Question 1

What are the four basic tastes? What is the fifth taste that has been proposed? What do the textbook authors mean when they say that people live in "different taste worlds"?

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Question 2

The eye is frequently compared with a camera. But, in many ways, the visual system is not like a camera. Explain why.

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Question 3

Describe the course of hearing from the time a sound wave passes into the outer ear until the time that a signal is passed along to the auditory nerve.

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Question 4

Discuss Vilayanur Ramachandran's work with phantom pain and his success with tricking the brain of an amputee with a simple mirror. How are his techniques being used today?

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Question 5

Like human infants, kittens are born with the ability to detect horizontal lines and vertical lines. In one famous study, kittens were reared in darkness for five months after birth. But for several hours each day, they were put into a special cylinder that permitted them to see only vertical or horizontal lines and nothing else. Describe the results of this research study.

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Question 6

Light travels in the form of waves, and these waves affect three aspects of our visual world. Describe, in detail, the three physical characteristics of light waves, and how each affects a specific psychological dimension of our visual experience.

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Question 7

Rita's favorite navy-blue sweater is perceived as maintaining its hue whether Rita is outdoors or indoors. But the wavelengths of light reaching Rita's eyes change as the illumination changes. Explain why.

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Question 8

There are two levels of processing involved in color vision. The first occurs in the retina and the second in the ganglion cells and in neurons in the brain. Identify and explain the theory associated with each level.

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Question 9

Aiko is a Japanese national living in America. She invites her American friends to her home and the raw oysters, raw smoked salmon, and raw herring that she serves are well received. But when Aiko's guests notice the raw sea urchin and the raw octopus, they get squeamish, even after she explains that they taste good! Explain the differences in taste preferences between Aiko and her American friends.

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Question 10

Contrast the reactions of adults who were born deaf and then received cochlear implants to the reactions of adults who became deaf later in life and then received the implants.

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Question 11

Testing an infant's perception of depth requires ingenuity, but Gibson and Walk were able to design a procedure in order to test infants on a "visual cliff." Explain how they created a "cliff" and describe the results of their research.

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Question 12

The fact that some perceptual processes appear to be innate doesn't mean that all people perceive the world in the same way. List four psychological factors that can influence what we perceive and how we perceive it.

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Question 13

Explain the concept of sensory crossover. Include a description of the rare condition called synesthesia.

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Question 14

Normally, kinesthesis and equilibrium work together to give us a sense of our own physical reality. But when they do not, the consequences are profound. What happens to patients whose kinesthetic nerve fibers are damaged irreversibly?

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Question 15

Ordinarily we need to know not only what something is, but also where it is. Because vision doesn't give us this information directly, we must infer it. Explain how we perform this feat, giving examples of two visual cues that require the use of both eyes. The textbook notes that there are many visual cues that do not depend on having two eyes. Choose and describe five of the seven cues that depend upon one eye.

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Question 16

Why is it important to make a distinction between subliminal perception and subliminal persuasion? What has empirical research revealed about each?

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Question 17

The Gestalt psychologists belonged to a movement that began in Germany and became influential in the 1920s. What does the word gestalt mean in German and why is it well-suited to this theory? How did Gestalt psychologists study the organization of the visual world? Name four Gestalt principles and give an example that illustrates each principle.

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Question 18

Describe loudness and explain how perceived loudness is affected by pitch.

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Question 19

In sensory deprivation studies, researchers were interested in what would happen if our senses adapted to most incoming stimuli. Explain the findings of the early studies in sensory deprivation. What has been revealed by later research?

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Question 20

If the sensory nerves all use exactly the same form of communication (a neural impulse), how, then, do we experience so many different kinds of sensations?

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Quiz 6: Sensation and Perception