Chapter 5 Test

Test yourself repeatedly throughout your studies. This will not only help you figure out what you know and don’t know; the testing itself will help you learn and remember the information more effectively thanks to the testing effect.

Question 5.42

1. Sensation is to _________ as perception is to ________.

  1. absolute threshold; difference threshold

  2. bottom-up processing; top-down processing

  3. interpretation; detection

  4. grouping; priming

b

Question 5.43

2. The process by which we organize and interpret sensory information is called _________.

perception

Question 5.44

3. Subliminal stimuli are

  1. too weak to be processed by the brain.

  2. consciously perceived more than 50 percent of the time.

  3. always strong enough to affect our behavior at least 75 percent of the time.

  4. below our absolute threshold for conscious awareness.

d

Question 5.45

4. Another term for difference threshold is the ________ _______ _______.

just noticeable difference

Question 5.46

5. Weber’s law states that for a difference to be perceived, two stimuli must differ by

  1. a fixed or constant energy amount.

  2. a constant minimum percentage.

  3. a constantly changing amount.

  4. more than 7 percent.

b

Question 5.47

6. Sensory adaptation helps us focus on

  1. visual stimuli.

  2. auditory stimuli.

  3. constant features of the environment.

  4. important changes in the environment.

d

Question 5.48

7. Our perceptual set influences what we perceive. This mental tendency reflects our

  1. experiences, assumptions, and expectations.

  2. sensory adaptation.

  3. priming ability.

  4. difference thresholds.

a

Question 5.49

8. The characteristic of light that determines the color we experience, such as blue or green, is __________.

wavelength

166

Question 5.50

9. The amplitude of a light wave determines our perception of ________.

  1. brightness

  2. color

  3. meaning

  4. distance

a

Question 5.51

10. The blind spot in your retina is located where

  1. there are rods but no cones.

  2. there are cones but no rods.

  3. the optic nerve leaves the eye.

  4. the bipolar cells meet the ganglion cells.

c

Question 5.52

11. Cones are the eye’s receptor cells that are especially sensitive to _________ light and are responsible for our ________ vision.

  1. bright; black-and-white

  2. dim; color

  3. bright; color

  4. dim; black-and-white

c

Question 5.53

12. Two theories together account for color vision. The Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory shows that the eye contains ______, and Hering’s theory accounts for the nervous system’s having _______.

  1. opposing retinal processes; three pairs of color receptors

  2. opponent-process cells; three types of color receptors

  3. three pairs of color receptors; opposing retinal processes

  4. three types of color receptors; opponent-process cells

d

Question 5.54

13. What mental processes allow you to perceive a lemon as yellow?

Your brain constructs this perception of color in two stages. In the first stage, the lemon reflects light energy into your eyes, where it is transformed into neural messages. Three sets of cones, each sensitive to a different light frequency (red, blue, and green) process color. In this case, the light energy stimulates both red-sensitive and green-sensitive cones. In the second stage, opponent-process cells sensitive to paired opposites of color (red/green, yellow/blue, and black/white) evaluate the incoming neural messages as they pass through your optic nerve to the thalamus and visual cortex. When the yellow-sensitive opponent-process cells are stimulated, you identify the lemon as yellow.

Question 5.55

14. The cells in the visual cortex that respond to certain lines, edges, and angles are called ______ _____.

feature detectors

Question 5.56

15. The brain’s ability to process many aspects of an object or a problem simultaneously is called _______ ________.

parallel processing

Question 5.57

16. Our tendencies to fill in the gaps and to perceive a pattern as continuous are two different examples of the organizing principle called

  1. interposition.

  2. depth perception.

  3. shape constancy.

  4. grouping.

d

Question 5.58

17. In listening to a concert, you attend to the star performer and perceive the other musicians as accompaniment. This illustrates the organizing principle of

  1. figure-ground.

  2. shape constancy.

  3. grouping.

  4. depth perception.

a

Question 5.59

18. The visual cliff experiments suggest that

  1. infants have not yet developed depth perception.

  2. crawling human infants and very young animals perceive depth.

  3. we have no way of knowing whether infants can perceive depth.

  4. unlike other species, humans are able to perceive depth in infancy.

b

Question 5.60

19. Depth perception underlies our ability to

  1. group similar items in a gestalt.

  2. perceive objects as having a constant shape or form.

  3. judge distances.

  4. fill in the gaps in a figure.

c

Question 5.61

20. Two examples of ______ depth cues are interposition and linear perspective.

monocular

Question 5.62

21. Perceiving a tomato as consistently red, despite lighting shifts, is an example of

  1. shape constancy.

  2. perceptual constancy.

  3. a binocular cue.

  4. continuity.

b

Question 5.63

22. After surgery to restore vision, patients who had been blind from birth had difficulty

  1. recognizing objects by touch.

  2. recognizing objects by sight.

  3. distinguishing figure from ground.

  4. distinguishing between bright and dim light.

b

Question 5.64

23. In experiments, people have worn glasses that turned their visual fields upside down. After a period of adjustment, they learned to function quite well. This ability is called _____ _____.

perceptual adaptation

Question 5.65

24. The snail-shaped tube in the inner ear, where sound waves are converted into neural activity, is called the _______.

cochlea

Question 5.66

25. What are the basic steps in transforming sound waves into perceived sound?

The outer ear collects sound waves, which are translated into mechanical waves by the middle ear and turned into fluid waves in the inner ear. The auditory nerve then translates the energy into electrical waves and sends them to the brain, which perceives and interprets the sound.

Question 5.67

26. The sensory receptors that are found mostly in the skin and that detect hurtful temperatures, pressure, or chemicals are called __________________.

nociceptors

Question 5.68

27. We have specialized nerve receptors for detecting which five tastes? How did this ability aid our ancestors?

We have specialized receptors for detecting sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami tastes. Being able to detect pleasurable tastes enabled our ancestors to seek out energy- and protein-rich foods. Detecting aversive tastes deterred them from eating toxic substances, increasing their chances of survival.

Question 5.69

28. ____________is your sense of body position and movement. Your _________ ________specifically monitors your head’s movement, with sensors in the inner ear.

Kinesthesia; vestibular sense

Question 5.70

29. Why do you feel a little dizzy immediately after a roller-coaster ride?

Your vestibular sense regulates balance and body positioning through kinesthetic receptors triggered by fluid in your inner ear. Wobbly legs and a spinning world are signs that these receptors are still responding to the ride’s turbulence. As your vestibular sense adjusts to solid ground, your balance will be restored.

167

Question 5.71

30. A food’s aroma can greatly enhance its taste. This is an example of

  1. sensory adaptation.

  2. synesthesia.

  3. kinesthesia.

  4. sensory interaction.

d

Question 5.72

31. Which of the following ESP events is supported by solid, replicable scientific evidence?

  1. Telepathy

  2. Clairvoyance

  3. Precognition

  4. None of these answers

d

Find answers to these questions in Appendix E, in the back of the book.