Psychophysics Test Preparation
Course Introduction
Psychophysics is the scientific study of the relationship between physical stimuli and the sensations and perceptions they produce in the human mind. This course explores the foundational theories and experimental methods used to quantify sensory processes, such as thresholds, scaling, and signal detection. Students will examine how the intensity, duration, and characteristics of stimuli influence perceptual experience, and will apply quantitative techniques to analyze data from sensory systems including visual, auditory, and tactile modalities. The course combines theoretical understanding with practical laboratory work, preparing students to investigate the mechanisms through which we interpret the world around us.
Recommended Textbook
Sensation and Perception 10th Edition by E. Bruce Goldstein
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15 Chapters
769 Verified Questions
769 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: Introduction to Perception
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50 Verified Questions
50 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/3060
Sample Questions
Q1) Name and provide examples of the three relationships used to study perceptual processes.
Answer: Relationship A: The stimulus-perception relationship
Relationship B: The stimulus-physiological relationship
Relationship C: The physiology-perception relationship
Q2) Fechner's psychophysical methods _____.
A) are important from a historical perspective only B) were developed in the early 1960s
C) showed that mental activity cannot be measured quantitatively
D) are currently used to test a person's hearing and vision
Answer: D
Q3) The process of transforming energy in the environment into electrical energy in the neurons is called _____.
A) refraction
B) transduction
C) reduction
D) Construction
Answer: B
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3
Chapter 2: The Beginning of the Perceptual Process
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59 Verified Questions
59 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) To isolate the rod portion of the dark adaptation curve, researchers _____.
A) use rod monochromats as the participants
B) present the stimulus foveally
C) present the stimulus in the periphery
D) use cone monochromats as participants
Answer: A
Q2) The _____ analogy is used to describe the relationship of neurotransmitters with receptor sites.
A) "needle in a haystack"
B) "lock and key"
C) "stadium wave"
D) "rolling stone"
Answer: B
Q3) The isomerization of a single pigment molecule triggers what is best described as a _____.
A) chain reaction
B) ballistic expansion
C) hyperactive potential
D) hypopolarization wave
Answer: A
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Chapter 3: Neural Processing
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46 Verified Questions
46 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Neurons in the _____ respond to complex stimuli, but not simple stimuli such as straight lines.
A) LGN
B) striate cortex
C) IT cortex
D) retina
Answer: C
Q2) _____ refers to the fact that the response properties of neurons can be shaped by an animal's or person's perceptual experience.
A) Selective adaptation
B) Neural plasticity
C) Sensory integration
D) Perceptual analysis
Answer: B
Q3) Most of the signals travel from the retina to the _____ via the optic nerve.
A) temporal cortex
B) lateral geniculate nucleus
C) the superior colliculus
D) the visual homunculus
Answer: B
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Chapter 4: Cortical Organization
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Sample Questions
Q1) Describe research on brain damaged people that support the idea that the dorsal stream is the "how" pathway.
Q2) Identify the five areas of the brain associated with processing of faces, explaining what is processed in each area.
Q3) When looking at a scene, the different sections of the scene are processed by many different location columns. Through the use of all of the location columns, the entire scene can be perceived. This effect is referred to as _____.
A) fielding
B) orientation
C) convergence
D) tiling
Q4) _____ refers to the fact that the response properties of neurons can be shaped by what an animal or person perceives.
A) Selective adaptation
B) Experience-dependent plasticity
C) Sensory integration
D) Perceptual analysis
Q5) Describe how an object such as a tree is represented in the striate cortex.
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Chapter 5: Perceiving Objects and Scenes
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Sample Questions
Q1) Based on Fei-Fei et al. (2007), smaller objects within a scene are typically recognized within _____.
A) 50 milliseconds
B) 150 milliseconds?
C) 500 milliseconds
D) 1000 milliseconds
Q2) Corey looks at a flock of seagulls flying in one direction, when suddenly, five of the seagulls start flying in another direction. He now perceives two groups of birds, because of the Gestalt principle of _____.
A) common fate
B) uniform connectedness?
C) synchrony?
D) pragnanz.?
Q3) Perceiving the emotional aspects of a face are reflected by activation in the brain structure called the _____.
A) amygdala
B) medulla
C) IT cortex
D) superior temporal sulcus
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Chapter 6: Visual Attention
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is the relationship between change blindness and continuity errors
(b) Describe a specific example of a "continuity error".
