Which of the following reflects a distinction between the process of sensation and the process of perception?

Light has entered Jeff’s eye and has stimulated receptors there. Which of the following terms describes this process?

A neural signal from Mary’s taste bud has travelled to her cortex and she experiences enjoyment of a sweet flavour. Which of the following terms describes this process?

What is your absolute threshold?

Werner was having his hearing tested, and a number of the tones that were presented were so faint he was not able to detect them. What can you say about the faint sounds?

Juanita was drinking some warm punch and she thought she could just detect a faint taste of nutmeg in the punch. When she took another sip the taste wasn’t there. On the third sip she could just make out the taste of nutmeg again. What could you say about the taste of nutmeg in this situation?

Giovanni was watching the night sky on a clear evening in November. He noticed that sometimes when he looked directly overhead he could detect a very faint star. A few minutes later it seemed that the star had disappeared, and then it “appeared” again. How would you describe the light from the star, in this case?

Which of the following is being measured if a subject is presented with a series of light bulb pairs of different wattages and is asked whether the members of each pair differ in brightness?

If a 100-Hz tone had to be increased to 110 Hz for a subject to just notice the difference, what would you change a 1000-Hz tone to, in order for that subject to notice the difference?

Evelyn turned the thermostat up from 68 degrees to 70 degrees; however, she doesn’t think it feels any warmer and she wants to turn it up even higher. Her roommate thinks that it is now too hot, and she wants to turn the thermostat back down. How does Evelyn’s just-noticeable-difference compare to her roommate’s?

Raul is making potato soup. His roommate tastes it and tells Raul it is great, but Raul thinks it needs more salt. He adds just a little salt, and thinks the soup now tastes perfect. However, his roommate tastes it again and tells Raul that the soup is ruined because it is too salty. Which of the following is most accurate?

When Celeste was playing her stereo at 40 decibels and she turned it up to 44 decibels, she could notice that it was louder. If Celeste’s stereo were playing at 80 decibels, what should her just noticeable difference be?

You have a lamp with a three-way light bulb. You can use the light at 50 watts, 100 watts, or 150 watts. When you change between settings, which of the following changes will be perceived as a larger increase in brightness?

Which of the following is most accurate regarding our inner measurements of sensory experiences?

In the signal-detection method, what do we call it when a subject detects a stimulus when no stimulus is actually present?

Which type of signal-detection error becomes more likely when the expectation of a stimulus is weak?

In signal detection, which type of response is more likely if you have a strong expectation that a signal is present?

Jerry, a nuclear operator, must monitor 50 different gauges that keep track of various aspects of the nuclear reactor. Which of the following theories provides the most specific predictions for Jerry’s likelihood of detecting any changes or problems?

Joan was sitting talking with some friends when she suddenly left the room to check on her baby. She was sure she heard little Emily cry out, but when she checked, Emily was sleeping peacefully. What would you call Joan’s response based on signal detection theory?

Dalton was sitting in the hallway outside his chemistry class. Some students said they thought they could smell smoke, but Dalton didn’t smell anything. When they all checked the lab to see if there were any problems, everything was fine and nothing was burning. What would you call Dalton’s response based on signal detection theory?

Your criterion for “hearing” mysterious noises at night may change after a rash of burglaries in your neighbourhood. Which of the following best explains this change?

Which of the following statements about subliminal perception is most accurate?

What have researchers typically found when they have attempted to demonstrate subliminal perception effects in the real world?

What will eventually occur if you stare at an unchanging image for a long time?

What is sensory adaptation?

You enter a room and notice a distinctive new odour. After a bit of time you no longer notice the odour. What phenomenon does this illustrate?

Yaniv has been working at his computer for the past two hours, and the hum that he found so annoying when he started no longer bothers him. Which of the following processes is illustrated by the change in Yaniv’s sensitivity to the computer noise?

Sonja put on a new watch this morning and found it uncomfortable because it was so much heavier than her old watch. However, at noon, when a friend asks her if she knows what time it is, Sonja finds she has forgotten she is even wearing the watch. Which of the following processes is illustrated by the change in Sonja’s sensitivity to the pressure of the watch?

Which of the following CANNOT be explained by sensory adaptation?

What aspect of perception is affected by the wavelength of light?

What affects our perception of the brightness of a colour?

Jose is wearing a blue shirt, and Evan is wearing a red shirt. What is the difference between the two shirts, in terms of light waves?

What aspect of visual perception is responsive to differences in the amplitude of light waves?

What aspect of visual perception is responsive to differences in the purity of light waves?

What does the lens in the eye do?

As people age, the lens of the eye loses its ability to accommodate, and it tends to remain flat instead of becoming fat and round. What does this suggest about the effects of aging on vision?

What is the structure that controls the size of the pupil?

