Psychology And Life 2nd Canadian Edition By Richard – Test Bank

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Sample Questions Posted Below

 

Gerrig, Zimbardo, Desmarais, Ivanco – Psychology and Life, 2Ce

Chapter 5: Sensation and Perception

1) Which cognitive process is best defined as apprehending objects and events in the environment, sensing them, identifying them, and reacting to them?

A) sensation.

B) learning.

C) thinking.

D) perception.

Correct: Rationale: Perception includes the processes that organize information in the sensory image and interpret the image as having been produced by properties or objects in the external, three-dimensional world.

Answer: D

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 111

Skill: Conceptual

2) During which stage of the perceptual process do higher-level cognitive processes, such as memories, values, beliefs, and attitudes assign meaning?

A) sensation

B) perceptual organization

C) synthesis

D) identification and recognition

Correct: Rationale: These two processes attach meaning to what we perceive. Identification answers the question, “What is this object?” Recognition answers the questions, “What is the object’s function?”

Answer: D

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 111

Skill: Conceptual

3) In the context of perception, from which stimuli do we derive our information?

A) proximal

Correct: Rationale: What we wish to perceive is the real object in the environment, the distal stimulus; the stimulus from which we must derive our information is the proximal stimulus, the image on the retina.

B) distal

C) peripheral

D) differential

Answer: A

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 112-113

Skill: Applied

4) Which research topic best characterizes a psychophysics study? 

A) The relationship between personality and physical size

B) The effect of light intensity on the experience of brightness

Correct: Rationale: Psychophysics is the study of the relationship between physical stimuli (such as light intensity) and the behavior or mental experiences (such as the experience of brightness) the stimuli evoke.

C) Moving objects through space in the absence of physical touch

D) The effect of aerobic exercise on psychological adjustment

Answer: B

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 114

Skill: Applied

5) An individual has trouble hearing and is being tested for a hearing aid. The individual is presented with tones of various intensities and is asked to indicate whenever a sound is detected. Which measurement is likely being determined? 

A) difference threshold.

B) absolute threshold.

Correct: Rationale: The absolute threshold is the minimum amount of physical energy (tones) needed to produce a sensory experience (detecting the sound).

C) the just noticeable difference.

D) response bias.

Answer: B

Diff: 3 Type: MC Page Ref: 114

Skill: Applied

6) A superhero in a comic book boasts that his senses are so well developed that he can see a candle flame at night at a distance of 30 miles, hear the tick of a watch at 20 feet, detect the presence of one teaspoon of sugar in 20 gallons of water, and smell one drop of perfume that has been sprayed in an area equivalent to a three-room apartment. Which one of these claims is extraordinary? 

A) seeing the flame from a candle at a distance of thirty miles.

B) hearing the tick of a watch at a distance of twenty feet.

C) tasting the presence of a teaspoon of sugar in 20 gallons of water.

Correct: Rationale: The approximate threshold for taste is one teaspoon of sugar in two gallons of water.  Ordinary humans can accomplish the other feats.  

D) smelling the perfume in an area the size of a three-room apartment.

Answer: C

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 115

Skill: Applied

7) What is the operational definition of the absolute threshold? 

A) the stimulus level at which a sensory signal is detected.

B) the stimulus level at which a sensory signal is presented.

C) the stimulus level at which a sensory signal is detected half the time.

Correct: Rationale: Absolute threshold is the minimum amount of physical energy needed to produce a reliable sensory experience, operationally defined as the stimulus level at which a sensory signal is detected half the time.

D) the stimulus level at which a sensory signal is detected all of the time.

Answer: C

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 114

Skill: Factual

8) Eve had forgotten that she had put on earrings until Adam said that he liked them. What was the likely source of Eve’s lack of awareness?

A) sensory adaptation.

Correct: Rationale: Sensory adaption is the diminishing response of our sensory systems to prolonged sensory input (such as touch/pressure).

B) a response bias.

C) the difference threshold.

D) Weber’s law.

Answer: A

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 114-115

Skill: Applied

9) A researcher is testing a man for his visual absolute threshold. The researcher presents a dim light and asks the man if he detected it. The young man wants to please the researcher, so he says “yes” every time a stimulus is presented. What approach should be taken to address this situation?

A) have a research assistant present the stimuli.

B) present no stimulus at all on some trials.

Correct: Rationale: This allows evaluation of both the sensory process and the decision process. If the perceiver has a high number of false alarms when there is no stimulus present, he has frequently said yes when the researcher asks if he perceived a stimulus. This indicates that it is his decision process influencing his answers, not simply the stimulus or sensory process.

C) present a very bright stimulus on some trials.

D) identify the trials where demand characteristics are believed to be at play.

Answer: B

Diff: 3 Type: MC Page Ref: 115-116

Skill: Applied

10) Which topic of discussion would most likely include the words “payoff matrix,” “hits” and “false alarms”?  

A) gate-control theory.

B) signal detection theory.

Correct: Rationale: The matrix shows the possible outcomes when a subject is asked if a target stimulus occurred on a given trial. Hits and false alarms are possible outcomes.

C) accommodation.

D) nociceptive pain.

Answer: B

Diff: 1 Type: MC Page Ref: 115

Skill: Applied

11) On each trial, observers respond by saying “yes” if they think a signal was present and “no” if they think it was not present. If a stimulus is not presented, but the observer believes it was presented, what type of response is being made?

A) hit.

B) miss.

C) false alarm.

Correct: Rationale: When an individual says “yes” even though no signal was present, that counts as a “false alarm.”  False alarms are part of the matrix of possible outcomes when a subject is asked whether or not a target stimulus is present. They demonstrate that people’s responses reflect both the observer’s sensitivity to the strength of the stimulus and a subsequent decision process.  

D) response bias.

Answer: C

Diff: 3 Type: MC Page Ref: 115-116

Skill: Applied

12) A researcher is collecting data in an auditory signal detection task. One participant is making many more correct rejections than false alarms and many more misses than hits. Why would this outcome most likely occur?

A) The participant is a yea sayer.

B) The cost of false alarms is low.

C) The participant’s hearing is very acute.

D) The participant is a nay sayer.

Correct: Rationale: A nay sayer is someone who chronically says no, demonstrating response bias, the systematic tendency for an observer to respond in a particular way unrelated to the sensory features of the stimulus. Because the participant so often says “no,” he is likely to produce more correct rejections (saying “no” when the stimulus is absent) than false alarms (saying “yes” when the stimulus is absent).  He is also likely to have more misses (saying “no” when the stimulus is present) than hits (saying “yes” when the stimulus is present).  

Answer: D

Diff: 3 Type: MC Page Ref: 115-116

Skill: Applied

13) Why are psychologists who study sensory processes most likely to use signal detection theory?

A) It allows for the detection of experimenter expectancy effects.

B) It separates sensory processes from response bias.

Correct: Rationale: Response bias refers to the tendency of an individual to respond in a particular way that is unrelated to the sensory features of the stimulus. Signal detection theory allows study of both the sensory process itself and the decision process that may be influenced by response bias.

C) It determines why an individual would be a “nay sayer.”

D) It determines the single, true absolute threshold.

Answer: B

Diff: 3 Type: MC Page Ref: 115-116

Skill: Conceptual

14) After repeatedly tasting a new potato chip and then an old style chip, a test subject finally states that all potato chips taste the same. Which measurement has most likely been determined? 

A) difference threshold.

Correct: Rationale: A difference threshold is the smallest physical difference between two stimuli that can still be recognized as a stimulus. To measure the difference threshold, pairs of stimuli are used. Participants are asked whether they think there is a difference or not

B) absolute threshold.

C) accommodation.

D) response bias.

