HPS203 EXAM 2025 QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS
We perceive and recognise objects through: - ANSWER✔✔-Form perception (basic shapes and
sizes) and object recognition (identifying objects)
Bottom-up processes - ANSWER✔✔-Processes that are directly shaped by the stimulus (data-
driven)
Top-down processes - ANSWER✔✔-Processes that are shaped by knowledge (concept-driven)
Visual features - ANSWER✔✔-Features of objects that help you recognise the entire objects by
only seeing specific parts of that object. Eg. the arcs of a lollipop
Parallel processing - ANSWER✔✔-The ability of the brain to simultaneously process and interpret
incoming stimuli of differing quality
Familiarity - ANSWER✔✔-Frequent words are better recognised
Recency - ANSWER✔✔-Words just seen are better recognised
Repetition priming - ANSWER✔✔-When a word is seen then viewed again a little later, the first
exposure primes the participant for the second exposure
FOR STUDY PURPOSES ONLY COPYRIGHT © 2025 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 1
, Feature nets - ANSWER✔✔-A network of detectors, organised in layers, with each subsequent layer
having more complex, larger scale objects - allows for more efficient memory storage however at the
cost of occasional error
Feature detectors - ANSWER✔✔-When we recognise shapes of letters
Bigram detectors - ANSWER✔✔-When we recognise familiar letter combinations (CL, CK) in
comparison to unfamiliar ones (CQ, CX) - requires less activation levels
Activation level - ANSWER✔✔-how mental arousal is necessary for effective functioning in that we
need a certain level of activation in order to be sufficiently motivated to achieve goals, do good work
and so on.
Response threshold - ANSWER✔✔-When an activation level reaches the detector's response
threshold, the detector will fire - it sends its signal to the other detectors to which it's connected to
McCelland and Rumelhart Model - ANSWER✔✔-Rather than believing that the activation of
detectors serve to activate other detectors, it is believed that detectors inhibit one another, so that
activation of one detector can decrease the activation in other detectors
Excitatory connections - ANSWER✔✔-Connections that allow one detector to activate its
neighbours
Inhibitory connections - ANSWER✔✔-When detectors deactivate its neighbours
Biederman's recognition-by-components theory - ANSWER✔✔-According to this theory we are
able to recognise objects by separating them into geons (the object's main component parts)
FOR STUDY PURPOSES ONLY COPYRIGHT © 2025 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2
ANSWERS
We perceive and recognise objects through: - ANSWER✔✔-Form perception (basic shapes and
sizes) and object recognition (identifying objects)
Bottom-up processes - ANSWER✔✔-Processes that are directly shaped by the stimulus (data-
driven)
Top-down processes - ANSWER✔✔-Processes that are shaped by knowledge (concept-driven)
Visual features - ANSWER✔✔-Features of objects that help you recognise the entire objects by
only seeing specific parts of that object. Eg. the arcs of a lollipop
Parallel processing - ANSWER✔✔-The ability of the brain to simultaneously process and interpret
incoming stimuli of differing quality
Familiarity - ANSWER✔✔-Frequent words are better recognised
Recency - ANSWER✔✔-Words just seen are better recognised
Repetition priming - ANSWER✔✔-When a word is seen then viewed again a little later, the first
exposure primes the participant for the second exposure
FOR STUDY PURPOSES ONLY COPYRIGHT © 2025 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 1
, Feature nets - ANSWER✔✔-A network of detectors, organised in layers, with each subsequent layer
having more complex, larger scale objects - allows for more efficient memory storage however at the
cost of occasional error
Feature detectors - ANSWER✔✔-When we recognise shapes of letters
Bigram detectors - ANSWER✔✔-When we recognise familiar letter combinations (CL, CK) in
comparison to unfamiliar ones (CQ, CX) - requires less activation levels
Activation level - ANSWER✔✔-how mental arousal is necessary for effective functioning in that we
need a certain level of activation in order to be sufficiently motivated to achieve goals, do good work
and so on.
Response threshold - ANSWER✔✔-When an activation level reaches the detector's response
threshold, the detector will fire - it sends its signal to the other detectors to which it's connected to
McCelland and Rumelhart Model - ANSWER✔✔-Rather than believing that the activation of
detectors serve to activate other detectors, it is believed that detectors inhibit one another, so that
activation of one detector can decrease the activation in other detectors
Excitatory connections - ANSWER✔✔-Connections that allow one detector to activate its
neighbours
Inhibitory connections - ANSWER✔✔-When detectors deactivate its neighbours
Biederman's recognition-by-components theory - ANSWER✔✔-According to this theory we are
able to recognise objects by separating them into geons (the object's main component parts)
FOR STUDY PURPOSES ONLY COPYRIGHT © 2025 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2
