pschology sensation and perception

50 terms by rorymerrill 

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sensation is to ___ as perception is to ____

detection; interpretation

Hearing a sequence of sounds of differnet piches is to ___ as recognizing the sound sequence as a familiar melody is to ____

sensation; perception

Patients' negative expectations about the outcome of a surgical procedure can increase their postoperative experience of pain. THis best illustrates the importance of:

top-down processing

Although Manuel was sitting right next to his parents, he smelled a skunk minutes before they did. Apparently, Manuel has a lower ____ for skunk odor than his parents have.

absolute threshold

THe process by which we selct, organize, and interpret sensory information in order to recognize meaningful objects and events is called


A subliminal message is one that is presented

below one's absolute threshold for awareness

Some people are better than others at detecting slight varaitions in the tastes of various blends of coffee. This best illustrates the importance of

difference threshold

if the just-noticable difference for a 10-ounce weight is 1 ounce, the just noticeable difference for an 80-ounce weight would be ____ ounces


the process by which our sensory systems convert stimulus energies into neural messages is called


accommodation refers to the

process by which the lens changes shape in order to focus images on the retina.

the adjustable opening in the center o the eye is the


diminished sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus is known as

sensory adaptation

after listening to your high-volume car stero for 15 minutes you fail to realize how loudly the music is blasting. This best illustrates

sensory adaptation

the area of the retina where the optic nerve leaves the eye is called the

blind spot

the ability to simultaneoulsy process the pitch, loudness, melody, and meaning of a song best illustrates

parallel processing

evidence that some cones are especially senstive to red light, toher to green light, and still others to blue light is most directly sipportive of the ____ theory

Young- Heimholtz

experiencing a reen afterimage ofa red object is most easily explained by

the opponent-process theory

the retina is to the eye as the ____ is to the ear


the coiled, fluid-filled tube in which sound waves trigger nerve impulses is called the


If jared watches a nurse give him an injection, he experiences more pain than if he closes his eyes during the procedure and thinks about his favorite food. This illustrates the value of ____ for pain control.


during the months when there is a large amount of pollen in the air, your hay fever severly affects your sense of smell. At the same time your food all seems to taste the same. this illustrates the importance of

sensory adaptation

with her eyes closed and her nose plugged, chandra was unable to taste the difference between an onion and a pear. her experience best illustrates the importance of

sensory interaction

kinesthesis regers to the

system for sensing the position and movement of muscles, tendons, and joints.


semicircular canals

felix was so preoccupied with his girlfriend's good looks that he failed to pereive any of her less admirable charactersitics, this best illustrates the dangers of

selective attention

the ability to pay attention to only one voice at a time is called

the cocktail party effect

while a student provided directions to a construction worker, two experiements rudely interuppted by passing between them carrying a door. the students failure to notice that the construction worker was replaced by a differnet person during this interruption illustrates

change blindness

when there is a conflict between bits of information received by two or more sense, which sense tends to fominate the otehrs?


a gestalt is best described as an

organized whole

who emphasized that the whole may exceed the sum of its parts?

gestalt psychologists

people are more likely to perceive a figure and ground illustration as reversible if they are told it is reversible. this best illustrates the importnace of

top-down processing

figure is to ground as ____ is to ____

a white cloud; blue sky

the principle of connectedness would most likely lead you to perceive all the ____ as parts of a single unit

rungs in a ladder

the tendency to see all the individual spokes in a bicycle wheel as part of a larger single unit best illustrates the principle of


the organization of two-dimensional retinal images into three-dimensional perceptions is caled

depth perception

the visial cliff is a labratory device for testing ____ in infants

depth perception

holding two index fingers in front of the eyes can cretae the perception of a floating finger sausage. this best illusrates teh effect of

retinal disparity

which of the following is a binocular cue for the perception of distance?


which of the following is a cue used by artists to convey depth on a flat canvas?


distant rees were located closer to the top of the artist's canvas than were the nearvy flowers. the artists was clearly using the distance cue known as

relative height

as the farmer looked across her field, the parallel rows of young corn plants appeared to converge in the distance. this provided her iwth a distance cue known as

linear perspective

the sequentially flashing christmas tree lights appeared to generate pulsating waves of motion. this best illustrates

the phi phenomenon

although college textbooks frequently cast a trapezoid image on the retina, students typically perceive the books as rectangular objects. this illustrates the importance of

shape constancy

as sherod walked away from the camera, the image of his body filled a smaller area of the television screen. Nevertheless, viewers did not perceive Sherod as suddently shrinking. This illustrates

size constancy

john locke is to immanuel kant as ___ is to ____

nurture; nature

although he was wearing a piar of glasses that shifted the apparent location of objects 20 degrees to his right, lars was still able to play tennis very effectively. this best illustrates teh value of

perceptual adaptation

in 1972, many people readily perceieved photographs of a floating tree trunk as a partially submerged loch ness monster, the text mentions this in order to illustrate the powerful influnce of

perceptual set

schemas are best described as

concepts that organize sensory input

the influence of schemas on our interpreations of ambigious sensations best illustrates

top-down processing

although sue yen sees her chemistry professor several times a week she didn't recognize the professor when she saw her in the grocery store. this best illustrates the importance of

context effects

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