Q2) Parkhurst et al. (2002) showed that observers make initial fixations in a visual scene based on _____.
A) stimulus saliency
B) meaningfulness
C) stimulus schema
D) scotopic representations
Q3) One aspect of the visual system that helps us select specific information from the environment for processing is _____.
A) the optic nerve
B) the concentration of cones in the fovea
C) the blind spot
D) the prevalence of amacrine cells in the peripheral retina
Q4) Explain the load theory of attention.
Q5) Discuss how Treisman's feature integration theory addresses the binding problem.
(b) What are illusory conjunctions, and why are they support for feature integration theory?
Q6) Discuss the three factors involved in determining what we fixate on in a visual scene.
Page 8
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Chapter 7: Taking Action
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Sample Questions
Q1) Describe the role landmarks play in wayfinding.
Q2) Proposed functions of mirror neurons include their role in _____.
A) applying common heuristics
B) facilitating the binding of information sources.
C) developing metacognitive skills
D) aiding interpretation of facial expressions.
Q3) M.P., a person with brain damage that resulted in the inability to name objects, could _____.
A) identify objects more accurately when given the name of the object
B) identify objects more accurately when given the function of the object
C) not identify any of the objects, even when given both the name and function
D) not identify the object more accurately if permitted to interact with the object
Q4) When novices close their eyes when trying a somersault, _____.
A) their performance typically improves
B) there is no impact on their performance
C) their performance is not degraded as much as is the performance of experts
D) their performance seems to change randomly
Q5) Discuss research that shows how vision is important in performing a somersault.
Q6) Describe Maguire's work on individual differences in wayfinding.
Page 9
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Chapter 8: Perceiving Motion
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50 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Camouflage can be interpreted as a problem of _____.
A) figure-ground segregation
B) binocular disparity
C) induced movement
D) the waterfall illusion
Q2) Presenting transcranial magnetic stimulation to the area of the STS in humans _____.
A) increased the person's ability to perceive biological motion
B) decreased the person's ability to perceive biological motion
C) did not affect the person's ability to perceive biological motion
D) resulted in gender difference in perceiving biological motion
Q3) _____ is a technique that has been used to temporarily disturb brain area functioning in humans.
A) Lesioning
B) Ablation
C) Transcranial magnetic stimulation
D) Orbital magnetic gyration
Q4) Describe Francesca Simion's work with biological motion in newborn infants.
Q5) Discuss three types of illusory motion and provide an example of each.
Q6) Describe Freyd's (1983) study of implied motion.
Page 10
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Chapter 9: Perceiving Color
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58 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The principle of _____ helps explain why a person with only one visual pigment can see all wavelengths as the same color (i.e., shade of gray) if light intensity is adjusted appropriately.
A) intensity
B) adjustments
C) univariance
D) unitization
Q2) Which of the following statements is TRUE about dichromatism
A) Males are more likely to be dichromats than females.
B) Experience, not genetics, is the major cause of dichromacy.
C) There are six major forms of dichromacy.
D) There are nine major forms of dichromacy.
Q3) By changing _____, we can create about a million (or more) discriminable colors.
A) saturation only
B) value only
C) hue and saturation, but not value
D) saturation, value, and hue
Q4) Discuss the methods and results of Uchikawa et al.'s (1989) research on chromatic adaptation and color constancy.
Q5) Evaluate Newton's claim that the light "rays are not colored."
Page 11
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Chapter 10: Perceiving Depth and Size
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52 Verified Questions
52 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Deletion and accretion are _____.
A) especially effective when viewing non-moving displays
B) only important when both eyes are open
C) effective for detecting depth when moving sideways
D) ineffective for judging depth in natural environments
Q2) As Tyler looks down a railroad track, he perceives the sides of the tracks as becoming closer as the distance increases. This is an example of _____.
A) atmospheric perspective
B) familiar size
C) perspective convergence
D) motion parallax
Q3) Discuss the method, results, and implications of the Holway and Boring (1941) "hallway" experiment.
Q4) State and identify the components of the size-distance scaling equation.
(b) Specify how the size-distance scaling equation can explain the phenomenon: Emmert's Law; the Ames Room illusion and the Muller-Lyer illusion.
Q5) Describe the differences in how depth is perceived in cats, insects, and bats.
Q6) Discuss motion-based depth perception cues.
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Chapter 11: Hearing I: Basic Processes and Pitch Perception
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50 Verified Questions
50 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The motion of the basilar membrane results in _____.
