Unit 4
The horizon Moon appears to shrink in size if it is viewed through a narrow tube that eliminates the perception of distance cues. This best illustrates the importance of
context effects
Interposition is a cue for depth perception in which closer objects
create larger retinal images than do distant objects
Some people are better than others at detecting slight variations in the tastes of various blends of coffee. This best illustrates the importance of
difference thresholds
Sensory adaptation refers to
diminishing sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus
The perceived size of an object is most strongly influenced by that object's perceived
distance
If Jared watches a nurse give him an injection, he experiences more pain than if he closes his eyes during the procedure and thinks about his favorite food. This illustrates the value of ________ for pain control.
distraction
One of the ways we perceive images is by organizing stimuli into an object seen against its surroundings. What is this perceptual tendency called?
figure-ground
The pitch of a sound is determined by what?
frequency
Which theory best explains how we perceive low-pitched sounds?
frequency theory
Visual information is processed by
ganglion cells
Which theory suggests that large-fiber activity in the spinal cord can prevent pain signals from reaching the brain?
gate-control theory
Who emphasized that the whole may exceed the sum of its parts?
gestalt psychologists
Imagine your friend walking toward you in the hall at school. As your friend gets closer, the image cast on your retina
gets larger
Cones and rods are to vision as ________ are to audition
hair cells
The mechanical vibrations triggered by sound waves are transduced into neural impulses by
hair cells
Frequency theory best explains _______, while place theory best explains ________.
how we perceive low- pitched sounds; how we perceive high pitched sounds
Intensity is to brightness as wavelength is to
hue
In one experiment, most of the participants who viewed a videotape of men tossing a basketball remained unaware of an umbrella-toting woman sauntering across the screen. This illustrated
inattentional blindness
Which of the following sensory receptors detect hurtful temperatures, pressure, or chemicals?
nociceptors
Lightness constancy refers to the fact that
objects are perceived to have consistent lightness even if the amount of light they reflect changes
The sense of smell is known as
olfaction
The fact that people who are colorblind to red and green may still see yellow is most easily explained by
opponent-process theory
A gestalt is best described as a(n)
organized whole
The brain's release of endorphins reduces
pain
Perceiving the color, motion, and form of a bird in flight illustrates
parallel processing
The ability to simultaneously process the pitch, loudness, melody, and meaning of a song best illustrates
parallel processing
The process by which we select, organize, and interpret sensory information in order to recognize meaningful objects and events is called
perception
ESP refers to
perception that occurs apart from sensory input
Although he was wearing a pair of glasses that shifted the apparent location of objects 20 degrees to his right, Lars was still able to play tennis very effectively. This best illustrates the value of
perceptual adaptation
After watching a scary television movie, Julie perceived the noise of the wind rattling her front windows as the sound of a burglar breaking into her house. Her mistaken interpretation best illustrates the influence of
perceptual set
Who emphasized that perceptual understanding comes from inborn ways of organizing sensory experience?
Immanuel Kant
Why is transduction important to sensation?
It converts physical stimuli, such as light, into neural messages.
Which of the following circumstances is most likely to contribute to conduction hearing loss?
Misuse of Q tips in cleaning your ears
Perceptual adaptation refers to the
Perceptual adjustments to an artificially displaced visual field
The tendency to hear the steady drip of a leaky sink faucet as if it were a repeating rhythm of two or more beats best illustrates
Perceptual organization
Giulio's bag of marbles is twice as heavy as Jim's. If it takes 5 extra marbles to make Jim's bag feel heavier, it will take 10 extra marbles to make Giulio's bag feel heavier. This best illustrates
Weber's law
The principle that two stimuli must differ by a constant proportion for their difference to be perceived is known as
Weber's law
Which of the following best explains why children are more likely to resist eating strong-tasting foods?
Young children have more taste receptors, so their sensitivity to taste is greater.
