Chapter 5: sensations & perception

binocular disparity

Akeelah extended her arm in front of her and then extended one of her fingers. She focused on that finger. Next, she closed her left eye without moving her head; then she opened her left eye and closed her right eye without moving her head. She noticed that her finger seemed to shift as she alternated between the two eyes because of the slightly different view each eye had of her finger. What is illustrated by this example?

signal detection

Catherine is at a crowded baseball game when she loses track of her son, Nick. Despite the loud cheering and noise of the crowd, she can pinpoint his location when he calls for her because she can distinguish the sound of his voice from the all the other voices. This illustrates ________ theory.

thermoception

Due to his sense of ________, Abraham knows he is cold when he is outside during a blizzard, and he knows he is hot after he comes inside and eats soup by the fire.

nociception

Felicia smacks her thumb with a hammer while building a doghouse. The sense of ________ provides her brain with information about the pain she feels.

lens; fovea

In a normal-sighted individual, the ________ will focus images perfectly on a small indentation in the back of the eye known as the ________.

umami and fat content

In addition to sweet, salty, sour, and bitter, what other taste groupings do we possess?

cones

Petra walks into a brightly lit Psychology lab to participate in an experiment involving the ability to perceive the colors of the rainbow. Which photoreceptors will be most useful during this experiment?

Müller-Lyer

Two lines appear to be a different length, though in reality they are the same length. This is known as the ________ illusion.

rods

Wesley is in a movie theater with no windows—the only light is low illumination from the emergency lights on the floor. Which photoreceptors will be most useful to Wesley as he attempts to leave the theater?

bottom-up

What kind of processing is exemplified by the following scenario? Esther's mother offers her a new dish she's been working on―a raisin-jalapeno quiche. Esther's body responds first: Esther eyes the content of the skillet, and smells the mix of raisins, jalapenos, and eggs. Her stomach churns and she looks away. Feeling disgust and disappointment, she says "I'm not hungry."

Gestalt

Which field of psychology includes the following concepts: figure-ground relationship, law of continuity, and principle of closure?

optic

Which nerve carries visual information from the retina to the brain?

just noticeable

Which of the following describes the difference in stimuli required to detect a difference between the stimuli?

the height of a wave

what is amplitude?

how sensory information is interpreted and consciously experience

what is described by the concept of perception?

higher; louder

_______amplitudes are associated with_______sounds

transduction

Your ears receive sound waves and convert this energy into neural messages that travel to your brain and are processed as sounds. This is an example of ________.

binocular

________ disparity refers to the slightly different view of the world that each eye receives.

adaptation

Sariah enters a room with several chirping crickets in it. Upon first entering the room, Sariah can hear the chirping; however, as she begins to talk to her friends, she is no longer aware of the chirping even though it is still there. The fact that Sariah no longer perceives the chirping sound demonstrates sensory ________.

a subliminal message

Suppose you are watching a movie on a large screen. For a fraction of a second, the words "Drink Cola" flash on the screen. You do not perceive the words "Drink Cola" because it is beyond your absolute threshold. In this example, the message "Drink Cola" is an example of ________.

tasting freshly caught salmon

Which of the following exemplifies gustation?

smelling cookies in the oven

Which of the following exemplifies olfaction?

somatosensation

________ is exemplified by stroking the hand of another person.

perception; sensation

________ refers to the way that sensory information is interpreted and consciously experienced; ________ refers to what happens when sensory information is detected by a sensory receptor.

high; low

________-frequency sound waves are perceived as high-pitched sounds, while ________-frequency sound waves are perceived as low-pitched sounds.