P2 Exam Flashcards
When tasting a new dish, you compare its flavor to similar dishes you’ve had before. This process of comparison is an example of:
A) Top-down processing
B) Bottom-up processing
C) Signal detection theory
D) Sensory adaptation
A) Top-down processing
A magician uses misdirection to prevent the audience from noticing how a trick is performed. This manipulation of
attention is an example of:
A) Sensory adaptation
B) Selective attention
C) Absolute threshold
D) Signal detection theory
B) Selective attention
During an eye exam, the optometrist adjusts lenses until you can just barely detect the letters on a chart. This point
of detection represents your:
A) Difference threshold
B) Sensory adaptation
C) Signal detection theory
D) Absolute threshold
D) Absolute threshold
Which of the following scenarios best exemplifies a situation where the difference threshold is crucial?
A) A chef adding just the right amount of salt to a dish
B) A musician tuning their instrument
C) A person recognizing a friend’s voice in a crowd
D) A driver judging the distance of a stop sign
B) A musician tuning their instrument
A soldier in a war zone reacts quickly to any sudden noise. This heightened state of alertness can be explained by:
A) Signal detection theory
B) Sensory adaptation
C) Bottom-up processing
D) Perceptual constancy
A) Signal detection theory
A person is sitting in a quiet room and suddenly hears a faint, high-pitched sound. This detection of the sound is best explained by:
A) The difference threshold for detecting changes in pitch
B) Sensory adaptation to prolonged silence
C) The absolute threshold for auditory stimuli
D) Selective attention to unexpected stimuli
C) The absolute threshold for auditory stimuli
Which of the following scenarios best illustrates the process of transduction in the sensory system?
A) A person distinguishing between two similar flavors in a taste test
B) The brain interpreting a complex image based on prior knowledge and experience
C) Sensory neurons adapting to a constant stimulus, leading to decreased sensitivity over time
D) Light entering the eye and being converted into neural signals by photoreceptors in the retina
D) Light entering the eye and being converted into neural signals by photoreceptors in the retina
In a research study, participants are asked to compare the weights of two objects. They consistently report noticing a difference in weight only when the second object is at least 2% heavier than the first. This finding best exemplifies which of the following principles?
A) Absolute threshold
B) Weber’s Law
C) Sensory adaptation
D) Signal detection theory
B) Weber’s Law
A company incorporates brief, imperceptible images of their product in a commercial, flashing them on the screen for a fraction of a second, too quickly for viewers to consciously notice. This technique is an example of:
A) Priming the viewer with subconscious cues to influence behavior
B) Utilizing the difference threshold to subtly change perception
C) Employing subliminal messages to affect viewers’ attitudes and choices
D) Triggering sensory adaptation by repeatedly exposing the viewer to the product
C) Employing subliminal messages to affect viewers’ attitudes and choices
During a visual task where participants are instructed to count the number of passes made by players in a basketball game, they fail to notice a person in a gorilla suit walking through the scene. This failure to perceive the gorilla, despite it being in their field of view, is best described as:
A) Inattentional blindness, where attention is diverted to a specific task, causing other stimuli to be overlooked
B) Change blindness, where participants fail to detect changes in the environment over time
C) Sensory overload, where the abundance of sensory information overwhelms the processing capacity
D) Selective attention, where the focus on one aspect of the scene causes other aspects to be ignored
A) Inattentional blindness, where attention is diverted to a specific task, causing other stimuli to be overlooked
Which among the following choices best describe the concept about amplitude and wavelength?
A) A piano key struck softly has a lower amplitude and thus sounds quieter, while the high notes have shorter wavelengths and sound higher in pitch.
B) A guitar string plucked with more force has a higher wavelength and thus sounds louder, while the low notes have longer wavelengths and sound quieter.
C) A drum hit with greater force produces a higher amplitude and sounds louder, while the pitch is determined by the frequency of the drumhead vibrations.
D) An electric bass playing a low note has a higher amplitude but shorter wavelength compared to a high-pitched note, which has a lower amplitude and longer wavelength.
A) A piano key struck softly has a lower amplitude and thus sounds quieter, while the high notes have shorter wavelengths and sound higher in pitch.
- In the context of light waves, which of the following best describes how the color of light is determined?
A) The amplitude of the light wave determines its color, with higher amplitudes corresponding to different colors.
B) The wavelength of the light wave determines its color, with longer wavelengths corresponding to different colors.
C) The frequency of the light wave determines its color, with higher frequencies corresponding to different colors.
D) The speed of the light wave in a medium determines its color, with different speeds corresponding to different colors.
B) The wavelength of the light wave determines its color, with longer wavelengths corresponding to different colors.
Which of the following scenarios best illustrates the concept of depth perception using monocular cues?
A) Judging the distance between two people standing side by side
B) Determining how far away an object is when viewing it with both eyes open
C) Estimating the height of a building based on its position in the visual field
D) Recognizing the size of an object based on its perceived distance from the viewer
C) Estimating the height of a building based on its position in the visual field
Imagine three friends are each shown a colored light: one red, one green, and one blue. Afterward, they mix their lights together to see what color is produced. According to the trichromatic theory of color vision, which of the
following scenarios best explains the outcome of their color mixing?