Answer: A

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 116

Skill: Applied

15) What is the operational definition of a difference threshold?

A) The point at which two stimuli are recognized as different 25% of the time.

B) The point at which two stimuli are recognized as different half of the time.

Correct: Rationale: The difference threshold is the smallest physical difference between two stimuli that can still be recognized as a difference, operationally defined as the point at which the stimuli are recognized as different half the time.

C) The point at which two stimuli are recognized as different all of the time.

D) Sthe mallest quantity of physical energy that can be detected.

Answer: B

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 116

Skill: Factual

16) A consultant is trying to convince a manufacturer that changing the taste of their drink product slightly will not be detected as much as if they were in the perfume business where clients would detect a similar slight change in odour. Based on Weber’s research with different sense dimensions, is the consultant’s claim accurate and if so, why?

A) Yes, because Weber’s constant for odour is greater than Weber’s constant for taste.

B) Yes, because a person will be more sensitive to changes in odours than changes in taste.

Correct: Rationale: Weber’s work tells us that we can differentiate two odours more precisely than we can two tastes. (People can detect smaller differences in odour than in taste.)

C) No, because a person will be more sensitive to changes in taste than changes in odour.

D) No, because people are equally sensitive to changes in taste and odour.

Answer: B

Diff: 3 Type: MC Page Ref: 116-117

Skill: Applied

17) Which example is most like the sensory process of transduction?

A) The use of solar panels to run washing machines.

Correct: Rationale: Transduction is the process of conversion of one form of physical energy to another form of energy.

B) The increasing sensitivity of other senses when one sense is lost.

C) The tendency of plants to turn their leaves toward the sun.

D) The development of an adolescent into an adult.

Answer: A

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 117

Skill: Applied

18) Which sequence best reflects the route that light energy takes as it moves through the eye from the outside world?

A) cornea, anterior chamber, pupil, vitreous humour, retina.

Correct: Rationale: Light first enters the cornea, then passes through the anterior chamber, then through the pupil, vitreous humour inside the eye, and finally strikes the retina at the back of the eyeball.

B) anterior chamber, pupil, cornea, vitreous humour, retina.

C) pupil, vitreous humour, cornea, anterior chamber, retina.

D) anterior chamber, cornea, pupil, retina, vitreous humour.

Answer: A

Diff: 3 Type: MC Page Ref: 118

Skill: Factual

19) An elderly man jokes that his arms have gotten too short to be able to read the morning newspaper without his glasses. What is the most likely source of his vision problem?

A) the decreased ability to accommodate.

B) flattening of the cornea.

C) the inability of the lens to thicken properly.

Correct: Rationale: As people age, the lens becomes more amber tinted, opaque, and flattened, and it loses its elasticity. When this happens the lens loses its ability to thicken enough for near vision. The near point, the closest point at which people can focus clearly, gets progressively farther away.

D) ciliary muscles that are too strong.

Answer: C

Diff: 3 Type: MC Page Ref: 118

Skill: Applied

20) Under which conditions do rods operate best? 

A) Bright light

B) Moderate light

C) Coloured light

D) Near darkness

Correct: Rationale: Rods are best for night vision, while cones are specialized for bright, colourful, daytime vision.

Answer: D

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 119

Skill: Factual

21) Which description best explains the process of dark adaptation?

A) improved sensitivity of rods over time.

Correct: Rationale: Dark adaptation is the gradual improvement of the eyes’ sensitivity after the level of illumination changes from bright to near darkness. As time passes in the dark, rods become more sensitive than cones and are able to respond to the lower level of light.

B) improved sensitivity of cones over time.

C) improved sensitivity of amacrine cells over time.

D) improved sensitivity of bipolar cells over time.

Answer: A

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 119

Skill: Applied

22) What is the fovea?

A) the location of the blind spot.

B) an area in the retina where rods are particularly dense.

C) the location of amacrine cells.

D) an area in the retina where vision is sharpest.

Correct: Rationale: The fovea is a small region in the center of the retina that contains nothing but densely packed cones. We move our eyes so that images fall on our fovea. 

Answer: D

Diff: 1 Type: MC Page Ref: 119

Skill: Factual

23) At night, when one looks at a star directly, the image of the star hits the fovea of the retina and it is difficult to see it clearly. Why does this phenomenon occur?

A) The fovea is densely packed with rods.

B) The fovea is rod-free.

Correct: Rationale: Rods are the receptor cells on the retina that work best in near darkness.

C) The fovea is adjacent to the blind spot.

D) The cells in the fovea are hyperpolarized.

Answer: B

Diff: 3 Type: MC Page Ref: 119

Skill: Applied

24) How do the cells of the retina process visual information?  

A) bipolar cells and ganglion cells spread the signal within the retina, and horizontal and amacrine cells send the signal to the brain.

B) horizontal and amacrine cells spread the signal within the retina, and bipolar cells send the signal to the brain.

C) horizontal cells send the signal to the brain, and amacrine cells spread the signal across the retina.

D) ganglion cells send the signal to the brain, and horizontal and amacrine cells spread the signal across the retina.

Correct: Rationale: The axons of the ganglion cells make up the optic nerve, which carries visual information out of the eye to the brain. The horizontal and amacrine cells integrate information across the retina. Horizontal cells connect receptors to each other. Amacrine cells link bipolar cells to other bipolar cells and ganglion cells to other ganglion cells. Neither the horizontal nor the amacrine cells send signals to the brain.

Answer: D

Diff: 3 Type: MC Page Ref: 119-120

Skill: Applied

25) Where in the brain do the optic nerves from each eye first come together?  

A) thalamus

B) corpus collosum

C) optic tract

D) optic chiasma

Correct: Rationale: The optic nerve from each eye come together at the optic chiasma, and then half of the fibres from each retina remain on the side of the body from which they originated.

Answer: D

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 120

Skill: Factual

26) It is common practice to treat amblyopia, or ‘lazy eye’, in children by patching up the healthy eye. According to the research of Murphy and colleagues, which advice about the procedure is appropriate?

A) It is recommended because it allows the amblyopic eye to ‘catch up’ to the healthy eye.

B) It is recommended because the healthy eye is overpowering the amblyopic eye.

C) It is not recommended because the healthy eye loses some visual acuity after wearing the patch.

Correct: Rationale: Murphy and colleagues found that kittens with a patch on their good eye did experience some restoration of their visual acuity to the amblyopic eye, but their healthy eye lost some visual acuity.

D) It is not recommended because the amblyopic eye doesn’t improve after the procedure.

Answer: C

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 121

Skill: Conceptual

27) Which of the following terms does not belong with the others?

A) frequency

Correct: Rationale: Experiences of colour are explained by hue, saturation, and brightness. Frequency is a term related to hearing and describes the number of cycles a sine wave completes in a given amount of time.

B) hue

C) saturation

D) brightness

Answer: A

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 124

Skill: Conceptual

28) Which colour has an intermediate amount of saturation?

A) white.

B) beige.

Correct: Rationale: Saturation captures the purity of colour sensation. Undiluted colours have the most saturation. Muted, muddy and pastel colours have intermediate saturation. Grays have zero saturation.

C) yellow.

D) gray.

Answer: B

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 124

Skill: Conceptual

29) When combining wavelengths in an additive colour mixture, what will mixing complementary colours do?

A) create the sensation of white light.

Correct: Rationale: Complementary colours are wavelengths that appear directly across from each other on the colour wheel. When mixed, complementary colours create the sensation of white light.

B) produce a negative afterimage.

C) be perceived as black.

D) produce different effects, depending on the colours that are mixed.

