Name: Brianna Williams Student ID#: 0124195

Chapter 4 Summary Questions

General Psychology 201
Summer Session 2019
25 points

Using material discussed Chapter 4, answer each discussion question.

1. Define sensation and perception. Define transduction.

Sensation is the awareness resulting from the stimulation of a sense
organ. Perception is the organization and interpretation of sensations.
Transduction is the conversion of stimuli detected by receptor cells
to electrical impulses that are then transported to the brain.

2. Define psychophysics and absolute threshold. Define signal detection

analysis and briefly discuss its four possible outcomes.
Psychophysics is the branch of psychology that studies the effects of
physical stimuli on sensory perceptions and mental states. The absolute threshold
of a sensation is defined as the intensity of a stimulus that allows an organism to
just barely detect it. A signal detection analysis is a technique used to determine
the ability of the perceiver to separate true signals from background noise. The
possible outcomes is when you are the listener, correctly say “yes” when there was
a sound, a false alarm occurs when you respond “yes: to no signal, the other cases
you respond “no” when there was a signal or a correct rejection saying “no” when
there was in fact no signal.

3. Briefly discuss the sense of sight (vision). Identify key parts that are work
together to enable us as human beings to see.

Seeing begins when lights falls on the eye, initiating the process of
transduction.
4. Compare and contrast the trichromatic color theory vs. the opponent process
theory.
The trichromatic color theory is what color we see depends on
the mix of the signals from the three types of cones. If the brain is receiving
primarily red and blue signals, for instance, it will perceive purple. The
trichromatic color theory cannot explain all of human vision. The opponent process
color theory is the proposes that we analyze sensory information not in terms of
three colors but rather in three sets of “opponent colors”: red-green, yellow-blue,

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and white-black. For the opponent process theory comes from the fact that some
neurons in the retina and in the visual cortex are excited by one color.

5. Define the term Gestalt. Identify and briefly summarize two Gestalt
principles of form perception (Refer to Table 4.1 pp. 189-192 for
information to help support your answer).
The term Gestalt is a meaningfully organized whole. The idea of the
gestalt is that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. One of the Gestalt is the
Figure and ground. The Figure of ground is the structure input such as we always
see a figure image against a ground. The second Gestalt is Similarity. The
similarity is the stimuli that are similar to each other tend to be grouped together.

6. Define depth perception, depth cues, binocular depth cues, and monocular
cues. Also, identify a study that was done to test depth perception in
infants.
The depth perception is the ability to perceive three
dimensional space and to accurately judge distance. To test the depth perception in
infants by placing them on a visual cliff. Depth cues are messages from our bodies
and the external environment that supply us with information about space and
distance. Binocular depth cues are depth cues that are created by retinal image
disparity that is, the space between our eyes, and which require the coordination of
both eyes. Monocular depth cues are depth cues that help us perceive depth using
only one eye.
7. Compare and contrast the beta effect vs. phi phenomenon.
The beta effect refers to the perception of motion that occurs
when different images are presented next to each other in succession. The beta
effect is used in movies to create the experience of motion. The phi phenomenon is
in which we perceive a sensation of motion caused by the appearance and
disappearance of objects that are near each other. The phi phenomenon looks like a
moving zone or cloud of background color surrounding the flashing objects.

8. Discuss the sense of hearing. In your response, identify another

name for hearing, the key parts that work cooperatively to help
hearing occur, and two types of hearing loss.
Hearing begins with transduction. The human ear is sensitive to a
wide range of sounds, ranging from the faint tick of a clock in a nearby room to
roar of a rock band at a nightclub, and we have the ability to detect very small
variations in sound. Conductive hearing loss is caused by physical damage to the
ear that reduce the ability of the ear to transfer vibrations from the outer ear to the

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inner ear. Sensorineural hearing loss is caused by damage to the cilia or to the
auditory nerve, is less common overall but frequently occurs with age.

9. Briefly discuss the senses of touch, taste, and smell.

These other senses are touch, taste, and smell. Taste is important not
only because it allows us to enjoy the food we eat, but even more crucial, because
it leads us toward foods that provide energy and away from foods that could be
harmful. The sense of smell peaks in early adulthood and then begins a slow
decline. As we breathe in air through our nostrils, we inhale airborne chemicals
molecules. The sense of touch is essential to human development. Touch
communicates warmth, caring, and support, and is an essential part of the
enjoyment we gain from our social interaction with others.

10. Define synesthesia, selective attention, sensory adaptation, perceptual

constancy, and illusions.
Selective attention is the ability to focus on some sensory
inputs while turning out others. Sensory adaption is a decreased sensitivity to a
stimulus after prolonged and constant exposure. Perceptual constancy is the
ability to perceive a stimulus as constant despite changes in sensation. Illusions
occur when the perceptual processes that normally help us correctly perceive the
world around us are fooled by a particular situation so that we see something that
does not exist or that is incorrect. Synesthesia is an experience in which one
sensation creates experiences in another.