A) The mixed lights produce white light, demonstrating how the three primary colors combine to create a full spectrum of colors.
B) The mixed lights produce brown, showing how only two colors contribute to color vision while the third remains
unutilized.
C) The mixed lights create a range of secondary colors, illustrating how each primary color independently contributes to color perception.
D) The mixed lights produce a dark gray, indicating that the cones responsible for red, green, and blue light are not involved in color mixing.
A) The mixed lights produce white light, demonstrating how the three primary colors combine to create a full spectrum of colors.
A musician is tuning a piano and notices that as they play a note with a higher frequency, the pitch of the note sounds higher. This phenomenon is best explained by which of the following principles of pitch perception?
A) The frequency theory, which suggests that pitch is determined by the rate at which the basilar membrane vibrates
B) The place theory, which posits that pitch is based on the location of maximum vibration along the cochlea
C) The timbre theory, which explains that pitch is influenced by the harmonic content of a sound
D) The periodicity theory, which states that pitch perception is linked to the regularity of the sound wave’s cycle
B) The place theory, which posits that pitch is based on the location of maximum vibration along the cochlea
During a psychological experiment, participants are exposed to a series of visual stimuli and then asked to describe what they see. Which of the following scenarios best illustrates the difference between sensation and
perception?
A) Participants notice the brightness of a light in a dark room (sensation) and then interpret the light as an approaching car (perception).
B) Participants feel the texture of a surface (sensation) and then remember the surface from a past experience
(perception).
C) Participants hear a loud noise (sensation) and rate the noise on a scale of 1 to 10 for its intensity (perception).
D) Participants observe a color (sensation) and describe the color as calming or exciting (perception)
A) Participants notice the brightness of a light in a dark room (sensation) and then interpret the light as an approaching car (perception).
In a visual perception experiment, a psychology student is instructed to fixate on a central point while an object is gradually moved towards the edge of their visual field. The student notes that the object disappears at a certain location. This disappearance is best explained by which of the following concepts?
A) The fovea, which provides high visual acuity but lacks sensitivity to peripheral details
B) The optic chiasm, where the visual signals from each eye partially cross and are integrated
C) The macula, which is primarily responsible for detecting fine details and color in central vision
D) The blind spot, where the absence of photoreceptors on the retina creates a gap in visual information
D) The blind spot, where the absence of photoreceptors on the retina creates a gap in visual information
According to the opponent-process theory of color vision, which of the following scenarios best illustrates how color perception is managed by the visual system?
A) You can identify the exact wavelength of a light source by its color, showing how the frequency of light affects color perception.
B) After staring at a red image for a while, you begin to see green when you look away, demonstrating how opposing color pairs are processed in the visual system.
C) The brightness of a color increases with the intensity of light, illustrating how the amplitude of light waves
influences color vision.
D) You perceive colors more vividly when surrounded by different colors, indicating how color contrast affects visual perception.
B) After staring at a red image for a while, you begin to see green when you look away, demonstrating how opposing color pairs are processed in the visual system.
The temporal theory of pitch perception suggests that pitch is determined by the rate at which auditory nerve cells fire. Which of the following scenarios best illustrates this theory?
A) A person detects the location of a sound based on the difference in arrival times at each ear, which explains how pitch perception is influenced by spatial cues.
B) A person perceives different pitches when the amplitude of a sound wave changes, demonstrating how loudness, not pitch, is influenced by the intensity of sound waves
C) A person hears a high-pitched sound and notices that the auditory nerve cells are firing at a higher rate, consistent with the theory that pitch is related to firing frequency..
D) A person notices a change in the color of a sound when its frequency is altered, showing how pitch and color perception are interconnected.
C) A person hears a high-pitched sound and notices that the auditory nerve cells are firing at a higher rate, consistent with the theory that pitch is related to firing frequency..
In a hearing experiment, a participant is able to determine the direction of a sound based on its intensity difference between their two ears. This ability is primarily explained by which of the following concepts?
A) Interaural level difference, where the intensity of the sound differs between the ears due to its direction
B) Interaural time difference, where the timing difference of sound arrival between the ears helps locate the sound source
C) Binaural summation, where the combined auditory input from both ears enhances sound perception
D) Spectral cue, where the frequency composition of a sound helps in determining its source location
A) Interaural level difference, where the intensity of the sound differs between the ears due to its direction
A hearing impairment in which it resulted in a partial or complete inability to hear.
A) Conductive hearing loss
B) Congenital deafness
C) Deafness
D) Sensorineural hearing loss
C) Deafness
It is form by grouping taste receptor cells with hair-like extensions that protrude into the central pore
A) Gustation
B) Umami
C) Since of taste
D) Taste Buds
D) Taste Buds
The anatomy of the eye which is the transparent covering over the eye.
A) Pupil
B) Cornea
C) Iris
D) Lens
B) Cornea
The optic nerve from each eye merges just below the brain at a point called?
A) Optic Nerve
B) Blind spot
C) Optic Chiasm
D) Rod
C) Optic Chiasm
