Chapter 5 Sensation & Perception Exam and Complete Solutions.

Chapter 5 Sensation & Perception Exam and Complete Solutions What is the difference between sensation and perception? - Correct Ans: sensation: the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment perception: the process by which our brain organizes and interprets sensory information, transforming it into meaningful objects and events What does sensation involve? - Correct Ans: analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information How can sensation be measured? What is a threshold? How does Weber's Law relate to thresholds? - Correct Ans: transduction: changing one form of energy into another. In sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies, such as sights, sounds, and smells, into neural impulses our brain can interpret. threshold: level of strength a stimulus much reach to be detected Weber's law: the principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount) What is the purpose of signal detection theory? What are the possible outcomes of an attempt at signal detection? What influences these outcomes? - Correct Ans: accuracy - experience, expectations, motivation, level of fatigue What is a subliminal message? What can and can't subliminal stimuli do? - Correct Ans: subliminal: below a person's absolute threshold for conscious awareness priming: is the implicit memory effect in which exposure to a stimulus influences response to a later stimulus. It is a technique in psychology used to train a person's memory both in positive and negative ways. What are the ways in which we can tune out stimuli? What are the differences in these ways? - Correct Ans: sensory adaptation: getting used to something selective attention: choosing to focus/ignore change blindness: miss changes when we are not focusing cross-cultural differences: family raised, where we are from What is perception? How is it different from sensation? What processes does it involve? - Correct Ans: perception: the process by which our brain organizes and interprets sensory information, transforming it into meaningful objects and events. Top-down processing creates meaning from the sensory input by drawing on your experience and expectations. inattentional blindness: inability to see what we are not looking for What have Gestalt psychologists told us about perception? What are the basic way in which we organize stimulus information? - Correct Ans: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts proximity - closeness similarity - like continuity - continuing shape connectedness - unit when touching organization - law of pragnanz; regular, orderly, symmetric, simple figure ground closure Monocular cues - Correct Ans: ability to perceive the distance something is from us monocular depth cues: - interposition: one in front of the other - relative size: larger the image the closer it is - relative height: objects are seen or portrayed as being smaller and higher in relation to items that are closer - linear perspective: parallel lines converge in the center monocular movement: - relative motion: close = fast, far = slow Binocular depth cues - Correct Ans: retinal disparity: reference between each image; closer you are the greater the disparity convergence: neuromuscular cue, eyes moving in perceptual constancy: able to define what something is when they move around context effect: environmental factors on one's perception of a stimulus perceptual set: a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another How do we know that recognition is a distinct process? - Correct Ans: receive sensory stimulation, often with the help of specialized receptor cells. transform that stimulation into neural impulses. deliver the neural information to your brain. What is perceptual constancy? Why is it important? - Correct Ans: perceptual constancy: able to define what something is when they move around able to identify an object in motion What factors influence perceptual interpretation? - Correct Ans: But our immediate context, and the motivation and emotion we bring to a situation, also affect our interpretations. What is a perceptual set? How does it influence perception? - Correct Ans: perceptual set: a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another we expect certain results