APSYC MIDTERM - EISELE

The area of the retina where the optic nerve leaves the eye is called the

blind spot

Because she was listening to the news on the radio, Mrs. Schultz didn't perceive a word her husband was saying. Her experience best illustrates

selective attention

What is the correct order of structures light passes through in the eye?

cornea, iris, pupil, lens, retina

Which of the following circumstances is most likely to contribute to conduction hearing loss?

misuse of Q-tips (cotton swabs) in cleaning your ears

Sound wave vibrations are transmitted by three tiny bones located in the

middle ear.

Under very dim levels of illumination

rods are more light-sensitive than cones

Experiments with the visual cliff suggest that

the ability to perceive depth is at least partly innate

According to frequency theory

the rate at which impulses travel up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of the tone being heard

The quick succession of briefly flashed images in a motion picture produces

stroboscopic movement.

Taste and smell are both what kind of senses?

chemical senses

According to the gate-control theory, a back massage would most likely reduce your physical aches and pains by causing

activation of nerve fibers in your spinal cord.

One of the ways we perceive images is by organizing stimuli into an object seen against its surroundings. What is this perceptual tendency called?

figure-ground

Mr. Kim's experience of chronic back pain is influenced by his cultural background, his attentional processes, and nerve damage caused by an automobile accident. An integrated understanding of Mr. Kim's suffering is most clearly provided by

a biopsychosocial approach.

Sensation is to ________ as perception is to ________.

detection; interpretation

Distant trees were located closer to the top of the artist's canvas than were the nearby flowers. The artist was clearly using the distance cue known as

relative height.

Which of the following is a binocular cue for the perception of distance?

retinal disparity

After a small section of his basilar membrane was damaged, Jason experienced a noticeable loss of hearing for high-pitched sounds only. Jason's hearing loss is best explained by the ________ theory.

place

The minimum amount of stimulation a person needs to detect a stimulus 50 percent of the time is called the

absolute threshold.

Which theory can best explain why people respond differently to the same stimuli?

signal detection theory

The ability to detect whether your body is in a horizontal or vertical position depends most directly on

the vestibular sense.

Movement of the hair cells along the basilar membrane

initiates transduction and the transmission of neural messages to the auditory cortex.

Sensory adaptation refers to

diminishing sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus

Some people are better than others at detecting slight variations in the tastes of various blends of coffee. This best illustrates the importance of

difference thresholds.

Experiencing a green afterimage of a red object is most easily explained by

the opponent-process theory.

The convergence of parallel lines provides the distance cue known as

linear perspective.

A time lag between left and right auditory stimulation is important for accurately

locating sounds.

The sequentially flashing Christmas tree lights appeared to generate pulsating waves of motion. This best illustrates

the phi phenomenon.

Giulio's bag of marbles is twice as heavy as Jim's. If it takes 5 extra marbles to make Jim's bag feel heavier, it will take 10 extra marbles to make Giulio's bag feel heavier. This best illustrates

Weber's law.

As a door opens, it casts an increasingly trapezoidal shape on our retinas; however, we still perceive it as rectangular. Which of the following best explains this phenomenon?

shape constancy

Who emphasized that the whole may exceed the sum of its parts?

Gestalt psychologists

According to the Young-Helmholtz theory

the retina contains three kinds of color receptors

Which process allows more light to reach the periphery of the retina?

dilation of the pupil

The amplitude of electromagnetic waves determines the ________ of light.

brightness

The perceptual tendency to group together stimuli that are near each other is called

proximity

The basilar membrane is located in the

cochlea

Why is transduction important to sensation?

It converts physical stimuli, such as light, into neural messages.

Which receptor cells most directly enable us to distinguish different wavelengths of light?

cones

Trying to see a hidden representational image in a piece of abstract art by looking carefully at each element in the picture and trying to form an image employs which kind of perceptual process?

bottom-up processing

A perceptual set is a

mental predisposition that influences what we perceive

The feature detectors identified by Hubel and Weisel respond to specific aspects of ________ stimulation.

visual

When people discuss the "nature vs. nurture" controversy, Nature refers to ________ and Nurture refers to ________.

biology; environment

Describe evidence for the brain's dual-processing ability?

The brainstem keeps our heart beating while the cerebral cortex maintains awareness of the outside world.

The threadlike structures that contain genes are called

chromosomes

As you are reading this question, the cells in your eyes are firing in response to the light coming from this paper. Which type of neuron is carrying this message to the brain?

sensory

Heritability refers to the extent to which

trait differences among individuals are attributable to genetic variations

The depolarization of a neural membrane can create a(n)

action potential

A person with schizophrenia may have an overactive dopamine system. Drugs used to treat this disorder prevent the action of dopamine by keeping it from binding to its receptors. These drugs are

antagonists

An accelerated heartbeat is to a slowed heartbeat as the ________ nervous system is to the ________ nervous system.

sympathetic; parasympathetic

The home environment most clearly has a greater influence on children's ________ than on their ________.

religious beliefs; personality traits

Research suggests that young men prefer older women, mid-twenties men prefer women their own age, and older men prefer younger women. Based on this finding, evolutionary psychologists suggest that men

are attracted to women with peak fertility.

For you to be able to run, ________ must relay messages from your central nervous system to your leg muscles.

motor neurons

The sequence of brain regions from the evolutionarily oldest to newest is

brainstem; limbic system; cerebral cortex.

