Question 1

People stare at a pattern of narrow black-and-white lines for a minute and then look at some wider lines.The second set of lines appears even wider than usual to them.Why?

Accepted Answer

Staring at the narrow black-and-white lines fatigues the brain's feature detectors that are specific to processing the width of lines. When viewers then look at wider lines, the fatigued detectors respond less strongly, making the wider lines appear even wider than they are.

Question 2

A feature detector is a kind of

Accepted Answer

A feature detector is a type of neuron found in the visual cortex of the brain that is responsible for detecting specific features of visual stimuli, such as edges or lines. Therefore, the correct choice is C, neuron.

Question 3

Gestalt psychology emphasizes the way our perception depends on

Accepted Answer

Gestalt psychology focuses on the idea that we perceive objects as organized patterns and configurations, rather than just individual features. Therefore, the correct answer is D, patterns and configurations.

Question 4

After you stare at a pattern of narrow lines long enough to fatigue certain feature detectors,you now stare at slightly wider lines.How will your perception of those lines differ from your usual perception of them?

Accepted Answer

After staring at narrow lines for a while, the feature detectors responsible for detecting narrow lines will become fatigued, causing a temporary decrease in their sensitivity. When you look at slightly wider lines, they will now appear even wider than they actually are because the feature detectors that respond to wider lines are not affected by fatigue. This phenomenon is known as the aftereffect.

Question 5

Which Gestalt principle causes you to group the "h" at the end of the first word in this sentence with the first word rather than seeing it as part of the second word?

Accepted Answer

The Gestalt principle of proximity causes us to perceive elements that are close together as being related or belonging to the same group. In this sentence, the "h" is physically closer to the letters in the first word, so we group it with the first word rather than with the second word.

Question 6

Many psychologists believe that the brain has a special module devoted specifically to face recognition because

Accepted Answer

Brain damage can impair face recognition even though recognition of other objects is unimpaired. This suggests that face recognition may be processed using a separate module in the brain. The other options are not entirely accurate, as there is not necessarily a map of the face on the cortex, not every face we see is stored in the brain, and non-human animals are also capable of recognizing faces.

Question 7

One reversible figure can be seen either as a vase or as two profiles looking toward each other.This example illustrates the Gestalt principle of

Accepted Answer

The figure-ground principle relates to how we perceive an object or shape in relation to its surrounding context. In this example, the figure can be seen as either the vase or the two profiles, depending on how we perceive the black and white areas as foreground or background.

Question 8

What is a feature detector in the visual system?

Accepted Answer

A feature detector is a type of neuron that increases its activity when a certain pattern or feature, such as a line, shape, or color, is presented to the retina. These neurons are responsible for detecting and processing visual information in the primary visual cortex of the brain.

Question 9

Loosely translated,"Gestalt" means

Accepted Answer

"Gestalt" is a German word that can be roughly translated to "overall pattern" or "wholeness." It refers to the idea that individuals perceive things as a unitary whole, rather than as a collection of individual parts.

Question 10

What group of psychologists are most closely associated with the slogan "The whole is different from the sum of its parts"?

Accepted Answer

The slogan "The whole is different from the sum of its parts" is one of the core principles of Gestalt psychology.

Question 11

Experimenters Hubel and Wiesel found that cells in the visual cortex of monkeys respond vigorously only when light falls on their retina in a particular shape and in a particular location.Therefore those cells act as

Accepted Answer

The cells in the visual cortex of monkeys are acting as feature detectors, responding only to specific shapes and locations of light. Photopigments are molecules in the retina that absorb light and initiate the process of vision, opponent processes are a theory of color vision, and ganglion cells are cells that transmit visual information from the retina to the brain.

Question 12

Which of the following is one of the Gestalt principles of perception?

Accepted Answer

Proximity is one of the Gestalt principles of perception, which states that objects that are close together are perceived as a group. The other options (threshold, myopia, adaptation) are not Gestalt principles of perception.

Question 13

Hubel and Wiesel's Nobel prize-winning research with monkeys and cats provided evidence for the existence of

Accepted Answer

Hubel and Wiesel's research supported the idea of feature-detector cells in the visual cortex, which are specialized neurons that respond to specific features of visual stimuli, such as orientation, movement, and shape. They found that certain cells in the primary visual cortex of cats and monkeys responded to specific orientations of lines and edges, providing evidence for the idea of feature detection in vision.

Question 14

Gestalt psychologists specialized in studying

Accepted Answer

Gestalt psychologists focused on how we perceive a complex pattern as a whole, rather than simply analyzing its individual parts. They emphasized the importance of organizing sensory information into meaningful patterns and structures.

Question 15

The slogan of Gestalt psychology is

Accepted Answer

The answer of The slogan of Gestalt psychology is
...

Question 16

A neuron in the visual cortex becomes excited whenever light of a particular shape (such as a line)falls on a particular part of the retina.That neuron is said to be a

Accepted Answer

The description provided in the question matches the definition of a feature detector neuron, which becomes excited in response to a particular type of stimuli (in this case, light of a particular shape) and is responsible for detecting specific features in visual stimuli. Visual constancy refers to the brain's ability to perceive objects as being constant in size, shape, and color, regardless of changes in the stimuli, and ganglion cells are cells in the retina that transmit visual information from the eye to the brain. The basilar membrane is a structure located in the inner ear that is involved in the detection of sound waves.

Question 17

According to the "feature detector" approach to vision,your ability to see a line (or any other pattern)depends on a particular kind of

Accepted Answer

The "feature detector" approach to vision proposes that there are specialized neurons in the visual cortex that respond to specific visual features, such as edges, angles, or movement. Therefore, the ability to see a line or any other pattern depends on the activation of these neurons, which are sensitive to particular features of the visual input. Hormones, social situations, and attitudes are not directly involved in this process.

Question 18

Which of the following experiments attempts to demonstrate the presence of feature detectors in the visual cortex of the human brain?

Accepted Answer

The experiment where people stare at bars of one width for a minute and then check whether their perception of other bars has changed is known as the "visual adaptation" experiment. This experiment attempts to demonstrate the presence of feature detectors in the visual cortex by showing that neurons respond selectively to certain visual features, such as orientation or width of bars. When people stare at bars of one width for a minute, it is believed that the neurons responsible for detecting that width become fatigued and less responsive, making it harder for the person to perceive bars of that width afterwards. This indicates that there are specialized feature detectors in the visual cortex that respond selectively to certain visual features.

Question 19

Which of the following phenomena demonstrates the effects of fatiguing one set of cells in the brain,followed by a rebound of activity by another set?

Accepted Answer

Staring at a color, a waterfall, or a set of lines causes fatigue in the cells of the retina that are responsible for perceiving that particular stimulus. When the stimulus is removed, the fatigued cells cannot fire as strongly, causing a rebound of activity in other cells that perceive the opposite or complementary stimulus. This phenomenon is known as the afterimage effect.

Question 20

A feature detector in the visual cortex is most likely to answer which of these questions?

Accepted Answer

A feature detector in the visual cortex is responsible for detecting specific visual features such as edges, lines, and angles. Therefore, it is most likely to answer questions related to the specific features of visual stimuli, such as whether the center of the retina is detecting a straight horizontal line.

Quiz 4: Sensation and Perception