Chapter 5: Sensation & Perception - PSYCH 101 Study Help

What is the absolute threshold?

the minimum amount of stimulation needed to detect a sensation half of the time

The sense of sound perception (hearing) is scientifically called _______.

audition

What does this describe:

Depth cues that come from the fact that people have two eyes.

binocular depth cues

Binocular disparity is a type of ______ that happens when each eye receives _______ retinal image.

depth cue; a slightly different

Binocular disparity happens because of…

the distance between the two eyes

Perceiving or understanding something based on it’s physical features is called…

bottom-up processing

Cones are retinal cells that respond to ______ levels of light & result in _______.

higher; color perception

_______ is a binocular depth cue that happens when a person views a nearby object

convergence

What happens to the eye during convergence?

the eye muscles turn the eyes inward

What is the difference threshold?

the minimum amount of change needed to detect a difference between two things

What does this describe:

• thin membrane at the beginning of the middle ear

• sound waves cause it to vibrate

eardrum

The _______ is the center of the retina where cones are densely packed.

fovea

The sense of taste is scientifically called ________.

gustation

The sense of touch is scientifically called ________.

haptic sense

What are monocular depth cues?

depth cues that are available to each eye alone

________ is a monocular depth cue that makes objects closer to a person appear to move faster than those farther away.

motion parallax

Correctly seeing things as the same size, shape, & even when they look different to our eyes describes…

object constancy

The sense of smell is scientifically called _______.

olfaction

The olfactory bulb is…

the brain center for smell

Where is the olfactory bulb located?

below the frontal lobes

What is the thin layer of tissue within the nasal cavity that contains the receptors for smell called?

olfactory epithelium

Perception is the _______, _______, & _______ of sensory signals in the brain.

processing, organization, & interpretation

[How the brain recognizes a pitch via the encoding of sound frequency using the hair cells of the basilar membrane within the ear]

This describes what?

place coding

The retina is the thin ______ surface of the ____ of the eyeball  which contains the sensory receptors.

inner; back

Rods are retinal cells that respond to ______ levels of light & result in _______.

lower; black & white perception

What is sensation?

the detection of physical stimuli & the transmission of this info to the brain

__________ is the decrease in sensitivity that comes with a constant level of stimulation.

sensory adaptation

A perception theory based on the idea that stimulus detection depends on both signal strength & a person’s desire to notice it is the…

Signal Detection Theory (SDT)

According to signal detection theory, is stimulus detection an all or nothing process?

No

_______ are patterns of changes in air pressure over a period of time.

sound wave

Taste buds are…

sensory organs in the mouth that contain taste receptors

[How low sound frequency is registered via the firing rates of cochlear hair cells that match the sound frequency]

This describes what?

temporal coding

Interpreting something information based on knowledge, expectations, & past experiences is called…

top-down processing

What is this process referring to:

sensory stimulation —> neural signals —> brain interpretation

transduction

__________ is the perception of balance determined by receptors in the inner ear.

vestibular sense

Which answer accurately lists the order in which these structures participate in sensation and perception (except for smell)?

specialized receptors → thalamus → cortex

Match each process of detecting and interpreting information sensation, perception, bottom-up processing, top-down processing-with its definition.

1. processing based on prior knowledge and expectation

2. detection of sensory signals by receptors

3. processing and interpretation of sensory signals

4. perception based on physical features of sensory stimuli

1: top-down processing, 2: sensation, 3: perception, 4: bottom-up processing

Which sense organ is largest in humans?

skin - the large surface area

In audition, detecting the _______ of the sound wavelength results in the perception of loudness. Detecting the _______ of the sound wavelength results in the perception of pitch.

amplitude; frequency

Identify this visual perception:

Recognizing a dinner plate as circular, even when viewing it at an angle makes it appear elliptical

shape constancy

Identify this visual perception:

Labeling grass as green

color constancy

Identify this visual perception:

Identifying a building as a skyscraper, even though it appears smaller than other objects in your field of vision

size constancy

Identify this visual perception:

Recognizing a door as a door, even when it is fully open so that you see only the edge

shape constancy

Identify this visual perception:

Knowing that your friend is wearing the same T-shirt when it is illuminated differently by bright fluorescent lights or dull lamp

lighting constancy

Imagine you have a dull, chronic pain across your lower back. No matter how you position yourself, you cannot make the pain go away.

Which combination of descriptors is most related to the signaling of this type of pain?

activated by chemical changes in tissue, slow fibers, nonmyelinated axons

After hours of waiting, a bird-watcher hears the call of a rare bird species. The bird-watcher reacts by turning their head about 45 degrees to the left and sees the bird. Which of the following statements best describes how the bird-watcher knew where to turn their head?

the call reached the bird-watcher's left ear before the right ear; the call was less intense in the bird-watcher's right ear than in the left ear.

Which lobe of the brain does the primary auditory cortex reside?

temporal

Which lobe of the brain does the primary somatosensory cortex reside?

parietal

Which lobe of the brain does the primary visual cortex reside?

occipital

Taste is a mixture of five basic kinds of gustatory receptors. (T/F)

True

Different regions of the tongue are more sensitive to different tastes. (T/F)

False

The texture of a food can affect how its taste is perceived. (T/F)

True

People lose half of their taste buds by age 20. (T/F)

True

Supertasters tend to be overweight and are more likely to be male. (T/F)

False

Imagine you are preparing to conduct a brain imaging study of visual processing. Which pathway (dorsal/ventral) do you hypothesize will be activated by deciding which of two objects is farther away?

dorsal

Imagine you are preparing to conduct a brain imaging study of visual processing. Which pathway (dorsal/ventral) do you hypothesize will be activated by describing an object's color?

ventral

Imagine you are preparing to conduct a brain imaging study of visual processing. Which pathway (dorsal/ventral) do you hypothesize will be activated by describing a silhouette's shape?

ventral

Imagine you are preparing to conduct a brain imaging study of visual processing. Which pathway (dorsal/ventral) do you hypothesize will be activated by naming an object?

ventral

Imagine you are preparing to conduct a brain imaging study of visual processing. Which pathway (dorsal/ventral) do you hypothesize will be activated by selecting which two of three objects are closest together?

dorsal