Chapter 8: Sensation and Perception

Question 1

Which of the following exemplifies gustation?

Answer 1

tasting freshly caught salmon

Question 2

Which of the following statements about olfactory receptors is false?

Answer 2

They are bulb-like structures at the tip of the frontal lobe where the olfactory nerves begin.

Question 3

How does the term Gestalt relate to the psychological study of perception?

Answer 3

Perception involves more than simply combining sensory stimuli; therefore, perception is studied as Gestalt.

Question 4

Why are olfaction and gustation called chemical senses?

Answer 4

They have sensory receptors that respond to molecules in the food we eat or in the air we breathe.

Question 5

Which term describes the perception of the body’s movement through space?

Answer 5

kinesthesia

Question 6

Vinnie is standing on one leg with his arms in the air. The ________ sense helps keep him balanced so he has less chance of falling over.

Answer 6

vestibular

Question 7

Felix is riding his bicycle. His ability to sense how his torso is adjusting to the speed of his cycling and how his legs are pumping up and down is called ________.

Answer 7

kinesthesia

Question 8

Catherine is at a crowded baseball game when she loses track of her son, Nick. Despite the loud cheering and noise of the crowd, she can pinpoint his location when he calls for her because she can distinguish the sound of his voice from the all the other voices. This illustrates ________ theory.

Answer 8

signal detection

Question 9

In addition to sweet, salty, sour, and bitter, what other taste groupings do we possess?

Answer 9

umami and fat content

Question 10

________ 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.

Answer 10

perception; sensation

Question 11

Sarit is at a bar full of music, chatter, and laughter. He gets involved in an interesting conversation with a woman named Mona, and he tunes out all the background noise. Sarit’s friend, Karen, taps him on the shoulder and asks what song just played on the jukebox. Sarit says he doesn’t know, even though he is sitting right next to the jukebox and is familiar with popular music. This illustrates the role that ________ plays in what is sensed versus what is perceived.

Answer 11

attention

Question 12

Which of the following exemplifies olfaction?

Answer 12

smelling cookies in the oven

Question 13

Our vestibular sense contributes to our ability to ________.

Answer 13

maintain balance and body posture

Question 14

Inattentional ________ refers to the failure to notice something that is completely visible due to a lack of attention.

Answer 14

blindness

Question 15

Bottom-up processing involves analysis that begins with sensory receptors

Answer 15

True

Question 16

Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes is called top-down processing.

Answer 16

True

Question 17

A subliminal stimulus is one that is below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness.

Answer 17

True

Question 18

The minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time is called sensory adaptation.

Answer 18

False

Question 19

After listening to your high-volume car stereo for 15 minutes, you fail to realize how loudly the music is blasting. This best illustrates sensory adaptation.

Answer 19

True

Question 20

After hearing rumors about the outbreak of an infectious disease, Alyosha began to perceive his normal aches and pains as disease-related symptoms. His reaction best illustrates that impact of perceptual set.

Answer 20

True