Question 1

During an intense game of volleyball,Shay slipped and banged her knee on the floor."Ouch!" she cried,as she wishes her brain would produce more ____.

Accepted Answer

A)  GABA 
B)  endorphins 
C)  dopamine 
D)  acetylcholine

Question 2

You know that your friends Manuel and William are the same height.You use the fact that Manuel's image on your retina is smaller than William's to conclude that Manuel must be farther away from you.Which depth cue are you using?

Accepted Answer

A)  gradient of texture 
B)  interposition 
C)  relative size 
D)  height in the visual field

Question 3

You wake up in the middle of the night.As you look about your dark bedroom,you can see the outline of a pile of your clothes sitting in a ball on a chair.You are seeing the clothes with your ____.

Accepted Answer

A)  cones 
B)  papillae 
C)  otoliths 
D)  rods

Question 4

A newborn baby will probably use ____ more than an adult.

Accepted Answer

A)  bottom-up processing 
B)  top-down processing 
C)  depth cues 
D)  perceptual constancy cues

Question 5

Dee says that she has developed special sunglasses to enable people to see light with wavelengths of 550-700 nanometers.Would these be useful for humans?

Accepted Answer

A)  No-these frequencies are already visible to humans. 
B)  Yes-but only for seeing very faint lights. 
C)  No-unless one is looking at very bright lights. 
D)  Yes-these frequencies are normally outside of human range.

Question 6

The perceived size of an object remains constant as it moves closer because the perceived distance ____ at the same rate that the retinal image ____.

Accepted Answer

A)  decreases; decreases 
B)  increases; increases 
C)  increases; decreases 
D)  decreases; increases

Question 7

The process of translating the physical properties of a stimulus into a pattern of neural activity that allows us to identify those properties is known as ____.

Accepted Answer

A)  encoding 
B)  reception 
C)  perception 
D)  transduction

Question 8

Brittany observed that the people having conversations on cell phones are quite loud-spoken,while those having conversations on pay phones were quite soft-spoken.Those using cell phones are producing a higher ____ of sound waves than are those using pay phones.

Accepted Answer

A)  amplitude 
B)  frequency 
C)  timbre 
D)  wavelength

Question 9

In a freak accident involving ice,a potato gun,and a ballpoint pen,Justin damages part of his ear.Now Justin can no longer generate vibrations that match the sound waves entering his ear.Justin has most likely damaged his ____.

Accepted Answer

A)  cochlea 
B)  organ of Corti 
C)  basilar membrane 
D)  tympanic membrane

Question 10

During a war,soldiers wear camouflage clothing to avoid being perceived by enemies.The perceptual cue that is being manipulated in this case is ____.

Accepted Answer

A)  common region 
B)  proximity 
C)  common fate 
D)  figure-ground discrimination

Question 11

Oscar likes to run at night.Even though it is dark,Oscar can see because his eyes have specialized cells that convert the low levels of light energy into neural activity.These cells are known as ____.

Accepted Answer

A)  cornea activators 
B)  fovea receptors 
C)  photoreceptors 
D)  visioactivators

Question 12

Mr.Wizard introduces the children on his TV show to accessory structures of our sensory systems.He tells them these structures are responsible for ____.

Accepted Answer

A)  modifying physical energy from the outside world 
B)  converting physical energy into neural activity 
C)  carrying information from receptors to the brain 
D)  interpreting physical energy in a meaningful way

Question 13

A psychologist conducts an experiment in which he presents tones to subjects at various levels of intensity (that is,soft,moderate,and loud).The point at which the tone can be detected 50 percent of the time is known as the ____.

Accepted Answer

A)  absolute threshold 
B)  median threshold 
C)  stimulus threshold 
D)  psychophysical threshold

Question 14

Azul's job is to create an exhibit at the science museum that lets people walk through a giant "eye" so they can understand how it works.The current group of visitors has stepped through the pupil to see a structure that bends light rays and focuses them onto a surface at the back of the eye.This structure that bends and focuses the light rays is known as the ____.

Accepted Answer

A)  lens 
B)  cornea 
C)  retina 
D)  pinna

Question 15

The ____ theory best explains the phenomena of complementary colors.

Accepted Answer

A)  opponent-process 
B)  feature detection 
C)  trichromatic 
D)  gate-control

Question 16

Pierre is painting a picture and would like to make the bear in the painting appear closer than the forest.One way he could do this is by using the principle of ____.

Accepted Answer

A)  Gestaltian proximity 
B)  closure 
C)  common region 
D)  interposition

Question 17

Nine-month-old Keisha watches her ball bounce down the stairs.As she approaches the top of the stairs,she backs up and hesitates to go down the stairs.This indicates that Keisha has developed ____.

Accepted Answer

A)  perceptual constancies 
B)  binocular vision 
C)  depth perception 
D)  proximity

Question 18

On Saturday,Elbert walked through a crowd at the state fair in a small town in Illinois.On Monday,he walked through a crowded train station in a large crime-ridden city.In both situations,Elbert felt someone brush up against his back pocket.Elbert is more likely to detect that someone is stealing his wallet while in the large city than in the small town due to his lower ____.

Accepted Answer

A)  difference threshold 
B)  response criterion 
C)  sensitivity 
D)  signal-detection ratio

Question 19

During his adventures around the galaxy,Arthur Dent relies on an earpiece that deciphers all the strange alien languages he hears.Similarly,receptors in the ear encode sound waves into neural activity that the brain can understand,a process called ____.

Accepted Answer

A)  transduction 
B)  synthesis 
C)  transcription 
D)  accommodation

Question 20

Angie is trying to take notes in her class but finds it difficult because of the loud "I Love Don Ho!" Hawaiian shirt that her TA is wearing.Instead of staring intently at her TA's shirt,she should use ____ orienting to move her eyes from the shirt to the notes on the blackboard.

Accepted Answer

A)  covert 
B)  overt 
C)  implicit 
D)  selective

Exam 4: Sensation and Perception