A) direct stimulation of hair cell cilia
B) only the back-and-forth movement of the organ of Corti
C) only the up-and-down motion of the tectorial membrane
D) movement of both the organ of Corti and the tectorial membrane
Q2) The function of the auditory canal is to enhance the intensities of some frequency sounds by means of _____.
A) resonance
B) pinnae focusing
C) additive synthesis
D) auditory masking
Q3) A complex tone can be created by starting with a pure tone, called the _____, and adding frequencies that are multiples of this first frequency.
A) fundamental frequency
B) harmonic frequency
C) spatial frequency?
D) audible frequency
Q4) Briefly describe the major principle of Békésy's place theory of hearing.
Q5) Discuss the structures and functions of the middle ear.
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Chapter 12: Hearing II: Location and Organization
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which auditory localization dimension extends from left to right
A) elevation
B) depth
C) azimuth
D) time
Q2) Leighton Concert Hall, in the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center at the University of Notre Dame, has an innovative design that _____.
A) includes seat cushions with the same absorption properties as an average person?
B) allows reverberation time to be adjusted between 1.4 and 2.6 seconds
C) lengthens intimacy time to be between 30 and 50 ms
D) permits reverberation times of 3.6 seconds for opera performances
Q3) Seven-month-old infants listened to a regular repeating ambiguous rhythm while they were bounced up and down at two bounces per beat or at three bounces per beat. Later, they were tested to see how they had perceived the rhythm. The results suggest that _____.
A) the infants perceived the rhythm as presented - ambiguous
B) the infants always perceived the rhythm as occurring in twos
C) the infants' perception was influenced by how they were bounced
D) the vestibular system is not involved in auditory perception and movement
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Page 14
Chapter 13: Speech Perception
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50 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Marta works at an information kiosk in an airport and she frequently encounters people who are not native speakers of her first language but to their credit, try to ask questions using it. Given that she will have limited contact with the individuals, she will most likely be able to understand what is being asked if she focuses on _____.
A) indexical characteristics
B) segmentation effects
C) lip reading effects
D) general meaning
Q2) Discuss two sources of the variability problem. Provide examples for each.
Q3) Damage to Broca's area in the frontal lobe results in _____.
A) slow, labored speech with jumbled sentence order.
B) slow, labored speech with appropriate sentence order
C) fluent but incoherent speech
D) an inability to understand even simple sentences
Q4) The existence of phonetic boundaries _____.
A) is currently debated among speech perception researchers
B) only occurs at VOTs of greater than 250 ms
C) has been demonstrated using discrimination experiments
D) shows that categorical perception does not occur in speech perception
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Chapter 14: The Cutaneous Senses
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Sample Questions
Q1) The fibers from the medial lemniscal pathway and the spinothalamic pathway go to the _____.
A) lateral geniculate nucleus
B) medial geniculate nucleus
C) ventrolateral nucleus
D) hypothalamus
Q2) Discuss how cortical magnification and plasticity are related to the cortical mapping of area S1.
Q3) Neuropathic pain is to _____ as inflammatory pain is to _____.
A) tumor cells; phantom limb syndrome
B) tumor cells; carpal tunnel syndrome
C) carpal tunnel syndrome; azimuth burn
D) carpal tunnel syndrome; tumor cells
Q4) Pokorny, a burn victim, reduced perceived pain by _____.
A) viewing photographs of other burn victims
B) microstimulation to the nocioreceptors in the forearm
C) having a discussion of the placebo effect with his doctor
D) playing a virtual-reality "game" during treatment
Q5) What is the duplex theory of texture perception
Describe research that supports this theory.
Page 16
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Chapter 15: The Chemical Senses
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54 Verified Questions
54 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Sodium nitrate results in a taste of _____.
A) sweet only
B) sweet and sour, but not bitter
C) a combination of sour and bitter only
D) a combination of salty, sour, and bitter
Q2) Compare three different methods for studying the physiology of olfaction.
Q3) The _____ papillae are mushroom-shaped and found on the tip and sides of the tongue.
A) filiform
B) fungiform
C) foliate
D) circumvillate
Q4) Macrosmatic animals _____.
A) have relatively few olfactory receptors
B) have limited ability to discriminate among odors
C) are unable to exploit pheromones
D) use their sense of smell for survival
Q5) What is flavor?
Describe how taste experience is affected if olfaction does not take place when tasting a substance.
17
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