Sensation & Perception
A woman, who was never awakened by minor noises at night, now wakes at the slightest sound her newborn baby makes. This is an example of a. absolute threshold b. signal detection theory c. difference threshold d. Weber's law e. subliminal stimulation
b
After exiting a spinning carnival ride, an individual has difficulty walking upright and feels as though they are going to fall over. This effect is caused by the disruption of the a. kinesthetic sense b. semicircular canals c. cochlea d. photoreceptors e. sound waves
b
The ____ lines the back of the eye and contains the neurons that help process visual information so it can be understood by the brain (i.e. transduction)
retina
____ are photoreceptor cells located in the retina and are responsible for the ability to see in the presence of low levels of light
rods
If you place your finger on your nose, you will see the tip of your finger but not the tip of your nose. Which sensory phenomena BEST explains the apparent invisibility from pyour visual field?
sensory habituation
_____ is a perceptual "rule" the brain follows to make sense of the world.
size constancy
_____ takes place in the eye when rods and cones located on the retina detect light and then generate neural signals which then travel to the brain
Transduction
____ is the failure to notice changes in the environment
change blindness
Which of the following structures of the eye controls the size of the pupil? a. cornea b. lens c. retina d. iris e. fovea
d
In the ear, the process of transduction occurs in the a. auditory cortex b. outer ear c. eardrum d. auditory canal e. cochlea
e
Your ____ is part of the outer ear. Damage to the ____ can result in conduction hearing loss
eardrum
The ____ is located in the center of the retina and contains a large concentratino of the cells that allow for color vision, known as cones.
fovea
An _____ has nothing to do w/ signal detection theory --- it is thinking there is a link between two things when none exists.
illusory correlation
If your ____ sustained an injury, you could suffer from conduction hearing loss, NOT sensorineural hearing loss.
outer ear
The ____ is one of the bones associated with the middle ear. Damage to this portion of the ear would result in conduction hearing loss.
stirrup
Alex can easily tell the difference between a 1-lb bag of flour and 5-lb bag, but he cannot tell the difference between lifting 200 lbs and 205 lbs in the weight room. Which of the following explains Alex's inability to determine the heavier weight's differences? a. Weber's law b. absolute threshold c. signal detection theory d. top-down processing e. bottom-up processing
a
Which of the following BEST reflects contemporary beliefs about extrasensory perception (ESP)? a. what was once considered ESP is best understood as very low absolute thresholds b. because research supporting ESP cannot be replicated or has design flaws, most psychologists do not believe it exists. c. not enough research has been done on ESP phenomena to make a conclusion d. psychologists mostly agree that it exists, but cannot agree on an explanation. e. there is a strong correlation between synesthesia and having ESP
b
Which of the following is the CORRECT sequence of structures activated in the ear when an individual hears a sound? a. auditory canal, eardrum, basilar membrane, anvil b. eardrum, anvil, cochlea, auditory nerve c. eardrum, anvil, hammer, auditory nerve, cochlea d. eardrum, hair cells, anvil, auditory nerve
b
Which of the following researchers is BEST known for his or her work with the noticeable difference in stimulation and its relationship to the stimulation being judged? a. Torsten Weisel b. Ernst Weber c. Gustav Fechner d. Sigmund Freud e. Mary Calkins
b
Who emphasized that in order for a person to detect a difference between two stimuli it was the percentage change that mattered, not the amount? a. Gustav Fechner b. Ernst Weber c. William James d. David Hubel e. Torsten Wiesel
b
____ means the brain processing two different signals from a person's two eyes at the same time. The brain can determine where something is in space by analyzing the difference in signal from the eyes.
binocular perception
the ___ is the shell-shaped part of the inner ear and contains tiny cilia. Damage to the cilia inside the ____ from a high fever can lead to sensorineural hearing loss.
cochlea
The photoreceptor cells that make color vision possible are known as ____.
