psych chapter 3

gestalt

an organized whole that our pieces of info make up

visual cliff

lab device used to testing depth perception in infants and young animals

phantom limb sensations

sensations in limbs that have been amputated or have been absent from birth

what sense is best described as a chemical sense

smell

parallel processing

the processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously ex. walking and talking

umami is the reason why

MSG gets added to our meats MSG binds to umami's receptor site, making us think we're eating protein

When Jason briefly turned to summon the waiter, his wife quickly switched her glass of red wine with his glass of white wine. Jason's failure to notice that his chosen wine had been replaced best illustrates

change blindness

While singing to you on your birthday, your friends leave off the very last word of the song, "Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday dear David, Happy birthday to...." Your tendency to mentally fill in the last word best reflects which of the following Gestalt principles of organization?

closure

The rupture of the eardrum can lead to

conduction hearing loss

describing sound waves =

sensation

pupil

takes in light and expands

pitch of sound is determined by

the frequency of the sound wave

echolocation

the process of using reflected sound waves to find objects

Which of the following anatomical structures is involved in the vestibular sense? Semicircular canals Olfactory bulb Nociceptors Taste buds Retinas

Semicircular canals

embodied cognition

in psychological science, influence of bodily sensations, gestures, and other state of cognitive judgement/preferences

transduction occurs within the

retina

What is the correct order of the eye-to-brain pathway of vision?

retina, optic nerve, thalamus, occipital lobe

you can see things in a dark room better from the peripheral point of view because

rods are more sensitive in the dark, and they are not concentrated in fovea

because she was listening to the news on the radio, Mrs. Schultz did not perceive a word her husband was saying, her experience best illustrating

selective attention

what plays the biggest role in our feeling dizzy or unbalanced after a thrilling roller coaster ride

semicircular canals

What is the process of detecting environmental stimuli and converting them into signals that can be detected by the nervous system

sensation

olfaction

sense of smell

audition

sense or act of hearing

a cochlear implant would be most helpful for those who suffer

sensorineural hearing loss

Which of the following concepts refers to the diminished sensitivity to a stimulus that occurs due to constant exposure to that stimulus

sensory adaptation

diminished sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus is known as

sensory adaptation

With her eyes closed and her nose plugged, Chandra was unable to taste the difference between an onion and a pear. Her experience best illustrates the importance of

sensory interaction

nociceptors

sensory receptors that detect potentially damaging temperatures, pressure, or chemicals

Although textbooks frequently cast a trapezoidal image on the retina, students typically perceive the books as rectangular objects. This illustrates the importance of

shape constancy

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

each 10 decibels correspond to a tenfold increase in _________ _______________

sound intensity

locating sound (echolocation)

sounds arrive at each ear at slightly different times brain processes these differences, as minuscule as they are, to determine the location of a sound source

According to the gate control theory of pain, what contains a neurological gate that controls the transmission of pain messages to the brain?

spinal cord

psychophysics

study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them includes transduction

kinesthetic sense

system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts in space - not about locating sensations on the body kinesiology: the study of the mechanics of body movement

umami

taste for protein

gate-control theory

the brain regulates pain by sending signals down the spinal cord that either open or close sensory pathways or gates activity in large nerve fibers or information from the brain close the gate

inner ear

the innermost part of the ear, containing the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs

accommodation

the lens focuses light on fovea, when it changes shape to focus light on different parts of your eye

retina

the light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information

frequency

the number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time

The fact that people who are colorblind to red and green may still see yellow is most easily explained by

the opponent process theory

grouping

the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups types - grouping proximity continuity

frequency theory

the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, enabling us to perceive its pitch best explains low pitched sounds

kinesthesia

the system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts

size constancy

the tendency to interpret an object as always being the same actual size, regardless of its distance

opponent-process theory

the theory that opposing retinal processes enable color vision only one pair of colors can happen at a time, how the colors work for example: reverse flag

the ability to detect whether your body is in a horizontal or vertical position depends on

your vestibular sense

pitch

a tone's experienced highness or lowness; depends on frequency

cocktail party effect

ability to attend to one voice among many

depth perception

ability to see different objects in 3 dimensions although the images that strike the retina are 2D, allows us to judge distance

