PSY 102 Exam 2 2026/2027 UPDATED
QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS GRADED A+
• sensation -✓✓ detection of physical energy by sense organs, which sends info to the
brain
• transduction -✓✓ process of converting an external energy/substance into electrical
activity
• sense receptor -✓✓ specialized cells responsible for converting external stimuli into
neural activity for a specific sensory system
• sensory adaptation -✓✓ activation is greatest when a stimulus is first detected
• perception -✓✓ brain's interpretation of raw sensory inputs
• absolute threshold -✓✓ lowest level of a stimulus needed for nervous system to detect
change 50% of the time
• signal detection theory -✓✓ Hit=true positive
Correct Rejection= true negative
Miss=false positive
False Alarm= false negative
• just noticeable difference -✓✓ the smallest difference in the amount of stimulation that
a specific sense can detect
• Weber's Law -✓✓ JND and original stimulus intensity are proportional
bigger stimulus needs bigger change to be noticed
• Fechner's Law -✓✓ Number of JNDs a stimulus is above the absolute threshold is
proportional to the magnitude of perceptual experience
• What determines perceptions and psychological experience? -✓✓ sense receptor, not
the stimulus
• phosphenes -✓✓ vivid sensations of light caused by pressure on eye's receptor cells
example of cross modal perception
• McGurk Effect -✓✓ when auditory component of one sound is paired with the visual
component of another sound
ex) lip reading
, • synesthesia -✓✓ a condition in which people experience cross modal sensations
ex) perfect pitch, "coloured hearing"
• parallel processing -✓✓ ability to attend to multiple senses at once
multi tasking, bottom up/top down
• bottom up processing -✓✓ parallel processing
specific elements in stimuli build up to whole
feature detection theory
how kids read
detect specific features; combine features; recognize stimulus
• top down processing -✓✓ parallel processing
whole is more than sum of parts
form perception/Gestalt Principles
formulate perceptual hypothesis about nature of stimulus as whole; select and examine
features to check hypothesis; recognize stimulus
• Gestalt Principles -✓✓ rules that govern how we perceive objects as wholes within
overall cortex
proximity, similarity, continuity, closure, symmetry, figure ground
• illusion -✓✓ perception in which the way we perceive a stimulus doesn't match its
physical reality
• perceptual set -✓✓ formed when expectations influence perceptions
perceive some aspects of available sensory data and ignore others
perception is active
picture of saxophone/women's face
form perception: "The Cat" ex
• perceptual constancy -✓✓ we perceive stimuli consistently across varied conditions
door at different open positions; reading
• reversible figures -✓✓ optical illusion that is designed to create an unstable visual
perception
ex) Necker cube
• selective attention -✓✓ process of selecting 1 sensory channel and
ignoring/minimizing others
reticular activating system in forebrain
• inattention bias -✓✓ a failure to detect stimuli that are in plain sight when our attention
is else where
QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS GRADED A+
• sensation -✓✓ detection of physical energy by sense organs, which sends info to the
brain
• transduction -✓✓ process of converting an external energy/substance into electrical
activity
• sense receptor -✓✓ specialized cells responsible for converting external stimuli into
neural activity for a specific sensory system
• sensory adaptation -✓✓ activation is greatest when a stimulus is first detected
• perception -✓✓ brain's interpretation of raw sensory inputs
• absolute threshold -✓✓ lowest level of a stimulus needed for nervous system to detect
change 50% of the time
• signal detection theory -✓✓ Hit=true positive
Correct Rejection= true negative
Miss=false positive
False Alarm= false negative
• just noticeable difference -✓✓ the smallest difference in the amount of stimulation that
a specific sense can detect
• Weber's Law -✓✓ JND and original stimulus intensity are proportional
bigger stimulus needs bigger change to be noticed
• Fechner's Law -✓✓ Number of JNDs a stimulus is above the absolute threshold is
proportional to the magnitude of perceptual experience
• What determines perceptions and psychological experience? -✓✓ sense receptor, not
the stimulus
• phosphenes -✓✓ vivid sensations of light caused by pressure on eye's receptor cells
example of cross modal perception
• McGurk Effect -✓✓ when auditory component of one sound is paired with the visual
component of another sound
ex) lip reading
, • synesthesia -✓✓ a condition in which people experience cross modal sensations
ex) perfect pitch, "coloured hearing"
• parallel processing -✓✓ ability to attend to multiple senses at once
multi tasking, bottom up/top down
• bottom up processing -✓✓ parallel processing
specific elements in stimuli build up to whole
feature detection theory
how kids read
detect specific features; combine features; recognize stimulus
• top down processing -✓✓ parallel processing
whole is more than sum of parts
form perception/Gestalt Principles
formulate perceptual hypothesis about nature of stimulus as whole; select and examine
features to check hypothesis; recognize stimulus
• Gestalt Principles -✓✓ rules that govern how we perceive objects as wholes within
overall cortex
proximity, similarity, continuity, closure, symmetry, figure ground
• illusion -✓✓ perception in which the way we perceive a stimulus doesn't match its
physical reality
• perceptual set -✓✓ formed when expectations influence perceptions
perceive some aspects of available sensory data and ignore others
perception is active
picture of saxophone/women's face
form perception: "The Cat" ex
• perceptual constancy -✓✓ we perceive stimuli consistently across varied conditions
door at different open positions; reading
• reversible figures -✓✓ optical illusion that is designed to create an unstable visual
perception
ex) Necker cube
• selective attention -✓✓ process of selecting 1 sensory channel and
ignoring/minimizing others
reticular activating system in forebrain
• inattention bias -✓✓ a failure to detect stimuli that are in plain sight when our attention
is else where
