Question 1

Larry is at a stock-car racing event and has been watching cars race across his visual field from left to right for an hour.Hungry,he redirects his attention and focuses on the concession stand.To his surprise,it appears to be moving:

Accepted Answer

Larry has been watching cars race from left to right, which means that his visual field has adapted to this motion. As a result, when he shifts his attention to the stationary concession stand, his brain may perceive the stationary object as moving in the opposite direction from what he had been seeing before. In other words, the concession stand may appear to be moving from right to left, which is the best choice.

Question 2

To perceive motion,the brain must encode information about:

Accepted Answer

To perceive motion, the brain must encode information about both space and time. This allows the brain to track the movement of objects through space over time. Intention and change, while potentially related to motion, are not essential for perceiving motion.

Question 3

A region in the _____ lobe termed _____ is involved in perceiving motion.

Accepted Answer

The region in the temporal lobe termed MT (medial temporal) is involved in perceiving motion.

Question 4

College students talking on cell phones while walking through campus were much less likely to notice a clown ride past them on a unicycle than were students not talking on cell phones,BEST illustrating _____ blindness.

Accepted Answer

Inattentional blindness refers to the phenomenon of failing to notice an unexpected object or event when attention is focused on something else. The college students talking on cell phones were so focused on their conversation that they failed to notice the clown on a unicycle, which is an unexpected event. Therefore, this scenario illustrates inattentional blindness.

Question 5

A moving object stimulates different locations at different time points on a stationary viewer's:

Accepted Answer

As light from the moving object enters the eye, it is focused on the retina, which is a stationary location. The movement of the object stimulates different parts of the retina at different times, allowing the brain to perceive motion. Therefore, the correct answer is the retina.

Question 6

The waterfall illusion is analogous to which other visual phenomenon?

Accepted Answer

The waterfall illusion is a motion aftereffect, similar to seeing green after staring at red, which is a color aftereffect. Both involve the adaptation of sensory neurons and the subsequent perception of the opposite stimulus.

Question 7

The perception of movement as a result of alternating signals appearing in rapid succession in different locations is termed:

Accepted Answer

Apparent motion refers to the perception of movement created by rapidly alternating signals appearing in different locations. This phenomenon is commonly used in animation and film to give the illusion of movement.

Question 8

A psychology professor decides to play a practical joke on a colleague in the history department.While the historian is giving a lecture on the first day of class,the psychology professor interrupts and asks to speak with her outside the classroom.While they are conversing,all of the students leave through a back door and are replaced with a completely new group of students.Upon returning,the history professor continues her lecture without noticing that the students are different,illustrating:

Accepted Answer

Change blindness is the failure to notice significant changes in a visual scene, which is what the history professor experienced when she did not notice the entire class had been replaced.

Question 9

Damage to area _____ in the _____ stream leads to a deficit in motion perception.

Accepted Answer

Area MT (middle temporal) is primarily responsible for motion perception, and this area is located in the dorsal stream. Therefore, damage to area MT in the dorsal stream leads to a deficit in motion perception.

Question 10

Meg orders food at the counter of her favorite fast-food restaurant.The employee who takes her order steps aside and another employee then takes Meg's money.Although the two employees look somewhat different,Meg perceives that it is the same person who both took her order and money.This failure to perceive BEST illustrates _____ blindness.

Accepted Answer

This scenario best illustrates change blindness, which is a failure to notice large changes that occur in a visual scene, often due to a lack of attention or a brief distraction. In this case, Meg fails to notice the change in employees, suggesting she did not detect the switch, a classic example of change blindness.

Question 11

Because Jax is so focused on watching football on television,he fails to notice that his toddler is covering the walls in crayon.This failure to perceive BEST illustrates _____ blindness.

Accepted Answer

Inattentional blindness is the failure to perceive something because attention is focused elsewhere. In this scenario, Jax is so focused on the television (attention is focused elsewhere) that he fails to notice his toddler coloring on the walls.

Question 12

The research on inattentional blindness has important implications for:

Accepted Answer

Inattentional blindness can occur when we are focused on a task or activity, causing us to miss unexpected events or stimuli in our environment, such as when talking on a cell phone while driving. This has important implications for safety and the importance of focusing on the road while driving.

Question 13

Katie is at Niagara Falls,staring at the downward rush of the water for several seconds.When she then looks at the nearby trees and rocks,they will seem to be:

Accepted Answer

This is an example of the waterfall illusion, where your brain has adapted to the downwards motion of the waterfall and perceives stationary objects as moving upwards.

Question 14

Hallucinations arising from eye disease are symptoms of a disorder termed:

Accepted Answer

Hallucinations arising from eye disease are symptoms of Charles Bonnet syndrome. Macular degeneration, glaucoma, and retinopathy may also cause visual symptoms but do not specifically lead to hallucinations.

Question 15

Objects that cast a SMALLER retinal disparity are perceived as being:

Accepted Answer

Objects that cast a smaller retinal disparity are perceived as being farther away because retinal disparity decreases as objects move further from the observer, contributing to depth perception.

Question 16

Change blindness is a result of:

Accepted Answer

Change blindness occurs when we fail to detect changes in our visual environment due to a lack of focused attention. It is not related to retinal disparity, illusory conjunctions, or damage to area MT.

Question 17

The successively flashing lights of a Las Vegas casino produce a perceptual response similar to that of:

Accepted Answer

The successively flashing lights of a Las Vegas casino produce a perceptual response similar to that of an animated movie because both rely on the phenomenon of persistence of vision to create the illusion of continuous motion.

Question 18

When two objects cast a retinal image of the same size,the one that is perceived as being _____ will be perceived as _____.

Accepted Answer

When two objects cast a retinal image of the same size, the one that is perceived as being farther away will be perceived as larger due to the brain's interpretation of distance and size scaling. This is because, for an object to project the same size image on the retina from a farther distance, it must be larger than an object closer by.

Question 19

Hallucinations occur in Charles Bonnet syndrome due to:

Accepted Answer

Charles Bonnet syndrome occurs when the brain compensates for a loss of vision by creating hallucinations. This is often seen in individuals with eye diseases, such as macular degeneration, where the brain fills in the missing visual information with imaginary images. This compensatory mechanism is believed to occur in the visual cortex, rather than specific structures like the lateral geniculate nucleus or the dorsal and ventral visual streams.

Question 20

As illustrated by the Ames room illusion,if you perceive that two objects (A and B)are an equal distance from you,yet object A casts a larger image on your retina,you will conclude that object A is _____ object B.

Accepted Answer

The fact that object A casts a larger image on the retina despite being perceived as being the same distance as object B indicates that object A must be physically larger than object B. This is in accordance with the Ames room illusion.

Quiz 4: Sensation and Perception-Part A