Evidence that some cones are especially sensitive to red light, others to green light, and still others to blue light is most directly supportive of the ________ theory
Young-Helmholtz
Movement of the hair cells along the basilar membrane
allows us to sense our body's position and movement
Tinnitus is a phantom ______ sensation
auditory
As Maria and her little brother looked up at the clouds, he exclaimed, "That one looks like a giant dinosaur!" Maria thought it looked more like a giant duck. Which of the following concepts best explains their different interpretations of the same ambiguous stimuli?
perceptual set
When researchers added a few drops of vinegar to a brand-name beer, the beer tasters disliked it only if they had been told they were drinking vinegar-laced beer. This best illustrates the impact of
perceptual set
After a small section of his basilar membrane was damaged, Jason experienced a noticeable loss of hearing for high-pitched sounds only. Jason's hearing loss is best explained by the ________ theory.
place
The discovery that high-frequency sounds trigger large vibrations near the beginning of the basilar membrane supports the ________ theory.
place
Margo insists that her dreams frequently enable her to perceive and predict future events. Margo is claiming to possess the power of
precognition
Researchers have identified receptors for which of the following skin sensations?
pressure
Photographs of people were rated more positively if the photos immediately followed a briefly flashed image of kittens. This best illustrates the impact of
priming
Accommodation refers to the
process by which the lens changes shape to focus images on the retina
Andre claims that he can make a broken watch begin to run again simply by entering a state of intense mental concentration. Andre is claiming to possess the power of
psychokinesis
Farouk insists that by intense mental concentration he can actually influence the mechanically generated outcomes of slot machines. Farouk is most specifically claiming to possess the power of
psychokinesis
The adjustable opening in the center of the eye is the
pupil
Distant trees were located closer to the top of the artist's canvas than were the nearby flowers. The artist was clearly using the distance cue known as
relative height
As we move, objects that are fixed in place, a light pole, for example, may appear to move. What is this monocular cue for depth called?
relative motion
Bipolar cells are located in the
retina
The light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the rods and cones, is the
retina
Which of the following is a binocular cue for the perception of distance?
retinal disparity
We compute motion based on the assumption that shrinking objects are
retreating
The most light-sensitive receptor cells are the
rods
The receptor cells that convert light energy into neural signals are called
rods and cones
Which cells for visual processing are located closest to the back of the retina?
rods and cones
Under very dim levels of illumination
rods are more light-sensitive than cones
You typically fail to consciously perceive that your own nose is in your line of vision. This best illustrates
selective attention
Which of the following play the biggest role in our feeling dizzy and unbalanced after a thrilling roller coaster ride?
semicircular canals
As you look at an apple, its reflected light travels to the eye. The rods and cones absorb the light and help transmit the information to the brain. This process best illustrates
sensation
The process of receiving and representing stimulus energies through the nervous system is called
sensation
The quick succession of briefly flashed images in a motion picture produces
stroboscopic movement
Parapsychology refers to the
study of phenomena such as ESP and psychokinesis
Audiotapes of soothing ocean sounds accompanied by faint and imperceptible verbal messages designed to increase a desire to lose weight best illustrate
subliminal stimulation
News about the supposed effects of briefly presented messages on people's feelings of being thirsty involved false claims regarding
subliminal stimulation
Feature detectors pass information to other cortical areas where complex patterns are processed by
supercell clusters
Kinesthesis refers to the
system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts
Supercell clusters are
teams of cells that fire in response to complex patterns, such as the human face.
Opponent-process cells have been located in the
thalamus
If we see a speaker mouthing day while actually hearing someone else saying may, we may perceive a third syllable bay that blends both inputs. This phenomenon is known as
the McGurk effect
Experiments with the visual cliff suggest that
the ability to perceive depth is at least partly innate
Humans experience the longest visible electromagnetic waves as
the color red and the shortest visible waves as blue-violet.
If an image falls on the eye's blind spot, you do not detect it. Which of the following best explains this phenomenon?
the image is not perceived because without receptor cells, transduction cannot occur.
