Chapter 5 Flashcards
Which of the following describes the difference in stimuli required to detect a difference between the stimuli?
A. just noticeable
B. signal detection
C. subliminal
D. top down
A. just noticeable
What is described by the concept of perception?
How sensory information is interpreted and consciously experienced
Inattentional ________ refers to the failure to notice something that is completely visible due to a lack of attention.
blindness
Which type of processing involves the interpretation of sensations and is influenced by available knowledge, experiences, and thoughts?
Top-down
What is amplitude?
The height of a wave
The visible spectrum refers to the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that we _______.
can see
Hertz is a measure of ________.
frequency
Which nerve carries visual information from the retina to the brain?
Optic
What is a binaural cue?
two-eared cue to localize sound
Congenital deafness refers to deafness ________.
since birth
Which term describes the perception of the body’s movement through space?
A. dimensionality
B. kinesthesia
C. neurasthenia
D. nociception
B. kinesthesia
________ is a chemical message sent by another individual.
pheromone
Our vestibular sense contributes to our ability to ________.
maintain balance and body posture
Which field of psychology includes the following concepts: figure-ground relationship, law of continuity, and principle of closure?
A. biometric
B. Gestalt
C. Pacinian
D. somatosensory
B. Gestalt
_______ refers to the way that sensory information is interpreted and consciously experienced; ________ refers to what happens when sensory information is detected by a sensory receptor.
perception; sensation
Your ears receive sound waves and convert this energy into neural messages that travel to your brain and are processed as sounds. This is an example of ________.
transduction
What concept is illustrated by the following study? Participants were instructed to focus on either white or black objects, disregarding the other color. When a red cross passed across the screen, about one third of the subjects did not notice it.
Inattentional blindness
Derek wants to win the student of the year award so badly that when the name of the award winner is announced, he is convinced that he hears his name. He stands up and begins to leave the aisle when his friend grabs his hand. Someone else won the award. This illustrates how ________can affect perception.
motivation
Imagine yourself in a dark classroom reading PowerPoint slides. If an audience member were to check the internet using her cell phone and causing her screen to light up, chances are that many people would notice the change in illumination in the classroom. However, if the same thing happened in a brightly lit classroom during a discussion, very few people would notice. The cell phone brightness does not change, but its ability to be detected as a change in illumination varies dramatically between the two contexts. This is an example of ________.
Merkel’s theory
Which of the following exemplifies olfaction?
A. feeling the warmth of the sun
B. hearing an airplane fly overhead
C. smelling cookies in the oven
D. tasting white chocolate fudge
smelling cookies in the oven
Which of the following exemplifies gustation?
A. Hearing a cat purr
B. Feeling a piece of petrified wood
C. Smelling fresh mint in a garden
D. Tasting freshly caught salmon
Tasting freshly caught salmon
Suppose you are watching a movie on a large screen. For a fraction of a second, the words “Drink Cola” flash on the screen. You do not perceive the words “Drink Cola” because it is beyond your absolute threshold. In this example, the message “Drink Cola” is an example of ________.
a subliminal message
Due to his sense of ________, Abraham knows he is cold when he is outside during a blizzard, and he knows he is hot after he comes inside and eats soup by the fire.
thermoception
The amplitude of a wave is the height of a wave as measured from the highest point on the wave________ to the lowest point on the wave ________.
crest, trough
Longer wavelengths will have ________ frequencies, and shorter wavelengths will have ________ frequencies.
lower; higher
Within the visible spectrum, our experience of red is associated with ________.
longer wavelengths
Wesley is in a movie theater with no windows—the only light is low illumination from the emergency lights on the floor. Which photoreceptors will be most useful to Wesley as he attempts to leave the theater?
Rods
________-frequency sound waves are perceived as high-pitched sounds, while ________-frequency sound waves are perceived as low- pitched sounds.
high; low
Tyrahn’s rods do not transform light into nerve impulses as easily and efficiently as they should, so he has difficulty seeing in dim light. This is called ________.
night blindness
________ amplitudes are associated with ________ sounds.
A. higher; quieter
B. higher; weaker
C. higher; louder
D. lower; louder
higher; louder
In a normal-sighted individual, the ________ will focus images perfectly on a small indentation in the back of the eye known as the ________.
lens; fovea
Why are olfaction and gustation called chemical senses?
They have sensory receptors that respond to molecules in the food we eat or in the air we breathe.
At the point of the optic chiasm, information from the right visual field (which comes from both eyes) is sent to the ________ side of the brain, and information from the left visual field is sent to the ________ side of the brain.
left; right
Which of the following statements best describes trichromatic theory and opponent-process theory?
A. Both theories are equally accurate, but they apply to different levels of the nervous system.
B. The trichromatic theory is more accurate than the opponent-process theory.
C. Research has not supported either theory.
D. The opponent-process theory is more accurate than the trichromatic theory.
Both theories are equally accurate, but they apply to different levels of the nervous system.
What does the place theory of pitch perception suggest?
Different portions of the basilar membrane are sensitive to sounds of different frequencies.
In addition to sweet, salty, sour, and bitter, what other taste groupings do we possess?
Umami and fat content
How does the term Gestalt relate to the psychological study of perception?
Perception involves more than simply combining sensory stimuli; therefore, perception is studied as Gestalt.
What was the original focus of Swets’ (1964) signal detection Theory?
Improving the sensitivity of air traffic controllers to plane blips
Individuals suffering from congenital analgesia have a shorter life span due to ________
their injuries and secondary infections of injured sites
Several studies have suggested that non-Black participants identify weapons faster and are more likely to identify non-weapons as weapons when the image of the weapon is paired with the image of a Black person. What does this imply about perception?
Perceptions are influenced by implicit prejudice and stereotypes.
