psych quiz
After spending hours in her kitchen preparing dinner, Rebecca no longer notices the strong smell of garlic until her guests arrive and mention the smell. Her failure to notice the smell of garlic illustrates
sensory adaptation
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
People listening to rock music played backward often perceive an evil message if specifically told what to listen for. That phenomenon best illustrates
top-down processing
The intensity at which a sound becomes audible for a given individual is known as the individual's
absolute threshold
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
difference threshold
John moves to a new job in a large urban area. For the first few days, John is continuously distracted by the sounds of traffic and street noise. By the end of the first week, John barely notices the sounds of the city. Which of the following has occurred?
habituation
Tina is reading an important letter when she accidentally splashes water on the paper. The water has smudged a few words, but she is still able to understand what the letter says. This can be explained by
top-down processing
All summer Thomas hears the sound of the icecream truck approaching before his brother Oscar hears it. Thomas most likely has which of the following?
A lower absolute threshold for hearing than Oscar
top-down processing
information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations
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
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
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
The process of converting incoming physical energy into a neural code that can be processed is called
transduction
