Exam 6: Sensation and Perception

Because of genetic differences, human tongues can have as few as 500 or as many as 10,000 taste buds.

Which two senses keep us informed about the movement of our own body?

Supertasters have an unusually small number of small, densely-packed papillae.

Swedish researchers discovered a new kind of nerve fiber that seems responsible for some types of itching.

After many ear infections during childhood, Zach developed damage to the semicircular canals in his inner ear. As a result, he periodically has difficulty standing upright and at times feels he is off balance. Zach is experiencing __________ difficulties.

Which psychological dimensions of hearing correspond to the intensity, frequency, and complexity of the sound wave?

The ability to focus on some parts of the environment and block out others is referred to as _______________.

Our sense of vision produces a two-dimensional image on the back of the eye, but we interpret the world in three dimensions due to the process of _______________.

The difference threshold is also known as the:

In Latin, "papillae" means _______________.

Non-conscious processing of information does not occur in humans.

Sense receptors for vision, hearing, and taste are:

Neurons in the retina of the eye that gather information from receptor cells are called _______________.

The textbook illustrated the production of negative afterimages by suggesting that readers stare at the center of a green heart, edged in yellow. After 20 seconds, when the gaze was switched to a white paper, there was a "change of heart!" What colors did you "see" in the image of the heart on the white paper? How does opponent-process theory explain this finding?

The process by which the brain organizes and interprets sensory information is called sensation.

Sense receptors for smell, pressure, pain, and temperature are:

Describe the course of hearing from the time a sound wave passes into the outer ear until the time that a signal is passed along to the auditory nerve.

According to the doctrine of specific nerve energies, if sound waves could stimulate nerves that end in the visual part of the brain, then we would "see" sounds.

Contemporary studies of sensory deprivation indicate that some perceptual and intellectual abilities improve during limited periods of deprivation.

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