Sensation and Perception - Exam 1 Questions

An object appears slightly blurry, but you can tell it is moving fast. Based on this description, the light from the object is falling on which portion of your visual field?

20 degrees from the fovea

Which of the following is true about the method of constant stimuli?

All stimuli are presented in every trial.

A retinal ganglion cell that receives input from 50 photoreceptors is said to display a low level of convergence.

False

The forced-choice method can only be used with the method of constant stimuli.

False

The forced-choice method has unfortunately created some problems that do not occur in traditional psychophysical methods.

False

The method of adjustment is not used in everyday life.

False

The perception of Mach bands has no functional value in the real world.

False

Vision is the only sense that can be measured using the method of limits.

False

With normal binocular vision, a blind spot exists in the nasal portion of the visual field.

False

Which one of the following is an advantage of the method of adjustment?

It can quickly yield a threshold for each participant.

In order to win the North Carolina Hot Sauce Contest, a contestant must eat an entire orange habanero chili pepper, the hotness of which is measured on the _________ scale.

Scoville

The standard technique for magnitude estimation was developed by ______

Stevens

In the method of limits, which of the following is NOT true?

Stimuli are presented in no particular order.

In the method of constant stimuli:

Threshold is determined by presenting the observer with a set of stimuli of which some are above the threshold, and of which some are below threshold, and participants judge whether they detected the stimulus or not.

A receptive field can be defined as a region of space to which a particular sensory neuron responds.

True

Microelectrodes have been used to determine the type of stimuli that a particular cell responds to.

True

Our nervous system is designed to take advantage of certain information, such as which parts of the body are used when touching objects.

True

Presbyopia usually affects most people over the age of 50.

True

The ROC curve is a graphical plot that summarizes all of the possible outcomes for a given situation across all possible criterions.

True

The method of constant stimuli measures the softest sound we can hear and the dimmest light we can see.

True

When using the method of adjustment, the participant increases or decreases the level of the stimulus until it feels like it is just at the detectable level.

True

When using the method of limits, your threshold for stimulus detection is the average of: a) the point at which you respond 'no' you did not detect the stimulus, and b) the point at which you respond 'yes' you did detect the stimulus.

True

Does the vertical illusion intensify when the columns are tapered as compared to when they are vertical?

Yes, I had to tilt the columns more to make them appear vertical when the columns were tapered than when they were straight.

Which of the following is NOT true of Aristotle's Illusion?

a single touch between the tips of two crossed fingers, say with a pen, will be experienced as a single touch

The function of the ________________ is to capture the energy from a stimulus in the environment and channel it to the _______________ , which then convert the energy into an electrochemical signal.

accessory structures, sensory receptors

In which part of the experiment were participants most accurate when throwing the bean bag?

after they were used to the goggles

Why do the vertical columns not appear vertical?

because our experience of perception is subjective

The concentration of ____________ in a chili pepper is the physical dimension, whereas our experience of ___________ is the psychological correlate of that physical dimension.

capsaicin; piquancy

The fovea dark adaptation curve closely resembles the

cone-only adaption curve because cones are concentrated in the fovea.

Photopic vision is characterized by ________.

cones, low light sensitivity, and color detection

________ are the photoreceptors most commonly associated with daytime vision, while ___________ are typically linked with nighttime vision.

cones, rods

Spatial summation at night is facilitated by the high degree of _____.

convergence in the periphery

The value of sensory intensity that will serve as a threshold or cutoff value for decision-making is called the _____________.

criterion

Which is NOT a function of the microelectrode?

destroying the cell

The measure of how easy it is for us to detect that the signal is present is called the ________.

difference sensitivity

According to signal detection theory, lax criterions are likely to result in more __________, and strict criterions are more likely to result in more____________.

false alarms; misses

In the simulation, what happens when a myopic eye is paired with a convex corrective lens?

focusing power is increased resulting in impaired vision

In the simulation, what happens when a hyperopic eye is paired with a concave corrective lens?

focusing power is reduced resulting in impaired vision

The ultimate goal of sensation and perception is to:

guide our actions so we can navigate our environment

In the ROC curve, the more the curve bends up to the right, the _____ the sensitivity.

higher

In the simulation, the "X" eventually disappears and is replaced by a continuous line. This fill-in phenomenon is controlled by

higher visual areas

__________________ cells inhibit both activated cones and adjacent cones in order to maximize the response to changing fields.

horizontal

Another name for the Fechner color effect is the

illusory color effect

Compared to dark adaptation, light adaptation

is fast

Which of the following is NOT true about the experimental field of psychophysics?

it is not significant to the study of sensation and perception

The process of ______________ underlies the Mach band phenomenon.

lateral inhibition

You look across the room and spot the remote control for the television. As you walk across the room, you keep your eyes focused on the remote. How will the shape of the crystalline lens change as you move closer to the remote?

lens curvature will increase

Compared to a 30-year-old person, a 70-year-old person has a(n) __________ near point.

longer

In the demonstration, reducing the convergence has minimal effect on the photo because _____.

low convergence increase acuity

If you are asked to judge the loudness of a tone on a scale from 1-100, your perception is being measured using the method of _____________.

magnitude estimation

The _________ is a device so small it can penetrate a single neuron in the mammalian central nervous system without destroying the cell.

microelectrode

Optic flow gives us valuable information from the environment that helps us to perceive which of the following?

motion and depth

What is the Fechner color effect?

