PSY 201 Multiple Choice

When an object gets closer to you, the muscles in your eyes roll your eyes inward. As the same objects moves away from you, your eyes are rolled outward. This muscular activity is a binocular depth cue called ______________. A. disparity B. convergence C. familiar size D. texture gradient

B

Which of the following is true about pheromones? A. All pheromones are sexual in nature. B. Pheromones are received and transduced by the olfactory system. C. Pheromones are received and transduced by the gustatory system. D. Pheromones influence emotions but not behavior.

B

Which of the following terms would be most applicable to a valid definition of perception? A. detection B. interpretation C. transmission D. alteration

B

While getting out of his car, Maulik bangs his head on the car door. The pain of the initial collision is carried to his brain by ______________ fibers, and the lingering aching of his forehead is carried by ______________ fibers. A. fast; fast B. fast; slow C. slow; fast D. slow; slow

B

As Stacie drives on a main road, she approaches a traffic light that turns from red to green. In a process called transduction, A. the green light is a physical stimulus. B. the light waves are detected by Stacie's eyes. C. Stacie's sensory receptors translate the light into signals for the brain. D. Stacie's brain constructs a representation of the green light, which means "go."

C

Dr. Ramos is a radiologist who looks at dozens of scans each day to diagnose everything from broken bones to tumors. Every once in a while, she sees something on the scan that turns out to be nothing. This situation is called a ______________. A. hit B. miss C. false alarm D. correct rejection

C

Dynesha is painting her bedroom a light orange color. Her mother suggests that she add some white to the bucket of paint to brighten the color a bit. Dynesha adds white, but her mother looks at the paint and says, "I thought I told you to add some white!" Clearly the color change has not exceeded her mother's ______________ threshold. A. absolute B. Weber C. difference D. constancy

C

Gary was in a motorcycle accident and damaged his thalamus. Gary will have no difficulty carrying out which of the following actions? A. seeing the print in his book B. hearing his favorite song on the radio C. smelling roses in his garden D. feeling the skin on his daughter's cheek

C

Kaitlyn has three favorite perfumes. One perfume has a floral scent, one has a citrus scent, and one is musky. Which of the following is the most likely explanation for how the receptors in her olfactory epithelium transduce these three smells for interpretation by the brain? A. The scent of each perfume is encoded by one type of receptor. B. All three perfumes are encoded by the same receptors, but the brain is able to distinguish them. C. Each perfume stimulates a unique pattern of several types of receptors, and each pattern is interpreted by the brain. D. Some olfactory receptors are more sensitive than others.

C

Leroy throws a party while his parents are out of town. During the party, Monica runs up to Leroy and exclaims, "Your mom just pulled up to the house in her Jeep!" When he looks out the window, he is able to quickly determine that the Jeep is not his parents' because it is not the right color. In signal detection terminology, Monica's response is a ______________, while Leroy's response is a ______________. A. miss; correct rejection B. miss; hit C. false alarm; correct rejection D. false alarm; hit

C

Simple cells respond best to ________ and are located in ________. A. oriented bars/edges of light; LGN B. spots of light; V1 C. oriented bars/edges of light; V1 D. spots of light; the retina

C

Stuart takes a hearing test with an audiologist. The audiologist plays tones of decreasing volume and asks Stuart to raise his hand when he hears a tone. Which of the following would be an example of a "miss" in signal detection theory? A. The audiologist plays a tone, and Stuart raises his hand. B. The audiologist does not play a tone, and Stuart raises his hand. C. The audiologist plays a tone, and Stuart does not raise his hand. D. The audiologist does not play a tone, and Stuart does not raise his hand.

