The philosophical question: "Does a tree falling in the woods with no one around make a sound?" would be best interpreted by a psychologist interested in sensation and perception to mean that:
A) without transduction of sound waves into a neural signal, technically, there is no sound.
B) bottom-up processing does not allow conceptual knowledge to influence perception, and so there is no sound.
C) for a sound to be defined as such, it must cross absolute threshold in a human ear.
D) vibrations in air pressure are best detected by the auditory sense, rather than the olfactory, somatosensory, gustatory, or visual sense.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This question touches on the philosophical concept of whether reality exists independently of human perception. However, in terms of sensation and perception, the answer would be that without sound waves being transduced into a neural signal by the ear and interpreted by the brain, technically, there is no sound. The question is not really about thresholds or sensory modalities, but rather about the nature of perception and whether it is dependent on human observation.

The Philosophical Question: "Does a Tree Falling in the Woods