AP Psych Chapter 4

Which of the following is a binocular cue for the perception of distance?

Retinal disparity compares images from the retinas in the two eyes, the brain computes distance -- the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object.

The receptor cells that convert light energy into neural signals are called

Rods and cones receive the light energy that enters the eye and that triggers a photochemical reaction in the rods and cones at the back of the retina which converts that light to neural signals.

An integrated understanding of pain control in terms of mental distraction, the release of endorphins, and the presence of empathic caregivers is most clearly provided by

biopsychosocial approach. Integrated approach that incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural levels of analysis. Pain is the biological, mental is the psychological, and empathetic caregivers are the social-cultural.

The pitch of a sound is determined by what?

frequency of the sound wave. The frequency of the sound wave is the distance between each wave. With greater distance comes lower pitch and with smaller distance comes higher pitch.

The mechanical vibrations triggered by sound waves are transduced into neural impulses by

hair cells. The hair cells lining the surface of the basilar membrane are bent and that triggers impulses in the adjacent nerve cells whose axons converge to form the auditory nerve, which send neural impulses.

Rods are

more light-sensitive and less color-sensitive than are cones. Rods don't need a well-lit environment as cones do, but in that environment cones can sense color and rods can only sense black, white, and gray.

Feature detectors

nerve cells in the brain's visual cortex that fire in response to specific edges, lines, and angles. These respond to specific features such as; shape, angle, and movement.

Although he was wearing a pair of glasses that shifted the apparent location of objects 20 degrees to his right, Lars was still able to play tennis very effectively. This best illustrates the value of

perceptual adaptation. The ability in vision to adjust an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field which is what the glasses did to him.

After learning that her new school friend had experienced several episodes of depression during junior high, Erin incorrectly perceived her friend's laughter as artificial and phony. Ths best illustrates the impact of

perceptual set. That is a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another. She knew her friend had depression so she was already thinking about that when she heard her friend laugh.

As a door opens, it casts an increasingly trapezoidal shape on our retinas; however, we still perceive it as rectangular. Which of the following best explains this phenomenon?

shape constancy. This is because we know that this door is a rectangle and just because it's moving and we are viewing it differently because of its motion doesn't mean the actual object is changing shape.

According to frequency theory

the rate at which impulses travel up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of the tone being heard. This enables us to sense its pitch because the pitch theory only explains how we hear high-pitched sounds so the frequency theory accounts for low pitches.

The semicircular canals are most directly relevant to

vestibular sense. The sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance is detected by small vestibular sacs that are in the semicircular canals.