cones
The ____ is the outermost, transparent layer of the eye that protects the eye and allows light to enter
cornea
A group of friends are going star gazing. Valentina is super excited and thinks she sees something when there is nothing there. In signal detection theory, Valentina's mistake is a. a hit b. a miss c. an illusory correlation d. a false alarm e. a correct rejection
d
A psychology professor shows the class a series of blinking lights which create the illusion of a moving arrow. The professor notes, "sometimes the whole is greater than the sum of its parts". This statement is a reference to the work of which pair of psychologists? a. John Hobson and Robert McCarley b. William Masters and Virginia Johnson c. Paul Costa and Robert McCrae d. Max Wertheimer and Wolfgang
d
Because she was listening to the news on the television, Ms. Jones did not perceive a word her husband was saying. Which of the following is illustrated in this example? a. gate-control theory b. change blindness c. Gestalt principles d. selective attention e. opponent-process theory
d
Feature detection is a perceptual process that involves which of the following? a. color receptors in the retina fo red, green, and blue which allow for the perception of any color b. the ability to detect black, white, and gray c. opposing retinal processes that enable color vision by stimulatuion neurons for a certian color (such as red) and then inhibiting another color in the process (such as green) d. specialized neurons that allow the brain to respond to specific features of a stimulus.
d
Peony is collecting seashells. She doesn't notice that the beach is slowly getting darker until the sun is almost below the horizon and night has nearly fallen. Why did Peony NOT notice the changing light? a. She did not transduce the changing light. b. She used top-down processing when she should have used bottom-up processing c. Habituation caused her to adapt before she processed the light d. The small changes in light were below her difference threshold e. The changing light was a 'hit' according to signal detection theory
d
Samantha is flipping through her psychology book when she comes across the names of colors in different colored fonts. She follows the book's instructions and tries to say the color of the ink in which of the word is typed in instead of simply reading the words. Doing so demonstrates which psychological concept? a. how people can process things quickly and consciously b. how people have cultural biases when processing color. c. how people can "feel" color d. how people's minds can get confused between conscious and unconscious processing e. how the primary visual corte works within the occipital lobe
d
When Karen looks at an object, her brain is able to organize the sensory information and she can recognize that the object is a flower. What is this process called? a. transduction b. psychophysics c. sensation d. perception e. a combination of sensation and perception
d
When Karen looks at an object, her sensory receptors detect its color, shape, and smell. Her brain is able to organize the information and she can recognize that the object is a flower. What is this process called? a. transduction b. psychophysics b. sensation d. perception e. a combination of sensation and perception
e
Which of the following is the BEST example of an absolute threshold? a. Advertisers sneak hidden images into a commercial that are too short to perceive in conscious awareness. b. Benton is eating cotton candy, and soon it tastes less sweet than when he began. c. Cora is talking to Reuben at a party but notices when somebody across the room says her name. d. Danica tastes the difference between salad with one tablespoon of dressing and salad with two tablespoons of dressing about half of the time. e. From his own room, Eliseo can smell when his sister puts on two squirts of perfume in her bedroom half of the time, but he cannot notice one squirt.
e
The ____ is one of the bones associated with the middle ear. Damage to this portion of the ear would result in conduction hearing loss.
hammer
____ is the failure to notice a bisible object because attention is focused on something else.
inattentional blindness
the ___ is the colored part of the eye and the muscle used to adjust the hole in the center of the eye, known as the pupil.
iris
The ___ is behind the front of the eye and focuses light on the back of the eye into an image on the retina
lens
____ processing, as well as the two-track mind, deal more with the processing of multiple pieces of information implicitly and explicitly at the same time. ***HINT: two words!!!***
parallel and dual
A ____ is the tendency to perceive one thing or experience instead of another, based on past experiences.
perceptual set
Oscar Schmidlapo was not very smart, but he was strong. His father recognized early where his son's talents lay. When Oscar was 15, his school offered him early morning classes to help him with his academics. His father said no. Instead, his father instructed Oscar to stay home and care for a just-born baby cow. The male calk weighted 85 pounds when born - not much for a strong farm kid like Oscar. His father told him every day that he was to lift up the baby bull 10 times. After only two years, Oscar became amazingly strong and could lift a full-grown bull. Which term would account for this situation?
