1
Name:____________________
Mrs. Ibragimov
AP Psychology
Chapter 4- Test
Sensation and Perception
1. An animal with only one eye would not be able to use which of the following cues for
depth?
A. convergence
B. Relative size
C. texture gradient
D. Interposition
E. Closure
2. Which of the following sentences best describes the difference between sensation and
perception?
A. sensation happens in the peripheral nervous system, and perception happens in the
central nervous system
B. sensation is the firing of sensory receptors, and perception is the interpretations of
these impulses
C. perceptions are the signals that travel to the brain, and sensation is how the brain
interprets these impulses.
D. sensation occurs in the sensory cortex and the rest of the cerebral cortex interprets the
messages sent by the sensory cortex.
3. Our ability to perceive the figure in a simple dot to dot puzzle without drawing in the
lines that connect the dots is an example of which of the following Gestalt principles?
A. Interposition
B. Proximity
C. linear perspective
D. Similarity
E. closure
4. Mr. Kan is making soup. After tasting it, he decides it needs more salt and slowly adds
some until he can first detect that the soup is saltier than it was before. The amount of salt
Mr. Kan needs to add depends on his
A. perceptual set
B. difference threshold
C. olfactory sensitivity
D. Gate-control theory
E. signal detection
5. The term transduction refers to
A. neural impulses moving from the spinal cord to the rest of the brain
B. the different effects if hormones in the different parts of the body and brain
C. neural impulses traveling from the peripheral nervous system to the central nervous
system
D. changing sensory stimuli from energy or chemical signals into neural impulses
6. Motion pictures are actually a series of still pictures presented in rapid succession to
produce the illusion of movement. This illusion of movement is called
A. autokinetic effect
B. Phi phenomenon
C. stroboscopic effect
D. Light adaptation
2
7. Which of the following types of sensory information is not processed by the thalamus?
A. visual
B. Olfactory
C. gustatory
D. Vestibular
E. Kinesthetic
8. Three-year-old Emma went to the Yankees game in Yankee Stadium. From her seat in
the bleachers, the players looked like tiny men. But as she walked toward the field, the
players seemed to grow in size, as if by magic. Emma’s belief that the men grew larger is
explained by
A. damage to her fovea
B. incomprehension about how to use the Gestalt principles of perception
C. her inability to use binocular cues
D. the fact the she is still developing size constancy
9. Five-year-old Olivia has never been outside her neighborhood in NYC. Walking home
from school one day, Olivia saw a cow standing in the middle of a cement ball field. To
recognize the cow, Olivia most likely had to rely on
A. signal detection theory
B. Perceptual set
C. bottom-up processing
D. Difference threshold
10. The light waves travel from the physical world into our brains in this order:
A. cornea  lens  retina  rods & cones  bipolar cells  optic nerves
B. retina  cornea  lens  bipolar cells  optic nerves
C. optic nerves  pupil  cochlea  cornea  rods & cones  bipolar cells
D. lens  retina  cornea  optic nerves  cerebral cortex
11. If a letter is missing on the front cover of a book, we are still able to read the word, if
we had seen it before, by using
A. absolute threshold
B. Top-down processing
C. attentional resource theories
D. Bottom-up processing
12. Weber’s law determines
A. absolute threshold
B. level of subliminal messages
C. amplitude of sound waves D. just- noticeable difference
13.
This diagram illustrates which of the following monocular perception cues?
A. linear perspective
B. Relative size
C. interposition
D. Aerial perspective
E. proximity
3
14.
The diagram illustrates that we tend to group these pictures as columns of smileys and
hearts, rather than rows of smiley, hear, smiley, heart, because which Gestalt theory?
A. proximity
B. Similarity
C. continuity
D. Closure
15. The fluids in the inner ear are most closely related to which sense?
A. vision
B. Auditory
C. vestibular
D. kinesthesis
16. The process by which raw physical energy is absorbed by sensory receptors is called
A. sensation
C. transduction
B. perception
D. extrasensory perception
17. The minimum amount of physical energy needed for a person to notice a stimulus is
called
A. difference threshold
C. absolute threshold
D. median threshold
D. hit threshold
E. signal detection
18. Which of the following best explains why thunder appears to occur after lightning?
A. sound waves travel slower than light waves
B. sound frequencies oscillate more slowly than light frequencies
C. auditory transduction takes longer than visual transduction
D. the just noticeable difference for sound is higher than it is for light
19. Which of the following phrases accurately describes top-down processing?
A. The entry-level data captured by our various sensory systems
B. The effect that our experiences and expectations have expectations have on
perception
C. Our tendency to scan visual fields from top to bottom
D. Our ability to detect letters of a word before we know what the word is
E. The fact that information is processed by higher regions of the brain before
reaches the lower brain
20. Figures tend to be perceived as whole complete objects, even if spaces or gaps exist
in the representation, thus demonstrating the principle of:
A. Connectedness.
B. Similarity.
C. Continuity.
D. Proximity.
4
21. What is the purpose of the iris?
A. To focus light on the retina
B. To process color
C. To allow light into the eye
D. To enable night vision
E. To detect specific shapes
22.__________ are neurons that fire in response to specific edges, lines, angles and
movements
A. Rods
B. Cones
C. Ganglion cells
D. Feature detectors
E. Bipolar cells
23. The process by which rods and cones change electromagnetic energy into neural
messages is called
A. Adaptation
B. Accommodation
C. Parallel processing
D. Transduction
E. Perceptual setting
24. What function does the retina serve?
A. The retina contains the visual receptor cells.
B. The retina focuses light coming in the eye through the lens.
C. The retina determines how much light comes into the eye.
D. The retina determines which rods and cones will be activated by incoming light.
E. The retina connects the two optic nerves and sends impulses to the left and right
visual cortices.
25. While playing tennis you need to know where your limbs are located so you can
move them into the right positions to run or swing your racket. Which of the following
senses provides this information?
A. audition
B. vestibular
C. kinesthesis
D. gustation
E. olfaction
26. What behavior would be difficult without our vestibular sense?
A. Integrating what we see and hear
B. Writing our names
C. Repeating a list of digits
D. Walking a straight line with our eyes closed
E. Reporting to a researching the exact position and orientation of our limbs.
5
6
Name:______________________
AP Psychology
Unit 4
1. ._____________________
14. _____________________
2. _____________________
15. ._____________________
3. ._____________________
16. _____________________
4. _____________________
17. ._____________________
5. ._____________________
18. _____________________
6. _____________________
19. ._____________________
7. ._____________________
20. _____________________
8. _____________________
21. ._____________________
9. ._____________________
22. _____________________
10. _____________________
23. ._____________________
11. ._____________________
24. _____________________
12. _____________________
25. ._____________________
13. ._____________________
26. _____________________
7