LearningCurve 4a: Sensation and Perception Are Distinct Activities (LO 4.1-4.3)

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

perception

Which theory would suggest that watching a horror movie late at night could lower a person's absolute threshold for sound as they subsequently try to fall asleep?

signal detection theory

Sensation is to _____ as perception is to _____.

stimulation; interpretation

The field of psychophysics was founded by the German scientist:

Gustav Fechner.

Which statement is TRUE regarding the definition of an information-processing activity?

Sensation is the registration of stimulus energy by the sense organs.

A person can detect a single drop of perfume diffused in an area the size of a one-bedroom apartment in half of a set of trials. This is a(n) _____ threshold.

absolute

An observer in a signal detection experiment responds "yes" when the stimulus is presented. This is called a(n) _____.

hit

Carmen is reading her psychology text. Her interpretation of the stimuli as particular words is called:

perception

Juliana's vision is 20/20, but she cannot recognize the faces of her friends, family members, and acquaintances. Juliana's impairment reflects a deficit in the information-processing activity of:

perception

Anna is reading her psychology text. The activation of receptors in her retina is called _____; her interpretation of the stimuli as particular words is called _____.

sensation; perception

After listening to her high-volume car stereo for 15 minutes, Marcy fails to realize that the music is too loud. This BEST illustrates:

sensory adaptation

Barbara stubbed her toe last night. It hurts 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 is describing:

sensory adaptation

The minute Beth walks into her mother-in-law's house to visit, she is struck by the strong smell of her perfume. However, after about 10 minutes, Beth no longer notices the smell. This is probably the result of:

sensory adaptation