Weber's law
Animals that have excellent night vision are MOST likely to have a. an abundance of rods b. an abundance of cones c. fewer rods d. fewer cones e. the same number of rods and cones
a
Hubel and Wiesel identified key neurons in the occipital lobe's visual cortex that allow the brain to respond to specifics of a stimulus such as shape, angle, and movement. What are these nerve cells called? a. feature detectors b. rods c. cones d. trichromatic theory e. opponent-process theory
a
James is riding in the back seat of a car and presses against the window. When he does so, he notices the fence on the side of the road is zipping along quickly, but the house in the distance is not moving much. What is Jamar observing? a. Motion parallax b. Phi phenomenon c. size constancy d. retinal disparity
a
Jane was watching a scary movie with her best friend. During a particularly scary scene, she failed to notice her brother walk into the room until he came up next to her and said "BOO!" Why did Jane fail to notice him? a. inattentional blindness caused her to focus on the movie and nothing else b. context effects caused her to fear her surroundings c. change blindess caused Jane to fail to see the change in her environment d. state-dependent memory caused her to only be afraid of her brother during scary movies e. the cocktail party effect caused Jane to only notice her brothe rwhen he says her name
a
Katie loves to go to her local library and has participated in summer reading programs for several years that are organized by the lead librarian, Mrs. Higgins. Although Katie has known Mrs. Higgins for a long tim,e she failed to recognize her when she was walking down the street during a community art festival. This recognition failure is due ot which of the following? a. context effect b. bottom-up processing c. proximity d. transduction e. absolute threshold
a
Mrs. Gabriel was teaching a lesson on ethics and she had the students form groups of four to discuss their feelings about a controversial topic. Although the classroom got very loud, Mrs. Gabriel was able to hear her name from across the classroom when a student needed help. Which of the following BEST describes this phenomenon? a. cocktail party effect b. inattentional blindness c. unconsciousness d. change blindness e. blindsight
a
One thing all senses have in common is that they ALL a. convert the information they gather from the environment into neural signals b. detect chemical information c. send signals from the environment directly to the brain d. interpret the meaning of the informatino from the environment through bottom-up processing
a
Our sense of hearing is achieved as sound waves travel through several steps to become neural impulses. Which of the following is part of the outer ear? a. pinna b. anvil c. stapes d. hammer e. cochlea
a
The process by which the senses collect energy from the environment and turn it into information the brain can interpret is called a. transduction b. synesthesia c. Weber's law d. bottom-up processing e. signal detection theory
a
The visual cortex in which of the following areas of the brain? a. occipital lobe b. brainstem c. parietal lobe d. frontal lobe e. optic nerve
a
Tonya is accustomed to listening to her teacher talk about psychological terms and theories that seem to contradict each other. With spring break and the approaching psychology exam to think about, Tonya is not too focused on anything the teacher is saying. But she immediately notices when the teacher calls her name. Which of the following concepts best describes this situation? a. cocktail party effect b. levels of consciousness theory c. echoic memory d. zone-based audition e. spotlight effect
a
Which of the following is the CORRECT sequence of anatomical structures through which a light wave passes before it is perceived as vision? a. cornea, pupil, lens, vitreous humor, retina, bipolar cells, ganglion cells, optic nerve, thalamus, visual cortex b. visual cortex, thalamus, optic nerve, ganglion cells, bipolar cells, retina vitreous humor, lens, pupil, cornea c. lens, pupil, cornea, vitreous humor, retina, bipolar cells, ganglion cells, optic nerve, thalamus, visual cortex d. cornea, pupil, lens, virteous, humor, bipolar cells, gangion cells, retina, optic nerve, thalamus, visual cortex
a
Which of the following researchers, by researching the properties of theurons in the visual cortex of cats, found that nerve cells in the brain respond to specific features of a stimulus? a. David Hubel and Torsten Weisel b. Ernst Weber c. Gustav Fechner
a
Which of the following visula processes provides humans the ability to distinguish between different shapes, angles, and moving objects? a. feature detection b. parallel procesisng c. color vision d. afterimage e. opponent processing
a
Which team won a Nobel Prize for their research on feature detector cells? a. David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel b. Gustav Fecher and Ernst Weber c. Edward Titchener and Willhein Wundt d. Roger Sperry and Michael Gazzaniga
a
Xavier finds the smell of a new restuarant to be very strong at first, but after spending time eating in the restaurant he no longer notices the smell. THe process of getting used to a sensory experience is referred to as a. sensory adaptation b. absolute threshold c. difference threshold d. perception e. sensation
