PSYCH 101 Exam #2 Practice Questions
All Answered Correctly 2026-2027
Edition.
sensation - Answer the way that our bodies sense stimuli
perception - Answer how our brains process the stimuli sensed by our body
top-down processing - Answer information processing guided by a higher-level mental
processes
bottom-up processing - Answer analysis that begins with the sensory receptors
absolute threshold - Answer the minimum stimulation necessary for detection 50% of the
time
difference threshold - Answer the minimum difference a person can detect between any two
stimuli 50% of the time
Weber's Law - Answer for their difference to be perceptible, two stimuli must differ by a
constant proportion- not a constant amount.
Sensory Adaptation - Answer our diminishing sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus
wavelength - Answer the distance from one wave peak to the next; determines hue
intensity - Answer amount of energy in light waves; determined by a waves amplitude
(height); influences brightness
accommodation - Answer focuses by changing its curvature
blind spot - Answer where the optic nerve lease the eye there are no receptor cells
Cones - Answer cluster around the fovea (retina's area of central focus); each has its own
bipolar cell; preserves precise information; can see color; can't function in dim light
, Rods - Answer black and white vision; capable in dim light
Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory - Answer retina has three types of color receptors, each
especially sensitive to red, green, and blue
Opponent-process theory - Answer as visual information leaves the receptor cells, we analyze
it in terms of the opponent colors
What are the opponent colors? - Answer red and green, blue and yellow, black and white
Gate-Control Theory - Answer spinal cord; small nerve fibers conduct most pain signals, larger
fibers conduct most other sensory signals; spinal cord contains a neurological "gate" when
tissue is injured, the small fibers activate and open the gate and you feel pain
Taste - Answer sweet salty sour bitter umami
Sensory Interaction - Answer one sense may influence another; when smell is blocked foods
don't taste the same
gestalt - Answer meaning "form" or a "whole": when given a cluster of sensations people tend
to organize them into one of these
figure-ground - Answer we always organize the stimulus into a figure seen against a ground
Grouping - Answer categorizing stimuli by:
continuity - Answer smooth continuous patterns
closure - Answer fill in gaps to create a complete whole object
proximity - Answer grouping of items that are close to each other
similarity - Answer grouping of items that look alike
connectedness - Answer tendency to perceive uniform or attached items as a single unit
All Answered Correctly 2026-2027
Edition.
sensation - Answer the way that our bodies sense stimuli
perception - Answer how our brains process the stimuli sensed by our body
top-down processing - Answer information processing guided by a higher-level mental
processes
bottom-up processing - Answer analysis that begins with the sensory receptors
absolute threshold - Answer the minimum stimulation necessary for detection 50% of the
time
difference threshold - Answer the minimum difference a person can detect between any two
stimuli 50% of the time
Weber's Law - Answer for their difference to be perceptible, two stimuli must differ by a
constant proportion- not a constant amount.
Sensory Adaptation - Answer our diminishing sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus
wavelength - Answer the distance from one wave peak to the next; determines hue
intensity - Answer amount of energy in light waves; determined by a waves amplitude
(height); influences brightness
accommodation - Answer focuses by changing its curvature
blind spot - Answer where the optic nerve lease the eye there are no receptor cells
Cones - Answer cluster around the fovea (retina's area of central focus); each has its own
bipolar cell; preserves precise information; can see color; can't function in dim light
, Rods - Answer black and white vision; capable in dim light
Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory - Answer retina has three types of color receptors, each
especially sensitive to red, green, and blue
Opponent-process theory - Answer as visual information leaves the receptor cells, we analyze
it in terms of the opponent colors
What are the opponent colors? - Answer red and green, blue and yellow, black and white
Gate-Control Theory - Answer spinal cord; small nerve fibers conduct most pain signals, larger
fibers conduct most other sensory signals; spinal cord contains a neurological "gate" when
tissue is injured, the small fibers activate and open the gate and you feel pain
Taste - Answer sweet salty sour bitter umami
Sensory Interaction - Answer one sense may influence another; when smell is blocked foods
don't taste the same
gestalt - Answer meaning "form" or a "whole": when given a cluster of sensations people tend
to organize them into one of these
figure-ground - Answer we always organize the stimulus into a figure seen against a ground
Grouping - Answer categorizing stimuli by:
continuity - Answer smooth continuous patterns
closure - Answer fill in gaps to create a complete whole object
proximity - Answer grouping of items that are close to each other
similarity - Answer grouping of items that look alike
connectedness - Answer tendency to perceive uniform or attached items as a single unit