C

The Trichromatic theory of color vision suggested that color vision depends on a ____ receptor mechanism and was proposed to explain ________. A. 4; the three primaries law B. 3; opposing afterimages C. 3; the three primaries law D. 1; opposing afterimages

C

The skin contains many different kinds of receptors, each of which is sensitive to a different kind of sensory input. Which of the following is not a sensory input detected by a specific type of receptor in the skin? A. warmth and cold B. light, fast pressure C. pleasure D. continued vibrations

C

Abel is an artist who works with paints. He is currently using a pigment that produces light of the longest wavelengths a human being can see. What color paint is Abel using? A. green B. violet C. blue D. red

D

After accidentally cutting your hand while slicing vegetables, you rub the area of the cut vigorously to reduce the sensation of pain you are feeling. According to the ______________ theory of pain, rubbing the area works to block the sharper pain signals from being sent through the spinal cord to the brain. A. volley B. opponent-process C. somasthetic D. gate control

D

Chris loves listening to a particular song because the singer starts off at a low pitch but then ends at a higher octave. In other words, Chris enjoys the way the ______________ changes over the course of the song. A. amplitude B. localization C. hue D. frequency

D

Howard loves everything about movies, including movie history. He knows that many of the tricks used in special effects have their origins in the Gestalt phenomenon called ______________. A. motion aftereffects B. linear perspective C. binocular disparity D. stroboscopic motion

D

Japhet knows that while rods are spread throughout the retina, cones are concentrated around the fovea. Based on this knowledge, what might Japhet infer about visual perception? A. Color is easier to detect in the dark. B. Fine detail is easier to see in the dark. C. Fine detail is easier to see in the periphery of the visual field. D. Color is easier to see in the center of the visual field.

D

Jess is skating in a Roller Derby bout. The referee blows her whistle to signal the end of the jam. In a process called perception, A. the sound of the whistle is a physical stimulus. B. Jess's ears detect the sound waves from the whistle. C. sensory receptors translate the sound into signals for Jess's brain. D. Jess's brain processes the signals and knows that they mean "stop skating."

D

Kristina wants to paint the living room bright red, but her roommate, Maya, prefers dark blue. In other words, they disagree about the ______________ of the light reflecting from the two colors. A. amplitude B. saturation C. timbre D. hue

D

Monique is completing a "connect the dots" puzzle that has 200 different dots. After she connects around 120 of the dots, it becomes clear to her that the completed image will be of a car parked next to a house. She does not bother to finish the puzzle because she can now "see" the whole picture. Which Gestalt principle is at work in Monique's case? A. illusory contours B. proximity C. continuity D. closure

D

The start gun goes off to signal the beginning of the race. How do the runners sense the noise and interpret its meaning? A. The sound waves travel through the air to the eardrum. Receptors in the middle ear send information to the brain via the auditory nerve that a gun has been fired. B. The sound waves change the air pressure. The outer ear detects this change in air pressure and makes the ossicles in the middle ear vibrate. The ossicles then transduce the vibration into a neural signal, which they send to the brain via the occipital nerve. C. The sound waves change the air pressure. The middle ear detects this change in air pressure and makes the ossicles in the outer ear vibrate. The ossicles then transduce the vibration into a neural signal, which they send to the brain via the auditory nerve. D. The sound wave travels through the air to the outer ear. Vibrations in the ossicles of the middle ear stimulate membranes in the inner ear. Receptors in the inner ear then transduce the sound into neural signals sent to the brain via the auditory nerve.

D

There are 3 types of _____ that allow us to see ________. A. rods; at night B. rods; color C. cones; at night D. cones; color

D

There is a structure in the cochlea of the ear that is covered with hair cells. The movement of this structure causes those hair cells to bend, and this in turn sends messages to the brain by way of the auditory nerve. What is that structure called? A. tympanic membrane B. the oval window C. the round window D. basilar membrane

D

When Carmella wakes up in the morning, the smell of freshly brewed coffee permeates the air. The chemicals in the air are received by her nose, and then transformed into a neural signal that is sent to her brain. This transformation is called ______________. A. gestalt processing B. perception C. sensation D. transduction

D

When Marla first moved to New York City, she could hardly sleep because of all the noise from the street. After a month or two, she stopped noticing these noises, and now she feels she would have a hard time sleeping in a quiet country village. What explains this change? A. Weber's law B. bottom-up processing C. opponent-process theory D. sensory adaptation

D

When you first wake up in the morning and the lights are turned on, your pupils are closed to a very small diameter. As your eyes adapt to the light, the pupils open to let more light in. Which structure controls the opening (and closing) of the pupil? A. retina B. lens C. cornea D. iris

D

Which early relay station in the brain is used by all other sensory systems but bypassed by your olfactory system? A. amygdala B. hippocampus C. central sulcus D. thalamus

D

Which of the following cells have concentric, on-off receptive fields? A. Retinal Ganglion cells. B. LGN cells. C. Simple cells. D. A and B. E. A and C.