Answer: A

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 124

Skill: Conceptual

30) Near the end of a negative afterimage demonstration, the audience looked at a blank white screen, but responded that they had seen a red and white Canadian flag. What colour was the original flag that they were likely required to view at the onset of the demonstration?

A) green and black

Correct: Rationale: The green, black, and yellow flag gives the audience a negative afterimage that is the opposite of the original colours. When we stare at any colour long enough to partially fatigue our photoreceptors, looking at a white surface allows us to see the complements of the original colours.

B) blue and white

C) red and white

D) blue and green

Answer: A

Diff: 3 Type: MC Page Ref: 124, 126

Skill: Applied

31) When a child combines the yellow and blue crayon colours in her drawing, the resulting colour is green. Why is this so?

A) Because in an additive colour mixture, combining these two colours yields green.

B) When yellow and blue are combined, the yellow absorbs the yellow, and the blue absorbs the blue, leaving green as the only remaining colour.

C) The only wavelengths that are not absorbed look green.

Correct: Rationale: When yellow and blue crayon are combined, yellow absorbs blue and blue absorbs yellow, leaving unabsorbed only the wavelengths that look green. Both the yellow and blue crayons allow some wavelengths that look green to escape; these are the wavelengths that are not absorbed.

D) Because of an afterimage created by the particular addition of these two colours.

Answer: C

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 124-125

Skill: Applied

32) Which type of colour blindness is the most common?

A) black and white

B) blue and yellow

C) red and green

Correct: Rationale: Red-green colour blindness is the most popular type of colour blindness. It is usually caused by a defect associated with a gene on the X chromosome. It is more common in males since males only have a single X chromosome, whereas a female would need to have these defective gene on both of her X chromosomes. 

D) blue and green

Answer: C

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 125-126

Skill: Factual

33) Sir Thomas Young proposed the existence of only three colour receptors. How did he explain the sensation of so many other colours?

A) He could not explain the sensation of other colours, although many years later another scientist did.

B) All other colours are additive or subtractive combinations of the colours he identified.

Correct: Rationale: The primary sensations produced by three different receptors in the eye were red, green, and blue. Additive or subtractive combinations of these colours produced all other colours. His theory was later refined and came to be known as the Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic Theory. It explained colour sensations and colour blindness but it did not explain afterimages or why colour-blind people always fail to distinguish pairs of colours.

C) The brain “learns” to sense other colours, but only after experience with the first three.

D) All other colours were afterimages of the three colours he identified.

Answer: B

Diff: 3 Type: MC Page Ref: 126

Skill: Conceptual

34) Why was the opponent-process theory preferred over the trichromatic theory of colour vision?

A) It explained the existence of complementary afterimages.

Correct: Rationale: Ewald Hering theorized that colours produced complementary afterimages because one element of the system became fatigued from overstimulation and thus increased the relative contribution of its opponent element.

B) It supported the greater prevalence of colour blindness in males.

C) It clarified why yellow/blue colour blindness is less common.

D) It indicated why some people see no colour at all.

Answer: A

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 126

Skill: Conceptual

35) Which statement best characterizes the trichromatic theory of colour vision? 

A) There are three types of rods, each sensitive to red, blue, and green.

B) There are three types of cones, each sensitive to red, blue, and green.

Correct: Rationale: Although the three types of cones each respond to a range of wavelengths, they are each most sensitive to light at a particular wavelength.

C) There are three types of retinal ganglion cells, each of which is capable of responding to red, blue, or green, but not their afterimages.

D) There are sections of the visual cortex which respond most directly to each of the colours red, blue, and green.

Answer: B

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 126-127

Skill: Applied

36) Which contemporary version of colour vision was supported by Leo Hurvich and Dorothea Jameson?

A) there are four types of colour cones in the retina, rather than three.

B) ganglion cells combine outputs of cone types in an opponent-process manner.

Correct: Rationale: Ganglion cells combine the output of the three cone types while the two members of each colour pair work in opposition by means of neural inhibition. Some ganglion cells, for instance, receive excitatory input from lights that appear red and inhibitory input from lights that appear green. Other cells do the opposite, forming the basis of the red-green opponent process system.

C) colour cones are equally responsive to all wavelengths of light.

D) people who are colour-blind possess an inhibitory system, but lack an excitatory system.

Answer: B

Diff: 3 Type: MC Page Ref: 126-127

Skill: Conceptual

37) How is the pitch of a sound wave determined?  

A) By intensity

B) By amplitude

C) By frequency

Correct: Rationale: Pitch is the highness or lowness of a sound determined by the sound’s frequency. High frequencies are experienced as high pitch and low frequencies as low pitch. Sound waves with large amplitudes are experienced as loud and those with small amplitudes as soft.

D) By height

Answer: C

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 127-128l

Skill: Conceptual

38) A member of a rock band has become concerned with whether or not the band’s music is contributing to deafness among members of the audience. Which factor should be of most concern? 

A) the frequency of sine waves

B) the pitch of the music

C) the number of decibels

Correct: Rationale: Sounds louder than 90 decibels can produce hearing loss depending on how long a person is exposed to them.

D) if harmonics are present in the music

Answer: C

Diff: 1 Type: MC Page Ref: 128l

Skill: Applied

39) Which noise level is closest to the level at which sound can initially be expected to cause hearing loss?

A) 65 decibels

B) 90 decibels

Correct: Rationale: Sounds louder than about 90 dB can produce hearing loss, depending on how long a person is exposed to them.

C) 115 decibels

D) 140 decibels

Answer: B

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 128l

Skill: Factual

40) When listening to a piece of classical music, which dimension of sound allows a musician to discriminate among the various instruments that are being played?

A) timbre.

Correct: Rationale: The timbre of a sound reflects the components of its complex sound wave. Timbre is what sets different sounds apart.

B) amplitude.

C) loudness.

D) pitch.

Answer: A

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 128-129l

Skill: Applied

41) Why does a tuning fork produce a pure tone?

A) It creates multiple sine waves.

B) It creates a single sine wave.

Correct: Rationale: Only a small number of physical stimuli produce pure tones consisting of a single sine wave. A pure tone such as the tuning fork has only one frequency and one amplitude. Most sounds in the world are not pure, but are rather complex waves with a combination of frequencies and amplitudes.

C) It creates one frequency and many amplitudes.

D) It creates all possible frequencies.

Answer: B

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 128l

Skill: Applied

42) Why is radio static perceived as noise?

A) It is composed of simple structures of fundamental frequencies and harmonics.

B) It contains multiple amplitudes.

C) It has a fundamental frequency.

D) It contains many audible frequencies.

Correct: Rationale: The static contains energy at all audible frequencies; we perceive it as having no pitch because it has no fundamental frequency.

Answer: D

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 128l

Skill: Applied

43) There is an interactive exhibit on the senses at a science fair. For the sense of hearing, there is a gigantic ear through which viewers can walk. What is the order in which patrons will encounter the structures listed below, as they move through the ear?

A) tympanic membrane, middle ear, auditory nerve, pinna, cochlea

B) cochlea, middle ear, pinna, tympanic membrane, auditory nerve

C) auditory nerve, tympanic membrane, pinna, cochlea, middle ear

D) pinna, tympanic membrane, middle ear, cochlea, auditory nerve

Correct: Rationale: Sounds enter the pinna, encounter the tympanic membrane, which transmits vibrations into the middle ear which amplifies the vibrations for the cochlea, which then transmits signals to the auditory nerve.

Answer: D

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 129l

Skill: Applied

44) What are the hammer, anvil, and stirrup?

A) small bones in the middle ear.

Correct: Rationale: The hammer, anvil and stirrup are three small bones in the middle ear that transmit and concentrate the vibrations from the eardrum to the cochlea.

B) structures on the basilar membrane.

