Chapter 5

Question 1

Sensation refers to the process by which:

Answer 1

Sensation is the process whereby the sense organs gather information about the environment and transmit it to the brain for initial processing. Sensations are immediate experiences of qualities (e.g., hot, loud etc.) as compared to perceptions, which are experiences of objects or events that have to have form, order or meaning.

Question 2

The phenomenological world is the world:

Answer 2

The world as subjectively experienced by an individual - phenomenological world - is a joint product of external reality and the person’s creative efforts to understand and depict it mentally.

Question 3

Psychophysics is the study of:

Answer 3

Psychophysics is the branch of psychology that studies the relationship between attributes of the physical world and our psychological experience of it.

Question 4

Although each sensory system is attuned to particular forms of energy, all the senses share certain common features. Which of the following is NOT one of them?

Answer 4

All senses share certain common features. They must translate physical stimulation into sensory signals. All senses have the ability to detect changes in stimulation, and have the ability to distinguish meaningful from irrelevant information which requires constant decision making. It is not necessary, nor is it possible, for senses to have knowledge of the world.

Question 5

Although each sensory system is attuned to particular forms of energy, all the senses share certain common features. Which of the following is NOT one of them?

Answer 5

All senses share certain common features. They must translate physical stimulation into sensory signals. All senses have the ability to detect changes in stimulation, and have the ability to distinguish meaningful from irrelevant information which requires constant decision making. It is not necessary, nor is it possible, for senses to have knowledge of the world.

Question 6

Response bias may be introduced by:

Answer 6

Response bias reflects the individual’s readiness to report detecting a stimulus when uncertain. Accuracy in sensing a signal involves a trade-off between sensitivity to stimuli presented and vulnerability to reporting stimuli not presented.

Question 7

The two major processes occurring in the eye are:

Answer 7

Two basic processes occur in the eyes: a) the cornea, pupil and lens focus light on the retina; and b) the retina transduces this visual image into neural impulses that are relayed to and interpreted by the brain.

Question 8

The receptive fields of many ganglion cells are:

Answer 8

Each ganglion cell has a receptive field. A receptive field is a region within which a neuron responds to appropriate stimulation (that is, in which it is receptive to stimulation).

Question 9

The point where the optic nerve becomes the optic tract is the:

Answer 9

Impulses from the optic nerve first pass through the optic chiasm. Once past the optic chiasm, combined information from the two eyes travels to the brain via the optic tracts. Therefore, the point where the optic nerve becomes the optic tract is the optic chiasm.

Question 10

The cochlea is the portion of the inner ear most involved in:

Answer 10

The cochlea is a three- chambered tube in the inner ear, shaped like a snail, and involved in the transduction of sound. When the stirrup vibrates against the oval window, the window vibrates and this causes pressure waves in the cochlea fluid. These waves disturb the basilar membrane, which separates two of the cochlea’s chambers.

Question 11

Which of the following is true of the Weber fraction?

Answer 11

The Weber fraction varies depending on the individual, the stimulus, context, and sensory modality. For example, the fraction for perceiving changes in heaviness is 1/50; that is, the average person can perceive an increase of 1kg when added to 50 kg, 2 kg added to 100 kg etc.). The fraction for sound around middle C is 1/10, which means you can hear an extra voice in a chorus of 10 and needs two voices to notice an incre

Question 12

The opponent-process theory argues that:

Answer 12

The opponent-process theory was proposed to explain after-images (i.e., visual images present after an image is gone). The black-white contributes to the brightness and saturation of the image; the other two systems are responsible for hue. Whereas the trichromatic theory operates at the level of the retina, the opponent-process theory operates at higher neural levels.

Question 13

The reason why ganglion cells are sensitive to edges is because the centre-surround areas exhibit:

Answer 13

Our sensory system is attuned to changes which allow us to perceive edges and changes in brightness, texture etc. Ganglion cells have receptive fields that are excited or inhibited by incoming sensory information.

Question 14

An after-image is a:

Answer 14

After-images are due to adaptation in the sensory system as it responds to constant stimulation. It begins with bleaching in the retina, which leaves photoreceptors unable to respond continuously to constant stimulation. During the period that the pigment is returning, inhibitory signals cannot be sent, facilitating sensation of the opponent colour (i.e., the after-image of yellow is blue, of red is green, and of black is white).

Question 15

In terms of sensing pitch, place theory holds that:

Answer 15

Place theory holds that different areas of the basilar membrane are maximally sensitive to different frequencies.