during a hearing test, many sounds were presented at such a low level of intensity that Mr Antall could hardly detect them. these sounds were below mr antall's

absolute threshold

0 decibels =

absolute threshold for hearing

According to the gate-control theory, a back massage would most likely reduce your physical aches and pains by causing

activation of neural fibers in your spinal cord

intensity

amount of energy in light waves

phi phenomenon

an illusion of movement created when 2 or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession

subliminal

below one's absolute threshold for conscious awareness

middle ear

between cornea and eardrum containing 3 tiny bones: hammer, anvil, stirrup - that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum onto the cochleas oval window

photo receptors relay visual information to the brain through what cells

bipolar and ganglion

sensation is ______________________

bottom-up processing

selective attention

capacity for or process of reacting to a certain stimuli selectively when several occur simultaneously

Tracey was in pain from an ear infection, which her doctor said was in her inner ear. Which of the following is the most likely location of the infection? The pinna The cochlea The eardrum The anvil The hammer

cochlea

the retina is to the eye as the _______ is to the ear

cochlea

Orville is talking with his friends at a cafeteria table when suddenly he is distracted by hearing his name at a neighboring table. Orville's shift of attention most clearly illustrates what psychological concept?

cocktail party phenomenon

cochlea

coiled, bony, fluid filled tube in the inner ear, sound waves travelling thru the cochlear fluid trigger nerve impulses

cones

color vision, function in daylight or well-lit conditions - cluster in and around fovea - may have their own hotline to the brain - visual activity - color, detail

schemas

concepts that organize information

what is the correct order of structures light passes through in the eye

cornea, pupil, iris, lens, retina

When looking at the hands of a clock showing 8 o'clock, certain brain cells in the visual cortex are more responsive than when the hands show 10 o'clock. This is most indicative of

feature detection

a floating vessel is to the ocean water as _______ is to _________

figure; ground

the cochlea is a

fluid-filled tube in which sound waves trigger nerve impulses

fovea

focal point of retina, point of central focus

webers law

for the average person to perceive a difference, 2 stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage your ability to detect differences is nit a linear thing the difference we detect is a percentage, not just one number

Which theory best explains how we perceive low-pitched sounds?

frequency theory

perception of pitch is described by 2 different theories

frequency theory and place theory

perceiving the color, motion, and form of a bird in flight illustrates

parallel processing

In experiments, an image is quickly flashed and then replaced by a masking stimulus that inhibits conscious perception of the original image. In these experiments, the researchers are studying the effects of

priming

Kinesthesis refers to the

process by which stimulus energies are changed into neural signals

accommodation refers to the

process by which the lens changes shape to focus images on the retina

transduction

process of converting one form of energy into another that your brain can use

The adjustable opening in the center of the eye is the

pupil

Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory

red, green, blue helps us to see all the colors

what is a binocular cue for the perception of distance

retinal disparity

The most light-sensitive receptor cells are the

rods

lens

behind iris, focuses light by changing shape

iris

color in eye, muscle used to dilate pupil

amplitude (wave height) determines

loudness

like vision, the _____________ for audition is a wave

stimulus input

an individual neuron cannot fire faster than ________ times per second

1,000

cornea

outside cover

amplititude

the wave's height from zero to the crest

how does auditory stimulation become something meaningful

through perception, top-down process pitch perception is more meaningful

Gustation (taste)

tongue is covered in papillae. taste buds important to survival: - avoid sour or bitter - energy sources that are preferable: sweet

perception is _____________________________

top down processing

when you have an expectation, you are likely to find it, this is an example of

top down processing

Our experiences, assumptions, and expectations may give us a perceptual set that influences what we perceive. This is an example of

top-down processing

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

transduction

Which basic taste attracts us to protein-rich foods?

umami

priming

unconscious activation of certain associations, predisposing one's perception, memory and response ex. deja vu

pain

unpleasant sensation of physical discomfort or suffering

brightness is to intensity as hue is to

wavelength

Evidence that some cones are especially sensitive to red light, others to green light, and still others to blue light is most directly supportive of the ________ theory.