C) fluid-filled chambers in the cochlea.

D) components of the tympanic membrane.

Answer: A

Diff: 1 Type: MC Page Ref: 129l

Skill: Factual

45) What happens immediately after the stirrup vibrates against the oval window?

A) nerve impulses leave the cochlea.

B) fluid in the cochlea causes the basilar membrane to move.

Correct: Rationale: The cochlea is a fluid-filled coiled tube that has the basilar membrane running down the middle along its length. When the stirrup vibrates against the oval window, the fluid in the cochlea causes the basilar membrane to move in a wavelike motion.

C) the tympanic membrane begins to vibrate.

D) the hammer and the anvil begin to move. 

Answer: B

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 129l

Skill: Applied

46) Vision is to the rods and cones as hearing is to the

A) tympanic membrane

B) oval window

C) hair cells on the basilar membrane

Correct: Rationale: Just as the rods and cones are receptor cells for vision, the tiny hair cells are the receptor cells for the auditory system. As they bend, they stimulate nerve endings, transforming mechanical vibrations of the basilar membrane into neural activity.

D) cochlea

Answer: C

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 129l

Skill: Applied

47) Which statement about conduction deafness is accurate?

A) It is the most serious form of hearing impairment.

B) It may result from malfunctioning bones in the middle ear.

Correct: Rationale:  Conduction deafness is a problem with the conduction of the air vibrations to the cochlea. If the condition is caused by improper functioning of the bones in the middle ear, it can sometimes be corrected through microsurgery by insertion of an artificial anvil or stirrup.

C) It refers to a defect in the neural mechanisms.

D) It can be successfully treated with a cochlear implant.

Answer: B

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 129-130l

Skill: Applied

48) A man returns from the doctor after having been informed that he is suffering from nerve deafness. Should he be concerned?

A) No, because this form of deafness can be managed well through the use of a hearing aid.

B) No, because this type of deafness can easily be cured by microsurgery.

C) Yes, because it means that his middle ear has sustained damage.

D) Yes, because it is a serious type of deafness that is not easily treated.

Correct: Rationale: Nerve deafness signals a defect in neural mechanisms that create nerve impulses in the ear or relay them to the auditory nerve. Damage to the auditory cortex can also cause nerve damage.

Answer: D

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 130l

Skill: Applied

49) According to the place theory of pitch perception, what happens when one is presented with a high-frequency tone?

A) A greater number of action potentials reach the auditory nerve.

B) The bones of the middle ear move at a faster rate.

C) The movement of the basilar membrane is greatest at the end of the cochlea (farthest away from the oval and round windows).

D) The movement of the basilar membrane is greatest at the base of the cochlea (closest to the oval and round windows).

Correct: Rationale: Different frequencies produce their greatest movement at particular locations along the basilar membrane. The wave motion for high frequency sounds is greatest at the base of the cochlea where the oval and round windows are located.

Answer: D

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 130l

Skill: Applied

50) Which theory of pitch relies on the rate of vibration in the basilar membrane, does not depend on where in the basilar membrane the vibrations take place, and equates rate of firing with a neural code for pitch?

A) place theory.

B) frequency theory.

Correct: Rationale: The frequency theory predicts that a sound wave with a frequency of 100 Hz will cause the basilar membrane to vibrate 100 times a second. This theory also predicts that the vibrations of the basilar membrane will cause neurons to fire at the same rate; the rate of firing is the neural code for pitch.

C) gate-control theory.

D) opponent-process theory.

Answer: B

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 131l

Skill: Applied

51) What type of sound detection is best explained by the “volley principle”?

A) high-amplitude

B) low-amplitude

C) high-frequency

Correct: Rationale: The frequency theory couldn’t explain perception of high frequencies, since one neuron can’t fire more than 1000 times per second. The volley principle overcomes this by saying that several neurons in a combined action fire at a frequency that matches the high frequency sound stimulus.

D) low-frequency

Answer: C

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 131l

Skill: Factual

52) What has research on the perception of pitch revealed?

A) frequency theory works best for frequencies above 5,000 Hz.

B) place theory works best for frequencies below 1,000 Hz.

C) both place and frequency theories work between 1,000 and 5,000 Hz.

Correct: Rationale: The frequency theory accounts well for coding frequencies below 5000 Hz. At higher frequencies, neurons cannot fire quickly and precisely enough to code an accurate signal. Place theory accounts well for pitch at frequencies above 1000 Hz. Below 1000 Hz there is no adequate way for the basilar membrane to produce a distinctive signal because it is vibrating so broadly. Between 1000 and 5000 Hz, both place and frequency theories explain mechanisms that can operate to produce perception of pitch.

D) neither place nor frequency theory work between 1,000 and 5,000 Hz. 

Answer: C

Diff: 3 Type: MC Page Ref: 131l

Skill: Conceptual

53) Hearing is to hair cells as the sense of smell is to

A) olfactory cilia

Correct: Rationale: Olfaction (smell) begins when odourant molecules interact with receptor proteins on the membranes of olfactory cilia. At least 40 nerve endings must be stimulated before we can smell the substance. These nerve impulses convey odour information to the olfactory bulb. The hair cells are the receptor cells for the auditory system. As they bend, they stimulate nerve endings, transforming mechanical vibrations into neural activity.

B) olfactory bulbs

C) papillae

D) saccules

Answer: A

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 132

Skill: Applied

54) Tim has suffered an injury to his olfactory bulb. How will Tim’s behaviour most likely be affected?

A) He will not be able to taste food.

B) He will not be able to verbalize.

C) He will not be able to smell.

Correct: Rationale: The olfactory bulb receives olfactory information from the olfactoria cilia, and is located just below the frontal lobes of the cortex.

D) He will not be able to discriminate differences in sound.

Answer: C

Diff: 1 Type: MC Page Ref: 132

Skill: Applied

55) What are pheromones?

A) chemicals found in the brains of some birds that enable them to detect gravitational fields.

B) chemical substances used by some species to communicate with each other.

Correct: Rationale: Pheromones are chemical substances used within a given species to signal sexual receptivity, danger, territorial boundaries, and food sources.

C) medications given to people suffering from chronic pain.

D) special receptors on the bodies of some fish that enable them to detect distortions in electrical fields. 

Answer: B

Diff: 1 Type: MC Page Ref: 133

Skill: Factual

56) What are the basic taste qualities?

A) simple, complex, and interactive.

B) temperature, texture, and chemical composition.

C) bland, savoury, spicy, rancid, and tart.

D) sweet, sour, bitter, saline, and umami.

Correct: Rationale: The four primary taste qualities are sweet, sour, bitter, and saline (salty). Recently, a fifth has been added called umami, which is the flavour of monosodium glutamate.

Answer: D

Diff: 1 Type: MC Page Ref: 134

Skill: Factual

57) A man is suing a local restaurant because he claims that the food that he was served contained spices that permanently damaged his taste receptors. Does this lawsuit have merit?

A) Yes. The taste buds may have been damaged, and are irreplaceable.

B) Yes. This is a common reaction to eating spicy foods.

C) No. The taste buds get replaced every few days, so he is likely to regain his sense of taste.

Correct: Rationale: The taste receptors are replaced about every ten days. The taste system is the sensory system that is most resistant to damage; it is rare for someone to suffer a permanent or total taste loss.

D) No. The taste buds are durable and are rarely damaged.

Answer: C

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 134

Skill: Applied

58) When do Meissner corpuscles respond best? 

A) when the skin experiences steady pressure

B) when the skin is touched by something warm

C) when the skin rubs against another object

Correct: Rationale: The Meissner corpuscles respond best when something rubs against the skin, and the Merkel disks are most active when a small object exerts steady pressure against the skin.