The chemical messengers released into the spatial junctions between neurons are called

neurotransmitters

A brain lesion refers to ________ of brain tissue.

destruction

A picture of a dog is briefly flashed in the left visual field of a split-brain patient. At the same time a picture of a boy is flashed in the right visual field. In identifying what she saw, the patient would be most likely to

verbally report that she saw a boy.

José has just played a long, bruising football game but feels little fatigue or discomfort. His lack of pain is most likely caused by the release of

endorphins

Evolutionary psychology studies the evolution of behavior and the mind using principles of

natural selection

What are the molecules that are similar enough to a neurotransmitter to bind to its receptor sites on a dendrite and mimic that neurotransmitter's effects called?

agonists

Schizophrenia is most closely linked with excess receptor activity for the neurotransmitter

dopamine

If a genetic predisposition to fear darkness contributes to reproductive success, that trait will likely be passed on to subsequent generations. This best illustrates

natural selection

The spatial junctions where impulses are chemically transmitted from one neuron to another are called

Reuptake refers to the

reabsorption of excess neurotransmitter molecules by a sending neuron

The master gland of the endocrine system is the

pituitary gland

When the "Jim twins," identical twins separated at birth, were reunited 38 years later, surprising similarities were discovered. Although they had married women of the same name, named their sons and dogs the same names, one should be cautious before attributing these similarities to genetic factors because

any two strangers are likely to share coincidental similarities.

Hormones are the chemical messengers of the

endocrine system

Studies of identical twins who had been reared apart most clearly highlight the importance of ________ in personality development.

genetic predispositions

For you to experience the pain of a sprained ankle, ________ must first relay messages from your ankle to your central nervous system.

sensory neurons

A brief electrical charge that travels down the axon of a neuron is called the

action potential

Mandy came home late. As she reached to turn on the kitchen light, her hand brushed against something unexpected. Her adrenal glands, as a part of the "fight-or-flight" response, released epinephrine and norepinephrine, which increased her heart rate and blood pressure. Even after she realized it was just the curtain, her excited feelings lingered. This example illustrates

that endocrine messages tend to outlast the effects of neural messages.

Evolutionary psychologists are most likely to be criticized for

providing hindsight explanations for human behaviors.

To identify which specific brain areas are most active during a particular mental task, researchers would be most likely to make use of a(n)

fMRI

Psychoactive drugs interfere with normal neural transmission. Where does this interference take place?

synapse

Adopted children are more likely to demonstrate levels of agreeableness and extraversion, more similar to that of their biological parents than their adoptive parents. This finding suggests that personality traits are more strongly influenced by

genes than by the home environment.

If a professor accused you of cheating on a test, your adrenal glands would probably release ________ into your bloodstream.

epinephrine

Which statement best reflects current psychology's understanding of the relationship between nature and nurture?

nature via nurture

Researchers found that women rated men higher as potential long-term mates when they spent more time looking at baby pictures. This finding suggests that

women prefer men who express interest in caring for joint offspring.

An all-or-none response pattern is characteristic of the

initiation of neural impulses.

Why is it incorrect to say that 50 percent heritability of intelligence means that the cause of your intelligence is 50 percent genetic and 50 percent environmental?

because heritability accounts for variations among people, not in specific individuals

Botulin is a poison with a molecular structure so similar to acetylcholine (ACh) that it blocks the effects of ACh in synapses, making botulin which kind of molecule?

antagonist

An adaptation is an inherited physical or behavioral characteristic that

increases an organism's chance for survival.

Evolutionary psychologists have suggested that men are ________ likely than women to prefer mates with a fertile-looking appearance and ________ likely than women to prefer mates with wealth and social status.

more; less

The genome is the complete

set of genetic material in an organism's chromosomes

Put DNA, Chromosomes, and genes in order from smallest to largest.

genes, DNA, chromosomes

Evolutionary psychologists emphasize that environmentally adaptive behaviors are those that have promoted

reproductive success

Endocrine glands secrete hormones directly into

the bloodstream

Shane, a straight-A student, remembers dreaming that he failed an important chemistry test. According to Freud, Shane's account represents the ________ content of his dream.

manifest

Nightmares are to ________ as night terrors are to ________.

REM sleep; Stage 4 sleep

Sleep deprivation has been shown to

diminish immunity to disease

LSD is most likely to produce

hallucinations

Research on the use of addictive drugs indicates that

many people are able to stop using addictive drugs without professional help.

Consciousness is

our awareness of ourselves and our environment

Studies of marijuana's effects indicate that

regular users may achieve a high with less of the drug than occasional users

Cindi prefers to take exams in the late afternoon rather than during the morning, because her energy level and ability to concentrate are better at that time. Her experience most likely reflects the influence of the

circadian rhythm.

The rhythmic bursts of brain activity that occur during Stage 2 sleep are called

sleep spindles

After a stressful day at the office, Arthur has five or six drinks at a local bar before going home for dinner. Research suggests that Arthur's heavy drinking will have the most adverse effect on his ability to remember

the next day the names of the people he talked to and what he said while drinking.

What do methamphetamine, caffeine, and cocaine have in common?

They excite neural activity and arouse body functions.

What is true about melatonin?

It is a sleep hormone released by the pineal gland into the bloodstream.

Soon after taking a psychoactive drug, Zachary experienced a diminished appetite, an increased pulse rate, dilated pupils, and feelings of self-confidence and euphoria. Zachary most likely experienced the effects of

cocaine

As drug users experience neuroadaptation, they demonstrate signs of

tolerance

Which of the following sleep disorders would be the most incapacitating for a commercial bus driver?

narcolepsy