young-helmholtz theory

rods

- black, white, gray - peripheral (outer part of retina) and twilight vision when the cones don't respond - share bipolar cells with other rods, sending combined messages - faint light

the sense of touch is a mix of 4 distinct skin senses

- warmth - cold - pressure - pain

3 steps to all sensory system

1. receive sensory stimulation 2. transform stimulation into neural impulses - transduction 3. deliver neural information to brain

motion parallax

A depth cue based on the fact that, as an observer moves, the retinal images of nearby objects move more rapidly than do the retinal images of objects farther away

Which of the following scenarios is the best example of synesthesia? Susie sees afterimages of opposing colors when she stares at a poster for a long time because light that stimulates one half of an organized pair of cones inhibits the other half. Kara sees afterimages of opposing colors when she stares at a poster for a long time because the optic nerve sends impulses to the occipital lobe. Manuel sees swirls of color when he hears music because his retina contains three types of color receptors. Anastasia sees swirls of color when she hears music because stimulation of one sensory pathway leads to the experience of another sensation. Rufus sees swirls of color when he hears music because only his cones are stimulated.

Anastasia sees swirls of color when she hears music because stimulation of one sensory pathway leads to the experience of another sensation.

Which of the following examples best illustrates the concept of interposition? A. Because the tree was higher than the bush in Jane's field of vision, she perceived the tree as being farther away than the bush. B. Because Miranda stared at the burger restaurant sign as she drove by it, the restaurant behind the sign looked like it was moving backward. C. Because the chair partially obscured his view of the sofa, Brendan perceived the chair as being closer than the sofa. D. Because the train tracks had a large angle of convergence, Miko perceived them to go quite far into the distance. E. Because all of the zucchini she had seen in the past were green, Candice continued to perceive a zucchini held under a black light as green

C. Because the chair partially obscured his view of the sofa, Brendan perceived the chair as being closer than the sofa

In a study on taste, what would researchers need to do to test participants' ability to distinguish umami from similar sensations? A. Blindfold the participants and ask them to distinguish between the smell of pork and the smell of a lemon. B. Blindfold the participants and ask them to distinguish between the smell of a rose and the smell of a honeysuckle. C. Blindfold the participants and ask them to distinguish between the taste of pork broth and the taste of beef broth. D. Place disks soaked in MSG on the participants' tongues. Then replace those disks with disks that have been soaked in water. Compare the participants' reactions. E. Place disks soaked in lemon juice on the participants' tongues. Then replace those disks with disks that have been soaked in water. Compare the participants' reactions.

D. Place disks soaked in MSG on the participants' tongues. Then replace those disks with disks that have been soaked in water. Compare the participants' reactions.

Which of the following best illustrates the most predictable effect of schemas on perception? Roberto sees trees that are higher up in a painting as being farther away than lower trees. Lindsey recognizes that her shirt's color has not changed in the dim light, even though the color is less brilliant. Grant has more difficulty recognizing a penguin as a bird than he does a blue jay. Doris sees a shape as a five-pointed star, even though one of the points is blocked from her vision. Erick has more difficulty understanding a speech made by someone with a British accent than by someone with an American accent

Grant has more difficulty recognizing a penguin as a bird than he does a blue jay

Marlene had an infection that led to deafness in her left ear. Which of the following will be the most likely impact of losing her hearing in her left ear? She will have trouble locating the source of sounds. She will not be able to hear high pitches. She will show less activity in her left temporal lobe. She will not be able to detect harmony in music. Her hearing overall will improve.

She will have trouble locating the source of sounds.

Denise has damaged her auditory nerve and now has difficulty understanding what people are saying. Which of the following descriptions explains how that damage impairs her hearing? Sound messages fail to be transmitted directly to the brain. The hair cells fail to vibrate sufficiently to transmit the message. The ear components fail to amplify the sound to render it sufficiently detectable. The brain receives the sound message, but it is unable to process the sound. Sound vibrations are not strong enough to stimulate middle-ear activity.