D) when the skin is exposed to a sharp object

Answer: C

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 134

Skill: Conceptual

59) Which statement most accurately describes the mechanism that allows us to sense warmth and coolness?

A) There are only receptors for warmth which work like a thermometer.

B) There are only receptors for coolness which work like a thermometer.

C) The brain integrates separate warm and cool signals.

Correct: Rationale: We have separate receptors for warmth and coolness. Our brains integrate separate signals from cold fibers and warm fibers to monitor changes in environmental temperature.

D) Meissner corpuscles sense warmth and Merkel disks sense coolness; inputs from these receivers are directly “felt” by the brain.

Answer: C

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 134-135

Skill: Conceptual

60) Motion sickness occurs when signals from the vestibular system are in conflict with signals from which other system?

A) kinesthetic

B) auditory

C) olfactory

D) visual

Correct: Rationale: The vestibular system tells us how our body is oriented in the world with respect to gravity. Most people who lose their vestibular sense compensate by using their visual system. Motion sickness occurs when signals from the vestibular system and the visual system conflict. When someone is motion sick, the visual system signals a stationary object while the vestibular system signals movement.

Answer: D

Diff: 3 Type: MC Page Ref: 135

Skill: Applied

61) Where are the kinesthetic receptors located?

A) In the taste buds.

B) In the nose.

C) In the fluid-filled sacs and canals in the inner ear.

D) In the joints, muscles, and tendons.

Correct: Rationale: The kinesthetic sense provides constant sensory feedback about what the body is doing during motor activities.  There are two sources of sensory information: Receptors in the joints respond to pressure and pressure changes that accompany different positions of the limbs and movements of the joints.  Receptors in muscles and tendons respond to changes in tension that come with muscle lengthening and shortening.

Answer: D

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 135

Skill: Conceptual

62) A child has discovered that he can type with his eyes closeD) He even realizes when he has made an error before he sees his mistake. What is the likely source of this new-found ability?

A) the semicircular canals.

B) the saccule and utricle.

C) the kinesthetic sense.

Correct: Rationale: The kinesthetic sense provides constant sensory feedback about what the body is doing during motor activities. Kinesthesia helps the brain know where your fingers are in relation to one another.

D) the vestibular system.

Answer: C

Diff: 1 Type: MC Page Ref: 135

Skill: Applied

63) What have scientists discovered about pain mechanisms?

A) there is one set of receptors that responds to all forms of pain-producing stimuli.

B) the location and intensity of pain is identified by mechanisms in the spinal cord.

C) pain signals are sent to the central nervous system via two pathways.

Correct: Rationale: Peripheral nerve fibres send pain signals to the central nervous system by two pathways: a fast-conducting set of nerve fibres that are covered with myelin, and a slower, smaller nerve fibres without any myelin coating.

D) pain signals are first sent to the brain via the reticular formation.

Answer: C

Diff: 3 Type: MC Page Ref: 136

Skill: Factual

64) Which statement about Melzack’s gate-control theory is accurate?

A) The gate is permanently closed in people who are paralyzed.

B) Not all pain signals are allowed through the gate.

Correct: Rationale: Cells in the spinal cord act as neurological gates, interrupting and blocking some pain signals and letting others through.  Receptors in the skin and the brain send messages to the spinal cord to open or close those gates.

C) Individuals have no control over whether the gate is opened or closed.

D) Individuals have full control over whether the gate is opened or closed.

Answer: B

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 136

Skill: Conceptual

65) What does Ronald Melzack’s neuromatrix theory of pain suggest?

A) pain radiates out from the central axis of the body and downward from the head.

B) some people do not experience pain.

C) people often experience pain with little or no physical cause.

Correct: Rationale: In these cases, the experience of pain originates wholly in the brain. What we perceive may be different or even independent from what we sense.

D) every painful experience has emotional as well as physical consequences.

Answer: C

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 136

Skill: Applied

66) Which statement about supertasters is based on research?

A) men are more likely to be supertasters than are women.

B) supertasters are likely to have fewer pain receptors on their tongues.

C) supertasters have more taste buds than nontasters.

Correct: Rationale: If there are more taste buds there will be more pain receptors. Supertasters are more likely to get a pain response that is stronger than the response of the taste receptors when there are chemicals in the food that produce strong reactions.

D) there is no genetic component to supertasting abiity.

Answer: C

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 137

Skill: Applied

67) A medical student hopes to be a surgeon. Observing an operation, she focuses her attention on the way her teacher is holding the scalpel and the angle between the blade and the skin. What type of attentional focus is being described?

A) goal-directed selection.

Correct: Rationale: This process of attention reflects the choices we make about objects to which we choose to attend. It is a function of our own goals. In this case, the goal is attention to the teacher’s exact use of the scalpel.

B) stimulus-driven capture.

C) invariant perception.

D) unconscious inference.

Answer: A

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 138

Skill: Applied

68) On a warm summer day, a student is sitting in the shade of a tree reading a novel when the tapping of a woodpecker on a nearby tree is momentarily distracting. This shift in attention is an example of which component of attention?

A) shadowing

B) dichotic viewing

C) goal-directed selection

D) stimulus-driven capture

Correct: Rationale: This occurs when a stimulus (something in the environment) automatically captures your attention independent of your goals as the perceiver. The woodpecker grabbed your attention even when you were not focused on it.

Answer: D

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 138

Skill: Applied

69) In an experiment on attention described in the textbook, researchers attempted to create visual displays that would put goal-directed selection and stimulus-driven capture into competition. What did the findings suggest?

A) the perceptual system of humans is organized so that changes in the environment are readily habituated.

B) goal-directed selection is sufficiently powerful to consistently withstand the effects of stimulus-driven capture.

C) in some circumstances, stimulus-driven capture wins out over goal-directed selection.

Correct: Rationale: When directed to the contents of the grey circle, and a distractor red circle appeared, participants’ attention was drawn to the red circle, even though it was irrelevant to the task.

D) it is not possible to design a task in which stimulus-driven capture and goal-directed selection compete directly.

Answer: C

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 138, 140

Skill: Applied

70) Which term best explains why the clouds typically appear to be closer than the sky?

A) colour afterimages.

B) change blindness.

C) figure/ground perception

Correct: Rationale: A figure is seen as an object-like region in the foreground, and the ground is seen as the backdrop against which the figure stands out.

D) the law of proximity.

Answer: C

Diff: 1 Type: MC Page Ref: 141

Skill: Applied

71) James has a pocket full of pennies and nickels that spill all over the floor. When James looks at the scattered pile, he notices that he automatically groups the two types of coins according to colour. Which grouping principle is being described?

A) similarity

Correct: Rationale: The law of similarity states that people group together the most similar elements, such as colour.

B) proximity

C) figure-ground

D) continuity

Answer: A

Diff: 1 Type: MC Page Ref: 141

Skill: Applied

72) Most of the crowd at the Grey Cup game is wearing the blue colours of the home team and a much smaller number is wearing the red colours of the away team. Which Gestalt law best illustrates the way in which these colours seem to automatically group themselves together?

A) proximity.

B) common fate.

C) similarity.

Correct: Rationale: We group together the most similar elements. In this case we group people wearing blue with others who are wearing blue. We do the same for those wearing red.

D) effect.

Answer: C

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 141

Skill: Applied

73) A student in a geometry class watches as the teacher hastily draws various geometric shapes on the blackboard. Which term best captures the student’s ability to see the incomplete figures as complete?

A) closure.

Correct: Rationale: We tend to fill in small gaps so that we experience objects as wholes.

B) figure and ground.

C) temporal integration.

D) continuation.