What changes in size, in order to regulate the amount of light that enters the eye?

What happens to the pupil of the eye in bright sunlight?

Isaiah is having his eyes checked. The doctor has put drops in Isaiah’s eyes that will cause the pupils to open wide. What will happen to Isaiah’s vision as the drops begin to work?

What happens to the pupil of the eye in dim light?

Which of the following processes acts to compensate for sensory adaptation?

Where is the optic disk?

What is the blind spot in the eye?

Petra looked directly into a very bright light and damaged her retina. The ophthalmologist has told her that she has sustained massive damage to her cones, but for the most part her rods have not been affected. Which of the following aspects of Petra’s vision is likely to be deficient?

Imagine that biologists have discovered an animal that has eyes very similar to human eyes, but that the only receptor cells in the retina are rods; there are no cones. What would you expect about this animal’s vision, based on what is known about human vision?

Imagine that biologists have discovered an animal that has eyes very similar to human eyes, but that the only receptor cells in the retina are cones; there are no rods. What would you expect about this animal’s vision, based on what is known about human vision?

Devin has contracted a very rare eye disease. The ophthalmologist has told him that he has sustained massive damage to his rods, but for the most part his cones have not been affected. Which of the following aspects of Devin’s vision is likely to be deficient?

Which of the following techniques would allow you to maximize visual acuity at night?

Fifteen minutes after Zigfried left the brightly lit hallway and entered the dark passageway, what would you expect about his dark adaptation?

What does the receptive field of a visual cell refer to?

What should a ganglion cell have in order to have good visual acuity?

Visual fields have a centre-surround arrangement. What does this allow the eye to be?

In visual processing, when does lateral antagonism occur?

What is the optic chiasm?

What does parallel processing in the visual pathways suggest about separate neural channels?

If the pathway through your superior colliculus were not functioning correctly, what would be difficult for you to do?

If the parvocellular system within your thalamus were not functioning correctly, what would you find difficult to do?

If the magnocellular system within your thalamus were not functioning correctly, what would you find difficult to do?

In which of the following lobes would you find the primary visual cortex?

Which of the following depicts an accurate pathway for neural signals leaving the retina?

What are the cells in the visual cortex that respond selectively to specific details of complex stimuli?

What are the cells in the visual cortex that respond to a line of the correct width, oriented at the correct angle, and located in the correct position in its receptive field?

What do complex cells in the visual cortex respond to?

A microelectrode is recording the activity from a single cell in the visual cortex of a cat. The cell begins to fire rapidly when a line is presented at a 45-degree angle directly in front of the cat, but stops firing when the line is shifted to a position that is off to the left. What type of cell is likely being monitored in this case?

A microelectrode is recording the activity from a single cell in the visual cortex of a cat. The cell begins to fire rapidly when a vertical line sweeps across the visual field to the left, but stops firing when the same line sweeps back across the visual field to the right. What type of cell is likely being monitored in this case?

After visual input has been processed in the primary visual cortex, signals are processed further along a number of pathways. Which of the following types of visual information would be processed in the temporal lobe, along the ventral stream?

After visual input has been processed in the primary visual cortex, signals are processed further along a number of pathways. Where is information about object recognition processed?

Where does the ventral stream project to after leaving the primary visual cortex?

Charley has visual agnosia and is unable to recognize common, everyday objects. Damage to which component of the visual system does this condition most likely result from?

In a vision experiment, subjects are asked to view stimuli that include vertical black-and-red bars, as well as horizontal black-and-green bars, for a few minutes. Given what you know about the McCullough effect, what afterimages should the subjects see when presented with vertical or horizontal arrays of black-and-white bars?

While finger painting, Imran mixed yellow paint and blue paint and ended up with green. Which mixing method did Imran use?

What type of colour would be produced if you mixed many varied paints together?

If you project a red, a green, and a blue light into space, what type of light will be perceived at the point where the three lights cross?

If you mix red, green, and blue paint, what colour will you get?

At the musical he attended over the weekend, Andrew noticed that whenever the red and green spotlights overlapped, they seemed to change to a yellow spotlight. Which principle explains this perception?

Television sets are able to recreate the entire visible spectrum by additively mixing three primary colours. Which theory of human colour vision is similar to this mechanism?

What differs in the visual perception of a human dichromat and a human trichromat?

Hering’s opponent-process theory suggests that receptors are linked antagonistically in pairs. What are his opposed pairs?

Eli has been wearing green welding goggles for the past 30 minutes. Based on the opponent-process theory of colour vision, what colour will white objects appear to be for a brief time after Eli takes off the green goggles?

According to one theory of colour vision, colours are signalled in pairs by neurons that fire faster to one colour and slower to another colour. What is this theory called?