D

Which of the following taste sensations results from detecting glutamate? A. salty B. bitter C. sour D. umami

D

Why might middle ear infections impact hearing? A. The middle ear's main job is to transduce auditory information into signals. Infections may muddle the transduction process. B. The middle ear's main job is to detect sound waves. Infections may impair the transfer of vibrations. C. The middle ear's main job is passing transduced information into the inner ear. Infected fluid in the middle ear may hinder this process. D. The middle ear's main job is to amplify sound vibrations. Infected fluid may muddles this process.

D

A prosopagnosic would have problems: A. identifying objects. B. identifying faces. C. grasping objects.

B

Although she and her roommate have the same ringtone, Lakisa can always tell whose phone is ringing based on whose side of the room it's coming from. She can do this not only because of the difference in time the sound takes to reach her left versus her right ear, but also because the sound is ______________ for the ear that is closer to the phone. A. quieter B. more intense C. higher pitched D. lower pitched

B

Carlos accidentally added an extra tablespoon of sugar to his cake batter. This will probably not change the cake's flavor in a significant way, although the same tablespoon of sugar, would be noticeable if he put it in his cup of tea. What explains this difference? A. signal detection theory B. Weber's law C. top-down processing D. sensory adaptation

B

Joel is getting older and thinks he needs glasses. His eyes feel tired when he tries to read a book or focus on anything up close. He knows that the muscles in each eye are straining in order to: A. contract or dilate to control the pupil size. B. accommodate to the distance of what he is seeing. C. change the shape of the cornea to focus light. D. increase the concentration of cones in the retina.

B

Katie notices there is a new barista at her favorite coffee shop. She also notices that her vanilla latte tastes just slightly sweeter than usual. The taste difference is right at the ______________ threshold. A. absolute B. difference C. sensory D. perceptual

B

Marius was out for his first run of the season yesterday, and as a result, today he is experiencing the kind of pain associated with slow fibers sending messages to his brain. What kind of pain is Marius experiencing? A. phantom pain B. a dull ache C. increasing throbbing D. a sharp, stabbing pain

B

Paulo is playing an instrument in his school's marching band. One section requires the low instruments (tubas, trombones, and bass drums) to all play at once, while the higher instruments remain silent. At band practice, Paulo listens intently to the low noises of his bandmates' instruments. Paulo is capable of hearing these low notes because of ______________ coding. A. cochlear B. temporal C.binaural D. place

B

Pum is lying awake and listening to the sounds of the city. He hears a very low pitched sound in the distance. How does his auditory system code this type of pitch? A. place coding B. temporal coding C. localization D. the vestibular sense

B

Sergio is practicing the violin. His roommate, Stefan, is getting annoyed because the sound waves coming from the violin are of extremely high frequency. In other words, the ______________ is too ______________ for Stefan. A. noise; loud B. noise; high-pitched C. noise; close D. rhythm of the noise; fast

B

Terri fell and sprained her wrist. She immediately felt a sharp pain, thanks to nerve fibers that carried pain information to her brain. Which nerve fibers are these? A. slow fibers B. fast fibers C. tactile stimulation D. cortical tissue

B

The Gestalt psychologists identified several principles that explain how visual grouping works. Which of the following was not one of the Gestalt principles? A. proximity B. opponent-process C. closure D. illusory contours

B

As Fatima gazes out onto the mountain landscape, she is able to tell which objects are near to her and which are far away by using both ______________ cues, like occlusion, relative size, and linear perspective, and ______________ cues, like disparity. A. monocular; binocular B. binocular; monocular C. bottom-up; top-down D. top-down; bottom-up

A

Damage to the parietal lobe leads to problems with: A. spatial attention and grasping. B. identifying/recognizing objects.

