Exam 2: Perception

What does the study of semiotics attempt to do?

The minimum difference that can be detected between two stimuli is known as the ________.

A behavioral researcher studying how consumers use multi-sensory, fantasy, and emotional factors in selecting products is studying hedonic consumption.

The absolute threshold is dependent upon how strong a marketer makes a stimulus.

The field of ________ examines the correspondence between signs and symbols and their role in the assignment of meaning.

Which of the following refers to the meanings we assign to sensory stimuli?

According to Weber's Law, the ________ the initial stimulus, the greater a change must be for people to notice the change.

In the past ketchup formed an unbecoming "scum" on its surface if it was exposed to the air, so manufacturers created the traditionally shaped ketchup bottle with the narrow opening. When chemicals were developed to reduce this oxidation, it was then possible to sell ketchup in more conveniently shaped containers. Customers, however, rejected bottles that didn't have the traditional ketchup shape. This is an example of the power of ________ in the marketplace.

Processing information from more than one medium at a time is known as ________.

At a business meeting, a consultant states that "perception is reality, because a customer never works with the actual product, but only with his or her perception of that product." In a university lab, researchers determine that when a rat is looking at a brightly colored rectangle, a close inspection of the rat's optic nerves (that connect the eyes to the cortex) show no visible change from when the rat is looking at a green circle; however, electrodes placed in the nerve show a different pattern of transmitted codes. How are these two events related, and what does this relationship tell us about perception?

What is the difference between sensation and perception?

Individuals have different absolute thresholds for visual and aural stimuli. This fact supports the statement that subliminal advertising would need to be tailored to the individual in order to be effective.

Because the brain's capacity to process information is limited, consumers are very selective about what they pay attention to and tend to select stimuli that relate to their current needs. This type of perceptual filter is called ________.

Weber's Law states that the intensity of the stimulus is greater if its duration is increased.

Consumers are more likely to be aware of stimuli that relate to their current needs. This is an example of perceptual vigilance.

________ roughly means whole, pattern, or configuration; this perspective is best summarized by the saying "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts."

As a personal selection factor, adaptation is seen as the degree to which consumers continue to notice a stimulus over time. Five factors can lead to adaptation. List and briefly describe the connection with adaptation.

The location of a product's image on a package influences the way our brains make sense of it; we perceive objects lower in a frame to be heavier than objects higher in the frame and objects on the right side of a frame heavier than those on the left side of the frame.

According to the exposure factor leading to adaptation, frequently encountered stimuli ________ as the rate of exposure increases.

A philosophy that translates customers' feelings into design elements is called ________ engineering.