Sound messages fail to be transmitted directly to the brain

A researcher wants to study the human sense of taste over a life span. The researcher has a group of participants taste foods that are salty, bitter, sweet, sour, and umami. Which study would best allow the researcher to test the sensation of taste as people age, and what is the likely outcome? The researcher follows the same group of people over the course of 40 years. The researcher also measures the number of the people's taste buds throughout the 40 years. The researcher finds that as people grow older, their sense of taste diminishes and their number of taste buds decreases. The researcher follows the same group of people over the course of 40 years. The researcher also measures the number of the people's taste buds throughout the 40 years. The researcher finds that as people grow older, their sense of taste remains the same because as their number of taste buds decreases, each taste bud becomes more sensitive. The researcher tests a group of 50 ten to twenty-five year olds, 50 twenty-six to fifty year olds, and 50 fifty-one to seventy-five year olds at the same time. The researcher also measures the number of the people's taste buds for each group. The researcher finds that as people grow older, their sense of taste diminishes and their number of taste buds decreases. The researcher tests a group of 50 ten to twenty-five year olds, 50 twenty-six to fifty year olds, and 50 fifty-one to seventy-five year olds. The researcher also measures the number of the people's taste buds for each group. The researcher finds that as people grow older, their sense of taste remains the same because as their number of taste buds decreases, each taste bud becomes more sensitive. The researcher tests a group of 50 ten to twenty-five year olds, 50 twenty-six to fifty year olds, and 50 fifty-one to seventy-five year olds. The researcher also measures the number of the people's taste buds for each group. The researcher finds that as people grow older, their sense of taste remains the same because as their number of taste buds increases, each taste bud becomes less sensitive.

The researcher follows the same group of people over the course of 40 years. The researcher also measures the number of the people's taste buds throughout the 40 years. The researcher finds that as people grow older, their sense of taste diminishes and their number of taste buds decreases.

Bryan perceived a duck instead of other animals when viewing an ambiguous image because he watched a documentary about ducks the previous night. What explains why Bryan perceived a duck

Top-down processing, because his perception of the duck was influenced by past experience.

retinal disparity

a binocular (bi means 2) cue for perceiving depth by comparing images from the retinas in the two eyes, the brain computes distance when things are closer to you, you rely on two eyes - the greater the disparity (difference) between 2 images, the closer the object

Dr. Ramen recruited 100 adults to participate in her study. The taste buds of each participant were measured, and the participants tasted a number of foods. She found there was a relationship between the size of a participant's taste buds and the number of foods that a participant could taste. What research method did Dr. Ramen use, and what was she most likely studying? Correlational; sensitivity to the taste of umami Correlational; the sensitivity of supertasters Correlational; sensitivity to the taste of salt Experimental; sensitivity to the taste of umami Experimental; the sensitivity of supertasters

correlational; the sensitivity of supertasters

monocular cues

depth cues, such as interposition and linear perspective that depend on the use of one eye - mono means one

binocular cues

depth cues, such as retinal disparity, depend of the usage of 2 eyes, good for driving bumper to bumper

Kimmie stood on the sidewalk rather than crossing the street because she saw that the approaching car was quite close to her. What is this an example of?

depth perception

Sensation is to ________ as perception is to ________.

detection; interpretation

cochlear implant

device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve thru electrodes threaded to the cochlea

Weber's law is relevant to an understanding of

difference thresholds

place theory

different sound waves trigger activity at different places along the cochleas basilar membrane best explains high pitched sounds

hue

dimension of color determined by wavelength of light, what we know of the color names blue, green, etc

sensory adaptation

diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

sensory adaptation

diminishing sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus

the perceived size of an object is most strongly influenced by that object's perceived

distance

wavelength

distance from one wave peak of one light/sound wave to the peak of the next

shape constancy

ex. the door ajar vs closed from different angles, something may appear to be a different shape but we know based on our knowledge that she shape does not change

figure ground

gestalt principle that allows people to make sense of the world around them and their senses. when given a picture, people can determine what the background is and what the subject is. ex. when people watch a cheer routine they can identify where the athletes are and that the space between them is the mats