Denise was momentarily blinded when paparazzi snapped her picture using a blue flash. Following the flash, she saw spots for several minutes. What colour were the spots, based on the opponent- process theory of colour vision?

After having your picture taken with a yellow flash, you momentarily see blue spots floating before your eyes. Which process best explains this phenomenon?

Which theory of colour vision is supported by the action of the lateral geniculate nucleus?

Which of the following is the best description of the current view of how colour is coded in the visual system?

What colour should you wear on a date if you want to enhance your perceived attractiveness, based on results of research examining colour effects on behaviour?

Three people look at the same sketch and report seeing three different things. Which of the following does this demonstrate that perception is influenced by?

What do we mean when we say that perception is influenced by a perceptual set?

Mike and Sandy were walking down the street and Mike was telling Sandy a story about a party he went to. As they were walking, a car full of clowns drove past and waved at them. Sandy waved back. Later, Mike reported truthfully that he had never seen the clowns and did not notice that Sandy waved at them. Which of the following could explain this apparent lapse in perception?

Feature analysis assumes that we progress from individual elements to the whole in the formation of our perceptions. Which of the following processes describes feature analysis?

Psychologists who took the structuralist approach to the study of consciousness believed that the best way to understand an individual’s conscious experiences was to understand all the component parts that combined to produce the experience. With which model of perception is this most consistent?

Vanessa describes a new melody that she heard at a concert by telling you each of the individual notes, in the order that they were played. In providing this type of description, which type of processing does Vanessa appear to use?

Sima was listening to a tape recording of a famous speech that was being played backward. She just heard gibberish until a classmate told her that the phrase “meet me in St. Louis” was clearly spoken. The tape was rewound and as Sima listened this time, she also clearly heard the same phrase. Which of the following models of perception is illustrated by Sima’s ability to detect the phrase the second time through the tape?

Which type of processing is most important for the ability to rapidly process words that you are reading?

Which type of processing are you using when you read a note that is poorly written, but you understand the content without being stumped by errors?

Rather than provide details about the party she just attended, Patrice tried to give her overall impression, operating on the assumption that the whole may be greater than the mere sum of its parts. Which field of psychology is based on this assumption?

The successive blinking on and off of the lights on the neon sign gave the impression of beer filling a glass. What is the name of this illusion?

The lights around the movie marquee flashed on and off in succession. However, Jerome did not perceive them as separate lights flashing, but instead saw a continuous band of light moving around the edge of the marquee. What is this type of perception known as?

Shelby created an animated scene using her computer. She drew a frog as he started to jump, and then drew the frog landing. The computer created 24 pictures between these two points, each of which adjusted the frog’s position very slightly. When the entire sequence of 26 pictures is displayed in rapid succession, the frog appears to hop smoothly. What is this type of perception known as?

Why is it difficult to see a chameleon that has blended in with its background?

Zachary is looking at a reversible figure which first appears to be a vase, and then appears to be two faces. His perception of the figure keeps switching between these two interpretations. What causes the switch in perception?

What becomes inverted in paintings or drawings that lead to ambiguous interpretations?

What does the Gestalt principle of proximity state?

Natalie sat on her porch looking out at the field of soybeans. Which Gestalt principle is consistent with the fact that Natalie perceived the soybean plants as being grouped into a series of separate rows?

Sai was at a football game, and even though people wearing green jackets were spread fairly evenly throughout the stands, he still perceived all the people in green jackets as a single group of visiting fans. With which Gestalt principle is Sai’s perception most consistent?

Because of which Gestalt principle do we often perceive a series of dots on a printed form as a “solid” line?

When Justin looked up at the night sky, he perceived the three stars that make up the belt in the constellation Orion as a single complete figure, rather than as individual stars. Which Gestalt principle does Justin’s perception of the night sky illustrate?

Christina was skiing down an intermediate run when the run broke into two separate trails. One trail turned off at a 90-degree angle; the second trail appeared to continue in the same general direction she had been headed. If Christina takes the second trail, with which Gestalt principle would her actions be consistent?

You are looking at a book. What type of stimulus is the book from a perceptual perspective?

You interpret a trapezoid shape projected on your retina as a rectangular book. What have you just formulated?

We are able to see three dimensions, even though we have a two-dimensional retina. What is this ability called?

Stacia had an operation on her eyes, but the doctors were unable to save the vision in her left eye. What will happen to Stacia’s perceptual abilities?

As the large butterfly flew toward Richard, he could tell it was getting closer because he could feel his eyes turning inward toward his nose as he watched it. Which depth cue was Richard using in this instance?

What must you do in order to keep focusing on an object as it moves closer to your face?

As Briana drove down the highway, the pickets of the fences moved past her in a blur, but the mountains in the distance didn’t appear to move at all. What was Briana experiencing?