Question 16

Which of the following statements is correct?

Answer 16

Conceptual. Acoustic energy is measured by three properties: amplitude / loudness is measured by decibels, the psychological characteristic of sound complexity is timbre, and the pitch / frequency of a sound is measured in hertz.

Question 17

The three bones of the middle ear do not include:

Answer 17

There are three tiny bones in the middle ear called malleus (hammer), incus (anvil), and stapes (stirrup).

Question 18

The authors of your textbook use which one of the following as the reason for why regeneration of taste receptors is essential?

Answer 18

Taste receptors wear out and are regenerated every 10-11 days. This process is essential otherwise damage to the tongue would result in permanent loss of taste.

Question 19

Which of the following is not an important function performed by the skin?

Answer 19

The textbook identifies a number of functions of skin: aiding in social interaction (through touching), protection from injury, identifying objects, and maintaining body temperature.

Question 20

Many chronic pain patients show all of the following characteristics except one. Which one don’t they show?

Answer 20

Research has found some personality factors which appear to be shared by chronic pain patients: blaming life problems on their pain condition, denying emotional and interpersonal problems, problems expressing anger, and being anxious, depressed, needy and dependent.

Question 21

Scientists find that owls make use of light at 12 000 nm in order to catch prey. This light is perceived by me as:

Answer 21

The receptors in the human eye are tuned to detect only a very restricted portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, from roughly 400 to 700 nanometres (nm), therefore humans cannot detect the light that owls use at that level (12,000 nm).

Question 22

When you listen to music, the sound waves are converted into neural impulses for your brain to process. This is called:

Answer 22

Transduction is the process of converting physical energy or stimulus information into neural impulses.

Question 23

Tame is sitting outside on a summer evening after enjoying a barbecue. As the light fades, he notices that the trees and flowers in his garden lose their colour and appear as shades of grey. This loss of colour vision is caused by the fact that the _________ in his eyes cease to be activated as the light intensity decreases in the twilight.

Answer 23

Cones respond to colour as well as black and white, while rods only produces sensations in black, grey and white. Rods, however, are more sensitive to light and so respond at lower light intensities than do cones.

Question 24

A neurologist has just shown Samira an object, but Samira denies seeing it. Yet, when asked to describe the geometrical form of the object, Samira is able to do so with accuracy far better than one would expect simply by chance. The neurologist will probably diagnose Samira as suffering from:

Answer 24

The presence of two visual pathways from the optic nerve to the brain appears to be involved in an intriguing phenomenon known as blindsight, in which individuals are unaware of their capacity to see.

Question 25

I have a problem hearing due to a problem with the stapes. What kind of hearing loss do I suffer from?

Answer 25

Sensory deficits that arise from problems with failure of the middle ear to conduct sound to the receptors to the hair cells is known as conduction

Question 26

Although hearing slowly returns after exposure to a loud concert:

Answer 26

Prolonged exposure to sounds over about 90 Decibels, such as amplifiers at a rock concert, can produce permanent hearing loss.

Question 27

. I pass by a woman as I am walking down the sidewalk. She absolutely captures my attention. She mesmerises me. If I am attracted to her based on smell, my state of attraction toward her is likely to be based on the:

Answer 27

Pheromones are scent messages detected through an auxiliary olfactory system and regulate the sexual behaviour of many animals.

Question 28

If an individual experiences damage to the brain area responsible for the primary gustatory system, that person will have difficulty with:

Answer 28

Taste receptors stimulate neurons that carry information to the brain along two pathways. The first leads to the thalamus and primary gustatory cortex; this allows us to identify tastes. The second, more primitive pathway has no access to consciousness. This pathway leads to the limbic system and produces immediate emotional and behavioural responses. Damage to the primary gustatory system results in an inability to identify substances by taste (i.e., damage to pathway one) but a person will still show appropriate facial reactions to bitter or sour substances (i.e., pathway two is intact).

Question 29

I saw videotape of a guy who lost his arm in an accident and yet truly believes that he can still feel the arm. He even thinks he can feel exactly where his hand is even though he knows, and can see that, it is gone. He is:

Answer 29

Phantom limb is the subjective experience of sensations from a missing limb. This suggests that certain kinds of sensory ‘expectations’ may be partially innate.

Question 30

Because some of the basketball players wore red shirts while others wore blue shirts, Susan perceived the 10 basketball players as two separate teams. This illustrates the perceptual principle of:

Answer 30

Similarity is a Gestalt principle of form perception and refers to the tendency of the brain to group together similar elements.