Cognitive Psych Ch 1-3

Ganglion cells A, B, and C are next to each other in the retina and inhibit each other laterally. If light is hitting the entire receptive fields of A and B, but only partially hitting the receptive field of C, what will happen?

C will be the most active cell.

________ are located primarily in the fovea, while ________ are located primarily in the periphery.

Cones; rods

Which of the following would NOT be considered an advantage of parallel processing in the visual system?

Information is processed only once, making it efficient.

One of the disadvantages of synaptic communication is that it takes time for chemicals to pass from one side of the synapse to another. Which of the following is a benefit of synaptic transmission?

It allows our nervous system to compare multiple signals from many sources.

Lateral inhibition leads to which perceptual experience?

The edge of an object is enhanced.

The Necker cube is an example of an ambiguous figure. Which of the following statements regarding the cube is FALSE?

The lines on the page contradict one another and so a cube can never be perceived.

Which of the following statements does NOT illustrate the difference between rods and cones?

There are three types of rods (for three different wavelengths of light) and only one type of cone.

It seems inefficient to need to rely on so many different cues for depth perception. Why, then, do we have so many disparate cues?

We use different cues in different situations.

t seems inefficient to need to rely on so many different cues for depth perception. Why, then, do we have so many disparate cues?

We use different cues in different situations.

The moon often looks very large when it is low in the sky, but looks smaller when it is high in the sky. Which of the following could account for this phenomenon?

When the moon is lower in the sky, other objects like buildings or trees provide a reference point for size comparisons.

Which of the following does NOT provide an example for parallel processing in the visual system?

You have two eyes that process different information, but work at the same time.

One way that we can perceive depth is through our awareness of the adjustment our lens is making. This cue would be

a monocular depth cue.

Olivia has sustained damage to the prefrontal area. As a result, she is most likely to have

a variety of problems, including problems planning and implementing strategies.

The primary visual cortex is located

at the part of the cortex that is farthest from the eyes.

Neuron A communicates with neuron B. The ________ of neuron A forms a synapse with the ________ of neuron B.

axon terminal; dendrite

Human brains have a distinct division-of-labor strategy. Each task is achieved as a result of multiple brain areas working together. But the work of the various parts of the brain must be compiled into a finished whole. The issue of how this reassembly works is referred to as the

binding problem.

You are at the zoo watching a tiger sleep. It suddenly awakes and lurches in your direction. Spatial position would NOT provide information about the tiger's

dangerous nature.

Which of the following topics is NOT commonly studied within cognitive psychology?

dreaming

Cells detecting the boundary of a surface are subject to less lateral inhibition than cells detecting the center of the same surface. This leads to an effect called

edge enhancement.

Capgras syndrome suggests there are two parts to recognition. These parts are

factual and emotional.

Shadowing can provide a cue for depth. For example, if a shadow appears on the bottom of a circle, the object appears convex. However, if the shadow appears on the top of the object, it appears concave. This happens because

in the real world, light comes from above more often than from below.

A horse is blocking the front of a barn door, obstructing your view of the door. This configuration allows you to determine that the horse is closer to you than the barn door is. This is called

interposition.

The blockage of one's view by another object can provide information about depth perception. This is termed

interposition.

Cells A and B receive the same high levels of stimulation, but Cell A shows a lower level of activity relative to Cell B. A likely explanation for this fact is that Cell A

is being laterally inhibited by other nearby cells.

Because of its center-surround organization, a neuron that has its entire receptive field exposed to bright light will

maintain the same rate of firing as if there was no light presented.

To perceive the visual world, we have to reunite various elements of a scene together so that these elements are perceived in an integrated fashion. Which of the following is NOT likely to be involved in this task?

memory

Krista is sitting on a bench, watching the world go by. She notices the people who are near to her move across her retina more quickly than the cars in the distance move. This effect is called

motion parallax.

As you move toward an object, the object gets larger on your retina. This is called

optic flow.

The phrase "Betsy wants to bring Jacob a present. She shook her piggy bank" is easily understood by most people because

our previous knowledge fills in the necessary details.

Single-cell recordings measure the ________ of individual neurons.

pattern of firing

Which of the Gestalt principles states that we tend to perceive objects in groups?

proximity

Patients who have suffered damage to the occipital-parietal pathway (the "where" system) will have difficulties with which of the following tasks?

reaching in the correct direction to retrieve the toothbrush

Through single-cell recordings, researchers have identified the ________ neurons in the visual system.

receptive fields of

The ________ is the part of the eye involved in transducing light energy into neural energy.

retina

Mike has damage to his hindbrain. He is likely to experience problems with which set of behaviors?

rhythm of breathing, level of alertness, and posture

A researcher wishes to determine exactly when a particular neuron is firing. A technique well suited to this purpose is

sngle-cell recording.

Visual agnosia is associated with damage to which of the following?

the "what" system, which carries information from the occipital cortex to the temporal cortex

Which of the following characteristics is NOT used to diagnose visual stimuli by neurons in the visual system?

the rhythm of the firing of the neuron

Which of the following is NOT central to research in neuropsychology?

the use of introspection

The specialization evident in visual processing shows that

the visual system relies on parallel processing.

Commissures, including the corpus callosum, are

thick bundles of fibers that allow communication between the brain's hemispheres.

If visual information conflicts with other information, we usually

trust the visual input.

Cognitive psychology relies on evidence from multiple domains (behavioral, neuroscience, trauma, etc.) because

we cannot see the cognitive processes directly.