Sensation & Perception Part 1

Question 1

What is sensation?

Answer 1

Encoding environmental energy

Question 2

What is perception?

Answer 2

Interpreting information received from the senses

Question 3

What two parts of the eye bend light to create an image on the retina?

Answer 3

Cornea & lens

Question 4

Which cells convert light energy into electrical signals?

Answer 4

Photoreceptors

Question 5

What are the names of the two types of photoreceptors?

Answer 5

Cones and rods

Question 6

How are the rods different from the cones?

Answer 6

Rods are larger, very sensitive to light, do not support color vision, used in low illumination

Cones are smaller, less sensitive to light, can be used to see colors, and are used in high illumination

Question 7

Why does dark adaptation occur?

Answer 7

Photoreceptors are regenerating their photopigments

Question 8

How many neurons are there in each optic nerve?

Answer 8

1 million

Question 9

How many different types of cones are there?

Answer 9

Three - each one gives its greatest response to a different wavelength (colors)

Question 10

Why is colorblindness more common in men than women?

Answer 10

The genes that code for the photopigments are on the X chromosome. If all of a person’s X chromosomes have colorblind genes, then they will be colorblind.

Men, XX
Women, XY

Question 11

What is a monochromat?

Answer 11

Have only one cone type

See in black and white

Question 12

What is a dichromat?

Answer 12

Have only two cone types

Can either be Red-Green or Blue-Yellow colorblind

Question 13

What is an anomalous trichromat?

Answer 13

Have one cone type with an abnormal pigment

Have trouble distinguishing certain shades of color

Question 14

What is a tetrachromat?

Answer 14

Have four cone types

Can see 100 times as many colors as a normal trichromat

Question 15

Which cells in the retina send color information to the brain?

Answer 15

Ganglion cells

Question 16

What are the three types of ganglion cells?

Answer 16

Red-Green
Blue-Yellow
Black-White

Question 17

What produces color afterimages?

Answer 17

Fatigued ganglion cells

Question 18

What are three pieces of evidence that face recognition differs from the process of recognizing other objects?

Answer 18

Different parts of the brain are responsible for each task

Faces are more difficult to recognize in photographic negatives than objects

Faces are more difficult to recognize when they are upside down than objects

Question 19

What are the three variables that determine how attractive people will find a face?

Answer 19

Symmetry
Closer to the average face in a population
Exaggerated sex specific features of the face

Question 20

What is change blindness?

Answer 20

Missing large changes in scenes because the form perception areas can only process a small part of the scene at any one time

Question 21

In what lobe of the brain are the motion perception areas?

Answer 21

Parietal lobe

Question 22

What is akinetopsia?

Answer 22

Motion blindness - caused by damage to motion perception areas of the brain

Question 23

What depth cue is used to make 3D movies?

Answer 23

Binocular disparity

Question 24

How does the Ames room manipulate depth cues?

Answer 24

Makes you think both corners of the room are at the same distance

Question 25

How does the Muller-Lyer illusion work?

Answer 25

Manipulates vertices to make one line appear to be bulging toward you and the other away from you

< —- > this line appears shorter
>——< - this line appears longer

Question 26

What is the Ponzo illusion?

Answer 26

Railroad tracks have depth cues that make the top bar look further away and thus bigger

Question 27

What is responsible for the moon illusion?

Answer 27

Depth cues on the surface of the earth

An optical illusion in which the moon appears larger when it is closer to the horizon than when it is higher in the sky