Psychology Chapter 6

When Rick learned that many students had received a failing grade on the midterm exam, he was no longer disappointed by his C grade. His experience best illustrates the importance of

context effects

The perception of the letter "t" as two intersecting lines rather than as four non intersecting lines illustrates the principle of

continuity

The visual cliff is a laboratory device for testing ________ in infants.

depth perception

The amount of light entering the eye is regulated by the

iris

Cocking your head would be most useful for detecting the ________ of a sound.

location

The constant quivering movements of our eyes enable us to

minimize sensory adaptation

The sense of smell is known as

olfaction

Stereotypes are mental conceptions that can strongly influence the way we interpret the behaviors of individuals belonging to specific racial or ethnic groups. A stereotype is most similar to a

perceptual set

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

sensation

On the way to the visual cortex, neural impulses from the retina are first relayed to the

thalamus

The sequentially flashing Christmas tree lights appeared to generate pulsating waves of motion. This best illustrates

the phi phenomenon

The semicircular canals are most directly relevant to

the vestibular sense

The process by which our sensory systems transform stimulus energies into neural impulses is called

transduction

A subliminal message is one that is presented

below one's absolute threshold for conscious awareness

The principle that two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum proportion for their difference to be perceived is known as

Weber's Law

Priming refers to the activation of certain:

associations

Which receptor cells most directly enable us to distinguish different wavelengths of light?

cones

The perception of an object as distinct from its surroundings is called

figure-ground perception

Perception is the process by which

sensory input is interpreted and organized

Bottom-up processing involves analysis that begins with the

sensory receptors