sensation and perception

Franklin has problems with his balance. His problems are probably caused by difficulties with his:

inner ear

_____ refers to the process of organizing and interpreting sensations.

perception

Affecting physical events or objects with one's mind is called:

psychokinesis.

_____ refers to the conversion of one form of energy into another.

transduction

In 1937, two Harvard psychologists asked the public for assistance in helping find the Lindbergh baby after he was kidnapped. People were asked to submit the contents of their dreams. Out of 1300 submissions, approximately _____ percent accurately predicted that the baby had already died.

5

_____ threshold is the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular sensory stimulus 50 percent of the time.

Absolute

Noted social psychologist _____ published a journal article appearing to offer evidence for extrasensory perception. Please choose the correct answer from the following choices, and then select the submit answer button. Answer choices

Daryl Bem

If people stare at an object, why doesn't it disappear?

Their nerve cells are constantly firing.

The principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage, rather than a constant amount, is called _____ law.

Weber's

Giulio's bag of marbles is twice as heavy as Jim's bag. If it takes 5 extra marbles to make Jim's bag feel heavier, it will take 10 extra marbles to make Giulio's bag feel heavier. This BEST illustrates:

Weber's Law

Wilson was born deaf. At 3 years of age his parents had the doctor put in this device so he will be able to hear.

a cochlear implant

A person can detect a single drop of perfume diffused in an area the size of a one-bedroom apartment. This is a(n) _____ threshold.

absolute

Sensory adaptation helps people:

concentrate on more important things.

Sensory adaptation can be defined as:

diminished sensitivity as a result of repeated stimulation.

The neurotransmitter that serves as our natural painkiller is _____

endorphins

As Ted walks through a park, he hears the sound of a dog barking and is able to recognize the direction of the sound and if the dog is nearby. Ted is able to do this because:

he has two ears and the sound will travel to the ear nearest to the sound first

In a psychophysical experiment, observers first view an adapting stimulus in which small dots on a computer screen all move steadily toward the right. They then view a test stimulus in which they have to determine whether a patch of dots is stationary or moving. According to the textbook, the adapting stimulus probably will:

increase the observers' absolute threshold for motion detection.

Perceptual sets are the result of _____, which are concepts that people form to organize and interpret unfamiliar information.

schemas

_____ is the process by which we detect physical energy in the environment and encode that energy as neural signals.

sensation

Marc is driving his 12-year-old car. He notices a sound coming from the engine, which involves _____processing. He immediately starts thinking that the sound is similar to the sound his car made the last time he had it repaired, which involves _____ processing

sensation; perception

The middle ear contains a structure called the:

stirrup

Perceptions can be influenced _____ by expectations, the context, emotions, and motivation.

top-down

How many basic types of taste are there?

5

There is _____ scientific evidence to support the existence of extrasensory perception (ESP).

no

Making an analogy between hearing and vision, the auditory hair cells in the _____ are similar to the _____ in the retina.

cochlea; rods and cones

A _____ is a device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve through electrodes threaded into the cochlea.

cochlear implant

An injury could stimulate _____, specialized receptors that can detect hurtful temperatures, pressure, or chemicals.

nociceptors

In an experiment described in the textbook, bar patrons preferred the taste of vinegar-laced beer in a glass labeled "MIT brew" to the taste of identical beer served in an unlabeled glass. Taste preference is a(n) _____variable in this study.

dependent

A snack manufacturer finds that it must increase the salt content of its chips by 8 percent in order for a sample of consumers to notice that the chips are saltier than they were before. This example BEST illustrates the concept of a(n) _____ threshold

difference

______ refers to a split in consciousness

dissociation

The claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input is known as _____ perception.

extrasensory

Michelle was driving home from running errands with her four children when her car broke down about a mile from her house. She tried to get it to start but it just wouldn't do anything. She tried to call her husband to come help her but received no answer. Michelle decided to walk home with her four children. After walking about half a mile in the 95-degree weather with her children Michelle could see her street in the distance. It seemed like she would never get home. It felt like she had been walking for hours. Michelle's perception of the distance to her home is being influenced by:

her emotion

Lily is riding her bicycle and, after the fortieth mile, she has one last hill to climb. As compared with the other hills she has climbed on her ride, Lily is likely to perceive this last hill as:

higher

One sense influencing the perception of another is known as sensory _____

interaction

The sensory experience of bending one's knees or raising one's arms BEST illustrates the sense of:

kinesthesia.

_____ is the technical name for our sense of smell.

olfaction

The study of out-of-the-ordinary phenomena is known as _____.

parapsychology

The study of out-of-the-ordinary phenomena is known as:

parapsychology.

Racial and ethnic stereotypes can sometimes bias the way one sees others' behaviors. This BEST illustrates the impact of:

perceptual set.

Both _____ and _____ indicate how experiences help to construct perception

perceptual set; context

You are playing "Ring Around the Rosie" with your little cousins and are spinning around and around. When you stop you still feel as though you are spinning because your _____ canals and kinesthetic receptors haven't returned to their neutral state.

semicircular

Experiencing sudden pain is to _____ as recognizing that one is suffering a heart attack is to _____.

sensation; perception

Billy Bob works at the airport as a member of the ground crew. He typically takes off his hearing protection as he finds it cumbersome. Prolonged exposure to the roars of the jet engines will result in:

sensorineural hearing loss.

Astra is house-sitting. On the first night, a thunderstorm causes the electricity to go out. She remembers seeing some candles and matches next to the grandfather clock. Why does she automatically cock her head when trying to pinpoint the sound of the clock?

so that her two ears will receive slightly different messages

In a condition called _____, one sort of sensation, such as hearing sound, produces another, such as seeing color.

synesthesia

If a visual image is first presented subliminally, the chance of a person later recognizing the same briefly presented image is improved. This BEST illustrates:

that information can be processed outside of conscious awareness.

_____ processing is guided by higher-level mental processes such as expectations.

top-down

Janice opens her eyes in the morning to see a photograph by her bedside. At that point, her eyes are receiving light energy, which they change into neural messages for the brain to process. This conversion of one form of energy into another is called:

transduction

The _____ sense is the sense of the head's movement and position, including the sense of balance.

vestibular

Which sequence BEST orders from first to last the information-processing activities described in the textbook?

sensation; transduction; perception