Answer: A

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 141

Skill: Applied

74) From her seat in the top row of the stadium, the football fan had a great view of the halftime entertainment. As she watched, two large groups of band members were marching toward, then through one another, in opposite directions. Which Gestalt law allows her to keep track of each separate group?

A) proximity.

B) similarity.

C) closure.

D) common fate.

Correct: Rationale: One band is walking in one direction. The other is walking in the opposite direction. Even though they mix together as they pass, we tend to group objects together that appear to be moving in the same direction. That’s why we do not lose track of which band is which.

Answer: D

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 141

Skill: Applied

75) Research suggests that our moment-to-moment visual impressions of the world do not preserve precise details. What is one reason for this less-than-perfect representation?

A) the world itself is generally a stable source of information.

Correct: Rationale: It is unnecessary to commit to memory information that remains steadily available in the external environment. 

B) temporal integration is employed when it is not needed.

C) spatial integration is used when temporal integration is needed.

D) the visual system has evolved to register only certain details.

Answer: A

Diff: 3 Type: MC Page Ref: 142

Skill: Factual

76) The fans love the new scoreboard at the ballpark. Every time a batter hits a home run, flashing lights on the scoreboard make it look as though an imaginary ball is leaving the field. Which term best explains this illusion?

A) the Ponzo illusion.

B) the law of proximity.

C) relative motion parallax.

D) the phi phenomenon.

Correct: Rationale: The phi phenomenon occurs when two stationary spots of light in different positions in the visual field are alternately turned off and on at a rate of about four to five times a second. The stationary lights going on and off in succession are perceived as a single moving light.

Answer: D

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 143

Skill: Applied

77) A child is driving a bumper car in an amusement park. At the last instant he swerves to avoid a crash with another car. Which cue allows the child to sense how quickly another car is approaching?

A) The speed of the air molecules impacting on his face.

B) The rate at which his retinal image of the other car expands.

Correct: Rationale: The size of the retinal image changes as the cars approach one another. The rate at which the image expands gives the child the sense of how fast the other car is approaching.

C) The peripheral cue associated with motion parallax.

D) The increasing intensity of the sound made by the other car.

Answer: B

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 143

Skill: Applied

78) What must occur for retinal disparity and convergence cues to be of any value?

A) people must keep one eye closed.

B) people must have two working eyes.

Correct: Rationale: Binocular depth cues include retinal disparity and convergence.  These cues involve comparison of the visual information that arrives at two eyes. The two eyes together provide compelling information about depth.

C) the head must be moved slowly back and forth.

D) objects must be farther than ten feet away.

Answer: B

Diff: 1 Type: MC Page Ref: 143

Skill: Conceptual

79) Which part of the visual system is most clearly linked to the depth cue of convergence?

A) optic disk.

B) conjunctiva.

C) eye muscles.

Correct: Rationale: Convergence is the degree to which the eyes turn inward to fixate on an object. The brain uses information from the eye muscles to make judgments about depth.

D) optic chiasma.

Answer: C

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 144

Skill: Factual

80) Taking his first train ride, a child is amazed at how quickly the fence posts along the tracks are whizzing by, but the farm in the distance hardly seems to move. Which term best describes this phenomenon?

A) motion parallax.

Correct: Rationale: Motion parallax provides information about depth because, as we move, the relative distances of objects determine the amount and direction of their relative motion in your retinal image of the scene. Objects farther away will appear much more stationary than those close to us.

B) retinal disparity.

C) convergence.

D) interposition.

Answer: A

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 144

Skill: Applied

81) At first, a golfer is having a difficult time deciding whether a large mound is in front of or behind a distant hole. Since the mound partially blocks a flag that indicates the location of the hole, he concludes that the hole is farther away than the mound. Which term best reflects this pictorial cue?

A) retinal disparity.

B) interposition.

Correct: Rationale: Interposition or occlusion arises when an opaque object blocks out part of a second object, providing depth information indicating that the occluded object is farther away than the occluding object. Occluding surfaces block out light, creating shadows that can also be a source of information about depth.

C) linear perspective.

D) texture gradient.

Answer: B

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 145

Skill: Applied

82) What visual cue is at the source of the Ponzo illusion?

A) apparent motion.

B) retinal disparity.

C) converging lines.

Correct: Rationale: The upper line looks longer because you interpret the converging sides as parallel lines converging into the distance. An object farther away would have to be longer than a nearer one for both to produce retinal images of the same size.

D) texture gradients.

Answer: C

Diff: 3 Type: MC Page Ref: 145

Skill: Applied

83) An art student admires the way an artist has used texture gradients in a painting to give the appearance of depth. If the student were to attempt to duplicate this technique, what would the student need to do?

A) increase the density of texture as the scene recedes in depth.

Correct: Rationale: The units that make up the texture become smaller as they recede into the distance, and the visual system interprets this increasing density of texture as greater distance in three-dimensional space.

B) decrease the density of texture as the scene recedes in depth.

C) apply less shading as the scene recedes in depth.

D) paint parallel lines that appear to converge in the distance.

Answer: A

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 145

Skill: Applied

84) A girl is speeding down a path on her new scooter. Although her sensory systems are rapidly recording a wide variety of stimulus changes, she still sees the world as stable and unchanging. Which term best reflects this phenomenon?

A) stimulus-driven capture.

B) relative motion parallax.

C) perceptual constancy.

Correct: Rationale: We perceive the properties of the distal stimulus, which are usually constant, rather than the proximal stimuli, which change every time the head or eyes move. The critical task of perception is to discover invariant properties of the environment despite the variations in your retinal impressions of them.

D) the phi phenomenon.

Answer: C

Diff: 1 Type: MC Page Ref: 146

Skill: Applied

85) As Sara leaves the classroom, she sees Molly at the end of the hall. Although Sara’s retinal image of Molly is much smaller than it would be if Molly were standing right next to Sara, Sara does not notice anything unusual about Molly’s height. Which term best characterizes this scenario?

A) size constancy.

Correct: Rationale: The size of the retinal image depends on the actual size of your friend and your friend’s distance from your eye. Information about distance is available from many different depth cues, which combines with retinal information to give you a perception of your friend that corresponds to his/her actual size. Size constancy is this ability to perceive the true size of an object despite variations in the retinal image.

B) perceptual ambiguity.

C) change blindness.

D) recognition by compounds.

Answer: A

Diff: 1 Type: MC Page Ref: 146

Skill: Applied

86) What does the “Ames room” illusion demonstrate?

A) perceived distance affects perceived size.

Correct: Rationale: The perceptual system can infer size by using prior knowledge and the characteristic size of similarly shaped objects. When we are fooled about distance, we may also be fooled about size. The reason for the Ames room illusion is that we perceive the room to be rectangular, with the two back corners equally distant from us. Thus the child’s size is perceived as being consistent with the size of the images on the retina in both cases. The child is not at the same distance because though the room looks rectangular, it is actually nonrectangular surfaces in odd angles of depth and height.

B) interposition cues are stronger than convergence cues.

C) perceptual constancies require binocular perception.

D) impossible objects do not exist.

Answer: A

Diff: 1 Type: MC Page Ref: 146

Skill: Conceptual

87) How do hallucinations differ from illusions?

A) Hallucinations are common to others.

B) Hallucinations do not involve distortions.

C) Hallucinations show that percept and reality are the same.

D) Hallucinations are due to unusual physical or mental states.

Correct: Rationale: Illusions are shared by most people in the same situation because of shared physiology in the sensory systems and similar experiences of the world. Hallucinations are non-shared perceptual distortions experienced as a result of unusual mental or physical states.

Answer: D

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 149-150

Skill: Factual

88) What is another term for bottom-up processing?  

