Sensation and Perception

Question 1

According to the Young-Helmholtz __________________, there are three types of color receptors (cones) that are each receptive to a different primary color - red, blue, or green - and all other colors are produced by variations in the activity of these receptors.

Answer 1

Trichromatic Theory.

Question 2

Hering’s _______________________ postulates three types of bipolar receptors: red-green, yellow-blue, and white-black. According to this theory, some cells are excited by red and inhibited by green, and so on, and the overall pattern of stimulation of these cells produces the various colors that we perceive.

Answer 2

Opponent-process theory.

Question 3

The opponent-process theory is supported by the phenomenon of __________________, which involves seeing an image of an object in its complementary color after staring at it for a period of time and then looking at a neutral background.

Answer 3

Negative after-image.

Question 4

A ____________________ is used to explain the coding of color by the cones, while an ___________________ is presumed to operate in the thalamus.

Answer 4

• Trichromatic mechanism
• Opponent-process mechanism

Question 5

The most common type of color blindness is an inability to distinguish between _____________, and this type affects about ___ to ___% of the male population.

Answer 5

• Red and green
• 8 to 10%

Question 6

The term ____________________ (or just __________________) is used to describe an inherited form of complete color blindness that is caused by lack of functioning of the cone cells, while the term _____________ or ________________________ is used to describe complete color blindness that is caused by a lesion in the brain, which is usually in the occipitotemporal region.

Answer 6

• Congenital Achromatopsia
• Achromatopsia
• Central
• Cerebral Achromatopsia

Question 7

Depth perception depends on a combination of __________________ and ________________ cues.

Answer 7

• Retinal (binocular)
• Monocular

Question 8

Binocular cues are responsible for depth perception of objects at relatively close distances:

• ____________________: Refers to the turning inward of the eyes as an object gets closer and vice versa.
• ____________________: Refers to the fact that our two eyes see objects in the world from two different views and, the closer an object, the greater the disparity of the two images.

Answer 8

• Convergence
• Retinal (binocular) disparity

Question 9

Monocular cues contribute to depth perception for objects at greater distances; they include the relative size of objects, the interposition (overlap) of objects, linear and atmospheric perspective, and __________________ (the relative movement of objects at different distances when the perceiver changes position.

Answer 9

Motion parallax.

Question 10

Olfaction is a chemical sense; molecules are sensed by the olfactory receptors in the nasal cavity, which send signals through the olfactory nerve to the olfactory _________, which then forwards signals to several areas of the brain including the primary _______________ cortex, the _______________ cortex, and the _____________.

Answer 10

• Bulb
• Olfactory
• Orbitorfrontal
• Amygdala

Question 11

The _________________ cortex processes and integrates olfactory signals; the ________________ cortex is believed to be involved in the conscious perception of odors; the _______________ plays an important role in olfactory memory.

Answer 11

• Primary Olfactory
• Orbitofrontal
• Amygdala

Question 12

The cutaneous senses (4) include:

Answer 12

• Pressure (touch)
• Warmth
• Cold
• Pain

Question 13

_____________________: Axons that carry information from cutaneous receptors gather together in nerves that enter the spinal cord through the dorsal roots. The area of the body that is innervated by the dorsal root of a given segment of the spinal cord is referred to as a _______________.

Answer 13

• Dermatomes
• Dermatome

Question 14

_______________ Theory: The nervous system can process only a limited amount of sensory information at any one time. When too much information is being recieved, cells in the spinal cord act as a gate that blocks some incoming pain signals. Phenomena that can close the gate include massaging the injured area, applying heat or cold, and engaging in distracting mental activities.

Answer 14

Gate-control.

Question 15

For coping with pain, __________________ strategies include exercise, physical therapy, using distractions, and ignoring the pain. ________________ strategies include restricting social activities, resting in bed, taking medications to obtain immediate relief, and “wishful thinking.”

Answer 15

• Active
• Passive

Bonus: Active strategies tend to be more effective.

Question 16

__________________ (“joining senses”) is a rare condition in which the stimulation of one sensory modality triggers a sensation in another sensory modality. A person with this issue may hear a color or taste a shape.

Answer 16

Synesthesia.

Question 17

__________________ is the study of the relationship between physical stimulus magnitudes and their corresponding psychological sensations.

Answer 17

Psychophysics.

Question 18

An _________________ is the minimum stimulus intensity needed to produce a sensation, while a _________________ is the smallest increment in stimulus intensity needed to recognize the discrepancy between two stimuli.

Answer 18

• Absolute threshold
• Difference threshold

Bonus: The difference threshold is also referred to as the just noticeable difference (JND) and that JNDs represent psychologically equal intervals while their corresponding physical differences do not.

Question 19

_______________ Law: The more intense the stimulus, the greater the increase in stimulus intensity required for the increase to produce a just noticeable difference. It predicts, for instance, that, if one gram must be added to ten grams for an increase in weight to be detected, then ten grams would have to be added to 100 grams for an increase to be perceived.

Answer 19

Weber’s Law.

Question 20

___________________ Law: By extending Weber’s Law, this man claimed to be able to determine the precise relationship between the magnitude of a stimulus and the magnitude fo the associated sensation. This law states that physical stimulus changes are logarithmically related to their psychological sensations. In other words, a person’s experience of stimulus intensity increases arithmetically as the stimulus intensity increase geometrically.

Answer 20

Fechner’s Law.

Question 21

________________ Law: This method of magnitude estimation involves asking a participant to assign numbers to stimuli proportional to their relative sensations. His investigations led to a description of sensation as an exponential function of stimulus intensity. This law makes it possible to predict, for instance, that doubling the intensity of a light less than doubles the sensation of the light’s brightness, while doubling the intensity of an electric shock more than doubles the physical sensation.

Answer 21

Steven’s Power Law.