AP PSYCH: Unit 4-Sensation and Perception

Using two processes of perception, explain how the brain might process a dog's bark.

Once the sound of the dog's bark has been sent through the ear canal, the basilar membrane will vibrate with the incoming sound waves triggering neural impulses to the brain at the same rate as the sound wave. The neural impulses from the dog's bark will travel up the auditory nerve, to be processed in the brain. FREQUENCY THEORY suggests that the rate of the neural impulses will make the brain determine the dog's bark as low pitched. However, PLACE THEORY, suggests that we hear different sounds due to the sound waves triggering activity in different places along the cochlea's basilar membrane. Different places on the membrane send neural impulses up the auditory nerve to different parts of the brain. It explains how we hear high pitched sounds, so the brain might have processed the bark as high pitched.

Trace the path that the neural impulses created by a bark travel from the receptor cells to the brain.

The dog's bark sounds waves would have caused the cochlea's basilar membrane to vibrate. The motion causes ripples in the basilar membrane, bending celia or hair on the surface of the membrane. The hair movement triggers impulses in the adjacent nerve cells. Whose axons intertwine to from the auditory nerve. This sends neural messages back to the thalamus. Then the thalamus will send impulses back to the auditory cortex in the temporal lobes.

Which of the following is most likely to influence our memory of a painful event? a)overall length of an event b)the intensity of pain at the end of the event c)the reason for the pain d)the amount of rest you've had in the 24 hours preceding the event e)the specific pert of the body that experiences the pain

b)The intensity of pain at the end of the event

Which of the following phrases describes top-down processing? a)the entry level data captured by our various systems b)the effect that our experiences and expectations have on perception c)Our tendency to scan a visual field from top to bottom d)Our inclination to follow a predetermined set of steps, beginning with step 1, to process sound e)The fact that information is processed by the higher regions of the brain before it reaches the lower brain

b)the effect that our experiences and expectations have on perception

Explain how the musician would know that the park originated to his left without seeing the dog.

The musician would know that the sound originated to his left, because of SOUND LOCALIZATION. This is an organism's ability to determine the location of a sound where it originates from directly. He would hear a more intense sound in the ear that is pointed in the direction of the dog bark, in this case, from the left. He would also hear a louder sound on the left, because the dog barked at him from the left.

Trace the path that sound waves travel as they enter the ear and proceed to the receptor cells for hearing.

The sound waves from a dog bark will enter the ear through the auditory canal and to the ear drum will vibrate. This vibration will become amplified in the middle ear's bones, hammer, anvil, and stirrup. Then, the sound vibration goes into the inner ear's oval window and reaches the cochlea. The cochlea is filled with celia, small hairs, along the cochlea's basilar membrane. The celia will vibrate from the sound waves. Underneath the celia is the organ of corti, which have the receptors cell that will transduce these sound wave vibrations into neural impulses.

frequency theory relates to the a)rate at which the basilar membrane vibrates b)number of fibers in the auditory nerve c)point at which the basilar membrane exhibits the most vibration d)decibel level of sound e)number of hairs in the cochlea

a)rate at which the basilar membrane vibrates

The two monocular depth cues that are most responsible for out ability to know that a jet flying high overhead is at an elevation of several miles are relative size and ______________ a)relative motion b)retinal disparity c)interposition d)light and shadow e)linear perspective

a)relative motion

Signal Detection Theory is most closely associated with a)vision b)sensory adaptation c)absolute thresholds d)hearing e)context effects

absolute thresholds

the purpose of the pupil is a)focus on the retina b)process color c)allows light into the eye d)enable night vision e)detect specific shapes

c)allows light into the eye

Which of the following might result from a disruption of your vestibular sense? a)inability to detect the position of your arm without looking at it b)loss of the ability to detect bitter tastes c)dizziness and loss of balance d)an inability to detect pain e)loss of color vision

c)dizziness and lost of balance\

The gestalt psychologists were interested in a)depth perception and how it allows us to survive in the world b)why we see an object near us closer rather than larger c)how an organized whole is formed out of a component of pieces d)what the smallest units of perception are e)the similarities between shape constancy and size constancy

c)how an organized whole is formed out of a component of pieces

Our tendency to see faces in clouds and other ambiguous stimuli is partly based on a)selective attention b)ESP c)perceptual set d)shape constancy e)bottom-up processing

c)perceptual set

Which of the following represents perceptual constancy? a)We recognize the taste of McDonald's food each time we eat it b)In photos with people, the people always are perceived as figure and everything else as ground c)We know that the brightness of a printed page has not changed as it moves from sunlight to shadow d)from the time they are very young, most people can recognize the smell of a dentist's office e)the cold water in the lake doesn't seem so cold after you have been swimming in it for a few minutes

c)we know that the brightness of a printed page has not changed as it moves from sunlight to shadow

all except one of the following represent difference threshold. the exception represents absolute threshold. which of the following represents absolute threshold? a)a guitar player knows that his D string has just gone out of tune b)A photographer can tell that the natural light available for the photograph has faded just slightly c)your friend amazes you by correctly identifying unlabeled glasses of pepsi and coke d)a cook can just barely taste the salt she has added to milk e)you mom throws out the milk, because she says it tastes "off"

d)a cook can just barely taste the salt she has added to milk

cells that can respond to specific edges, lines, angels. and movements are called a)rods b)cones c)ganglion cells d)feature detectors e)bipolar cells

d)feature detectors

Our rods and cones ____________ electromagnetic energy into neural messages a)adapt b)accommodate c)parallel process d)transduce e)perceptually set

d)transduce

The hammer, anvil and stirrup ___________ a)process only high frequency sounds b)process only low frequency sounds c)make up a frame that supports the eardrum d)transmit sounds to the cochlea e)hold the hair cells that enable hearing

d)transmit sounds to the cochlea

Which of the following is not a gestalt grouping principle? a)proximity b)similarity c)closure d)continuity e)figure-ground

e)figure-ground