A) data-driven processing

Correct: Rationale: Bottom-up processing is also called data-driven processing because the sensory data from the environment is sent up to the brain for analysis. Top-down processing is also called conceptually-driven because higher mental functioning influences how you understand objects and events.

B) conceptually-driven processing

C) perceptually-driven processing

D) schema-driven processing

Answer: A

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 150

Skill: Factual

89) Frank, who was an experienced teacher, had few problems reading the student’s sloppy answer because he had asked this question before and knew in advance what the student was likely to write. What type of processing is being described? 

A) top-down.

Correct: Rationale: The teacher is using conceptual information based on past experience that comes from higher mental processes and affects interpretation of sensory input.

B) bottom-up.

C) data-driven.

D) sensory-driven.

Answer: A

Diff: 3 Type: MC Page Ref: 150

Skill: Applied

90) Researchers have evaluated drivers’ ability to focus their attention on both their cell phone calls and the driving environment. Which conclusion has received the most support?

A) drivers’ attention is not significantly distracted from the driving environment by cell phone use.

B) cell phone conversations divert drivers’ attention from the driving environment. 

Correct: Rationale: When we carry out two tasks such as talking on the cell phone and attending to the driving environment, two different areas of the brain are involved.  This might lead us to believe that we are able to attend to both tasks equally.  To demonstrate why this may not be the case, researchers used fMRI scans.  When just driving, participants showed much activity in their parietal lobes related to spatial processing.  When a language task (cell phone use) was added, sufficient demands were put on the brain that parietal activity fell significantly and the spatial task (driving) was left with inadequate resources.

C) cell phone use while driving distracts drivers but has minimal behavioural consequences.

D) a full range of driving skills is typically maintained when drivers talk on their cell phones.

Answer: B

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 139

Skill: Applied

91) What is phonemic restoration dependent upon?

A) conscious processes only.

B) bottom-up processes only.

C) top-down and bottom-up processes.

Correct: Rationale: Bottom-up processes provide information about the speech we hear, giving us a range of possibilities for what has been said to us. Phonemic restoration occurs when people use top-down processes to fill in missing phonemes. In top-down processing, the context helps select the most likely word.

D) unconscious mechanisms that are primarily top-down.

Answer: C

Diff: 1 Type: MC Page Ref: 150-151

Skill: Conceptual

92) Rod thinks that he recognizes a woman in the grocery store, but he can’t quite seem to place her. Later, when Rod sees her in a familiar setting of a restaurant where she is a waitress, he makes the connection. What is Rod’s perceptual identification dependent upon?

A) nature and nurture.

B) context and expectations.

Correct: Rationale: There are many occasions when bottom up processes leave us with more than one hypothesis about the identity of stimuli in the world. In these cases, top-down processes make use of contexts and expectations to identify the stimuli (i.e. a person we cannot identify in one context but can in another one where we have seen her before).

C) bottom-up processing.

D) personality and motivation.

Answer: B

Diff: 2 Type: MC Page Ref: 152

Skill: Applied

93) A woman who is a new mother is also a deep sleeper. Yet, when her newborn son cries in the middle of the night, she awakens quickly. Which concept best explains this mother’s response?

A) dichotic listening.

B) apparent motion.

C) the law of proximity.

D) a perceptual set.

Correct: Rationale: A set is a temporary readiness to perceive or react to a stimulus in a particular way. We combine bottom up and top down processing to achieve the basic goal of perception: to experience what is out there in a way that optimally serves our needs in adapting to our social and physical environments. A perceptual set is a readiness to detect a particular stimulus in a particular context. A new mother is perceptually set to hear the cries of her child.

Answer: D

Diff: 1 Type: MC Page Ref: 152

Skill: Applied

94) Researchers have frequently documented the effects of context and expectation on percpetion by studying set. What are the three types of sets?

A) perceptual, objective, subjective

B) component recognition, perceptual, mental

C) Perceptual, mental, and motor

Correct: Rationale:   Set is a temporary readiness to perceive or react to a stimulus in a particular way. Motor set allows us to make quick, prepared responses.  Mental set is a readiness to deal with situations in ways determined by learned rules, expectations, instructions, or habitual tendencies.  Perceptual set is a readiness to detect a particular stimulus in a particular context.  

D) component recognition, percpetual, motor

Answer: C

Diff: 3 Type: MC Page Ref: 152

Skill: Factual

95) Gustav Fechner coined the term psychophysics, which refers to the study of the relationship between the intensity of a physical stimulus and the magnitude of an individual’s sensory experience.

A) True

B) False

Answer: True

Diff: 2 Type: TF Page Ref: 114

Skill: Factual

96) The absolute threshold is operationally defined as the stimulus level at which a sensory signal is detected 100% of the time.

A) True

B) False

Answer: False

Diff: 3 Type: TF Page Ref: 114

Skill: Factual

97) In a signal detection study, an observer who is a yea sayer will give a high number of hits, but will also have a high number of false alarms.

A) True

B) False

Answer: True

Diff: 3 Type: TF Page Ref: 115-116

Skill: Applied

98) The transformation of one form of energy, such as light, to another form, such as neural impulses, is called sensory adaptation.

A) True

B) False

Answer: False

Diff: 3 Type: TF Page Ref: 114; 117

Skill: Conceptual

99) If you hold a pencil at arm’s length and slowly move it closer to your face, the ciliary muscles change the thickness of the lens of the eye to permit variable focusing on the pencil. This process is known as convergence.

A) True

B) False

Answer: False

Diff: 2 Type: TF Page Ref: 118

Skill: Applied

100) Amacrine cells integrate information across the retina, linking bipolar cells to other bipolar cells and ganglion cells to other ganglion cells.

A) True

B) False

Answer: True

Diff: 2 Type: TF Page Ref: 120

Skill: Factual

101) David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel won a Nobel Prize for their studies of receptive fields of cells in the visual cortex.

A) True

B) False

Answer: True

Diff: 2 Type: TF Page Ref: 120

Skill: Factual

102) Pastel colours have intermediate amounts of saturation.

A) True

B) False

Answer: True

Diff: 2 Type: TF Page Ref: 124

Skill: Factual

103) According to Hering’s opponent-process theory, all colour experiences arise from two underlying systems, each of which includes two opponent elements

A) True

B) False

Answer: False

Diff: 3 Type: TF Page Ref: 126

Skill: Conceptual

104) The loudness of a sound is dependent primarily on the frequency of the sound wave.

A) True

B) False

Answer: False

Diff: 2 Type: TF Page Ref: 128l

Skill: Conceptual

105) The cochlea, the primary organ of hearing, is located in the basilar membrane.

A) True

B) False

Answer: False

Diff: 2 Type: TF Page Ref: 129l

Skill: Factual

106) Pheromones are most closely associated with the sense of taste.

A) True

B) False

Answer: False

Diff: 1 Type: TF Page Ref: 133

Skill: Factual

107) In recent years, researchers have found receptors for a fifth basic taste quality, umami, which is the flavour of monosodium glutamate.

A) True

B) False

Answer: True

Diff: 1 Type: TF Page Ref: 134

Skill: Factual

108) Meissner corpuscles and Merkel disks are most likely to be found in the brain.

A) True

B) False

Answer: False

Diff: 1 Type: TF Page Ref: 134

Skill: Factual

109) The gate-control theory of pain suggests that cells in the spinal cord interrupt and block some pain signals and let others get through to the brain.

A) True

B) False

Answer: True

Diff: 2 Type: TF Page Ref: 136

Skill: Conceptual

110) The law of closure states that people tend to fill in small gaps in order to experience objects as wholes.