a
Angelique's psychology teacher, Mrs. Murphy, always makes students get out of their seats to participate in demonstrations. Today was Angelique's turn. Mrs. Murphy had Angelique face the class, close her eyes, and touch her fingers to her nose. Angelique was so nervous and embarrassed that she forgot to ask what the demonstration was supposed to show. What was Mrs. Murphy trying to show her class by using Angelique? a. noiception b. proprioception c. afferent processing d. efferent processing e. lateral inhibitio
b
Freddy cannot wait until the end of class. He leaves class w/ permission and starts walking in an empty school hallway. Another student enters the hallway and starts walking towards Freddy. As the student walks closer to Freddy, the image of the student of Freddy's retinas gets bigger, but Freddy knows the other student is not actually increasing in size. Which of the following BEST exmplains what is happening? a. Gestalt principles b. Size constancy c. Binocular depth cure d. Phi phenomenon e. Weber's law
b
In which of the following experiments would Gustav Fechner have been MOST likely to participate? a. asking subjects to discuss their childhood b. asking subjects to report each time they notice the presence of a new smell c. observe ho wsubjects respond after being shown subliminal messaging d. create a frightening situation and then see if subjects' detection of faint stimuli changes
b
Timmy moved to a different school over the summer. At his last school, he had a very strict teacher that he was afraid of because she would yell at the class all of the time. When he came to his new school and sat in class on he first day, he perceived his new teacher as angry and strict as well, even though she was just going over the school rules that all teachers had to discuss on the first day. What influenced Timmy's mistaken perception? a. feature detection b. perceptual set c. bottom-up processing d. sensory adaptation e. Weber's law
b
When Erdmann opened the door to the locker room, he noticed a strong and unpleasant aroma. Howver, after a few minutes, he could hardly notice the smell. Which sensory phenomenon BEST explains why Erdmann no longer notices the smell of the locker room? a. subliminal perception b. sensory adaptation c. just-noticeable difference d. light-dark adaptation e. absolute threshold
b
Which of the following BEST describes a subliminal message? a. message presented while an individual is under hypnosis b. a subliminal message is below one's absolute threshold for awareness c. message presented in a manner that is unconsciously persuasive d. a subliminal message is presented with very soft background music e. a sublinimal message is presented with repetition
b
A sensation is the process of turning physical energy like light, pressure, or sound, into neural signals that travel from the sensory system to the brain. Which term BEST describes this process? a. Visual accomodation b. Perception c. Transduction d. Sensory adaptation e. Top-down processing
c
Sally loves reality shows about muscial talent. She wisehs she had perfect pitch. What she does not know is that when a tiny wave of cochlear fluid stimulates a certain spot on her basilar membrane, a signal is sent to her brain that interprets it as "pitch". Which process BEST describes what is happening in Sally's ear as she hears things? a. temporal coding b. vestibular coding c. spatial coding d. binocular perception e. binaural perception
c
Selena was recently diagnosed with spinal meningitis. After days of habing a high fever, Selena was left with complete deafness in her left ear. Her doctor explained that Selena was suffering from sensoineural hearing loss. Which part of her ear was MOST likely damaged and caused her sensorineural hearing loss? a. her outer ear b. her eardrum c. her cochlea d. her hammer e. her stirrup
c
The initial understanding that the mind is capable of measurement through the use of sensation and perception is attributed to which 19th Century psychologist? a. David Hubel b. Ernst Weber c. Gustav Fechner d. Sigmund Freud e. Mary Calkins
c
When Karen looks at an object, her sensory receptors detect the color and the shape. What is this process called? a. transduction b. psychophysics c. sensation d. perception e. a combination of sensation and perception
c
Which of the following does signal detection theory BEST help explain? a. why some people consistenty have more sensitive senses of smell than others b. people who 'see' sound of 'taste' colors c. why an alert security guard is more likely to hear a faint noise at 4 am than somebody crossing the lobby after a late night of studying d. why we do not notice that our socks are touching our feet after a few minutes of wearing them
c
Which of the following individuals is BEST known for their research of absolute thresholds? a. Ernst Weber b. William James c. Gustav Fechner d. David Hubel e. Torsten Wiesel
c
Which of the following is MOST true about human sensation? a. humans can sense all existing colors and sounds. b. if we are not consciously aware of sensing something, then our sensory receptors did not pick it up. c. we can be affected by stimuli that we are unaware of having sensed d. we sense and transduce all existing colors and sounds, but our brain can only process a narrow range.
