PSYCH 253 EXAM 1 QUESTIONS WITH CORRECT ANSWERS LATEST UPDATE 2026
Absolute Threshold - Answers Minimum amount of stimulation necessary for a person to detect a
stimulus 50% of the time
Sensation - Answers ability to detect a stimulus and turn that detection into a private experience
Perception - Answers the act of giving meaning to a detected sensation
Dualism - Answers idea that the mind has an existence separate from the material world of the body
Materialism - Answers idea that the only thing that exists is matter
all things are the results of interaction between bits of matter
Psychophysics - Answers Science of defining quantitative relationships between physical and
psychological (subjective) events
Weber Fraction - Answers constant of proportionality in Weber's law
Fechner's law - Answers describing the relationship between stimulus and resulting sensation
says magnitude of subjective sensation increases proportionally to the logarithm of the stimulus
intensity
Method of constant stimuli - Answers many stimuli are presented one at a time (barely noticeable to
very noticeable)
Method of limits - Answers particular dimension of a stimulus, or difference between two stimuli, is
varied incrementally until the participant responds differently
Method of adjustment - Answers a method of limits in which the subject controls the change in the
stimulus
Magnitude estimation - Answers participant assigns values according the perceived magnitudes of the
stimuli
Steven's power law - Answers describes relationship between stimulus and resulting sensation
says the magnitude of subjective sensation is proportional to stimulus magnitude raised to an
exponent
Cross-modality matching - Answers ability to match the intensities of sensations that come from
different sensory modalities
this ability enables insight into sensory differences
ie: listener might adjust the brightness of a light until it matches the loudness of a tone
Signal detection theory - Answers quantifies the response of an observer to the presentation of a
signal in the presence of noise
measures obtained from a series of presentations are sensitive (d') and criterion of the observer
Criterion - Answers an internal threshold that is set by the observer
If the internal response is above criterion the observer gives one response (i.e.: yes i hear that, no i
don't hear that)
Receiver operating characteristic (ROC curve) - Answers Signal detection studies
plot of the hit rate as a function of the false- alarm rate
If they're the same, plots fall on diagonal (observer can't tell difference between presence and
absence of the signal)
Doctrine of specific nerve energies - Answers Johannes Muller
States that the nature of a sensation depends on which sensory fibers are stimulated, not on how
fibers are stimulated
Synapse - Answers junction between neurons that permits information transfer
Neurotransmitter - Answers chemical substance used in neuronal communication at synapses
Cranial nerves - Answers twelve pairs of nerves (one for each side of body)
Absolute Threshold - Answers Minimum amount of stimulation necessary for a person to detect a
stimulus 50% of the time
Sensation - Answers ability to detect a stimulus and turn that detection into a private experience
Perception - Answers the act of giving meaning to a detected sensation
Dualism - Answers idea that the mind has an existence separate from the material world of the body
Materialism - Answers idea that the only thing that exists is matter
all things are the results of interaction between bits of matter
Psychophysics - Answers Science of defining quantitative relationships between physical and
psychological (subjective) events
Weber Fraction - Answers constant of proportionality in Weber's law
Fechner's law - Answers describing the relationship between stimulus and resulting sensation
says magnitude of subjective sensation increases proportionally to the logarithm of the stimulus
intensity
Method of constant stimuli - Answers many stimuli are presented one at a time (barely noticeable to
very noticeable)
Method of limits - Answers particular dimension of a stimulus, or difference between two stimuli, is
varied incrementally until the participant responds differently
Method of adjustment - Answers a method of limits in which the subject controls the change in the
stimulus
Magnitude estimation - Answers participant assigns values according the perceived magnitudes of the
stimuli
Steven's power law - Answers describes relationship between stimulus and resulting sensation
says the magnitude of subjective sensation is proportional to stimulus magnitude raised to an
exponent
Cross-modality matching - Answers ability to match the intensities of sensations that come from
different sensory modalities
this ability enables insight into sensory differences
ie: listener might adjust the brightness of a light until it matches the loudness of a tone
Signal detection theory - Answers quantifies the response of an observer to the presentation of a
signal in the presence of noise
measures obtained from a series of presentations are sensitive (d') and criterion of the observer
Criterion - Answers an internal threshold that is set by the observer
If the internal response is above criterion the observer gives one response (i.e.: yes i hear that, no i
don't hear that)
Receiver operating characteristic (ROC curve) - Answers Signal detection studies
plot of the hit rate as a function of the false- alarm rate
If they're the same, plots fall on diagonal (observer can't tell difference between presence and
absence of the signal)
Doctrine of specific nerve energies - Answers Johannes Muller
States that the nature of a sensation depends on which sensory fibers are stimulated, not on how
fibers are stimulated
Synapse - Answers junction between neurons that permits information transfer
Neurotransmitter - Answers chemical substance used in neuronal communication at synapses
Cranial nerves - Answers twelve pairs of nerves (one for each side of body)