A

Hunter and Marissa went out on their patio late at night to look at the stars. Hunter had been reading about constellations, and sure enough, he saw that several clusters of stars seemed to be organized into identifiable shapes. Hunter's interest in constellations may have led to ______________. A. top-down processing B. bottom-up processing C. illusory contours D. occlusion

A

Jack is camping with a friend in the woods. While stargazing, Jack notices a very faint light in the distance. The light is so faint that he can barely see it, and his friend has not noticed it at all. The light is right at Jack's ______________ threshold. A. absolute B. difference C. sensory D. perceptual

A

Merlin is growing older and losing his ability to hear. Luckily, his pet owl not only hears well, but also can use cues to locate where a sound comes from. How is Merlin's owl capable of locating the source of a sound? A. Sounds reach the closer ear first, and this small timing difference gives away the source's location. B. Sounds are lower pitched in the closer ear than in the farther ear, and this small change in pitch gives away the source's location. C. The source of a sound usually also produces movement, and this movement gives away the source's location. D. All of the answer options are correct

A

Mixing many ________ together will result in the color ______ is is known as _______ color mixing. A. pigments; white; additive B. pigments; brown/black; subtractive C. colored lights; white; additive D. colored lights; brown/black; additive E. B & C

A

On a train ride to visit her grandmother, Louisa is given the opportunity to sit in the engineering car, where she can look out over the train tracks. She notices that the tracks look as if they are getting closer together as they move into the distance, but she also knows that this is really just an example of the ______________ illusion. A. Ponzo B. Ames C. Gestalt D. Weber

A

Professor Atlas has a dull ache in his lower back, probably from hunching over his philosophy books for the past several weeks. Which nerve fibers are carrying the pain information to his brain? A. slow fibers B. fast fibers C. vestibular fibers D. kinesthetic fibers

A

The detection of physical stimuli, such as odors, lights, and sounds, is called ______________. A. perception B. sensation C. absolute threshold D. difference threshold

A

The fovea contains: A. Only cones B. Only rods C. Rods and cones

A

The mechanism for encoding frequency is called ______________. A. place coding B. temporal coding C. localization D. vestibular sensation

A

The trichromatic theory of color vision posits that there are three different kinds of cones, each receptive to a different hue of light. Which of the following is not one of those hues? A. black-white B. blue-violet C.red-orange D. yellow-green

A

Which of the following examples illustrates the gate control theory of pain? A. After stubbing his toe, Ronald rubs the toe and finds that it eases the pain a little. B. Amira could not feel pain below her waist after she sustained a lower spinal injury in a car accident. C. Juan tears a knee ligament while playing soccer game. He instinctively grabs his knee to signal to his teammates that he is hurt and to stabilize the knee. D. Jacquelyn completed a hard workout but did not feel sore until the following day.

A

Visual information that goes from V1 to the parietal lobe is known as the _____ pathway while visual information that goes from V1 to the temporal lobe is known as the _____ pathway. A. ventral or what; dorsal or where B. dorsal or where; ventral or what C. ventral or where; dorsal or what D. dorsal or what; ventral or where

B

When Gretchen eats her favorite brand of pickle, the molecules stimulate taste receptors located in her` ______________ that are grouped within ______________. A. saliva; taste buds B. taste buds; papillae C. papillae; the tongue D. tongue; taste buds

B

Which of the following is the correct pathway for processing the sensation of picking up a snowball with your bare hand? A. Haptic receptors in the skin's outer layer receive the cold input. Then axons carry the information to spinal or cranial nerves, into the thalamus, and finally to the primary somatosensory cortex. B. Haptic receptors in the skin's outer layer receive the cold input. Then dendrites transmit the information to cranial nerves and into the parietal lobe. C. Receptors in the skin's outer layer receive the tactile input. Then axons carry the information to spinal or cranial nerves, into the hypothalamus, and finally to the occipital lobe. D. Receptors in the skin's inner layer receive the cold input. Then axons carry the information to spinal or cranial nerves, into the hindbrain, and finally to the occipital lobe

