module 16-17

Trying to see a hidden representational image in a piece of abstract art by looking carefully at each element in the picture and trying to form an image employs which kind of perceptual process?

bottom-up processing

Parapsychology refers to the

study of phenomena such as ESP and psychokinesis

Weber's law is relevant to an understanding of

difference thresholds

As the brain receives information about the lines, angles, and edges of objects in the environment, higher-level cells process and interpret the information to consciously recognize objects. This process best illustrates

perception

In 1972, a British newspaper published pictures of a "Loch Ness Monster." Many people readily perceived photographs of a floating tree trunk as the partially submerged monster. This illustrates the powerful influence of

perceptual set

Rudy claims that his special psychic powers enable him to correctly anticipate whether the outcome of a coin toss will be heads or tails. Rudy is claiming to possess the power of

precognition

Photographs of people were rated more positively if the photos immediately followed a briefly flashed image of kittens. This best illustrates the impact of

priming

The pop-out phenomenon illustrates that some stimuli almost inevitably trigger

selective inattention

The process of receiving and representing stimulus energies through the nervous system is called

sensation

An exhausted forest ranger may notice the faintest scent of a forest fire, whereas much stronger but less important odors fail to catch her attention. This fact would be of greatest relevance to

signal detection theory

The fact that fear may increase your sensitivity to an almost imperceptible pain stimulus is of most relevance to

signal detection theory

Which theory can best explain why people respond differently to the same stimuli?

signal detection theory

Patients' negative expectations about the outcome of a surgical procedure can increase their postoperative experience of pain. This best illustrates the importance of

top-down processing

The local fire department sounds the 12 o'clock whistle. The process by which your ears convert the sound waves from the siren into neural impulses is an example of

transduction

The process by which our sensory systems convert stimulus energies into neural messages is called

transduction

When informed that a brief imperceptible message would be flashed repeatedly during a popular TV program, many viewers reported feeling strangely hungry or thirsty during the show. Since the imperceptible message had nothing to do with hunger or thirst, viewers' strange reactions best illustrate

a placebo effect.

Although Sue Yen sees her chemistry teacher several times a week, she didn't recognize the teacher when she saw her in the grocery store. This best illustrates the importance of

context effects.

Sensory adaptation helps us to focus our attention on what kind of stimuli?

novel