disks

The fact that your criterion for "hearing" mysterious noises at night may change after a rash of burglaries in your neighborhood can best be explained by

signal detection theory

All summer Thomas hears the sound of the ice cream truck approaching before his brother Oscar hears it. Thomas most likely has which of the following?

A lower absolute threshold for hearing than Oscar

Which of the following scenarios best demonstrates a context effect?

Jeannette does better on her exam when she takes it in the same room where she studies.

The intensity at which a sound becomes audible for a given individual is known as the individual's

absolute threshold

While at a crowded gathering, Zach realized that his attention was being drawn away from his conversation every time a person nearby said the word "exactly." Zach's response is an example of

cocktail party effect

When Rocco views the image above, he sees it as a 13 when it is part of a larger number but as a B when it is part of a word. Rocco's response shows the importance of what perceptual concept?

context effects

A person is asked to listen to a series of tones presented in pairs, and asked to say whether the tones in each pair are the same or different in pitch. In this situation the experimenter is most likely measuring the individual's

difference threshold

A subliminal stimulus is a stimulus that

falls below the threshold for conscious detection

John moves to a new job in a large urban area. For the first few days, John is continuously distracted by the sounds of traffic and street noise. By the end of the first week, John barely notices the sounds of the city. Which of the following has occurred?

habituation

Juanita was drinking some warm punch and she thought she could just detect a faint taste of nutmeg in the punch. However when she took another sip the taste wasn't there. On the third sip she could just make out the taste of nutmeg again. It is very likely that the amount of nutmeg in the punch was

just at her absolute threshold for taste

After his friend said a new movie was the funniest he had seen in years, Willard found himself laughing throughout the viewing, even though the movie was not very funny. What concept is Willard demonstrating?

perceptual set

An individual's ability to focus on a particular conversation in a noisy and crowded room is called

selective attention

Jason is attending a parade that features the local high school band. Jason's friend Brent plays the trombone in the band. It is difficult for Jason to hear Brent play at the parade. Which of the following would best allow Jason to hear Brent's trombone?

selective attention

Using cell phones while driving increases the number of accidents because use of the phones requires

selective attention

After spending hours in her kitchen preparing dinner, Rebecca no longer notices the strong smell of garlic until her guests arrive and mention the smell. Her failure to notice the smell of garlic illustrates

sensory adaptation

Laura arrives at a park that is located very close to a factory that produces cookies. She immediately notices the strong odor of chocolate chip cookies, but after a while she no longer detects the smell of the cookies. This can best be explained by which of the following?

sensory adaptation

venn diagram

top down processing

People listening to rock music played backward often perceive an evil message if specifically told what to listen for. That phenomenon best Illustrates

top-down processing

Tina is reading an important letter when she accidentally splashes water on the paper. The water has smudged a few words, but she is still able to understand what the letter says. This can be explained by

top-down processing

The process of converting incoming physical energy into a neural code that can be processed is called

transduction