Final Exam Study Guide

General Psychology 201

Fall Semester 2019

The final exam will consist of 40 questions, and will be worth 100
points altogether. Material discussed in chapter 4 will comprise the
final exam. As you prepare, be familiar with the following info:

1. Know the definitions of sensation, perception, and transduction (p. 164)

● Sensation is 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. Know the definitions of psychophysics and absolute threshold (pp.166-167)

● 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.

3. Know the definition of signal detection analysis. Be able to identify and briefly
summarize its four possible outcomes (pp. 167-168)
● Signal detection analysis is a technique used to determine the ability of the
perceiver to separate true signals from background noise
4 types of signal detection analysis
● A hit occurs when you, as the listener, correctly say “yes” when
there was a sound.
● A false alarm occurs when you respond “yes” to no signal.
● In the other two cases you respond “no”—either a miss (saying
“no” when there was a signal) or a correct rejection (saying “no‖
when there was in fact no signal).

4. Be able to briefly identify and define two measures from psychophysics’ experiments (p.
168)
● One measure, known as sensitivity, refers to the true ability of the
individual to detect the presence or absence of signals. People who have
better hearing will have higher sensitivity than will those with poorer
hearing.
● The other measure, response bias, refers to a behavioral tendency to
respond “yes” to the trials, which is independent of sensitivity.

5. Know the definitions of the difference threshold (or just noticeable difference) and
Weber’s law (p. 169)
6. Know the definitions of blindsight (p. 173)
● Blindsight is a condition in which people are unable to consciously report
on visual stimuli but nevertheless are able to accurately answer questions
about what they are seeing.

7. Know important points about seeing (vision) (pp. 175-177)

● Humans rely on vision more than any other animal.
● Visual accommodation is the process of changing the curvature of the lens
to keep the light entering the eye, focused on the retina.
● The pupil is a small opening in the center of the eye.

8. Know definition of visual accommodation (p. 177)

● Visual accommodation is the process of changing the curvature of the lens
to keep the light entering the eye, focused on the retina.

9. Be able to define and distinguish nearsightedness vs. farsightedness (pp. 178-179)

10. Know definition of optic nerve (p. 179)
● The optic nerve is a collection of millions of ganglion neurons that sends
vast amounts of visual information, via the thalamus, to the brain.

11. Be able to define and distinguish rods and cones in the retina (p. 180)
12. Know definitions of fovea, blindspot, and feature detector neurons (pp. 180-183)
● Fovea is the central point of the retina
● Blindspot is a hole in our vision
● Feature detector neurons are specialized neurons, located in the visual
cortex, that respond to the strength, angles, shapes, edges, and movements
of a visual stimulus.

13. Know the definition of hue (p. 185)

● Hue is the shade of a color

14. Be able to define and distinguish the Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory vs.the
opponent process color theory (pp. 187-188)
15. Know key facts about color blindness (p. 187)
16. Know the definition of Gestalt (p. 189)
● Gestalt is a meaningfully organized whole

17. Be able to define the Gestalt principles of form perception (pp. 189-192; see Table 4.1)
18. Know the definitions of depth perception, visual cliff, binocular depth cues, convergence,
and monocular depth cues (pp. 192-195)
● Depth perception is the ability to perceive three-dimensional space and to
accurately judge distance
● Visual cliff is a mechanism that gives the perception of a dangerous drop-
off, in which infants can be safely tested for their perception of depth
 ● Binocular depth cues are depth cues that are created by retinal image
disparity—that is, the space between our eyes, and thus which require the
coordination of both eyes.
● Convergence is the inward turning of our eyes that is required to focus on
objects that are less than about 50 feet away from us.
● Monocular depth cues are depth cues that help us perceive depth using
only one eye.

19. Be able to identify and briefly summarize the different monocular depth cues (pp. 194-
195; Table 4.2)
20. Be able to define and distinguish the beta effect vs. the phi phenomenon (p. 196)
21. Know important points about hearing (pp 199-203)
22. Know the definitions of amplitude, frequency, pitch, amplitude, and loudness (pp. 199-
200)
23. Be able to briefly define & distinguish the two theories about hearing (pp. 203-204)
24. Be able to define & distinguish conductive hearing loss vs. sensorineural hearing loss (p.
204)
25. Know the definition of proprioception (p. 207)
26. Know the six taste sensations (p. 207)
● The tongue detects six different taste sensations, known respectively as
sweet, salty, sour, bitter, piquancy (spicy), and umami (savory).

27. Know important facts about taste buds (p. 207)

28. Know important points about smelling (p. 208-209)
29. Know important points about the sense of touch (pp. 209-2010)
30. Know the definition of the vestibular system (p. 210)
● The vestibular system is a set of liquid-filled areas in the inner ear that
monitors the head’s position and movement, maintaining the body’s
balance.

31. Be able to briefly summarize the gate control theory (p. 212)
32. Know the definitions of selective attention, sensory adaptation, perceptual constancy, &
illusions (pp. 214-218)