Exam 6: Sensation and Perception

Zoe is a participant in a psychophysical study and is having her absolute threshold for brightness measured. Describe a likely procedure for determining this measurement.

Despite the lack of evidence of ESP, many people believe in it.

The fact that some perceptual processes appear to be innate doesn't mean that all people perceive the world in the same way. List four psychological factors that can influence what we perceive and how we perceive it.

_______________ allows a researcher to distinguish between a person's response bias and his or her actual sensory capacity.

The amount of light that gets into the eye is controlled by muscles in the _______________.

Perception of an object as having a constant shape, even though the shape of the retinal image produced by the object changes when our point of view changes, is called shape constancy.

The gate-control theory of pain states that the experience of pain depends, in part, on whether pain impulses get past a neurological "gate."

The absence of normal levels of sensory stimulation is called _______________.

What are the four basic tastes? What is the fifth taste that has been proposed? What do the textbook authors mean when they say that people live in "different taste worlds"?

Isaac lost a leg in Afghanistan after an improvised bomb exploded near him. Years later, he still has times when he feels intense pain that he perceives as coming from his missing leg. It is obvious that Isaac:

The wavelength of light is related to our perception of _______________.

Testing an infant's perception of depth requires ingenuity, but Gibson and Walk were able to design a procedure in order to test infants on a "visual cliff." Explain how they created a "cliff" and describe the results of their research.

Uri is walking home alone on a dark night. He hears a stick breaking and immediately turns to his right to see what made the noise. What cue did Uri most likely use to tell which direction the sound came from?

Discuss Vilayanur Ramachandran's work with phantom pain and his success with tricking the brain of an amputee with a simple mirror. How are his techniques being used today?

The research about kittens raised in horizontal or vertical environments demonstrates the concept of _______________.

Sensation occurs when energy in the external environment or in the body stimulates receptors in the sense organs.

Freddy is looking for his girlfriend in a large crowd of people. Because he is so focused on finding her, he fails to notice when a man in a clown costume walks by, despite looking directly at him. This is an example of:

Of the smells that humans detect:

Neil is seated in a dark room and asked to look at a screen. He watches as flashes of light, varying in brightness, are shown on the screen one at a time. Whenever he notices a flash, he informs the researchers. What are the researchers measuring?

Melissa likes to put her headphones on and listen to her MP3 player at very high volume. This habit will likely lead to her damaging the __________ in her ears, which can result in permanent hearing loss.