Question 1

Your brain and your body's __________ are crucial for adapting to and functioning in the world around you.

Accepted Answer

D

Question 2

Human senses have evolved to help us __________ and _________ in the environment around us.

Accepted Answer

Human senses have evolved primarily to help us survive by detecting threats and opportunities in our environment, and to thrive by enabling us to interact effectively and adapt to changes in our surroundings.

Question 3

You go to a beach in Hawaii, and you see the black lava sand, smell the saltwater, hear the waves crashing on the beach, notice the warm sun on your skin, and feel the sand between your toes. The steps involved in coding these sensory stimuli occur in what order?

Accepted Answer

The correct sequence for coding sensory stimuli involves first the transformation of environmental stimuli into nerve impulses by sensory receptors, followed by the transmission of these impulses through specific neural pathways, and finally, the interpretation of these signals in specialized sensory areas of the brain.

Question 4

If Miguel reports that his response time to the starter's pistol at a swim meet was faster than 100 milliseconds, you would argue that it was a false start, because __________.

Accepted Answer

Research indicates that it is not possible for humans to have absolute thresholds of less than 100 milliseconds.

Question 5

Suppose an air traffic controller is watching his screen on a heavy holiday travel day at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. There is a near miss between two planes because the controller misses both the icons representing the planes, due to numerous distractors present on the screen, and the warning signal, due to the many surrounding sounds in the air traffic control tower. The controller claims he never saw the problem. This was most likely due to __________.

Accepted Answer

Inattentional blindness occurs when an individual fails to perceive an unexpected stimulus that is in plain sight, due to the focus of attention on other aspects of the environment. In this scenario, the air traffic controller's failure to notice the near miss between two planes, despite them being displayed on the screen, can be attributed to inattentional blindness caused by the high level of distractions present.

Question 6

Bottom-up processing is initiated by __________.

Accepted Answer

Bottom-up processing is initiated by an environmental stimulus, meaning it starts with the sensory input from the environment and works its way up to the interpretation in the brain.

Question 7

People's sensations can be influenced by their previous experiences or expectations due to __________.

Accepted Answer

Top-down processing refers to how our brains use information that we already have - our experiences, expectations, and knowledge - to interpret and understand new sensory input. This means that what we perceive can be influenced by what we already know or expect to happen.

Question 8

__________ is a phenomenon that occurs when the stimulation of one sensory system (e.g., hearing music) triggers a sensation in a completely different sensory system (e.g., seeing colors).

Accepted Answer

Synesthesia is the correct term for the phenomenon where the stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway, such as seeing colors when hearing music.

Question 9

When Katie looks at a display made up of black numbers on a white background, she sees the numbers in color. She does not realize that she perceives things differently than most of the population. Katie can be described as a __________.

Accepted Answer

Katie experiences synesthesia, a condition where stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. Seeing colors when looking at numbers is a common form of synesthesia.

Question 10

The visible spectrum refers to the __________.

Accepted Answer

The visible spectrum is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visible to the human eye, encompassing the range of wavelengths that humans can perceive as light.

Question 11

The shorter wavelengths in the visible spectrum are perceived as __________ colors.

Accepted Answer

The shorter wavelengths in the visible spectrum are perceived as violet colors. Violet has the shortest wavelength of all the visible colors, which is why it is associated with the shorter end of the spectrum.

Question 12

Kevin is creating a pale blue light, which means that the stimulus will be made up of a __________.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Kevin is creating a pale blue light,...

Question 13

Gustav presents you with two graphs representing the same wavelength of yellow light. The wavelength on the first graph is significantly taller than the wavelength on the second, indicating that the first has a higher amplitude. He asks you which yellow light you think will appear brighter, based on the height of the wavelengths. Based on your knowledge of light waves, you reply, __________.

Accepted Answer

The brightness of light is directly related to its amplitude. A higher amplitude means more energy, which translates to a brighter appearance. Thus, the higher amplitude yellow light will appear brighter than the lower amplitude light.

Question 14

The height of a wavelength provides information about the __________ of a light stimulus.

Accepted Answer

The height of a wavelength corresponds to the amplitude of a light wave, which provides information about the intensity or brightness of the light stimulus, not its frequency, saturation, or purity.

Question 15

Many people wear glasses to correct for problems with focusing light on the retina of the eye. In many cases, this focusing problem can be attributed to __________.

Accepted Answer

The length of the eye is a common factor in focusing problems, as variations can lead to conditions like myopia (nearsightedness) or hyperopia (farsightedness), where the light does not focus correctly on the retina.

Question 16

Nearsighted is to farsighted as __________ is to __________.

Accepted Answer

Nearsightedness is medically termed myopia, while farsightedness is known as hyperopia. These terms directly relate to the conditions being compared.

Question 17

Which layer of the eye contains the photoreceptors?

Accepted Answer

The retina is the layer of the eye that contains photoreceptors, which are cells sensitive to light, allowing us to see.

Question 18

Where in the eye does a physical light stimulus become a neural message?

Accepted Answer

Photoreceptors, located in the retina of the eye, are responsible for converting light into neural signals that the brain can understand. This process is known as phototransduction.

Question 19

Which of the following is true of rods?

Accepted Answer

Rods are more numerous than cones in the human retina, making up the majority of the approximately 120 million photoreceptors found in the retina. They are highly sensitive to light, which makes them more suited for night vision and detecting motion rather than for color vision or fine detail, which are the functions of cones.

Question 20

The optic nerve functions most similarly to which of the following?

Accepted Answer

The optic nerve functions similarly to a telephone wire because it transmits visual information from the eye to the brain, similar to how a telephone wire transmits voice or data signals.

Quiz 3: Sensation and Perception