LearningCurve 6a. Basic Concepts of Sensation and Perception

The minute Mark walks into his mother-in-law's house to visit, he is struck by the strong smell of his mother-in-law's perfume. However, after about 10 minutes Mark no longer notices the smell. This is probably the result of sensory _____.

adaptation

Cruz realizes just how loud the building's heating system is when it abruptly shuts off one afternoon in the early spring. That Cruz had failed to notice the system's noise all winter BEST illustrates the concept of sensory:

adaptation.

Interpreting new sensory information within the framework of a past memory illustrates _____ processing.

top-down

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

perception.

An inability to recognize faces is called:

prosopagnosia

Sensory adaptation can be defined as:

diminished sensitivity as a result of repeated stimulation.

_____ threshold is the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular sensory stimulus 50 percent of the time.

Absolute

If people stare at an object, why does it NOT seem to disappear?

If people stare at an object, why does it NOT seem to disappear?

According to the textbook, desirable objects are perceived as closer than neutral objects. In an experiment examining this phenomenon, the perceived distance of the objects is a(n) _____ variable in this study.

dependent

Lily is riding her bicycle and, after the fortieth mile, she has one last hill to climb. As compared with the other hills she has climbed on her ride, Lily is likely to perceive this last hill as:

higher.

Which list contains an item that does not belong?

organization, sensation, identification

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

Barbara stubbed her toe last night. It hurt and all day today she has been aware of her toe. She says, "This is so weird. I usually don't think about my toe." Barbara's typical unawareness of her toe BEST reflects:

sensory adaptation

Entering his house, Jayden's face contorts in disgust. He hadn't noticed the odor of his cat's litterbox when he was relaxing at home all morning, but he certainly notices it now! Jayden's failure to pick up on the smell earlier is a good example of:

sensory adaptation.

Malik glances at his doctor's scrawl on a handwritten prescription. He draws on his knowledge of common medications to distinguish among a's, o's, and u's. Malik's experience BEST illustrates:

top-down processing.

Janice opens her eyes in the morning to see a photograph 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.