GRE Psychology - Sensation and Perception
questions with verified answers
Sensation Ans✓✓-The feeling that results from physical stimulation
Sensation involves three steps: reception, sensory transduction, neural pathway.
Perception Ans✓✓-how we organize or experience the sensations
Reception Ans✓✓-Takes place when *receptors* for a particular sense detect a
stimulus. The *receptive field* is the part of the world that triggers a particular
neuron. 1st step in all sensory information processing
receptors Ans✓✓-respond to physical stimuli
Sensory transduction Ans✓✓-The process in which physical sensation is changed
into electrical messages (neural impulses or action potentials) that brain can
understand. Sensory transduction is at the heart of the senses; 2nd step.
translates physical energy to neural impulses
Neural Pathways Ans✓✓-Once transduction occurs, the electrochemical energy is
sent to various *projection areas* in the brain along various *neural pathways*
and can be processed by the nervous system.
The electrical information travels down neural pathways to the brain, where the
information is understood
,projection areas Ans✓✓-brain areas that further analyze sensory input
Do we sense more things than we process? Ans✓✓-Yes!
Nativist theory Ans✓✓-Asserts that perception and cognition are largely innate
Structuralist theory Ans✓✓-Asserts that perception is the sum total of sensory
inputs. The world is understood through *bottom-up processing*
Gestalt psychology Ans✓✓-Revolves around *perception* and asserts that
people tend to see the world as comprised of organized wholes. The world is
understood through *top-down processing*
What is the current thinking of perception? Ans✓✓-Current thinking is that
perception is partially innate/sensory, and partially learned/conceptual.
James Gibson Ans✓✓-*Perceptual development* is the increasing ability of a
child to make finer discriminations among stimuli. The *optic array*, of all the
things a person sees, trains people to perceive.
Why do we see things? How does vision work? Ans✓✓-We see objects because
of the light that they reflect
Vision results from the work of many different eye parts: cornea, lens, ciliary
muscles, retina, receptor cells, rods, ...
, What is the light composed of? Ans✓✓-Light is composed of *photons* and
*waves* measured by brightness and wavelengths.
Hue (aka color) Ans✓✓-Dominant wavelenth of light
Brightness Ans✓✓-Is the subjective impression of the physical intensity of a light
stimulus
Cornea Ans✓✓-The clear protective coating on the outside of the eye. It gathers
and focuses the incoming light.
pupil Ans✓✓-the hole in the iris, contracts in bright light, and expands in dim
light to let more light in
iris Ans✓✓-the colored part of the eye, has involuntary muscles and autonomic
nerve fibers. it controls the size of the pupil and, therefore, the amount of light
entering the eye.
Lens Ans✓✓-Located behind iris, helps control the curvature of the light coming
in and can focus near or distant objects on the retina. *Ciliary muscles* allow it to
bend (*accommodate* = to adjust the focus for objects at different distances) in
order to focus an image of the outside world onto the retina.
Retina Ans✓✓-Located on the back of the eye. It is the image-detecting part of
the eye. The retina receives light images from the lens. It is composed of about
132 million photoreceptors cells and other cell layers that process information.
blood vessels and neural elements
questions with verified answers
Sensation Ans✓✓-The feeling that results from physical stimulation
Sensation involves three steps: reception, sensory transduction, neural pathway.
Perception Ans✓✓-how we organize or experience the sensations
Reception Ans✓✓-Takes place when *receptors* for a particular sense detect a
stimulus. The *receptive field* is the part of the world that triggers a particular
neuron. 1st step in all sensory information processing
receptors Ans✓✓-respond to physical stimuli
Sensory transduction Ans✓✓-The process in which physical sensation is changed
into electrical messages (neural impulses or action potentials) that brain can
understand. Sensory transduction is at the heart of the senses; 2nd step.
translates physical energy to neural impulses
Neural Pathways Ans✓✓-Once transduction occurs, the electrochemical energy is
sent to various *projection areas* in the brain along various *neural pathways*
and can be processed by the nervous system.
The electrical information travels down neural pathways to the brain, where the
information is understood
,projection areas Ans✓✓-brain areas that further analyze sensory input
Do we sense more things than we process? Ans✓✓-Yes!
Nativist theory Ans✓✓-Asserts that perception and cognition are largely innate
Structuralist theory Ans✓✓-Asserts that perception is the sum total of sensory
inputs. The world is understood through *bottom-up processing*
Gestalt psychology Ans✓✓-Revolves around *perception* and asserts that
people tend to see the world as comprised of organized wholes. The world is
understood through *top-down processing*
What is the current thinking of perception? Ans✓✓-Current thinking is that
perception is partially innate/sensory, and partially learned/conceptual.
James Gibson Ans✓✓-*Perceptual development* is the increasing ability of a
child to make finer discriminations among stimuli. The *optic array*, of all the
things a person sees, trains people to perceive.
Why do we see things? How does vision work? Ans✓✓-We see objects because
of the light that they reflect
Vision results from the work of many different eye parts: cornea, lens, ciliary
muscles, retina, receptor cells, rods, ...
, What is the light composed of? Ans✓✓-Light is composed of *photons* and
*waves* measured by brightness and wavelengths.
Hue (aka color) Ans✓✓-Dominant wavelenth of light
Brightness Ans✓✓-Is the subjective impression of the physical intensity of a light
stimulus
Cornea Ans✓✓-The clear protective coating on the outside of the eye. It gathers
and focuses the incoming light.
pupil Ans✓✓-the hole in the iris, contracts in bright light, and expands in dim
light to let more light in
iris Ans✓✓-the colored part of the eye, has involuntary muscles and autonomic
nerve fibers. it controls the size of the pupil and, therefore, the amount of light
entering the eye.
Lens Ans✓✓-Located behind iris, helps control the curvature of the light coming
in and can focus near or distant objects on the retina. *Ciliary muscles* allow it to
bend (*accommodate* = to adjust the focus for objects at different distances) in
order to focus an image of the outside world onto the retina.
Retina Ans✓✓-Located on the back of the eye. It is the image-detecting part of
the eye. The retina receives light images from the lens. It is composed of about
132 million photoreceptors cells and other cell layers that process information.
blood vessels and neural elements
