PSY 121 EXAM 2 QUESTIONS WITH VERIFIED SOLUTIONS LATEST UPDATE 2026

PSY 121 EXAM 2 QUESTIONS WITH VERIFIED SOLUTIONS LATEST UPDATE 2026 Sensation - Answers Our sensory organs respond to external stimuli such as light, sound waves, or chemical molecules. Examples of sensation - Answers Feeling wind, hearing a car horn, tasting noodles. Perception - Answers Organizing and interpreting these electrical signals to form meaningful experiences. Examples of perception - Answers Detecting a gas leak or recalling a song linked to a memory. Transduction - Answers Converting physical energies into electrical impulses (light, sound, taste). Perception vs Sensation - Answers Sensation is about receiving stimuli, while perception is about making sense of them. Absolute threshold - Answers The minimum stimulus intensity detectable 50% of the time. Method of limits/signal detection theory - Answers A key experimental approach where stimuli intensities are gradually increased or decreased to find the threshold of detection. Hit - Answers Correctly detecting a stimulus. Miss - Answers Failing to detect a presented stimulus. False alarm - Answers Reporting a stimulus when none was present. Correct rejection - Answers Correctly identifying no stimulus. Difference threshold/JND (just noticeable difference) - Answers The smallest detectable difference between two stimuli. Weber's Law - Answers Stating that larger stimuli require larger differences to be noticeable. Bottom-up processing - Answers Starts with raw sensory data, building toward perception, essential when encountering new stimuli. Bottom-up processing example - Answers Seeing a deer and recognizing it as a deer by noticing its shape, color, and movement without using prior knowledge. Top-down processing - Answers Uses prior knowledge and expectations to interpret sensory input, enabling efficient perception but sometimes causing errors or illusions. Top-down processing example - Answers The phrase 'I love Paris in the the spring,' where many fail to notice the second 'the' because their brain expects normal sentence structure. Sensory adaptation - Answers When constant stimuli fade from conscious awareness, such as not feeling clothes or ignoring background noise, due to receptor fatigue. Vision - Answers The perception of light reflected off objects, entering through the pupil and focused by the lens onto the retina. Rods - Answers Specialized for dim light and night vision, concentrated in the peripheral retina. Cones - Answers Responsible for color vision and fine detail, concentrated in the fovea (center of the retina). Ventral stream - Answers The 'what' pathway for object recognition, including faces and body parts. Dorsal stream - Answers The 'where' pathway for spatial location and movement. Dark adaptation - Answers A process of rod recovery in low-light conditions, taking about 10 minutes. Light adaptation - Answers A rapid adjustment to bright light. Trichromatic theory - Answers Proposing three types of cones sensitive to red, green, and blue light. Opponent-process theory - Answers Explaining afterimages and color opposites (red-green, blue-yellow, black-white) through retinal ganglion cell interactions. Sound - Answers The perception of vibrating air waves characterized by amplitude, frequency, and timbre. Amplitude - Answers Corresponds to loudness. Frequency - Answers Corresponds to pitch. Timbre - Answers Quality or complexity of sound, allowing differentiation of instruments or voices. How does sound travel - Answers The ear funnels sound through the pinna and auditory canal to the tympanic membrane (eardrum), which vibrates the ossicles (malleus, incus, stapes). Vibrations - Answers Vibrations reach the cochlea, a fluid-filled spiral structure organized tonotopically, where hair cells transduce mechanical vibrations into electrical signals. Human hearing range - Answers Human hearing ranges roughly from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. Sound localization - Answers Sound localization relies on timing and intensity differences between ears and spectral cues for vertical positioning. Maintaining frequency maps - Answers Electrical signals travel via the cochlear nerve to the primary auditory cortex. Vestibular system - Answers The vestibular system in the inner ear contains three semicircular canals detecting head orientation and movement. Vestibular system dysfunction - Answers Dysfunction can cause vertigo and balance problems. Mechanoreceptors - Answers Mechanoreceptors transduce tactile stimuli (texture, pressure), temperature, and pain. Somatosensory cortex - Answers The somatosensory cortex processes tactile information which is somatotopically organized—a 'map' where more sensitive areas (lips, fingertips) occupy larger cortical regions. Pain - Answers Pain serves a protective function by alerting the body to injury, despite being unpleasant. Olfaction - Answers Olfaction involves odorant molecules binding to receptors in the olfactory epithelium; this process may operate like a 'lock and key' or via molecular vibrations. Anosmia - Answers Damage to the olfactory neurons projecting through the cribriform plate can cause anosmia (loss of smell). Gustation - Answers Gustation relies on taste receptor cells in the taste buds on the tongue, detecting five basic tastes: sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and umami. Taste perception - Answers Taste perception is enhanced by smell; loss of smell during a cold makes food taste bland. Multimodal perception - Answers Multimodal perception is the integration of input from various senses at the same time. Cross-modal - Answers Cross-modal refers to sensory information from one modality