c
Which pair of researchers proposed that the human eye has three types of color receptors which respond to different wavelengths of light? a. David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel b. Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer c. Thomas Young and Herman von Helmholtz d. Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky
c
A researcher conducts an experiment using the image above. The researcher instructs individuals to say the color that each word is written in, opposed to reading the word. Many individuals struggle to state the color of each word and instead read the word. This is an example of a. how people can process things quickly and consciously b. how people have cultural biases when processing color c. how people can "feel" color d. how people's minds can get confused between conscious and unconscious processing e. how the primary visual cortex works within the occipital lobe
d
When 83-year old Jack's great grandchildren visit, he finds himself habing difficulty hearing what they are saying. He can hear his wife, daughter, and son-in-law without any issues. Which of the following BEST explains Jack's inability to hear his great grandchildren? a. Jack is suffering from sensorineural hearing loss b. Jack is suffering from conduction hearing loss c. Jack's great grandchildren speak at a higher amplitude than the adult members of his family d. Jack's great grandchildren speak at a higher frequency than the adult members of his family
d
When Bella was at a restaurant with her friends, she failed to notice the difference when her first waiter left to go on a break and a second waiter took his place. Bella's failure to notice the change in waiters is an example of a. inattentional blindless b. parallel processing c. the two-track mind d. change blindness e. dual processing
d
When we are required to perform two or more tasks at the same time, such as driving the car and carrying on a conversation, what do we have? a. focused attention b. unconcsious motivation c. split brain d. divided attention e. systematic desensitization
d
Which of the following BEST explains why a room wiht an air temperature of 82 degrees may feel cool to someone who has been outside sunbathing but warm to someone who just got out of their air-conditioned car? a. sensory restriction b. perceptual constancy c. absolute threshold d. sensory adaptation
d
Which of the following is an explanation of why sensory adaptation occurs? a. it is a rare, maladaptive (not adaptive) genetic disorder b. there are individual differences in sensation c. individuals "run out" of neurons for a particular stimulus once a threshold is reached d. it allows individuals to focus on informative changes taking place in their environment without being disctracted by "boring" information e. the brain adjusts its perception of the world to provide a stable, more occurate understanding of the environment
d
Which of the following is the colored muscle that controls the amount of light that enters the eye? a. cornea b. pupil c. lens d. iris e. retina
d
David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel won the Nobel Prize for their work on a. absolute thresholds b. difference thresholds c. subliminal messages d. parallel processing e. feature detectors
e
Howard wants to play a trick on his older sister. He first sneaks a rubber snake into her almost-empty purse, but she notices it is heavier immediately and his plan failts. He then puts it into her already full backpack, and she does not realize it until she opens up her bag in English. Why does his sister not notice the extra weight of the snake amidst her school materials when she did notice it next to her car keys in her purse? a. Women's absolute thresholds changes dramatically from situation to situation b. his sister has synesthesia c. the sense of touch is not very sensitive to changes d. the amount required to reach a just-noticeable differnece (JND) isnot constant; it depends on the difference proportionate to what is already being sensed.
e
In a famous experiment, subjects viewed a group of three people in black shirts and a group of three people in white shirts passing a basketball. When asked to count the number of times the team in black passed the ball to each other, most subjects failed to notice a person in a gorilla costume walking across the screen. This experiment illustrates which of the following psychological principles? a. people cannot detect stimuli that are below their perceptual thresholds b. sensory thresholds may vary from one individual to the next c. the expectation that a particular stimulus will occur will tend to increase the probability of experiencing a false alarm d. sensitivity to sensory information decreases with prolonged exposure to a specific stimulus e. selective attention can make people less sensitive to unexpected changes in their environment
e
Jared and Geness are parents to newborn baby Annie. Even in a crowded, noisy room, Geness can pick out Annie's faint cry. What term would psychologists use to explain Geness' abiility to recognize Annie's cry? a. absolute threshold b. difference threshold c. just-noticeable difference d. subliminal perception e. signal detection theory
e
Jessica hears her infant son crying in the middle of the night, even when the sound is faint because she is expecting to hear him. At the same time, she often fails to hear cars that occassionally drive by her house at a louder volume. Which concept BEST explains this phenomenon? a. Sensory adaptation b. Difference threshold c. Weber's law d. Place theory e. Signal detection theory
e
specific term to describe the senory organs' ability to detect physical energy or chemicals
transduction