Transduction

gets info in different languages from the world around you, and translates it into another language for your central nervous system (changing the state to electrochemical communication)

Cones and rods are to vision as ________ are to audition.

hair cells

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

hair cells

semicircular canals

hair cells within canals perceive sense of balance and space fluid flows in certain directions when you move your head

sensorineural hearing loss

hearing loss caused by a damage to cochlea's receptor cells or to auditory nerves aka nerve deafness

decibels

how we measure sounds

phi phenomenon

illusion of movement created when 2 or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession

stroboscopic effect

images in a series of still pictures presented at a certain speed will appear to be moving

Photoreceptors

in eye, rod shaped rods and coned shaped cones

vestibular sense

in the inner ear, the semicircular canals are filled with fluid and lined with hairlike receptors that shift in response to motion send to cerebellum to sense body posture and head position know where your head is

perceptual adaptation

in vision, the ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field

Standing in the checkout line at the grocery store, Jerry kept looking at his watch to see the time. As a result, he failed to see that a store employee was being robbed by a person just in front of him. Jerry most clearly suffered

inattentional blindness

Which of the following scenarios best illustrates the opponent-process theory of color vision? Manuel sees the color yellow when the E note is played. Conrad can identify specific features in his environment, such as color. Kayla sees afterimages of opposing colors when she stares at a poster for a long time. Randy is able to process many aspects of a visual scene simultaneously. Russell is able to differentiate between dark green and light green.

kayla sees afterimages of opposing colors when she stares at a poster for a long time

accomadation

lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina

conduction hearing loss

loss causes by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to cochlea

perceptual set

mental predisposition that greatly influences what we see

a perceptual set is a

mental predisposition that influences what we perceive

eardrum is gate to

middle ear

difference threshold

minimum difference between 2 stimuli required for detection 50% of the time

absolute threshold

minimum stimulation needed to detect a stimulus 50% of the time

what is most helpful in perceiving the distance of objects far away from you

monocular cues

MSG

monosodium glutamate, someone would add this to meat because it makes low quality meat taste good, this would trigger your umami

rods are

more light sensitive and less color sensitive than are cones

feature detectors

nerve cells in brain that respond to specific features of stimulus such as angle, shape, movement

optic nerve

nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to brain

volley principle

neurons alternate firing to achieve a combined frequency above 1000 Hz a modified or refined frequency theory we determine a pitch of a sound by how quickly the hair cells fire in order to perceive pitch thats greater than the amount of times that a neuron can fire, it goes back and forth so different neurons fire

In response to a harmful stimulus, ________ initiate neural impulses leading to the sensation of pain.

nociceptors

Interposition is a cue for depth perception in which closer objects

obstruct our view of distant objects

A gestalt is best described as a(n)

organized whole

the narrow fibers carry

pain

nociceptor

pain receptors

phantom limb

perceived sensation, following amputation of a limb, that the limb still exists

color constancy

perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object

perceptual constancy

perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images change

Helena did not recognize her English teacher when she unexpectedly saw him while traveling in Paris, even though she knew him well back in the classroom. The fact that Helena can recognize her teacher back home more easily than in Paris best demonstrates what concept?

perceptual set

as maria and her little brother looked up at the clouds, he exclaimed, "that one looks like a giant dinosaur!" maria thought it looked like a giant duck. what concept best explains their different interpretations of the same ambiguous stimuli

perceptual set

the role of the central nervous system activity for the experience of pain is best highlighted by

phantom limb sensations

how do sound waves go from the environment to auditory receptors

pinna in the outer ear funnels sound the auditory canal focuses sound waves towards the ear drum typanic membrane (eardrum) vibrates in response to sound waves ossicles: (hammer, anvil, stimp)

the volley principle is most directly relevant to our perception of

pitch

frequency determines

pitch (measured in Hz)

The discovery that high-frequency sounds trigger large vibrations near the beginning of the basilar membrane supports the ________ theory.

place

blind spot

point where optic nerve leaves eye, creating blind spot because nor receptor cells are located there

signal detection theory

predicts how and when we detect the presence of faint stimulus and background noise when you're on high alert you're more likely to detect something