moving black and white figures create an illusion of color

If you are reading a book and then look up quickly as someone opens the door across the room, how will the ciliary muscles and zonule fibers respond?

muscles relax, zonule fibers tighten

Jane was recently fitted for contacts. She notices minus signs (-) on the labels of her contact packages. This means that Jane has _____.

myopia

___________ is the condition in which incoming light does not directly focus on the retina but in front of it, which causes impaired vision.

myopia

If the eye is not capable of accommodating, then _____.

objects at a distance are relatively in focus and close objects are out of focus

After completing the simulation, your results reveal a cell with a(n) ________ .

on-center receptive field

_____________ is the fact that as we move towards objects, they grow in size. If you move away from the objects, they get smaller.

optic flow

Phenomenology refers to ______________.

our internal experience of the world around us

What causes the size-arrival effect?

our perception of time-to-collision is influenced by the relative size of objects

In the method of adjustment, the __________ controls the level of the stimulus and adjusts it to be at the perceptual threshold.

participant

When listening to the Bach partita, our ears are responding to differences in frequency, tempo, rhythm, and loudness as we hear the sound of the violin. In addition, the music may cause us to experience an emotional or mental response as well. This is an example of which of the following?

phenomenology

Which form of visual impairment is commonly caused by aging?

presbyopia

_____________ is the condition in which incoming light focuses behind the retina, leading to difficulty focusing on close-up objects.

presbyopia

The method of limits applies alternating series of "staircases," (i.e. descending, then ascending, then descending, etc.). This is done in order to:

prevents sensory adaption from occuring

What is the cause of the waterfall Illusion?

prolonged sensory exposure to one stimulus alters how we experience other stimuli after the prolonged exposure

Magnitude Estimation is a ___________ method.

psychophysical

A ______________ is one in which people rate their psychological experiences as a function of the level of a physical stimulus.

psychophysical scale

A light with a wavelength of 700 nanometers will appear _____.

red

You are planning to go camping this weekend and a friend lends you a headlamp for manoeuvring around the campsite at night. You are surprised that the headlamp produces a _________ -colored light and is claimed to be ideal for preserving dark adaptation.

red

The primary cause of presbyopia is _____.

reduced elasticity of the lens

In the airplane simulation, when the light entering the cockpit becomes darker, the automated program ______________ of the display, thereby _____________ perceived by the pilot.

reduces the intensity; increases the contrast

In this simulation, you are testing the firing pattern in ________ cells to establish the location of its receptive field.

retinal ganglion

According to the dark adaptation graph, after sitting in a dark room for 25 minutes

rods dominate visual processes and you become more sensitive to dim light

Your alarm clock goes off at 5am and you stumble out of bed. Despite the lack of light, you are able to locate your slippers; however, your bright orange slippers look greyish. This is an example of _____.

scotopic vision

The Purkinje shift refers to the ability to see _____.

short wavelengths as comparatively brighter at night

__________ attempts to understand the role that decision making plays in the detection of sensory stimuli.

signal detection theory

Which is NOT a real-world example of optic flow?

staring at a blank wall

The event in the environment that is picked up by our sensory systems is called the _________.

stimulus

Which of the following illustrates the correct sequence of events in sensation and perception?

stimulus, sensory structure, sensory receptors, neural response, perception, action

Which of the following statements about the fovea is NOT true?

the fovea has large receptive fields

Which of the following does NOT illustrate the concept of phenomenology?

the inner mechanism of a robot

During this experiment, you are asked to indicate where a particular visual stimulus appeared on a computer screen. The experiment is measuring threshold using ___________ .

the method of constant stimuli

The blind spot corresponds to the location of _____.

the optic nerve

When using the forced-choice method in the method of constant stimuli, threshold is determined as __________.

the point where you detect the stimulus 75% of the time

When you walk out of a dim building and into the bright sunshine, everything appears overly bright and washed out. _________________ and ______________ will occur so that you adjust to the new lighting conditions.

the pupils will constrict; light adaptation

Which statement does NOT accurately describe how we perceive time-to-collision?

the relative size of the dots has no impact on our judgement of how soon each dot will hit us.

The right optic tract is composed of axons from

the right temporal and left nasal hemifields

The left LGN receives visual information from

the right world

When using the method of constant stimuli, your threshold for stimulus detection is ______________.

the smallest stimulus that is detected 50% of the time.

If you are looking at a row of trees that appear vertical to each other, chances are that:

the trees are actually tilted inwards a few degrees towards the center of the row

Why do the participants end up throwing the bean bag in the opposite direction after they remove the goggles?

the visual system remains adapted to the sensory distortion, even after removing the goggles.

In the second part of the demonstration (sunburst pattern), why isn't it easier to see large letters than small letters?

there is high degree of convergence in the periphery

The waterfall Illusion, as first discussed by Aristotle, is what type of perceptual illusion?

visual motion aftereffect

Another everyday example of the waterfall illusion would include which of the following?

watching the introduction to the Star Wars movie

If you measure a wave from one trough to the next, you can find the ___________ of the wave.

wavelength

Both light and sound travel in waves. However, light is typically described by its __________ while a sound is characterized by its ___________.

wavelength; frequency

In the size-arrival effect, how do we tend to perceive the speed of a larger object as compared to a smaller object?

we tend to see larger objects as closer to us, therefore they appear to be moving faster

Aristotle's illusion refers to a distortion of sensory (touch) information that leads to the incorrect perception that:

your fingers are touching more than one object when, in fact, they are only touching one object.