Question 1

The principle of similarity can account for grouping of stimuli that are similar in
A) orientation.
B) shape.
C) size.
D) orientation, shape, and size.

Accepted Answer

The principle of similarity suggests that stimuli that are similar in their orientation, shape, and size tend to be grouped together by our brain. Therefore, the best choice is D, since it includes all the features that the principle of similarity applies to.

Question 2

Wundt: _________ :: Wertheimer: _____________.
A) structuralism; Gestalt psychology
B) Gestalt psychology; structuralism
C) functionalism; structuralism
D) psychophysics; metaphysics

Accepted Answer

Wundt was a major proponent of structuralism, which attempted to break down mental processes into their constituent parts. Wertheimer, on the other hand, was a major figure in the development of Gestalt psychology, which emphasized the importance of looking at the whole of experience rather than breaking it down into individual elements.

Question 3

Structuralists would be most likely to endorse which of the following statements?
A) Sensations and perceptions are the same "unit" of thought.
B) The whole of something is greater than its parts.
C) Perceptions can be explained by the sensations that make them up.
D) Past experience plays little or no role in perception formation.

Accepted Answer

Structuralists believed that perceptions were composed of individual sensations, and that these sensations could be broken down and analyzed to understand perception. Therefore, they would endorse the statement that perceptions can be explained by the sensations that make them up.

Question 4

Border ownership means that when figure-ground segregation occurs, the border between the figure and background
A) seems to change color.
B) is perceived to be associated with the background.
C) is perceived to be associated with the figure.
D) seems to disappear.

Accepted Answer

Border ownership refers to the perception that the border between a figure and its background belongs to the figure. Therefore, the border is associated with the figure rather than the background.

Question 5

A masking stimulus is primarily used to
A) stop persistence of vision.
B) increase the duration of persistence of vision.
C) increase the area of the "region-of-interest".
D) hide the purpose of the experiment from participants.

Accepted Answer

A masking stimulus is used to stop persistence of vision, which means it is used to cover up or hide a stimulus that has just been presented so that it is not perceived by the visual system for an extended period of time. This is important in many experimental designs where it is necessary to control what participants see and for how long they see it.

Question 6

The demonstration of apparent movement provides support for the Gestalt approach because
A) the phenomenon cannot be explained by sensations alone.
B) the phenomenon relies exclusively on the perceiver's past experience.
C) the images used do not follow the principle of common region.
D) the phenomenon relied on figure/ground segregation.

Accepted Answer

The demonstration of apparent movement cannot be explained by sensations alone, providing support for Gestalt's emphasis on the role of perception and organization in determining our experience of stimuli.

Question 7

Alyson looks at a picture of arrows and sees white arrows pointing to the right against a black background. She looks at the picture longer, and then sees black arrows pointing to the left against a white background. Her perception of the this stimulus is an example of
A) perceptual segregation.
B) binocular rivalry.
C) view invariance.
D) orientation invariance.

Accepted Answer

This phenomenon is an example of perceptual segregation, where the visual system separates different elements of a visual scene into distinct objects or groups, allowing Alyson to perceive the arrows differently over time.

Question 8

The ___________ problem shows that numerous physical stimuli can create exactly the same image on the retina.
A) correspondence
B) inverse projection
C) occlusion
D) ambiguity

Accepted Answer

The inverse projection problem refers to the challenge in determining the source of a particular image on the retina because many different physical objects can produce the same retinal image. This highlights the complexity of visual perception and the brain's role in interpreting sensory information.

Question 9

Corey looks at a flock of seagulls flying in one direction, when suddenly five of the seagulls start flying in another direction. He now perceives two groups of birds, because of the Gestalt principle of
A) common fate.
B) uniform connectedness.
C) synchrony.
D) Pragnanz.

Accepted Answer

The principle of common fate states that objects that move together are perceived as belonging to the same group. In this situation, the five seagulls flying in a different direction are perceived as a separate group because they are moving together away from the larger group of seagulls.

Question 10

In a scene, the objects in the foreground are best described as _________, whereas the image making up the background is best described as the _______.
A) object; setting
B) ground; figure
C) near point; distance
D) figure; ground

Accepted Answer

In art and photography, the objects or subjects that are most prominently featured or dominant in a composition are referred to as the figure or foreground. This is opposed to the background or ground, which usually consists of the surrounding environment or setting that helps to provide context and depth to the image. Therefore, the best choice is D, where the objects in the foreground are described as the figure, and the background is described as the ground.

Question 11

Humans need approximately ____ to perceive the gist of a scene.
A) 250 milliseconds
B) 1000 milliseconds
C) 2 seconds
D) 5 seconds

Accepted Answer

Research suggests that humans need as little as 250 milliseconds to perceive the gist of a scene.

Question 12

The Bev Doolittle print of "The Forest Has Eyes" exemplifies the way _______ affects perceptual organization.
A) proximity.
B) common region.
C) meaningfulness.
D) common fate.

Accepted Answer

The Bev Doolittle print of "The Forest Has Eyes" is a good example of how meaningfulness affects perceptual organization. The picture is a camouflage painting, featuring animals hidden among the trees and rocks. It takes a while to see them all, but once you do, your perception of the image changes. This shows that meaningfulness can influence how we organize and interpret visual information.

Question 13

"Viewpoint invariance" means
A) children can only represent one perceptual viewpoint at a time.
B) computers can invert images to easily perform object recognition.
C) humans can easily recognize objects when seen from different viewpoints.
D) monkeys can only recognize other monkey faces from a frontal view.