The Ames illusion involving two girls who are perceived as very different in size can best be explained in terms of
the misperception of distance
Experiencing a green afterimage of a red object is most easily explained by
the opponent-process theory
On the day she is to be interviewed for an important new position, Rachel awakens with a severe toothache. During the interview she feels no pain; not until 30 minutes later does she become aware again of the troublesome toothache. Rachel's experience is best explained by
the opponent-process theory
The sequentially flashing Christmas tree lights appeared to generate pulsating waves of motion. This best illustrates
the phi phenomenon
According to the Young-Helmholtz theory
the retina contains three kinds of color receptors
Which of the following best illustrates the impact of central nervous system activity in the absence of normal sensory input?
tinnitus
We tend to perceive more pain when others around us also report feeling pain. This research finding indicates that pain perception is affected by both biological and what other influences?
top-down and bottom-up processing
The biopsychosocial approach to pain is likely to emphasize the importance of both
top-down and bottom-up processing.
Patients' negative expectations about the outcome of a surgical procedure can increase their postoperative experience of pain. This best illustrates the importance of
top-down processing
The effect of prior experience and current expectations on perception best illustrates the importance of
top-down processing
The process by which our sensory systems convert stimulus energies into neural messages is called
transduction
Those who believe in the value of subliminal audiotapes would be wrong to claim that
unconsciously processed information is unusually persuasive
The ability to detect whether your body is in a horizontal or vertical position depends most directly on
vestibular sense
The feature detectors identified by Hubel and Weisel respond to specific aspects of ________ stimulation
visual
Damage to the fovea would have the greatest effect on
visual acuity
People who demonstrate blindsight have most likely suffered damage to their
visual cortex
An 80-decibel sound is ________ times louder than a 60-decibel sound
100
Imagine that a softball player wears special glasses that shift her visual field upward 20 degrees. This means that when the player wears these glasses, everything appears higher than it actually is. With practice the player can hit a ball with the glasses on. What will happen when the player first hits a ball with the glasses off?
She will believe that the ball is lower than it really is
Why do people who have lost all hearing in one ear have difficulty locating sounds?
Sound waves strike one ear sooner and more intensely than the other.
Psychologists are skeptical about ESP claims because
Studies claiming to demonstrate such abilities fail at replication
An integrated understanding of perception in terms of our sensory capacities, cultural contexts, and Gestalt principles is most clearly provided by
a biopsychosocial approach
During a hearing test, many sounds were presented at such a low level of intensity that Mr. Antall could hardly detect them. These sounds were below Mr. Antall's
absolute threshold
The minimum amount of stimulation a person needs to detect a stimulus 50 percent of the time is called the
absolute threshold
During the months when there is a large amount of pollen in the air, your hay fever severely affects your sense of smell. At the same time your food all seems to taste the same. This illustrates the importance of
accomodation
According to the gate-control theory, a back massage would most likely reduce your physical aches and pains by causing
activation of nerve fibers in your spinal cord.
Our sense of taste originally was thought to involve only the following four sensations
bitter,sweet,sour,salty
Certain stroke victims report seeing nothing when shown a series of sticks, yet they are able to correctly report whether the sticks are vertical or horizontal. This best illustrates
blindsight
Current research suggests that
both the trichromatic and opponent-process theories are valid in explaining color vision
Researchers found that 40 percent of people focused on repeating a list of challenging words failed to notice a change in the person speaking. This best illustrates
change deafness
Taste and smell are both what kind of senses?
chemical
Research participants picked one of two photographed faces as more attractive. When researchers cleverly switched the photos, participants readily explained why they preferred the face they had actually rejected. Their behavior illustrated
choice blindness
When visually deprived infant monkeys were first allowed to see, they could not visually distinguish
circles from squares
Jamal claims that his special psychic powers enable him to perceive exactly where the body of a recent murder victim is secretly buried. Jamal is claiming to possess the power of
clairvoyance
While singing to you on your birthday, your friends leave off the very last word of the song, "Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday dear David, Happy birthday to...." Your tendency to mentally fill in the last word best reflects which of the following Gestalt principles of organization?
closure
The coiled, fluid-filled tube in which sound waves trigger nerve impulses is called the
cochlea
The ability to pay attention to only one voice at a time is called
cocktail party effect
As your teacher dims the lights to show a movie clip, you still perceive your friend's shirt as red. Which of the following best explains this phenomenon?
