Question 1

Burt complains to a marriage counselor that although his wife, Lonnie, appears to be listening when he talks, she often has no memory of what he has said and is "in a world of her own." Lonnie is demonstrating ____. ​

Accepted Answer

Lonnie is demonstrating selective attention, which is the ability to filter out irrelevant information and focus on what is important. Lonnie may be physically present and appearing to listen, but she is not giving her full attention to Burt and therefore not retaining the information he is sharing. Dichotic listening refers to the ability to process two different auditory messages simultaneously, dyslexia is a reading disorder, and top-down processing involves using prior knowledge or expectations to interpret incoming information.

Question 2

Explain the theories that describe how people see color.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Explain the theories that describe how people...

Question 3

Participants in an experiment are asked to look at pictures of driving scenes taken from the driver's point of view. When the scenes are changed, participants can easily detect some small changes, such as wording on a traffic sign. However, they often miss large irrelevant changes such as a disappearing building. This is because of ____. ​

Accepted Answer

Inattentional blindness occurs when a person is so focused on one task or stimulus that they fail to notice other obvious stimuli in the surrounding environment. This is the most likely explanation for why participants in the experiment are missing large, irrelevant changes in the driving scenes.

Question 4

Many depth cues are used by artists to show distance in their paintings. Choose four of the many depth cues described in your text and discuss how they can affect depth perception. ​

Accepted Answer

The answer of Many depth cues are used by artists...

Question 5

Molly, a freshman in college, cannot understand how her roommate, a senior, can actually read and sing along with the radio at the same time. Her roommate says that she always studies this way and makes good grades. In this example, the roommate's attention can be divided easily because of ____. ​

Accepted Answer

The fact that the roommate has had a lot of practice suggests that her ability to divide her attention between reading and singing along with the radio is a result of extensive training and skill development, rather than any innate cognitive processes like top-down or bottom-up processing or feature detection.

Question 6

In math class, while trying to understand a complicated problem on the chalkboard, you look over your physics notes in preparation for a physics quiz scheduled for the next hour. How successful will you be at these dual-attention tasks, and why? Include at least three influences on attention in your discussion.

Accepted Answer

The answer of In math class, while trying to understand...

Question 7

A study tested drivers for reaction times to road hazards while they were using cell phones, listening to the radio, and listening to a conversation inside the vehicle. These drivers reacted much more slowly to the hazards than did drivers not engaged in these activities. Which statement could apply to the results of the study? ​

Accepted Answer

The study found that reaction times to hazards were slower for drivers engaged in cell phone use, listening to the radio, and conversing with someone in the vehicle. This suggests that their attentional resources were depleted or exhausted by these tasks, leading to slower reaction times.

Question 8

It would be impossible for most students to listen to a physics lecture, read a literature book, and count backward from 500 to 1 simultaneously. This is primarily because attentional resources are ____. ​

Accepted Answer

Attentional resources are limited, meaning that there is only a finite amount of attention that a person can allocate to various tasks or stimuli. Trying to divide this limited attention among multiple tasks at once can result in decreased performance and difficulty completing them all successfully.

Question 9

Angie is trying to take notes in her class but finds it difficult because of the loud "I Love Don Ho!" Hawaiian shirt that her TA is wearing. Instead of staring intently at her TA's shirt, she should use ____ orienting to move her eyes from the shirt to the notes on the blackboard. ​

Accepted Answer

Overt orienting involves moving one's eyes to a new location, which is what Angie needs to do to shift her attention from her TA's shirt to her notes. Covert orienting involves mentally shifting attention without physically moving one's eyes. Implicit orienting refers to automatic shifts of attention, without deliberate control. Selective orienting refers to the ability to selectively attend to one aspect of the environment while ignoring others. While Angie does need to selectively attend to the notes on the blackboard, overt orienting is the most relevant choice in this scenario.

Quiz 4: Sensation and Perception

Burt complains to a marriage counselor that although his wife, Lonnie, appears to be listening when he talks, she often has no memory of what he has said and is "in a world of her own." Lonnie is demonstrating ____. ​

Explain the theories that describe how people see color.

Many depth cues are used by artists to show distance in their paintings. Choose four of the many depth cues described in your text and discuss how they can affect depth perception. ​

It would be impossible for most students to listen to a physics lecture, read a literature book, and count backward from 500 to 1 simultaneously. This is primarily because attentional resources are ____. ​

Angie is trying to take notes in her class but finds it difficult because of the loud "I Love Don Ho!" Hawaiian shirt that her TA is wearing. Instead of staring intently at her TA's shirt, she should use ____ orienting to move her eyes from the shirt to the notes on the blackboard. ​

Burt complains to a marriage counselor that although his wife, Lonnie, appears to be listening when he talks, she often has no memory of what he has said and is "in a world of her own." Lonnie is demonstrating ____.

Many depth cues are used by artists to show distance in their paintings. Choose four of the many depth cues described in your text and discuss how they can affect depth perception.

It would be impossible for most students to listen to a physics lecture, read a literature book, and count backward from 500 to 1 simultaneously. This is primarily because attentional resources are ____.

Angie is trying to take notes in her class but finds it difficult because of the loud "I Love Don Ho!" Hawaiian shirt that her TA is wearing. Instead of staring intently at her TA's shirt, she should use ____ orienting to move her eyes from the shirt to the notes on the blackboard.