Accepted Answer

Viewpoint invariance refers to the ability of humans to recognize objects irrespective of the viewpoint from which they are viewed. It means that we can identify an object from different angles, orientations, and perspectives. This ability is essential for humans to perform many everyday activities such as driving, navigating a new environment, or finding an object in a cluttered scene. Option A, B, and D are incorrect as they do not accurately describe viewpoint invariance.

Question 14

In one reversible figure/ground study, Gibson and Peterson (1994) used an image in which one area looks like a woman when upright, but does not resemble anything when turned upside down. Their general finding was that
A) meaningfulness of an image had a large effect on figure-ground segregation.
B) meaningful images were just as likely to be seen as figure or ground.
C) inverting the entire image lead to slower response times.
D) meaningfulness only had an effect when the are appeared on the left side.

Accepted Answer

Gibson and Peterson's study found that meaningfulness of an image had a large effect on figure-ground segregation. This indicates that our perceptual system is influenced by the meaningfulness or relevance of an object in deciding whether it is the figure or the ground.

Question 15

The Olympic symbol is an example of the Gestalt principle of
A) proximity.
B) Pragnanz.
C) common fate.
D) synchrony.

Accepted Answer

The Gestalt principle of Pragnanz refers to the idea that people tend to interpret ambiguous images in the simplest way possible, creating a clear and organized perception. The Olympic symbol, with its intersecting rings, is a classic example of Pragnanz, as the viewer sees a simple, unified image, rather than five separate, disconnected circles.

Question 16

Which of the following is a general determinant of figure-ground segregation?
A) An area on the right side is more likely to be perceived as a figure than a stimulus on the left.
B) Small stimuli are more likely to be perceived as ground than figure.
C) Detailed images are more likely to be perceived as figure than ground.
D) A lower region is more likely to be perceived as figure than an upper region.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Which of the following is a general...

Question 17

Gestalt psychologists used the example of illusory contours to support the claim that
A) perceptions are formed by combining sensations.
B) vision can be modeled on computer processing.
C) the whole is different than the sum of its parts.
D) experience determines perceptual interpretation.

Accepted Answer

The Gestalt psychologists believed that perceptions are not simply the sum of individual sensations but rather emerge from the organization and integration of those sensations into a unified whole. Illusory contours, which are perceived edges even though they are not physically present, are used as evidence of this idea. They demonstrate that the whole perceived object is different from the sum of its individual parts (such as lines or shapes) and that our brains actively construct meaningful perceptions by grouping and organizing sensory information.

Question 18

Computers are better than humans at perceiving objects because
A) computers can process information faster than humans.
B) computers have higher storage capacity than humans.
C) computers can more easily determine the reasons for changes in lightness.
D) none of these; humans are better than computers at object perception.

Accepted Answer

Humans are generally better than computers at object perception due to their ability to understand context, recognize patterns, and interpret visual information in complex and dynamic environments.

Question 19

Jimmy looks at a moderately blurred picture of Princess Diana's face. Jimmy will most likely
A) not be able to identify the face.
B) identify the face as male rather than female.
C) be able to correctly identify the face.
D) need a computer to scan the image to correctly identify it.

Accepted Answer

Even with moderate blurring, humans are able to recognize faces due to our strong facial recognition ability. Therefore, Jimmy is likely to be able to correctly identify the face of Princess Diana.

Question 20

Sally recently looked at some visual illusions. In one reversible-image illusion she saw a vase in the middle of a blue box. What is Sally most likely to remember about this illusion?
A) Details about the box.
B) The two faces on the side of the face.
C) The vase she saw in the illusion.
D) The lower half of the image.

Accepted Answer

Sally is most likely to remember the vase she saw in the illusion as it was the main focus of the illusion and the reason for its being a reversible-image illusion.

Quiz 5: Perceiving Objects and Scenes

The principle of similarity can account for grouping of stimuli that are similar in

Wundt: _ :: Wertheimer: _____.

Structuralists would be most likely to endorse which of the following statements?

Border ownership means that when figure-ground segregation occurs, the border between the figure and background

A masking stimulus is primarily used to

The demonstration of apparent movement provides support for the Gestalt approach because

Alyson looks at a picture of arrows and sees white arrows pointing to the right against a black background. She looks at the picture longer, and then sees black arrows pointing to the left against a white background. Her perception of the this stimulus is an example of

The ___________ problem shows that numerous physical stimuli can create exactly the same image on the retina.

Corey looks at a flock of seagulls flying in one direction, when suddenly five of the seagulls start flying in another direction. He now perceives two groups of birds, because of the Gestalt principle of

In a scene, the objects in the foreground are best described as ___, whereas the image making up the background is best described as the _.

Humans need approximately ____ to perceive the gist of a scene.

The Bev Doolittle print of "The Forest Has Eyes" exemplifies the way _______ affects perceptual organization.

"Viewpoint invariance" means

In one reversible figure/ground study, Gibson and Peterson (1994) used an image in which one area looks like a woman when upright, but does not resemble anything when turned upside down. Their general finding was that

The Olympic symbol is an example of the Gestalt principle of

Which of the following is a general determinant of figure-ground segregation?

Gestalt psychologists used the example of illusory contours to support the claim that

Computers are better than humans at perceiving objects because

Jimmy looks at a moderately blurred picture of Princess Diana's face. Jimmy will most likely

Sally recently looked at some visual illusions. In one reversible-image illusion she saw a vase in the middle of a blue box. What is Sally most likely to remember about this illusion?