Tran was painting a picture of a jet on a runway; however, in his painting the sides of the runway are parallel to each other. His picture seems to lack depth. Which monocular depth cue has Tran failed to make use of?

The sand at Zane’s feet appeared coarse, and he could see the individual grains of sand. However, the sand down the beach appeared to be much finer and less granular. From which depth cue might this apparent difference in the sand have partially resulted?

What is interposition?

Gabriella was looking for shelter from the sudden cloudburst, and at first she had difficulty judging whether the old barn or the farmhouse was closer. However, when she noticed that the barn partially obscured the corner of the house she headed for the barn. Which depth cue did Gabriella use?

Images that occupy more space on your retina are seen as nearer, relative to images that occupy less space. What is this depth cue called?

Ashley is trying to create a small model village on the mantle of her fireplace. She bought 3-inch high figures to put at the front of the mantle and smaller figures to put near the back. What depth cue is Ashley using?

Which of the following is implied by the phenomenon of perceptual constancy?

What is perceptual constancy?

Three-year-old Keeghan was flying in a plane for the first time. As the plane descended for its landing, Keeghan became very excited at all the toy houses and cars he saw, and he couldn’t wait for the plane to land so he could play with the toys. Which perceptual cue is Keeghan NOT using?

Which visual illusion accounts for the fact that the corner of a building thrust toward the viewer looks shorter than an inside corner thrust away from the viewer?

In the Ames room, people are seen to get smaller or larger as they move about. What does this demonstrate about our perception?

What is the moon illusion?

Which of the following is true of optical illusions?

You see a delicious-looking doughnut sitting on the counter in front of you, and you guide your hand toward the doughnut and pop it into your mouth. What do we call the second visual process for guiding your hand?

In the case study of “DF,” a woman experienced brain damage as a result of carbon-monoxide poisoning and lost the ability to recognize the forms of objects. What type of deficit did “DF” have?

Which of the following activities would be difficult for you to do if you sustained damage to your dorsal stream?

Which perception is associated with the amplitude of a sound wave?

What aspect of the sound wave influences the perception of timbre?

When a clarinet plays a high C followed by a low C, these two notes are perceived differently because they differ in what aspect?

What units of measurement refer to the loudness of sounds?

What units of measurement refer to the pitch of sounds?

What is the range of human hearing?

What is the structure of the ear that conducts sound waves to the middle ear?

What is the structure of the ear that transduces sound vibrations into nerve impulses?

Jefferson has had years of exposure to high amplitude sound through his work as a helicopter mechanic. Lately he has noticed that he is losing his ability to detect high frequency sounds. What has Jefferson most likely damaged?

Which structure of the ear serves a similar function as the retina serves in the eye?

What are the actual, direct receptors for hearing?

What process allows us to hear pitch, according to place theory?

Imagine that the basilar membrane in the human ear were longer. What might you expect humans to be able to do, based on place theory?

Which theory of hearing views the basilar membrane as being like a drumhead?

The maximum firing rate for individual neurons is 1000 neural impulses per second. What does this biological limitation mean for theories of perception?

What is the major flaw in the frequency theory of pitch perception?

Which theory, or theories, best explain(s) pitch perception for very low-pitch, very high-pitch, and middle-pitch sounds, respectively?

Clifford was in an accident and he has lost all the hearing in one ear. Which ability will the deafness in this ear mostly affect?

Juan and Karletta were walking one night when they heard a car backfire. Juan was convinced the sound came from directly in front of them, and Karletta was convinced the sound came from directly behind them. Which of the following would explain their difficulty localizing the sound?

Diego was able to tell that the voice he heard calling his name was coming from the building on his left. What is this ability called?

Where is the source of a sound when there is a large difference in loudness between the two ears?

Which of the following sound locations would result in the poorest localization accuracy?

If you are sitting in a room facing exactly north, where will you perceive a sound to come from if it emanates exactly from the south?

Which type of visual perception operates in a similar fashion as auditory localization?

Which two major cues do we use to localize sound sources in space?

What is the smallest timing difference that people can detect between each ear?

What is speech prosody?

What happens to the perception of pressure if a stimulus is applied continuously to a specific spot on the skin?

What route is taken by nerve fibres that carry information about pressure from the surface of the skin on the left side of the body?

Which pain pathway transmits information about an injury that has just occurred?

Which pathway for pain results in the experience of pain being less localized and longer lasting?

What structures do neural transmission in the slow pain pathway depend on?

Catelin has had a slow throbbing pain in her ankle since she twisted it in-line skating last week. Where are these pain signals travelling?

Derek dropped a hammer on his foot and shrieked a split second later at the intense pain from a newly broken toe. How did the almost instantaneous pain signals travel?