Unit 4 Study Guide -Sensation and Perception
The Gestalt principle that refers to an individual's tendency to perceive an incomplete figure as whole is called
Closure
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
Which struck by light energy, cones and rods in the retina generate neural signals that then activate the
bipolar cells
People who are color blind most likely have deficiencies in their
cones
All summer Thomas hears the sound of the ice cream truck approaching before his brother Oscar hears it. Thomas most likely has which of the following?
A lower absolute threshold for hearing than Oscar
The intensity at which a sound becomes audible for a given individual is known as the individual's
absolute threshold
The change in the curvature of the lens that enables the eye to focus on objects at various distances is called
accommodation
Elanor Gibson and her colleagues have used the visual cliff to measure an infant's ability to perceive
depth
A sound is often detected by one ear more intensely and a fraction of a second earlier than it is detected by the other ear. The cues help individuals determine the
location of the source
David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel's research on responses of the brain to visual stimuli showed that
many cortical cells respond most strongly to specific visual information
The most common form of color blindness is related to a deficiencies in the
red-green system
In vision, transduction occurs within the
retina
An individual's ability to focus on a particular conversation in a noisy and crowded room is called
selective attention
Using cell phones while driving increases the numbers of accidents because use of the phones requires
selective attention
As you watch a friend walk away from you, you retinal image of your friend gets smaller. Despite this, you do not perceive him to be shrinking. This is an example of
size constancy
The thalamus process information for all of the following sense EXCEPT
smell
Climbing an irregular set of stairs is more difficult for an individual who wears a patch over one eye primarily because
some depth perception is lost
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
People listening to rock music played backward often perceive an evil message if specifically told what to listen for. The phenomenon best illustrates
top-down processing
Tina is reading an important letter when she accidentally splashes water on the paper. The water has smudge a few words, but she is still able to understand what the letter says. This can be explained by
top-down processing
The general function of the bones in the middle ear is to
transfer sound information from the membrane to the oval window
Which of the following supports the opponent-process theory of color vision?
Afterimages
Photoreceptors relay visual information to the brain through which of the following cells?
Bipolar and ganglion
The place in the retina where the optic nerve exists to the brain is called the
Blind spot
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
Different Threshold
The reversible figure above illustrates the Gestalt organizing principle of
Figure-ground
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
The ability to see a cube in the diagram above is best explained by which of the following?
Gestalt principles of closure and continuity
If Carmelita stares at a red spot for one minute and then shifts her haze to a white piece of paper, she is likely to experience an afterimage that is
Green
Damage to which of the following best explains conduction deafness?
Hammer, anvil, and stirrup
Latisha noticed that in the early evening she begins to have difficulty seeing the vibrant colors in her artwork. Which of the following best explains her difficulty?
Her cones cannot detect color well in dim light
The pitch of a sound is analogous to which of the following features of light?
Hue
Which of the following theories most accurately explains pitch perspective? I: Opponent Process II: Frequency III: Place
II and III only
Receptors for olfaction are located
In the nasal cavity
Which of the following is true about the blind spot in the eye
It occurs where the optic nerve leaves the eye
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 judgements about the distance objects are from her?
Linear perspective
Which monocular depth cue is illustrated in the figure above?
Linear perspective
In the dark, an object is most clearly seen when viewed in peripheral vision than when when viewed directly. This phenomenon occurs because the rods located in the retina are
More sensitive in the dark than cones and are not found in the fovea
Feature detectors are neurons that are turned on or off by specific features of visual stimuli like edges and movement. Where in the visual system are these feature detectors located
Occipital cortex
After staring at a green, black, and orange "American Flag" for a minute, an individual will see a red, white, and blue flag afterimage. Which of the following explains this phenomenon?
Opponent-process theory
A person with sight in only one eye lacks which of the following visual cues for seeing in depth?
Retinal Disparity
Which of the following is binocular cue for depth perception?
Retinal disparity
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
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 in the parade. Which of the following would best allow Jason to hear Brent's trombone?
Selective attention
Balance is influenced by the
Semicircular canals
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
When Rosa has a cold, she cannot taste the flavor of her pizza. Which of the following psychological terms describes Rosa's inability to taste?
Sensory interaction
Ernst Weber's and Gustav Fechner's psychophysical law concerns the relation between which of the following?
The intensity of a stimulus and its corresponding psychological sensation
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
The coiled tube in the inner ear that contains the auditory receptors is called the
cochlea
Visual activity is the best in the
fovea
The perceived pitch of a tone is largely determined by its
frequency
Receptors that are especially important for helping a person maintain balance are located in the
inner ear
it can be assumed that an individual described as a supertaster
is very sensitive to hot peppers
When viewed from the window of a moving train, nearby objects seem to pass by more quickly than do more distant objects. This cue for depth perception is called
motion parallax
In visual perception, size constancy occurs as an object comes closer to the viewer because the
perceived distance of the object becomes smaller
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
Gustatory receptors are sensitive to all of the following taste qualities EXCEPT
spicy
Research has shown that a major reason for poor performance while multitasking is that while multitasking, people
switch their attention rapidly from task to task, so they miss critical information associated with a task that is not receiving their attention
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
Negative afterimages are explained by
the opponent-process theory
When a pair of lights flashing in a quick succession seems to an observer to be one light moving from place to place, the effect is referred to as
the phi phenomenon
Scott lost his vision at a young age. When he was much older, he received a corneal transplant that allowed him to see again. After so many years of not being able to see, he had a very difficult time interpreting visual information such as faces and expressions. His visual problems most likely came from processing difficulties in teh
visual cortex