A

________ are important for high acuity day vision while ________ are important for night vision: A. Cones; rods B. Rods; cones

A

The text describes a study in which women drank either water or carrot juice during their pregnancy and while nursing. The first group of women drank carrot juice while pregnant and nursing; the second drank carrot juice while pregnant and water while nursing; the third drank water while pregnant and carrot juice while nursing; and the fourth drank only water during both periods. What do the findings of this study illustrate? A. All babies prefer sweet foods, like carrot juice, to water regardless of what their mothers drank during either period. B. Babies prefer foods that are low in or contain no sugar, such as water. C. Babies preferred carrot juice if their mothers drank it during pregnancy or after pregnancy, while nursing. D. Culture has no influence on infants' taste preferences. Babies like what they like for individual reasons.

C

When Lydia eats her favorite ice cream, taste receptors in the ________ convert the chemical molecules into signals which are then transmitted to the brain by process of ______________. A. papillae; sensation B. saliva; physical stimulation C. taste buds; transduction D. facial nerve; transduction

C

When our assignment of ______________ to an image is ambiguous, we can switch back and forth between seeing two different images in one picture--what we thought was part of the background can also shift to look like the most important part of the picture. A. grouping B. proximity C. figure and ground D. binocular disparity

C

Which of the following is a reason why some who are deaf object to the use of a cochlear implant? A. The side effects of cochlear implants can lead to unexpected visual impairment. B. The high rate of surgical complications creates a risk of causing impairment of other sensory systems as well. C. It is seen as being used to wipe out deaf culture. D. The surgery to implant a cochlear device is very risky, and there have been fatalities during the procedure.

C

While pregnant with her son Henry, Shana had an almost unquenchable thirst for apple juice, even though this was a beverage she had not previously enjoyed. She drank several glasses of it every day of her pregnancy. What would we expect to see in Henry's taste preferences for apple juice, now that he is a toddler? A. Henry will probably detest apple juice. B. Henry will not be served apple juice at all, because Shana probably developed a rebound aversion to its flavor. C. Henry will probably have a preference for apple juice. D. Henry may actually develop an allergy to apple juice.

C

While you are shopping at a department store, a pushy clerk tries to sell you a perfume supposedly laced with human pheromones. "When people smell this," she says, "they won't be able to resist you!" Which of the following is the most scientifically informed reaction to her claim? A. Ask the clerk if the pheromones come from humans or non-human animals. B. Try a sample of the perfume to see if the pheromones have a desirable scent when they interact with your own body chemistry. C. Tell the clerk that human beings cannot smell pheromones because they do not have a detectable odor, and walk out without a new bottle of perfume. D. Buy the perfume immediately, because psychological science finds that pheromones do, in fact, work as the clerk described.

C

Why does a blind spot exist in our visual field? A. Even when it is fully open, the iris blocks some light from entering the pupil. B. The cornea casts a small shadow on the retina. C. No rods or cones exist on the spot where the optic nerve attaches to the retina. D. The lens is unable to bend enough to capture visual stimuli closer than 2 inches from the face.

C

Your little cousin Athena wants to know why she has crayons with colors called blue green and orange-yellow but not blue-yellow or orange-green. You explain that cells in your eye help create the perception that some colors are opposites. Good thing you learned about the ______________ theory! A. trichromatic B. bottom-up processing C. opponent-process D. top-down processing

C

Your roommate asks what you want for dinner, and you reply sarcastically, "I am in the mood for some amazing umami flavor tonight!" Your roommate is also taking an introductory psychology course, so he knows that this means he should serve a meal that is accompanied by ______________. A. fresh tomatoes B. stinky cheese C. soy sauce D. salt and pepper

C