Psych Unit 2- Biopsychology + Perception & Sensation
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
Which of the following studies is from an evolutionary perspective?
A study to see if women were more attracted to men who liked children than men who did not like children
In which of the following techniques do researchers inject a harmless, radioactive substance into the living human brain to examine activity?
Positron-emission tomography (PET)
In extreme cases, surgically severing the corpus callosum is a treatment for which of the following conditions?
epilepsy
A researcher uses debriefing when he
explains the true purpose of a study immediately after the study is complete
The perceived pitch of a tone is largely determined by its
frequency
If Carmelita stares at a red spot for one minute and then shifts her gaze to a white piece of paper, she is likely to experience an afterimage that is
green
Activation of the parasympathetic nervous system results in which of the following?
A decrease in heart rate
Which of the following correctly describes the firing of neurons?
An all-or-none response
Which of the following correctly pairs subdivisions within the major divisions of the human nervous system?
Autonomic . . sympathetic and parasympathetic
In the figure above, where do selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have their initial effect?
C
A researcher studied 30 people ages twenty to forty, 30 people ages forty-one to sixty, and 30 people ages sixty-one to eighty. The researcher set up two rooms—one with a faint rose smell, and one with a faint lemon smell. Each participant was asked to enter each room and identify the smell in the room. What research method did the researcher use, and what outcome would be found?
Cross-sectional. As people age, their sense of smell diminishes, especially in older age.
Which letter indicates the synaptic cleft?
D
Which of the following neurotransmitters has been linked to Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia?
Dopamine
Martin fell off his skateboard and badly bruised his elbow. He immediately began rubbing the area around the bruise until the pain subsided. This method of reducing pain can be explained by which of the following?
Gate-control theory
Which of the following most accurately characterizes the role of the hypothalamus in the regulation of hunger?
It acts with the endocrine system to control hunger and satiety.
Hyrum is at a concert when a flute player hits a very high note at the end of a song. Which of the following best explains why the pitch of the note sounds so high?
It has a short wavelength and high frequency.
Ana injured her eye in an accident and has to wear a patch over the eye while it heals. Which of the following cues would she best be able to use to make judgments about the distance objects are from her?
Linear perspective
Which of the following is the correct path a neural impulse will follow through the different layers of the retina?
Rods and cones, bipolar cells, ganglion cells, optic nerve
In right-handed individuals, which of the following abilities is predominantly a function of the right hemisphere of the brain?
Spatial reasoning
What hormone seems to be most closely linked with aggressive behavior?
Testosterone
Consider the relationship between various body parts and the size of their corresponding somatosensory cortex areas in the brain. How does a body part relate to the devoted cortical area?
The more sensitive the body part, the larger the area of the somatosensory cortex.
A drug that has the effect of intensifying or mimicking a particular neurotransmitter can be characterized as
an agonist, because it intensifies the effects of a particular neurotransmitter
One-year-old Marcus turns away in disgust if a bitter substance is placed on his tongue. The reason for such a reaction is most likely
an inborn distaste for bitter that protects us from potential poisons in the environment
Photoreceptors relay visual information to the brain through which of the following cells?
bipolar and ganglion
The tendency of most people to identify a three-sided figure as a triangle, even when one of its sides is incomplete, is the result of a perceptual process known as
closure
People who are color blind most likely have deficiencies in their
cones
Sergio's little brother tangled several pairs of identical headphones into one giant mass. To get them free, Sergio had to find the end of one cord and then with his eyes follow that cord throughout the mass as he untangled it. Sergio's ability to see the cord he wanted as a single object is an example of
continuity
A person with damage to Broca's area would most likely demonstrate which of the following symptoms?
difficulty with speech production
Mary participates in an exercise program because she experiences an increase in energy and feelings of well-being at the end of each exercise session. The best explanation for Mary's perseverance in the program is that exercise
increases her level of endorphins
Which of the following areas of the body has the largest number of sensory neurons?
lips
Experimental research differs from correlational research in that experimental research
may reveal a causal relation
The area of the brain stem that is important in controlling breathing is the
medulla
The area labeled A contains the
ossicles
The hypothesis that intelligence is in part inherited is best supported by the fact that the IQ correlation for
pairs of identical twins is greater than for pairs of fraternal twins
Joseph has blue eyes and brown hair and is tall. These characteristics are best described as
phenotypic traits
The function of dendrites is to
receive information from other neurons
Significant damage to which of the following parts of the brain will most likely cause a person to fall into a deep coma from which the person will be unable to awaken?
reticular formation
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
John walks into art class and is overwhelmed by the smell of paint. However, the longer he stays in the room, the less noticeable the smell becomes. Which of the following appears to be operating in this instance?
sensory adaptation
As you watch a friend walk away from you, your retinal image of your friend gets smaller. Despite this, you do not perceive him to be shrinking. This is an example of
size constancy
Professor Ahad has forty-three students in section one of the psychology classes she teaches and fifty-two students in section two. Section one meets at eight a.m. and, section two meets at one p.m. Professor Ahad gives all of her students the same final exam, and those in section two score significantly higher than those in section one. Professor Ahad concludes that her section one students are academically inferior to students in section two. The biggest problem with Professor Ahad's conclusion is that
time of day is a confounding variable in this scenario.
The occipital lobe of the human brain contains the centers for
vision
Consistent with the concept of neural plasticity, neurons in mammals have been found to change the way they function as a result of repeated stimulation by doing which of the following?
Growing new dendritic spines
The diagram above depicts the human body's
endocrine system
Brain lateralization refers to the
inclination for certain cognitive processes to be specialized to one hemisphere of the brain or the other
Ben was enjoying a walk in the woods on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. As he went around a curve, he noticed a bear walking toward him. Immediately his pupils dilated, he began to perspire, and his heart accelerated. These changes are most closely related to the function of the
sympathetic nervous system
The sequence of shifts in the electrical charge of a neuron is called
the action potential
A reason that one typically does not notice a blind spot in the visual field is that
the brain fills in missing information so there is no awareness that the visual field is incomplete
Neurotransmitters are typically stored in which of the following parts of a neuron?
the terminal buttons