Learning curve 6a

Weber's law.

Weber's law concerns how stimuli are perceived as different, and is unrelated to opponent-process theory.

Experiencing sudden pain is to _____ as recognizing that you are suffering a heart attack is to _____.

sensation; perception

Why do our sensory systems adapt after prolonged exposure to a constant stimulus?

so that we detect potentially important changes in what's going on

Seeing the numeral 3, for instance, may evoke a particular taste sensation in a condition called _____.

synesthesia

Making an analogy between hearing and vision, the auditory hair cells in the _____ are similar to the _____ in the retina.

cochlea; rods and cones

Sensory adaptation helps people:

concentrate on more important things

Even when seen through sunglasses, grass appears equally as green as it does without glasses. This BEST illustrates color _____.

constancy

Maura goes to a psychic who says she can read cards and tell Maura about her future life. Maura wants to know when she will get married. She hopes this psychic has the ability of:

precognition

Carlos was just touched on his cheek, which is a(n) _____. In order for Carlos to know if he was kissed or slapped, Carlos needs a(n) _____.

sensation; perception

Some birds can detect the ultraviolet radiation reflected from feathers of potential mates. As compared with humans, then, these birds can see _____ wavelengths.

lower

Denise wears an extremely bright safety yellow sweatshirt when she cycles to the gym after dark. The sweatshirt's brightness reflects the _____ of the light it reflects.

high amplitude

Racial and ethnic stereotypes can sometimes bias the way one sees others' behaviors. This BEST illustrates the impact of:

perceptual set

Both _____ and _____ indicate how our experiences help us to construct perception.

perceptual set; context

When Sanjay recognizes line segments and areas of light and dark as his friend's face at an airport gate, he is demonstrating:

perception

After some practice, Lori was able to read books while holding them upside down. This BEST illustrates _____.

perceptual adaptation

After many years of playing extremely loud rock music, David has suffered significant hearing loss, which cannot be corrected with a hearing aid. David is suffering from:

sensorineural hearing loss (nerve deafness).

Roast beef with a rich brown gravy is often described as a savory dish. The basic taste prominent in such a dish is:

umami.

When two friends talk over lunch, the amplitude of their conversation is about _____ decibels.

60

Mia is attracted to a man she is chatting with in a nightclub. What is probably happening to her eyes?

Her pupils are dilating.

A hypnotist instructed Juanita that when she came out of hypnosis she would be unable to spell her own name. This is an example of:

a posthypnotic suggestion.

As you walk into a brightly lit room, the black structure in the center of your eye seems to shrink to a tiny black dot. This response is caused by the action of the eye structure called the:

iris

Phantom limb sensations and other experiences of amputees show that the brain can produce pain in the absence of:

normal sensory input.

Uri Geller famously claims to be able to bend metal objects such as spoons with his mind. This ability is known as:

psychokinesis.

The fact that perception involves more than the sum of sensations BEST illustrates the importance of _____ processing.

top-down

The phenomenon of perceptual set underscores the contribution of _____ processes to perception.

top-down

According to the textbook, your eyes receive light energy and transform it into neural messages that your brain then processes into what you consciously see. Which choice correctly matches a phrase from this statement with the correct sensory or perceptual process?

your brain then processes into what you consciously see - perception

When we see the mouth movements for ga while hearing ba we may perceive da. This BEST illustrates the _____ effect.

McGurk

The opponent-process theory is MOST useful for explaining the characteristics of:

afterimages.

Intensity refers to the level of energy in a light wave; it is determined by the wave's height, or _____.

amplitude

After an evening at the opera, as Enrique walks out into the fresh air, he notices his ears are ringing. This ringing indicates possible damage to the hair cells of his:

basilar membrane

That visual information can be processed without conscious awareness is BEST illustrated by:

blindsight

Sensory analysis starts at the receptors and works to integrate the sensory information in the brain. This process is called

bottom-up

Mrs. Costello lives in Florida. She is gripped by a vision of her sister, gravely injured in a car wreck happening at that very moment in Pennsylvania. Mrs. Costello is inconsolable. Her husband calmly disproves Mrs. Costello's vision by calling his sister-in-law; her cheery voice greets him on the phone. Cleary, Mrs. Costello does not have the ability of _____ that she believes she possesses.

clairvoyance

The basilar membrane lines the:

cochlea

Max is a catcher for a professional baseball team. Last week he injured his groin while playing, but finished out the game. It is MOST likely that Max:

didn't feel any pain until after the game.

A snack manufacturer finds that it must increase the salt content of its chips by 8 percent in order for a sample of consumers to notice that the chips are saltier than they were before. This example BEST illustrates the concept of a(n) _____ threshold.

difference

Sensory adaptation can be defined as:

diminished sensitivity as a result of repeated stimulation.

Talia is 45 years old. She has started to notice that newspaper print is too small for her to read. Talia needs reading glasses because the:

lens of her eyes is less able to accommodate.

Infant rats deprived of their mothers' grooming touch produce _____ growth hormone and have a ____ metabolic rate.

less; lower

Julio is working on a series of landscape paintings. He wants to create a realistic depiction of the English countryside. To turn the flat surface of the canvas into a three-dimensional painting, he might use the technique of:

linear perspective.

Bees can see ultraviolet light, but cannot see the color red. This means that bees cannot see:

low frequency wavelengths.

A famous Hollywood director has decided to present his latest film in 3-D. This will create a great movie-going experience for viewers as 3-D movies exaggerate _____ disparity.

retinal

_____ disparity is an example of a binocular cue to depth perception.

retinal

Perceptual sets are the result of _____, which are concepts that people form to organize and interpret unfamiliar information.

schemas

You are playing "Ring Around the Rosie" with your little cousins and are spinning around and around. When you stop you still feel as though you are spinning because your _____ canals and kinesthetic receptors haven't returned to their neutral state.

semicircular

_____ is the process by which we detect physical energy in the environment and encode that energy as neural signals.

sensation

Anna is reading her psychology textbook. The activation of receptors in her retina is called _____. Her interpretation of the stimuli as particular words is called _____.

sensation; perception

Two Transportation Security Administration officers are scanning bags at the airport. One of the officers lets a bag go through, but the other officer yells, "Wait, didn't you see that?" Why one officer saw a weapon and the other did not is BEST explained by:

signal detection theory

Mila sees the sound of a drum as a large round shape. Mila's experience BEST exemplifies a conditioned called _____.

synesthesia

Samantha opens her eyes in the morning to see flowers by her bedside. At that point, her eyes are receiving light energy, which they change into neural messages for the brain to process. This conversion of one form of energy into another is called:

transduction