influencing perception in another. Principle of inverse effectiveness - Answers The principle of inverse effectiveness suggests multimodal stimuli evoke stronger responses than the sum of individual senses. Superior temporal sulcus - Answers Brain regions like the superior temporal sulcus contain neurons responsive to multiple sensory inputs. Multimodal processing - Answers Multimodal processing explains phenomena such as the McGurk Effect, the Double Flash Illusion, and the Rubber Hand Illusion. Attention - Answers Attention is a fundamental cognitive process that allows individuals to selectively focus on certain stimuli while ignoring others. Selective Attention - Answers Selective Attention is the ability to focus on particular stimuli while filtering out distractions. Divided Attention - Answers Divided Attention involves managing attention across multiple tasks or stimuli simultaneously. Sustained Attention - Answers Sustained Attention (Vigilance) is maintaining focus over prolonged periods. Spatial Attention - Answers Spatial Attention is directing attention to specific locations in the environment. Limited Capacity - Answers Limited Capacity refers to the notion that cognitive resources for attention are finite. Inattentional Blindness - Answers Inattentional Blindness is the failure to perceive stimuli in plain sight because attention is engaged elsewhere. The Cocktail Party Effect - Answers The Cocktail Party Effect is the ability to focus on one conversation in a noisy environment but still notice personally relevant info (like your name). Dichotic Listening Tasks - Answers Dichotic Listening Tasks are experiments where participants hear different messages in each ear and must 'shadow' one. Unattended messages - Answers In unattended messages, only physical features (pitch, gender) are noticed, not meaning. Broadbent's Filter Model - Answers Broadbent's Filter Model (Early Selection) suggests a selective filter blocks unattended stimuli before meaning is processed. Treisman's Attenuation Model - Answers Treisman's Attenuation Model states that unattended info isn't fully blocked, just weakened. Late Selection Models - Answers Late Selection Models propose that all stimuli are processed for meaning, but only relevant info reaches conscious awareness. Multimode Model - Answers The Multimode Model indicates that the stage of selection is flexible, allowing for early or late selection based on context. Late selection - Answers Based on meaning, requires more effort but allows adaptability. Visual Attention - Answers Principles of attention apply to vision as well. Attending to one visual scene reduces awareness of others. Inattentional Blindness (Visual) - Answers Not noticing unexpected objects when focused elsewhere. Subliminal Perception - Answers Stimuli below conscious awareness may influence behavior. Some unconscious influence exists, but limited and debated. Performance declines with complex tasks - Answers Performance typically worsens when tasks become more complex. Multitasking Example - Answers Spelke et al. (1976) showed participants could learn dictation while reading, but demanding tasks reduce efficiency. Distracted Driving - Answers Example of divided attention failure. Texting and talking (even hands-free) impair awareness. Supertaskers - Answers About 2% of people can multitask without performance loss. Continuum of Consciousness - Answers Consciousness is best understood as a dimmer switch ranging from full awareness to deep unconsciousness. Subliminal Perception (Physiological Response) - Answers Stimuli presented below conscious thresholds can nonetheless affect physiological responses and behavior. Priming (Behavioral Influence Example) - Answers Unconscious activation of certain concepts (e.g., elderly-related words) can influence subsequent behavior, such as walking speed, without conscious awareness. Flexible Correction Model - Answers Demonstrates that when individuals recognize potential biases influencing their judgments, they can actively adjust their attitudes to counteract these influences. Metacognition - Answers Awareness of one's own thoughts. Allows individuals to step back and assess their mental processes, reducing susceptibility to biases and stereotypes. River Analogy of Awareness - Answers Low awareness is like drifting on a raft with little control, while high awareness resembles paddling a canoe, requiring effort but allowing direction. Franz Mesmer & Animal Magnetism - Answers Hypnosis originated in the 18th century with Franz Mesmer, who explained it by the now-discredited idea of 'animal magnetism.' Hypnosis & Willpower - Answers Hypnosis cannot compel individuals to act against their will; cooperation and willingness are necessary components. Hypnotherapy for Pain - Answers Hypnosis can reduce pain (e.g., in burn patients by nearly 50%), outperforming placebo effects. Trance States - Answers Trance involves a further degree of dissociation, often occurring in religious or ritual contexts where individuals report experiences of possession or communion with supernatural forces. Trance vs. Hypnosis - Answers Unlike hypnosis, trance states are associated with reduced voluntary control over behavior. Trance - Scientific View - Answers Scientific investigations interpret trance experiences as subjective alterations of consciousness, explained by imagination, expectation, and situational interpretation. Circadian Rhythm - Answers Biological clock regulated by environmental cues like daylight and hormones such as melatonin. Jet Lag - Answers Occurs when circadian rhythm is misaligned with local time but can be mitigated by controlled exposure to light and behavioral adjustments.