Chapter 6

In which of the following scenarios would signal detection be most difficult because of ambient noise? A) Noticing the text-alert sound from the cell phone in your pocket while you walk throughout the supermarket B) Enjoying your favorite song on the train while using noise-canceling headphones C) Hearing the doorbell ring while waiting anxiously for guests to arrive D) Feeling a tap on your shoulder while moving through a noisy crowd

A) Noticing the text-alert sound from the cell phone in your pocket while you walk throughout the supermarket

Why would you feel pain when placing your hand on both a hot and a cold pipe at the same time? A) Touch receptors are reporting the sensations of heat and cold, but the brain combines the two and perceives pain. B) The juxtaposition of hot and cold metal scalds your skin. C) Any vibration of the pipes interferes with the normal functioning of your free nerve endings. D) The free nerve endings in your hand cannot distinguish between hot and cold sensations.

A) Touch receptors are reporting the sensations of heat and cold, but the brain combines the two and perceives pain.

Which of the following is the best example of a sensation? A) Your skin receptors detect the touch of a student walking by. B) You recognize the sound of your friend's voice in the cafeteria. C) You smile while listening to your favorite song. D) You gasp when you realize that you forgot about today's exam.

A) Your skin receptors detect the touch of a student walking by.

Imagine your professor asks you to conduct an experiment in which you have to increase the intensity of a light several times and determine the smallest change in the intensity of light that your friend can detect. You are measuring your friend's A) just noticeable difference (JND). B) Gestalt perception. C) sensory code. D) absolute threshold.

A) just noticeable difference (JND)

Occlusion is a _______ depth cue. A) monocular B) binocular C) proprioceptive D) vestibular

A) monocular

In order for you to enjoy the smell of a flower, molecules called _______ from the flower must land on your olfactory epithelium, which lines the inside of the nose. A) odorants B) photons C) tastants D) free radicals

A) odorants

You would expect that your pupils would be smallest when you are A) sitting on the beach on a very sunny day. B) reading a book in a moderately lit room. C) watching TV in a dimly lit room. D) navigating through a dark forest at night.

A) sitting on the beach on a very sunny day.

The collections of 50-150 cells on the surface of the tongue, back of the mouth, and roof of the mouth are called A) taste buds. B) taste receptor cells. C) taste pores. D) tastants.

A) taste buds.

The main idea behind Gestalt psychology is that A) the whole perception is more than just the sum of our separate sensations. B) photons are perceived by a mental organ separate from the visual system. C) sensations and perceptions have a one-to-one correspondence. D) perception is essentially the sum of our separate sensations.

A) the whole perception is more than just the sum of our separate sensations.

The greatest adaptive, perceptual advantage to having two ears rather than one is that A) we are more easily able to localize sounds with two ears. B) the head does not cast a sound shadow when there are ears on opposite sides. C) sounds seem more pleasant when heard with two ears. D) the cochlea functions more efficiently if both ears are functioning properly.

A) we are more easily able to localize sounds with two ears.

The figure shows the response of a touch receptor in response to two stimulus strengths. What can you conclude about the relationship between the strength of the stimulus and the likelihood of the touch receptor to fire? A) The lighter the push against the skin, the more likely it is that the touch receptor will fire. B) The harder the push against the skin, the more likely it is that the touch receptor will fire. C) The strength of the stimulus is unrelated to the likelihood of the touch receptor to fire. D) Light touches cannot cause the touch receptor to fire.

B) The harder the push against the skin, the more likely it is that the touch receptor will fire.

The visual field is A) what is hidden from view by the blind spot. B) what we can see without moving our eyes. C) the visual environment inside the eye. D) the retinal image that is not inverted.

B) what we can see without moving our eyes.

The primary function of the outer ear, or pinna, is to A) vibrate in concert with the surrounding air molecules. B) gather sounds and direct them to the middle ear. C) filter out sounds of low and high frequency. D) dampen loud sounds.

B) gather sounds and direct them to the middle ear.

Weber's fraction expresses the _______ as a proportion of the original stimulus. A) absolute threshold B) just noticeable difference (JND) C) stimulus intensity D) response magnitude

B) just noticeable difference (JND)

A receptive field is A) the location within a neuron where perception occurs. B) the region of space where stimuli affect the activity of a cell in a sensory system. C) part of a neuron's axon. D) the location of a neuron within a sensory organ

B) the region of space where stimuli affect the activity of a cell in a sensory system.

