponent-process theory of color vision, you should predict that cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus that are activated when the eye is stimulated by yellow light will be inhibited when the eye is stimulated by light that is:

A)red
B)green
C)blue
D)any other color

Question 64

Each of the three cone photopigments responds most to different wavelengths of light.These data best support:

A)opponent-process theory
B)trichromatic theory
C)frequency theory
D)top-down processing theory

Question 65

Bottom-up processing involves:

A)scanning an object from the bottom to the top when it is first encoded
B)the use of innate principles of organization to aid perception
C)using perceptual illusions to aid in recognizing familiar objects
D)the sensory analysis of the actual environmental message

Question 66

Walter was working in the chemistry lab when there was a small explosion and a flash of red.For several seconds Walter reported seeing spots before his eyes.Based on opponent-process theory, you should predict that the color of the spots that Walter saw was:

A)also red
B)green
C)probably blue
D)most likely white

Question 67

The results from research studies investigating the way in which the retina encodes information about the color of a visual stimulus support the theory of color vision known as:

A)trichromatic theory
B)opponent-process theory
C)akinetopsia theory
D)gate-control theory

Question 68

Sarah had some professional portraits taken, and the photographer used a blue flash.For several seconds after each shot Sarah saw spots before her eyes.Based on opponent-process theory, you should predict that the color of the spots that Sarah saw was:

A)most likely red
B)probably green
C)also blue
D)yellow

Question 69

At the rock concert she attended over the weekend, Veronica noticed that when the red and green spotlights overlapped they seemed to change to a yellow spotlight.This can be explained using the principles of:

A)subtractive color mixing
B)complementary colors
C)additive color mixing
D)hypercomplex feature detection

Question 70

The key idea behind the opponent-process theory of color vision is that:

A)increased activation of one type of color cell decreases activation in another
B)the retina contains three kinds of color receptors
C)ganglion cells encode most aspects of color
D)each hemisphere of the brain processes color differently

Question 71

Television sets are able to recreate the entire visible spectrum by additively mixing three primary colors.This process is similar to the view of human color vision called

A)trichromatic theory
B)saturation theory
C)opponent-process theory
D)complementary color theory

Question 72

Based on the opponent-process theory of color vision, you could predict that if an individual stared at a picture of the American flag then shifted his or her eyes to a white surface, the afterimage of the flag would appear to be:

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

Question 73

Based on the opponent-process theory of color vision, you could predict that if an individual stared at a red square and then shifted his or her eyes to a white surface, the afterimage of the square would appear to be:

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

Question 74

Clarence was working in the chemistry lab when there was a small explosion and a flash of yellow.For several seconds Clarence saw blue spots before his eyes.This is best explained using the theory of color vision known as the:

A)trichromatic theory
B)akinetopsia theory
C)opponent-process theory
D)feature-detection theory

Question 75

Currently, the best description of the way in which color is encoded in the visual pathways is that color vision:

A)begins as an opponent process in the retina and later switches to a trichromatic process
B)is an opponent process in the left cerebral cortex and a trichromatic process in the right cerebral cortex
C)begins as a trichromatic process in the retina and later switches to an opponent process
D)is an opponent process in the right cerebral cortex and a trichromatic process in the left cerebral cortex

Question 76

According to one theory of color vision, colors are signaled in pairs by neurons that fire faster to one color and slower to another color.This theory is known as the:

A)opponent-process theory
B)trichromatic theory
C)akinetopsia theory
D)geon theory

Question 77

Evidence that some cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus of the thalamus fire with an increased frequency when the eye is stimulated by red light, and fire with a decreased frequency when the eye is stimulated by green light, most directly supports the theory of color vision known as the:

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

Question 78

Hering's opponent-process theory suggests that visual receptors are linked in pairs.The opposing pairs that he suggested were:

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

Question 79

Based on opponent-process theory of color vision, you should predict that cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus that are inhibited when the eye is stimulated by green light will be activated when the eye is stimulated by:

A)yellow light
B)red light
C)blue light
D)all other colors of light

Question 80

Currently, our perception of color can best be explained using:

A)a combination of trichromatic and opponent-process theories
B)trichromatic theory, on its own
C)opponent-process theory, on its own
D)neither trichromatic nor opponent-process theory, a new theory needs to be developed