Psych Unit 2- Biopsychology + Perception & Sensation

When Rocco views the image above, he sees it as a 13 when it is part of a larger number but as a B when it is part of a word. Rocco's response shows the importance of what perceptual concept?

Context effects

Which of the following studies is from an evolutionary perspective?

A study to see if women were more attracted to men who liked children than men who did not like children

In which of the following techniques do researchers inject a harmless, radioactive substance into the living human brain to examine activity?

Positron-emission tomography (PET)

In extreme cases, surgically severing the corpus callosum is a treatment for which of the following conditions?

epilepsy

A researcher uses debriefing when he

explains the true purpose of a study immediately after the study is complete

The perceived pitch of a tone is largely determined by its

frequency

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

green

Activation of the parasympathetic nervous system results in which of the following?

A decrease in heart rate

Which of the following correctly describes the firing of neurons?

An all-or-none response

Which of the following correctly pairs subdivisions within the major divisions of the human nervous system?

Autonomic . . sympathetic and parasympathetic

In the figure above, where do selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have their initial effect?

C

A researcher studied 30 people ages twenty to forty, 30 people ages forty-one to sixty, and 30 people ages sixty-one to eighty. The researcher set up two rooms—one with a faint rose smell, and one with a faint lemon smell. Each participant was asked to enter each room and identify the smell in the room. What research method did the researcher use, and what outcome would be found?

Cross-sectional. As people age, their sense of smell diminishes, especially in older age.

Which letter indicates the synaptic cleft?

D

Which of the following neurotransmitters has been linked to Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia?

Dopamine

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

Which of the following most accurately characterizes the role of the hypothalamus in the regulation of hunger?

It acts with the endocrine system to control hunger and satiety.

Hyrum is at a concert when a flute player hits a very high note at the end of a song. Which of the following best explains why the pitch of the note sounds so high?

It has a short wavelength and high frequency.

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 judgments about the distance objects are from her?

Linear perspective

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

In right-handed individuals, which of the following abilities is predominantly a function of the right hemisphere of the brain?

Spatial reasoning

What hormone seems to be most closely linked with aggressive behavior?

Testosterone

Consider the relationship between various body parts and the size of their corresponding somatosensory cortex areas in the brain. How does a body part relate to the devoted cortical area?

The more sensitive the body part, the larger the area of the somatosensory cortex.

A drug that has the effect of intensifying or mimicking a particular neurotransmitter can be characterized as

an agonist, because it intensifies the effects of a particular neurotransmitter

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

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

bipolar and ganglion

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

People who are color blind most likely have deficiencies in their

cones

Sergio's little brother tangled several pairs of identical headphones into one giant mass. To get them free, Sergio had to find the end of one cord and then with his eyes follow that cord throughout the mass as he untangled it. Sergio's ability to see the cord he wanted as a single object is an example of

continuity

A person with damage to Broca's area would most likely demonstrate which of the following symptoms?

difficulty with speech production

Mary participates in an exercise program because she experiences an increase in energy and feelings of well-being at the end of each exercise session. The best explanation for Mary's perseverance in the program is that exercise

increases her level of endorphins

Which of the following areas of the body has the largest number of sensory neurons?

lips

Experimental research differs from correlational research in that experimental research

may reveal a causal relation

The area of the brain stem that is important in controlling breathing is the

medulla

The area labeled A contains the

ossicles

The hypothesis that intelligence is in part inherited is best supported by the fact that the IQ correlation for

pairs of identical twins is greater than for pairs of fraternal twins

Joseph has blue eyes and brown hair and is tall. These characteristics are best described as

phenotypic traits

The function of dendrites is to

receive information from other neurons

Significant damage to which of the following parts of the brain will most likely cause a person to fall into a deep coma from which the person will be unable to awaken?

reticular formation

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

selective attention

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

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

size constancy

Professor Ahad has forty-three students in section one of the psychology classes she teaches and fifty-two students in section two. Section one meets at eight a.m. and, section two meets at one p.m. Professor Ahad gives all of her students the same final exam, and those in section two score significantly higher than those in section one. Professor Ahad concludes that her section one students are academically inferior to students in section two. The biggest problem with Professor Ahad's conclusion is that

time of day is a confounding variable in this scenario.

The occipital lobe of the human brain contains the centers for

vision

Consistent with the concept of neural plasticity, neurons in mammals have been found to change the way they function as a result of repeated stimulation by doing which of the following?

Growing new dendritic spines

The diagram above depicts the human body's

endocrine system

Brain lateralization refers to the

inclination for certain cognitive processes to be specialized to one hemisphere of the brain or the other

Ben was enjoying a walk in the woods on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. As he went around a curve, he noticed a bear walking toward him. Immediately his pupils dilated, he began to perspire, and his heart accelerated. These changes are most closely related to the function of the

sympathetic nervous system

The sequence of shifts in the electrical charge of a neuron is called

the action potential

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

Neurotransmitters are typically stored in which of the following parts of a neuron?

the terminal buttons