Sensation and Perception - Exam 1 Questions
An object appears slightly blurry, but you can tell it is moving fast. Based on this description, the light from the object is falling on which portion of your visual field?
20 degrees from the fovea
Which of the following is true about the method of constant stimuli?
All stimuli are presented in every trial.
A retinal ganglion cell that receives input from 50 photoreceptors is said to display a low level of convergence.
False
The forced-choice method can only be used with the method of constant stimuli.
False
The forced-choice method has unfortunately created some problems that do not occur in traditional psychophysical methods.
False
The method of adjustment is not used in everyday life.
False
The perception of Mach bands has no functional value in the real world.
False
Vision is the only sense that can be measured using the method of limits.
False
With normal binocular vision, a blind spot exists in the nasal portion of the visual field.
False
Which one of the following is an advantage of the method of adjustment?
It can quickly yield a threshold for each participant.
In order to win the North Carolina Hot Sauce Contest, a contestant must eat an entire orange habanero chili pepper, the hotness of which is measured on the _________ scale.
Scoville
The standard technique for magnitude estimation was developed by ______
Stevens
In the method of limits, which of the following is NOT true?
Stimuli are presented in no particular order.
In the method of constant stimuli:
Threshold is determined by presenting the observer with a set of stimuli of which some are above the threshold, and of which some are below threshold, and participants judge whether they detected the stimulus or not.
A receptive field can be defined as a region of space to which a particular sensory neuron responds.
True
Microelectrodes have been used to determine the type of stimuli that a particular cell responds to.
True
Our nervous system is designed to take advantage of certain information, such as which parts of the body are used when touching objects.
True
Presbyopia usually affects most people over the age of 50.
True
The ROC curve is a graphical plot that summarizes all of the possible outcomes for a given situation across all possible criterions.
True
The method of constant stimuli measures the softest sound we can hear and the dimmest light we can see.
True
When using the method of adjustment, the participant increases or decreases the level of the stimulus until it feels like it is just at the detectable level.
True
When using the method of limits, your threshold for stimulus detection is the average of: a) the point at which you respond 'no' you did not detect the stimulus, and b) the point at which you respond 'yes' you did detect the stimulus.
True
Does the vertical illusion intensify when the columns are tapered as compared to when they are vertical?
Yes, I had to tilt the columns more to make them appear vertical when the columns were tapered than when they were straight.
Which of the following is NOT true of Aristotle's Illusion?
a single touch between the tips of two crossed fingers, say with a pen, will be experienced as a single touch
The function of the ________________ is to capture the energy from a stimulus in the environment and channel it to the _______________ , which then convert the energy into an electrochemical signal.
accessory structures, sensory receptors
In which part of the experiment were participants most accurate when throwing the bean bag?
after they were used to the goggles
Why do the vertical columns not appear vertical?
because our experience of perception is subjective
The concentration of ____________ in a chili pepper is the physical dimension, whereas our experience of ___________ is the psychological correlate of that physical dimension.
capsaicin; piquancy
The fovea dark adaptation curve closely resembles the
cone-only adaption curve because cones are concentrated in the fovea.
Photopic vision is characterized by ________.
cones, low light sensitivity, and color detection
________ are the photoreceptors most commonly associated with daytime vision, while ___________ are typically linked with nighttime vision.
cones, rods
Spatial summation at night is facilitated by the high degree of _____.
convergence in the periphery
The value of sensory intensity that will serve as a threshold or cutoff value for decision-making is called the _____________.
criterion
Which is NOT a function of the microelectrode?
destroying the cell
The measure of how easy it is for us to detect that the signal is present is called the ________.
difference sensitivity
According to signal detection theory, lax criterions are likely to result in more __________, and strict criterions are more likely to result in more____________.
false alarms; misses
In the simulation, what happens when a myopic eye is paired with a convex corrective lens?
focusing power is increased resulting in impaired vision
In the simulation, what happens when a hyperopic eye is paired with a concave corrective lens?
focusing power is reduced resulting in impaired vision
The ultimate goal of sensation and perception is to:
guide our actions so we can navigate our environment
In the ROC curve, the more the curve bends up to the right, the _____ the sensitivity.
higher
In the simulation, the "X" eventually disappears and is replaced by a continuous line. This fill-in phenomenon is controlled by
higher visual areas
__________________ cells inhibit both activated cones and adjacent cones in order to maximize the response to changing fields.
horizontal
Another name for the Fechner color effect is the
illusory color effect
Compared to dark adaptation, light adaptation
is fast
Which of the following is NOT true about the experimental field of psychophysics?
it is not significant to the study of sensation and perception
The process of ______________ underlies the Mach band phenomenon.
lateral inhibition
You look across the room and spot the remote control for the television. As you walk across the room, you keep your eyes focused on the remote. How will the shape of the crystalline lens change as you move closer to the remote?
lens curvature will increase
Compared to a 30-year-old person, a 70-year-old person has a(n) __________ near point.
longer
In the demonstration, reducing the convergence has minimal effect on the photo because _____.
low convergence increase acuity
If you are asked to judge the loudness of a tone on a scale from 1-100, your perception is being measured using the method of _____________.
magnitude estimation
The _________ is a device so small it can penetrate a single neuron in the mammalian central nervous system without destroying the cell.
microelectrode
Optic flow gives us valuable information from the environment that helps us to perceive which of the following?
motion and depth
What is the Fechner color effect?
