Unit 4 Study Guide -Sensation and Perception

The Gestalt principle that refers to an individual's tendency to perceive an incomplete figure as whole is called

Closure

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

Which struck by light energy, cones and rods in the retina generate neural signals that then activate the

bipolar cells

People who are color blind most likely have deficiencies in their

cones

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

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

absolute threshold

The change in the curvature of the lens that enables the eye to focus on objects at various distances is called

accommodation

Elanor Gibson and her colleagues have used the visual cliff to measure an infant's ability to perceive

depth

A sound is often detected by one ear more intensely and a fraction of a second earlier than it is detected by the other ear. The cues help individuals determine the

location of the source

David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel's research on responses of the brain to visual stimuli showed that

many cortical cells respond most strongly to specific visual information

The most common form of color blindness is related to a deficiencies in the

red-green system

In vision, transduction occurs within the

retina

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

selective attention

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

selective attention

As you watch a friend walk away from you, you retinal image of your friend gets smaller. Despite this, you do not perceive him to be shrinking. This is an example of

size constancy

The thalamus process information for all of the following sense EXCEPT

smell

Climbing an irregular set of stairs is more difficult for an individual who wears a patch over one eye primarily because

some depth perception is lost

Luz, a math major, sees the drawing above as a Venn diagram. Her brother, an art major, sees it as two circles. The difference in perception is an example of

top-down processing

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

top-down processing

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

top-down processing

The general function of the bones in the middle ear is to

transfer sound information from the membrane to the oval window

Which of the following supports the opponent-process theory of color vision?

Afterimages

Photoreceptors relay visual information to the brain through which of the following cells?

Bipolar and ganglion

The place in the retina where the optic nerve exists to the brain is called the

Blind spot

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

Different Threshold

The reversible figure above illustrates the Gestalt organizing principle of

Figure-ground

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

The ability to see a cube in the diagram above is best explained by which of the following?

Gestalt principles of closure and continuity

If Carmelita stares at a red spot for one minute and then shifts her haze to a white piece of paper, she is likely to experience an afterimage that is

Green

Damage to which of the following best explains conduction deafness?

Hammer, anvil, and stirrup

Latisha noticed that in the early evening she begins to have difficulty seeing the vibrant colors in her artwork. Which of the following best explains her difficulty?

Her cones cannot detect color well in dim light

The pitch of a sound is analogous to which of the following features of light?

Hue

Which of the following theories most accurately explains pitch perspective? I: Opponent Process II: Frequency III: Place

II and III only

Receptors for olfaction are located

In the nasal cavity

Which of the following is true about the blind spot in the eye

It occurs where the optic nerve leaves the eye

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 judgements about the distance objects are from her?

Linear perspective

Which monocular depth cue is illustrated in the figure above?

Linear perspective

In the dark, an object is most clearly seen when viewed in peripheral vision than when when viewed directly. This phenomenon occurs because the rods located in the retina are

More sensitive in the dark than cones and are not found in the fovea

Feature detectors are neurons that are turned on or off by specific features of visual stimuli like edges and movement. Where in the visual system are these feature detectors located

Occipital cortex

After staring at a green, black, and orange "American Flag" for a minute, an individual will see a red, white, and blue flag afterimage. Which of the following explains this phenomenon?

Opponent-process theory

A person with sight in only one eye lacks which of the following visual cues for seeing in depth?

Retinal Disparity

Which of the following is binocular cue for depth perception?

Retinal disparity

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

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 in the parade. Which of the following would best allow Jason to hear Brent's trombone?

Selective attention

Balance is influenced by the

Semicircular canals

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

When Rosa has a cold, she cannot taste the flavor of her pizza. Which of the following psychological terms describes Rosa's inability to taste?

Sensory interaction

Ernst Weber's and Gustav Fechner's psychophysical law concerns the relation between which of the following?

The intensity of a stimulus and its corresponding psychological sensation

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

The coiled tube in the inner ear that contains the auditory receptors is called the

cochlea

Visual activity is the best in the

fovea

The perceived pitch of a tone is largely determined by its

frequency

Receptors that are especially important for helping a person maintain balance are located in the

inner ear

it can be assumed that an individual described as a supertaster

is very sensitive to hot peppers

When viewed from the window of a moving train, nearby objects seem to pass by more quickly than do more distant objects. This cue for depth perception is called

motion parallax

In visual perception, size constancy occurs as an object comes closer to the viewer because the

perceived distance of the object becomes smaller

On his first day of work at the bakery, Brad was nearly overwhelmed by the sweet odor of the baked goods. However, by lunchtime, he did not even notice the smell. This is an example of

sensory adaptation

Gustatory receptors are sensitive to all of the following taste qualities EXCEPT

spicy

Research has shown that a major reason for poor performance while multitasking is that while multitasking, people

switch their attention rapidly from task to task, so they miss critical information associated with a task that is not receiving their attention

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

Negative afterimages are explained by

the opponent-process theory

When a pair of lights flashing in a quick succession seems to an observer to be one light moving from place to place, the effect is referred to as

the phi phenomenon

Scott lost his vision at a young age. When he was much older, he received a corneal transplant that allowed him to see again. After so many years of not being able to see, he had a very difficult time interpreting visual information such as faces and expressions. His visual problems most likely came from processing difficulties in teh

visual cortex