Question 1

You come home, and your house is a mess. The garbage is spilled all over the kitchen, there are rolls of toilet paper strewn about, and all of your decorative trinkets are broken on the floor, but nothing is missing. Your dog and cat are sitting calmly in the middle of the mess. According to the principle of Pragnanz, what would you assume caused the mess?

Accepted Answer

According to the principle of Pragnanz, we tend to perceive and interpret complex scenes in the simplest and most organized way possible. In this case, given that nothing is missing and both your dog and cat are calmly sitting in the middle of the mess, it is reasonable to assume that they caused the chaos. Therefore, the correct answer is C, your cat and dog.

Question 2

If you were to hold a pen in each hand, with one[ok or at?] 5 inches from your face and the other at arm's length, the one closer to your face will look larger, even though they are the same size. This is based on cues from _____.

Accepted Answer

The size illusion created in this scenario is based on the retinal image, specifically the difference in size between the pen closer to the face and the pen farther away. This is an example of the size-distance illusion, where objects that are closer to the viewer appear larger on the retina than objects that are farther away.

Question 3

You see a kitten's head poking out of a box. You assume that there is, in fact, an entire cat in the box even though you cannot see it. This is because of _____.

Accepted Answer

The theory of unconscious inference suggests that our perceptions are not solely based on sensory input but also on our prior knowledge, expectations, and assumptions. In this case, based on our prior experience with cats and boxes, we assume that there is an entire cat in the box, even though we cannot see it. This is an example of top-down processing, where our higher-level cognitive processes influence our perception.

Question 4

Which organizational principle of Gestalt perception would be responsible for our perception that a plane has continued along its flight path even though we can no longer see it?

Accepted Answer

Good continuation is the organizational principle that suggests that when lines intersect, our perception follows the smoothest path. In the case of the plane continuing along its flight path, our brain follows the path of the plane even though it goes out of sight. This is because the path of the plane has a continuous smooth path and our brain prefers to perceive things in a continuous and smooth way.

Question 5

Which scenario is an example of sensing, but not perceiving a stimulus?

Accepted Answer

Sensing refers to the detection of stimuli through our senses, while perceiving refers to interpreting and giving meaning to the detected stimuli. In this scenario, the music is being detected by our auditory system but may not be perceived as we may not be actively listening to it. It is just background noise.

Question 6

John suffered brain damage that caused deficits to his ability to recognize people he knows. What is likely damaged?

Accepted Answer

The answer of John suffered brain damage that caused deficits...

Question 7

Choose the answer with the correct sequence of events.

Accepted Answer

The sequence of events in sensory perception is that a stimulus is detected by a sense organ, which contains receptor cells that convert the stimulus into an electrical signal. That signal is then transmitted through a nerve conduit to the brain area responsible for processing that type of stimulus. Therefore, the correct sequence is: sense organ > receptor cell > nerve conduit > brain area. Choice A is the only option that follows this sequence.

Question 8

You are walking down the street in New York City, and you hear some loud bangs and feel a slight vibration under your feet. According to the likelihood principle, what would you assume caused the vibration?

Accepted Answer

The answer of You are walking down the street in...

Question 9

You see a photo of someone jump-roping, with the rope behind them. Although it is possible that there are two different ropes since you cannot see the whole thing, you assume that the person is holding one continuous rope. This illustrates _____.

Accepted Answer

Good continuation refers to the tendency to perceive sections of a pathway as continuous and uninterrupted, rather than abruptly shifting direction. In this case, the assumption that there is one continuous rope behind the person jump-roping illustrates good continuation.

Question 10

In order to perceive your friend walking towards you, what are you sensing?

Accepted Answer

In order to perceive your friend walking towards you, you are sensing light waves reflecting off their body and into your eyes.

Answer: C
 As your friend walks towards you, they are creating disturbance in the air molecules which your body is experiencing as sound waves.

Question 11

Which of the following is NOT one of our sense organs?

Accepted Answer

The stomach is not a sense organ. It is an organ of the digestive system. The sense organs are specialized organs that receive stimuli from the environment and send signals to the brain for interpretation. The eyes, skin, and nose are all sense organs.

Question 12

When the features of individual letters are combined to identify each letter, and then the letters are combined to identify a word, what does this illustrate?

Accepted Answer

Bottom-up processing involves combining individual features to identify letters and then words.

Question 13

Broca's area is located in the _____, while Wernicke's area is located in the _____.

Accepted Answer

Broca's area, which is responsible for language production, is located in the left frontal lobe of the brain. Wernicke's area, which is responsible for language comprehension, is located in the left temporal lobe of the brain.

Question 14

_____ help us estimate objects' size and distance to aid in our perception.

Accepted Answer

Cues are pieces of information that help us make judgments or estimates about our surroundings. In this case, visual cues such as size and distance can help us perceive objects accurately. Neurons are the cells in our nervous system that transmit information, while sensations and stimuli are more general terms for sensory experiences and the things that provoke them, respectively.

Question 15

What is an example of a sense organ?

Accepted Answer

Eyes are a sense organ responsible for detecting light and allowing us to perceive vision. A and B are not sense organs, and while the brain processes sensory information, it is not a sense organ itself.

Question 16

_____ is a key component of Gestalt approaches to perception.

Accepted Answer

The answer of _____ is a key component of Gestalt...

Question 17

A stimulus in the environment is to _____ as a stimulus in our mind is to _____.

Accepted Answer

A distal stimulus refers to an actual object or event in the environment, while a proximal stimulus is the pattern of sensory information that the object or event creates in our mind.

Question 18

When we use knowledge of objects to aid in our perception of them, we are using _____.

Accepted Answer

The use of knowledge to aid perception is an example of top-down processing, where prior knowledge and expectations influence perception. The "where" pathway is a specific neural pathway involved in spatial perception, and sensations refer to the basic sensory input from the environment. Bottom-up processing refers to the perception of stimuli based solely on their physical features, without any prior knowledge or expectations influencing perception.

Question 19

Sound waves are to _____ as light waves are to _____.

Accepted Answer

Sound waves are responsible for hearing, while light waves are responsible for vision.

Question 20

A(n) _____ processes the sensations coming into each sense organ that allows us to understand and interpret the sensations we receive.

Accepted Answer

The answer of A(n) _____ processes the sensations coming into...

Quiz 3: Perception