color constancy
By amplifying soft sounds but not loud sounds, digital hearing aids produce
compressed sound
The rupture of the eardrum can lead to
conduction hearing loss
The organization of two-dimensional retinal images into three-dimensional perceptions is called
depth perception
Which of the following is the correct sequence of structures that sound waves pass through on the way to the auditory nerve?
eardrum, hammer, anvil, stirrup, cochlea
A cochlear implant converts sounds into
electrical signals
In an experiment, participants who wore a doctor's white lab coat made fewer errors on a test of perception that participants who wore regular clothes. This finding concurs with the belief that our bodies can alter our cognitive preferences and judgements, which is known as
embodied cognition
On a cloudy day, a yellow flower is likely to appear ________ it does on a bright sunny day
equally as yellow as
Clairvoyance refers to the
extrasensory perception of events that occur at places remote to the perceiver
When looking at the hands of a clock showing 8 o'clock, certain brain cells in the visual cortex are more responsive than when the hands show 10 o'clock. This is most indicative of
feature detection
In 1972, a British newspaper published pictures of a "Loch Ness Monster." Many people readily perceived photographs of a floating tree trunk as the partially submerged monster. This illustrates the powerful influence of
feature detectors
The cocktail party effect is your ability to selectively attend to one voice among many. This ability also illustrates the Gestalt principle of
figure and ground
Standing in the checkout line at the grocery store, Jerry kept looking at his watch to see the time. As a result, he failed to see that a store employee was being robbed by a person just in front of him. Jerry most clearly suffered
inattentional blindness
Light-wave amplitude determines the
intensity of colors
Dilation and constriction of the pupil are controlled by the
iris
Alex tickles his brother by stroking adjacent ________ spots on his skin.
kinesthesis
The philosopher John Locke believed that people
learn to perceive the world through experience.
Jody's horse looks just as black in the brilliant sunlight as it does in the dim light of the stable. This illustrates what is known as
lightness constansy
Cocking your head would be most useful for detecting the ______ of a sound.
location
Psychologists are skeptical about the existence of ESP because
many apparent demonstrations of ESP have been shown to be staged illusions
A perceptual set is a
mental predisposition that influences what we perceive
Joe Wilson, age 55, has been told by experts that a hearing aid would restore his lost sense of hearing. It is likely that Joe's hearing loss involves problems within the
middle ear
Sound wave vibrations are transmitted by three tiny bones located in the
middle ear
The constant quivering movements of our eyes enable us to
minimize sensory adaptation
Depth perception that uses information transmitted to only one eye depends on
monocular cues
Knowing about the effects of the perceived distance of objects on their perceived size helps us to understand
moon illusion
Rods are
more light-sensitive and less color-sensitive than cones.
The steadily increasing size of the retinal image of an approaching object is especially important for perceiving the object's
motion
If you burn your finger, ________ transmit pain-triggering signals to your central nervous system
nociceptors
Hearing a sequence of sounds of different pitches is to ________ as recognizing the sound sequence as a familiar melody is to ________.
sensation; perception
A cochlear implant would be most helpful for those who suffer
sensorineural hearing loss.
After listening to your high-volume car stereo for 15 minutes, you fail to realize how loudly the music is blasting. This best illustrates
sensory adaptation
Diminished sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus is known as
sensory adaptation
Phantom limb sensations best illustrate that pain can be experienced in the absence of
sensory input
The green-colored ham and eggs had such a strange appearance that they tasted terrible to Sam. This illustrates the importance of
sensory interaction
With her eyes closed and her nose plugged, Chandra was unable to taste the difference between an onion and a pear. Her experience best illustrates the importance of
sensory interaction
Bottom-up processing involves analysis that begins with the
sensory receptors
Although textbooks frequently cast a trapezoidal image on the retina, students typically perceive the books as rectangular objects. This illustrates the importance of
shape constancy
An exhausted forest ranger may notice the faintest scent of a forest fire, whereas much stronger but less important odors fail to catch her attention. This fact would be of greatest relevance to
signal detection theory
When you are expecting an incoming text message, you are much more likely to notice it the second it arrives. This best illustrates
signal detection theory
Which theory emphasizes that personal expectations and motivations influence the level of absolute thresholds?
signal detection theory
Olfactory receptor cells are essential for our sense of
smell
