Chapter 4 - Sensation and Perception

Question 1

Sensation

Answer 1

mind’s window to the outside world

Question 2

Perception

Answer 2

how the brain gives meaning to sensory information

Question 3

Sensation begins with

Answer 3

specialized receptor cells located in our sense organs

Question 4

Sense organs

Answer 4

eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin, and internal body tissues

Question 5

Process called perception

Answer 5

the brain selects, organizes, and interprets the coded neural messages into meaningful patterns

Question 6

appropriate stimulus

Answer 6

light, mechanical pressure, chemical molecules

Question 7

action potentials

Answer 7

neural impulses

Question 8

Bottom-Up processing

Answer 8

information processing beginning “at the bottom,” with raw sensory data that are sent “up” to the brain for higher level analysis; data-driven processing that moves from the parts to the whole

Question 9

Top-Down processing

Answer 9

information processing starting “at the top,” with higher-level cognitive processes (such as, expectations and knowledge), and then working down; conceptually driven processing that moves from the whole to the parts

Question 10

Parietal Lobe

Answer 10

Somatosensory cortex

Question 11

Occipital Lobe

Answer 11

Primary vision area

Question 12

Temporal Lobe

Answer 12

Primary audition (hearing) area

Question 13

Frontal Lobe

Answer 13

Primary olfactory (smell) area

Question 14

Temporal, Somatosensory, Frontal lobes meet

Answer 14

Primary gustation (taste) area (buried in folds)

Question 15

Motor Cortex

Answer 15

between somatosensory and frontal lobes

Question 16

absolute threshold

Answer 16

smallest amount of a stimulus that an observer can reliably detect

Question 17

difference threshold

Answer 17

just noticeable difference (JND); minimal difference needed to notice a stimulus change

Question 18

sensory adaptation

Answer 18

sensory system’s reduced responsiveness to unchanging stimuli

Question 19

Gate-Control Theory

Answer 19

Theory that pain sensations are processed and altered by mechanisms within the spinal cord

Question 20

The key functions of sensation and perception are, respectively,

Answer 20

detection and interpretation

Question 21

If a researcher were testing to determine the dimmest light a person could perceive, the researcher would be measuring the

Answer 21

absolute threshold

Question 22

Experiments on subliminal perception have______. (a) supported the existence of the phenomenon; (b) shown that subliminal perception occurs only among children and some adolescents; (c) shown that subliminal messages affect only people who are highly suggestible; (d) failed to support the phenomenon

Answer 22

a) supported the existence of the phenomenon

Question 23

Why can’t you smell your own perfume or aftershave after a few minutes?

Answer 23

your sensory receptors for smell adapt and send fewer messages to your brain

Question 24

The _____ theory of pain helps explain why it sometimes helps to rub or massage an injured thumb. (a) sensory adaptation; (b) gate-control; (c) just noticeable difference; (d) Lamaze

Answer 24

b) gate-control

Question 25

Describe the normal pat of light waves through the eye.

Answer 25

after light waves enter onto the retina, the eye’s light-sensitive back surface. Special receptor cells in the retina, the rods and cones, then convert light energy into neural signals that send messages to the brain via the auditory nerve.

Question 26

Which theory of color vision best explains the negative color afterimage?

(a) trichromatic theory
(b) opponent-process theory
(c) both of these theories
(d) neither of these theories

Answer 26

b) opponent-process theory

Question 27

Explain how the modern dual-process theory explains color vision.

Answer 27

color is processed in a trichromatic fashion in the retina, and in an opponent-process fashion in the brain

Question 28

Describe the path of sound waves through the ear.

Answer 28

The outer ear (pinna, auditory canal, eardrum) funnels sound waves to the middle ear. Bones in the middle ear (hammer, anvil, stirrup) amplify and send along the eardrum’s vibrations to the cochlea’s oval window, which is part of the inner ear. Vibrations from the oval window cause ripples in the fluid, which, in turn, cause bending of the hair cells in the cochlea’s basilar membrane.

Question 29

Explain how place theory differs from frequency theory.

Answer 29

place theory explains pitch perception according to the place where the cochlea’s basilar membrane is most stimulated; frequency theory says pitch perception occurs when nerve impulses sent to the brain match the frequency of the sound wave.

Question 30

Repeated exposure to loud noise may cause _____ deafness.

Answer 30

nerve

Question 31

Human and nonhuman animals may be affected by chemical scents found in natural body odors, which are called _____.

Answer 31

pheromones

Question 32

The skin sense include ____. (a) pressure; (b) pain; (c) warmth and cold; (d) all of these

Answer 32

d) all of these

Question 33

The weightlessness experienced by space travelers from zero gravity has its greatest effect on the _____ senses. (a) visceral; (b) reticular; (c) somesthetic; (d) vestibular

Answer 33

d) vestibular

Question 34

Receptors located int he muscles, joints, and tendons of the body provide _____ information to maintain bodily posture, orientation, and movement.

Answer 34

kinesthetic

Question 35

Explain how illusions differ from delusions and hallucinations.

Answer 35

Illusions are false or misleading perceptions of the physical world produced by actual physical distortions. Delusions are false beliefs. Hallucinations are imaginary sensory perceptions that occur without an external stimulus.

Question 36

Specialized cells in the brain called ____ respond only to certain types of sensory information.

Answer 36

feature detectors

Question 37

Explain why “horizontal cats” can jump only onto horizontal surfaces.

Answer 37

“Horizontal cats” reared in a horizontal world fail to develop potential feature detectors for vertical lines or objects

Question 38

You write a reminder of an appointment on a Post-it and stick it on the door, where you see it every day. A month later, you forget your appointment because of your brain’s tendency to ignore constant stimuli. This is known as _____. (a) sensory adaptation; (b) selective perception; (c) habituation; (d) selective attention.

Answer 38

c) habituation

Question 39

The principle of ____ is at work when, as your brother walks away from you, you don’t perceive him to be shrinking.

Answer 39

size constancy

Question 40

The visual cliff is an apparatus designed to study ____ in young children and animals. (a) color discrimination; (b) shape constancy; (c) depth perception; (d) monocular vision

Answer 40

c) depth perception

Question 41

Since Jolly Roger, the pirate, lost one eye in a fight, he can no longer use ____ as a cue for the perception of depth and distance.

Answer 41

binocular cues.

Question 42

George Stratton was able to cope with an upside-down world thanks to _____.

Answer 42

perceptual adaptation

Question 43

When we tend to “see what we expect to see, this would be an example of ____.

Answer 43

perceptual set

Question 44

The supposed ability to read other people’s minds is called ____, perceiving objects or events that are inaccessible to the normal senses is known as ____, predicting the future is called ___, and moving or affecting objects without touching them is known as _____.

Answer 44

telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, psychokineses

Question 45

A major criticism of studies that indicate the existence of ESP is that they _____.

Answer 45

usually cannot be replicated