moving black and white figures create an illusion of color
If you are reading a book and then look up quickly as someone opens the door across the room, how will the ciliary muscles and zonule fibers respond?
muscles relax, zonule fibers tighten
Jane was recently fitted for contacts. She notices minus signs (-) on the labels of her contact packages. This means that Jane has _____.
myopia
___________ is the condition in which incoming light does not directly focus on the retina but in front of it, which causes impaired vision.
myopia
If the eye is not capable of accommodating, then _____.
objects at a distance are relatively in focus and close objects are out of focus
After completing the simulation, your results reveal a cell with a(n) ________ .
on-center receptive field
_____________ is the fact that as we move towards objects, they grow in size. If you move away from the objects, they get smaller.
optic flow
Phenomenology refers to ______________.
our internal experience of the world around us
What causes the size-arrival effect?
our perception of time-to-collision is influenced by the relative size of objects
In the method of adjustment, the __________ controls the level of the stimulus and adjusts it to be at the perceptual threshold.
participant
When listening to the Bach partita, our ears are responding to differences in frequency, tempo, rhythm, and loudness as we hear the sound of the violin. In addition, the music may cause us to experience an emotional or mental response as well. This is an example of which of the following?
phenomenology
Which form of visual impairment is commonly caused by aging?
presbyopia
_____________ is the condition in which incoming light focuses behind the retina, leading to difficulty focusing on close-up objects.
presbyopia
The method of limits applies alternating series of "staircases," (i.e. descending, then ascending, then descending, etc.). This is done in order to:
prevents sensory adaption from occuring
What is the cause of the waterfall Illusion?
prolonged sensory exposure to one stimulus alters how we experience other stimuli after the prolonged exposure
Magnitude Estimation is a ___________ method.
psychophysical
A ______________ is one in which people rate their psychological experiences as a function of the level of a physical stimulus.
psychophysical scale
A light with a wavelength of 700 nanometers will appear _____.
red
You are planning to go camping this weekend and a friend lends you a headlamp for manoeuvring around the campsite at night. You are surprised that the headlamp produces a _________ -colored light and is claimed to be ideal for preserving dark adaptation.
red
The primary cause of presbyopia is _____.
reduced elasticity of the lens
In the airplane simulation, when the light entering the cockpit becomes darker, the automated program ______________ of the display, thereby _____________ perceived by the pilot.
reduces the intensity; increases the contrast
In this simulation, you are testing the firing pattern in ________ cells to establish the location of its receptive field.
retinal ganglion
According to the dark adaptation graph, after sitting in a dark room for 25 minutes
rods dominate visual processes and you become more sensitive to dim light
Your alarm clock goes off at 5am and you stumble out of bed. Despite the lack of light, you are able to locate your slippers; however, your bright orange slippers look greyish. This is an example of _____.
scotopic vision
The Purkinje shift refers to the ability to see _____.
short wavelengths as comparatively brighter at night
__________ attempts to understand the role that decision making plays in the detection of sensory stimuli.
signal detection theory
Which is NOT a real-world example of optic flow?
staring at a blank wall
The event in the environment that is picked up by our sensory systems is called the _________.
stimulus
Which of the following illustrates the correct sequence of events in sensation and perception?
stimulus, sensory structure, sensory receptors, neural response, perception, action
Which of the following statements about the fovea is NOT true?
the fovea has large receptive fields
Which of the following does NOT illustrate the concept of phenomenology?
the inner mechanism of a robot
During this experiment, you are asked to indicate where a particular visual stimulus appeared on a computer screen. The experiment is measuring threshold using ___________ .
the method of constant stimuli
The blind spot corresponds to the location of _____.
the optic nerve
When using the forced-choice method in the method of constant stimuli, threshold is determined as __________.
the point where you detect the stimulus 75% of the time
When you walk out of a dim building and into the bright sunshine, everything appears overly bright and washed out. _________________ and ______________ will occur so that you adjust to the new lighting conditions.
the pupils will constrict; light adaptation
Which statement does NOT accurately describe how we perceive time-to-collision?
the relative size of the dots has no impact on our judgement of how soon each dot will hit us.
The right optic tract is composed of axons from
the right temporal and left nasal hemifields
The left LGN receives visual information from
the right world
When using the method of constant stimuli, your threshold for stimulus detection is ______________.
the smallest stimulus that is detected 50% of the time.
If you are looking at a row of trees that appear vertical to each other, chances are that:
the trees are actually tilted inwards a few degrees towards the center of the row
Why do the participants end up throwing the bean bag in the opposite direction after they remove the goggles?
the visual system remains adapted to the sensory distortion, even after removing the goggles.
In the second part of the demonstration (sunburst pattern), why isn't it easier to see large letters than small letters?
there is high degree of convergence in the periphery
The waterfall Illusion, as first discussed by Aristotle, is what type of perceptual illusion?
visual motion aftereffect
Another everyday example of the waterfall illusion would include which of the following?
watching the introduction to the Star Wars movie
If you measure a wave from one trough to the next, you can find the ___________ of the wave.
wavelength
Both light and sound travel in waves. However, light is typically described by its __________ while a sound is characterized by its ___________.
wavelength; frequency
In the size-arrival effect, how do we tend to perceive the speed of a larger object as compared to a smaller object?
we tend to see larger objects as closer to us, therefore they appear to be moving faster
Aristotle's illusion refers to a distortion of sensory (touch) information that leads to the incorrect perception that:
your fingers are touching more than one object when, in fact, they are only touching one object.