Question 1

Some insects have body markings that help to conceal them from predators that tend to see various parts of the insect's body as an extension of the twig on which it stands. According to gestalt psychologists, which grouping factor of perceptual organization accounts for this?

Accepted Answer

A)  good continuation 
B)  context similarity 
C)  feature detection 
D)  figure-ground separation

Question 2

Students working on an experiment with rats tend to see the following figure as that of a rat, while physicians working on a geriatric ward tend to see the figure as that of an old man with glasses. Primarily what does this difference in perception demonstrate?

Accepted Answer

A)  gestalt principles of organization 
B)  perceptual constancies 
C)  bottom-up processing 
D)  top-down processing

Question 3

Which of the following best describes the phenomenon of motion parallax?

Accepted Answer

A)  Points closer than the target of our gaze seem to be moving in the opposite direction to us, while points beyond the target of our gaze appear to be moving in the same direction as we are. 
B)  Points closer than the target of our gaze appear to be moving in the same direction as we are, while points beyond the target of our gaze seem to be moving in the opposite direction to us. 
C)  As we approach an object, it appears to grow in size. As we move away from it, it appears to get smaller. 
D)  As we approach an object, the image gets sharper. As we move away from an object, the image gets fuzzier.

Question 4

What would a white spot on the side of an otherwise black dog be perceived as?

Accepted Answer

A)  a figure on a ground 
B)  a reversible figure 
C)  an afterimage 
D)  a subjective contour

Question 5

Mavis is painting a still life of a bowl of fruit. What should Mavis do if she wants to use interposition to indicate that the apples are closer to the viewer than the oranges?

Accepted Answer

A)  Mavis should paint half-moon contours of oranges right next to full, round apple contours. 
B)  Mavis should make the apples smaller than the oranges. 
C)  Mavis should make the apples larger than the oranges. 
D)  Mavis should paint the apples in brighter colors than the oranges.

Question 6

A number of intrepid experimenters had themselves injected with drugs that caused a temporary paralysis of the eye muscles. Just as the so-called canceling-out theory would predict, whenever they tried to move their eyes, the world __________.

Accepted Answer

A)  appeared to jump around 
B)  moved in a direction opposite to their attempted eye movements 
C)  stayed stationary 
D)  revolved in a counterclockwise fashion

Question 7

You are shown the character "1." When presented in the figure 2,134, you call it a "one"; when it is presented in the word "lift" you call it the letter "L." Why do you perceive it differently across the two situations when the actual character has not changed?

Accepted Answer

A)  You have learned two names for the character. 
B)  You perceive that the context "2,134" is different from the context "lift." 
C)  Because you are a skilled reader, you can perceive the subtle differences in the shape of the character. 
D)  Both a and b.

Question 8

What is suggested by research in which participants are asked to take part in a dichotic listening test, in which different stimuli are delivered to each ear?

Accepted Answer

A)  The auditory stimulus is received by the receptors in the unattended-to ear, but the information is only partly processed. 
B)  The auditory stimulus is completely blocked out of the unattended-to ear. 
C)  The auditory stimulus in the unattended-to ear and the attended-to ear are both blocked out. 
D)  The auditory stimulus in the unattended-to ear and the attended-to ear are both clearly received and attended to.

Question 9

What is true of reversible figure-ground patterns?

Accepted Answer

A)  The figure is seen as being more formless and less cohesive than the ground. 
B)  The contour or border is perceived to belong to both figure and ground simultaneously. 
C)  Discrimination of detail is best in the part seen as figure. 
D)  The border is subjective and is brought about by a closurelike process.

Question 10

Most of us see the following figure as rows instead of columns. Which gestalt grouping factor of perceptual organization is represented here?

Accepted Answer

A)  closure 
B)  transposition of form 
C)  similarity 
D)  figure and ground separation

Question 11

A higher-order invariant relationship is a relationship between two or more stimuli that __________.

Accepted Answer

A)  changes frequently 
B)  changes depending on the size of the objects 
C)  changes depending on the distance of the objects from the observer 
D)  does not change

Question 12

Which of the following is a cue for depth?

Accepted Answer

A)  apparent movement 
B)  induced movement 
C)  motion parallax 
D)  all of the above

Question 13

A professor constructs a device for sorting handwritten zip codes that determines whether a line segment is straight or curved, its angle, and whether that line segment intersects with other line segments. What would this device be based on?

Accepted Answer

A)  bottom-up processing 
B)  top-down processing 
C)  opponent processing 
D)  context effects

Question 14

When you first look at a certain painting by Salvador Dalí, you see an archway filled with people fighting. But when you look a bit longer, the archway seems to become a horse and many of the people become textures in the landscape. As you continue to look, your perception keeps flip-flopping. This phenomenon, known as a "reversible image," exemplifies which general principle about human perception?

Accepted Answer

A)  The same stimulus can be parsed in more than one way. 
B)  Ambiguous figures will gradually fade away as we habituate to them. 
C)  We attend to the stimulus that is most meaningful at the time. 
D)  Only a few basic perceptual abilities are inborn.

Question 15

Mondegreens are __________.

Accepted Answer

A)  misperceptions of color 
B)  being able to see sounds or hear color 
C)  misperceptions of common language phrases 
D)  a type of visual illusion

Question 16

What should you see as you look out the window on a moving train?

Accepted Answer

A)  Things beyond the point of your gaze are moving very quickly in the opposite direction. 
B)  Things near to the train are moving very quickly in the opposite direction. 
C)  Things beyond the point of your gaze are moving quicker than you are and in the same direction. 
D)  Things near the train are moving very quickly in the same direction.

Question 17

All of the following provide cues for the detection of depth except __________.

Accepted Answer

A)  texture gradients 
B)  linear perspective 
C)  interposition 
D)  monocular disparity

Question 18

Which of the following statements is false?

Accepted Answer

A)  Cells in the visual cortex fire when a stimulus moves from left to right across the visual field. 
B)  Cells in the visual cortex fire when a stimulus moves from right to left across the visual field. 
C)  We perceive motion only when an image moves across the retina. 
D)  Apparent movement can be indistinguishable from real movement.

Question 19

In a dark room, all that is visible is a luminous triangle surrounding a luminous dot. What will happen as the triangle is moved upward?

Accepted Answer

A)  The triangle will appear to move up. 
B)  The triangle will appear to move down. 
C)  The dot will appear to move up. 
D)  The dot will appear to move down.

Question 20

Which of the following best illustrates induced motion?

Accepted Answer

A)  The moon seems to race across the sky on a windy night with a few clouds. 
B)  The wagon wheels seem to turn backwards in an old episode of the television show Death Valley Days. 
C)  While playing golf, you can tell how far away the green is by taking a few steps back and forth across the fairway. 
D)  It always seems as if one pin takes a long time to fall when you bowl a strike.

Exam 5: Perception