Which of the following constitutes a false alarm in signal detection theory? A) You hear your teakettle whistling, and you turn off the stove. B) You are focused on studying, and you do not notice your roommate leaving for dinner. C) You turn off the radio to answer your phone, but the phone is not ringing. D) You expect your nephew to cry when he falls, but he doesn't.

C) You turn off the radio to answer your phone, but the phone is not ringing.

The specialized receptor cells inside the cochlea are called A) photons. B) rods. C) hair cells. D) stapes.

C) hair cells.

The main distinction between sensation and perception is that only perception involves A) noticing that a stimulus is present. B) detecting the absence of stimulus. C) interpreting what the stimulus is. D) deciding how to react to a stimulus.

C) interpreting what the stimulus is.

In a sense, phantom limb pain is a purely _______ phenomenon. A) sensory B) combat-specific C) perceptual D) modality-general

C) perceptual

Psychologists use the term "sensory modality" to refer to a A) specific stimulation of a sensory receptor. B) set of sensory receptors clustered together in one place in the body. C) specific sense, such as vision or olfaction. D) set of percepts that do not correspond to sensory stimuli.

C) specific sense, such as vision or olfaction.

The retina is the A) flexible material on the outside of the eye. B) transparent layer below the cornea that passes light through the eye. C) surface at the back of the eye where the image is focused. D) muscular portion of the eye that changes size to allow more or less light in.

C) surface at the back of the eye where the image is focused.

Biting into a lemon is likely to stimulate taste receptor cells for _______ and ____ A) salty; sweet B) bitter; salty D) umami; bitter

C) sweet; sour

Which of the following scenarios best illustrates size constancy? A) You often misjudge how tall people are when you see them on television. B) When riding in a car, you perceive close objects as remaining the same size but objects that are farther away as shrinking. C) In your mind, you generally remain the same size throughout your life. D) As you approach a monument, you perceive that the monument remains the same size.

D) As you approach a monument, you perceive that the monument remains the same size.

Which of the following research questions is a psychophysicist likely to be most interested in asking? A) Which neurons relay information from the thalamus to the cerebral cortex? B) What kinds of neurons relay information from the spinal cord to the muscles? C) How is perceptual information encoded and stored for later use by the brain? D) How much louder must a sound be before a person can detect that it is louder than the original sound?

D) How much louder must a sound be before a person can detect that it is louder than the original sound?

How does the figure illustrate the concept of a sensory threshold? A) Sensory thresholds and sensory codes are essentially the same concept. B) A stimulus that is strong enough to cause a sensory receptor to fire will not cause the sensory receptor to reach threshold. C) Stimulus strength is the only sensory modality that affects sensory thresholds. D) If the stimulus is weak enough, the sensory receptor will not reach threshold and will not produce an action potential.

D) If the stimulus is weak enough, the sensory receptor will not reach threshold and will not produce an action potential.

Imagine that you and a friend are riding in a car singing along to loud music. Which of the following external sounds is most likely to be considered "noise" and ignored? A) A driver passing you on the left honks his horn repeatedly. B) A police car races up behind you with its siren sounding. C) A noisy motorcycle passes you from the opposite direction. D) Your friend yells at you to get off at the next exit.

D) Your friend yells at you to get off at the next exit.

The main difference between binocular and monocular depth cues is that A) monocular cues are generally more complex than binocular cues. B) monocular cues require information from both eyes, while binocular cues do not. C) binocular cues are used mostly for Gestalt perception, while monocular cues are used for motion. D) binocular cues require information from both eyes, while monocular cues do not.

D) binocular cues require information from both eyes, while monocular cues do not.

The depth cue of motion parallax accounts for the fact that while you are moving forward, you will perceive the A) farthest objects as moving fastest and in the same direction. B) largest objects as moving slowest and in the opposite direction. C) smallest objects as moving fastest and in the same direction. D) closest objects as moving fastest and in the opposite direction.

D) closest objects as moving fastest and in the opposite direction.

The flexible, transparent structure in the eye that helps focus an image on the back of the eye's interior is called the A) iris. B) optic disc. C) fovea. D) lens.

D) lens.

A chemical that encounters a taste receptor cell and excites it is called a(n) A) epithelium. B) umami. C) odorant. D) tastant.

D) tastant.