A) True

B) False

Answer: True

Diff: 1 Type: TF Page Ref: 141

Skill: Factual

111) Retinal disparity and convergence are two pictorial cues to depth.

A) True

B) False

Answer: False

Diff: 2 Type: TF Page Ref: 143-144

Skill: Factual

112) Bottom-up processing refers to perceptual analysis in which information from an individual’s past experience, knowledge, expectations, motivations, and background influence the way a perceived object is interpreted and classified.

A) True

B) False

Answer: False

Diff: 2 Type: TF Page Ref: 150

Skill: Conceptual

113) Ambiguity is an important concept in understanding perception because it shows that a single image at the sensory level can result in multiple interpretations at the perceptual and identification levels.

A) True

B) False

Answer: True

Diff: 2 Type: TF Page Ref: 148

Skill: Conceptual

114) A perceptual set is a readiness to detect a particular stimulus in a given context. For example, a new mother is perceptually set to hear the cries of her child.

A) True

B) False

Answer: True

Diff: 1 Type: TF Page Ref: 152

Skill: Conceptual

115) __________ refers to the stage in which your brain integrates evidence from your senses with prior knowledge of the world to form an internal representation of an external stimulus. 

Answer: Perceptual organization

Diff: 3 Type: FIB Page-Ref: 111 

Skill: Conceptual 

116) Psychologists who study sensation and perception distinguish between the __________ stimulus, which is the physical object in the world, and the __________ stimulus, which is the optical image on the retina.    

Answer: distal; proximal

Diff: 3 Type: FIB Page-Ref: 113 

Skill: Conceptual 

117) __________ theory is a systematic approach to the problem of response bias that allows an experimenter to identify and separate the roles of sensory stimuli and the individual’s decision process.    

Answer: Signal detection

Diff: 2 Type: FIB Page-Ref: 115 

Skill: Conceptual 

118) The JND between stimuli is a constant fraction of the intensity of the standard stimulus. This defines __________ Law.   

Answer: Weber’s

Diff: 2 Type: FIB Page-Ref: 116 

Skill: Conceptual 

119) The __________ is the area of the retina that contains densely packed cones and forms the point of sharpest vision.    

Answer: fovea

Diff: 2 Type: FIB Page-Ref: 119 

Skill: Factual

120) When you are listening to musical instruments, the dimension of auditory sensation known as __________ reflects the complex components of a sound wave, allowing you to distinguish the sound of a guitar from the sound of a violin.    

Answer: timbre

Diff: 2 Type: FIB Page-Ref: 128 

Skill: Conceptual

121) The __________ sense tells you how your body is oriented in the world with respect to gravity, and the __________ sense provides constant sensory feedback about what the body is doing during motor activities.   

Answer: vestibular; kinesthetic

Diff: 2 Type: FIB Page-Ref: 135 

Skill: Factual

122) People tend to group together objects that appear to be moving in the same direction. This finding by the Gestalt psychologists is known as the law of __________.  

Answer: common fate

Diff: 2 Type: FIB Page-Ref: 141 

Skill: Applied

123) The __________ phenomenon is a movement illusion in which one or more stationary lights going on and off in succession are perceived as a single moving light.

Answer: phi

Diff: 3 Type: FIB Page-Ref: 143 

Skill: Factual

124) Sources of information about depth that depend on only one eye are called __________ .

Answer: monocular depth cues

Diff: 1 Type: FIB Page-Ref: 145 

Skill: Factual

125) Why is it important for us to understand both sensation and perception? How does this relate to bottom-up and top-down processing?

Answer: 

Perception is the overall process of apprehending objects and events in the environment. Sensation is the process by which stimulation of sensory receptors produces impulses that represent internal or external experiences. Bottom-up processing is data driven, starting with sensory information from the environment. Top-down processing involves higher mental functions and affects perception.

Diff: 3 Type: ES Page Ref: 111;150-151

Skill: Conceptual

126) Psychophysicists provide a set of procedures to facilitate the study of the relationship between physical events and psychological experiences. What have psychophysicists learned about sensory thresholds? Include a short discussion of signal detection theory. How do theorists combine bottom-up and top-down influences to show how percepts are given meaning? Discuss response bias.

Answer: 

Include a definition of psychophysics, absolute thresholds, and sensory adaptation. Describe signal detection theory, including a discussion of response bias. Define top-down and bottom-up processes and explain their influence on detection of signals. Signal detection theory provides a way to evaluate sensory processes and decision processes at once. Explain the significance of this. Explain difference thresholds.

Diff: 3 Type: ES Page Ref: 114-117

Skill: Conceptual

127) Explain Weber’s Law. What is a difference threshold?

Answer: 

Define absolute threshold and difference threshold. Weber’s Law states that the amount of stimulus needed in order for us to perceive a difference in level of the stimulus is proportional to the original stimulus. If the original input of light was very bright, for instance, much more additional light will need to be added for us to perceive a difference than if the original light was dim.

Diff: 2 Type: ES Page Ref: 116-117

Skill: Conceptual

128) How can you see this question? Now that you know all about the visual system, a question such as this is simple! Trace the process of vision from the moment light energy hits the retina until the time the signal reaches the visual cortex in the brain. Include a short description of the concept of receptive fields and the work of David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel that won them the Nobel Prize.

Answer: 

The pathway includes the pupil, the lens, and the retina. On this path accommodation occurs. Mention the ciliary muscles and focusing. Describe the lens and what happens to it as it ages. Include photoreceptors, fovea, blind spot, and optic nerve. Discuss receptive fields and the discovery that different cells at different levels of the visual system respond most strongly to different patterns of visual stimulation.

Diff: 2 Type: ES Page Ref: 118-124

Skill: Conceptual

129) How is sound created? What are the psychological dimensions of sound? Briefly explain the physiology of hearing. How is the auditory system able to carry out sound localization?

Answer: 

Include the four basic energy transformations that take place in order for us to hear, describing the parts of the ear that are involved in each. Define pitch, loudness, and timbre and give reasons why each is important to hearing. Sound localization refers to being able to locate objects in space. Discuss how this occurs.

Diff: 3 Type: ES Page Ref: 127-129; 131-132

Skill: Conceptual

130) Explain the gate-control theory of pain. How can it explain the perception of pain that is not proportional to the incoming painful stimulus?

Answer: 

The gate-control theory proposes that certain cells in the spinal cord act as gates to interrupt and block some pain signals while sending others to the brain. It can explain why rubbing a bumped shin can help reduce the pain sensation, why when you’re not attending to a painful stimulus it doesn’t hurt as much, phantom limb pain, and why individuals who are under chronic stress or are depressed feel body pain despite no physical injury.

Diff: 2 Type: ES Page Ref: 136

Skill: Conceptual

131) In their early theories, the Gestalt psychologists argued that what you perceive depends on laws of organization, or simple rules by which you perceive shapes and forms. Describe these “simple” rules, then show how the perceptual constancies also contribute to our view of the world as invariant, constant and stable, even though we are sometimes fooled by ambiguity and illusions.

Answer: 

Describe the law of proximity, the law of good continuation, the law of common fate, and the law of closure. Define perceptual constancy. Include size, shape, and lightness constancy. Discuss why illusions are studied.

Diff: 3 Type: ES Page Ref: 141; 146-150

Skill: Conceptual

132) Describe how we perceive depth. Include binocular cues, motion cues, and pictorial cues.

Answer: 

Depth perception depends on many sources of information about distance. Binocular cues include retinal disparity and convergence. Motion cues include relative motion parallax. Pictorial cues include interposition, size/distance relation, linear perspective, texture, and relative size.

Diff: 2 Type: ES Page Ref: 143-146

Skill: Conceptual

Chapter 5: Sensation and Perception

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Canada Inc.

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