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PSYC 230 UIUC EXAM 1 Questions and
Answers
Perception Ans: the process of organizing and interpreting
sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects
and events
Are there really 5 senses? Ans: No, there are from 7-12 different
senses
neural transduction Ans: receptors, transduction and neural
response
Sensation Ans: activation of sensory receptors due to a stimulus
in the environment (physical stimulus---->neural signal)
Phenomenology Ans: internal experience that everyone has of the
external world around them
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Aristotle and the Five senses Ans: Aristotle said there were five
senses - smell, sight, touch, taste, and hearing - but science
suggests there are many more than that
Thomas Young Ans: showed that light, like waves, could be
diffracted, color recptors
Johannes Mueller Ans: doctrine of specific nerve energies
(distinct senses)
Von Helmholtz Ans: perception is constructed from both senses
and cognitive processes, unconscious inference, three basic color
receptors
Hering Ans: colors are perceived through 2 pairs of opposing
colors (four primary colors, not three)
Weber's Law Ans: the just noticeable difference between two
stimuli is based on a proportion of the original stimulus rather
than on a fixed amount of difference
Fechner Ans: father of psychophysics, the study of the relation
between physical stimuli and the perception they elicit
Fechner's Law Ans: sensation is a logarithmic function of
physical intensity
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Gestalt Psychology Ans: the whole is greater than the sum of its
parts
Law of Proximity (Gestalt) Ans: elements close to one another
tend to be perceived as a unit
Law of Common Fate (Gestalt) Ans: visual elements that move in
the same speed and/or direction are parts of a single stimulus
law of closure (gestalt) Ans: we tend to see complete figures even
when part of the information is missing
Law of Similarity (Gestalt) Ans: objects that are similar tend to be
grouped together
Law of Good Continuation (Gestalt) Ans: elements that appear to
follow the same pathway tend to be grouped together
Gibson and Direct Perception Ans: sensation is perception, what
you see is what you get
Information Processing Approach Ans: a perspective on
understanding cognition that divides thinking into specific steps
and component processes (LIKE A COMPUTER)
© 2025 All rights reserved
PSYC 230 UIUC EXAM 1 Questions and
Answers
Perception Ans: the process of organizing and interpreting
sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects
and events
Are there really 5 senses? Ans: No, there are from 7-12 different
senses
neural transduction Ans: receptors, transduction and neural
response
Sensation Ans: activation of sensory receptors due to a stimulus
in the environment (physical stimulus---->neural signal)
Phenomenology Ans: internal experience that everyone has of the
external world around them
© 2025 All rights reserved
, 2 | Page
Aristotle and the Five senses Ans: Aristotle said there were five
senses - smell, sight, touch, taste, and hearing - but science
suggests there are many more than that
Thomas Young Ans: showed that light, like waves, could be
diffracted, color recptors
Johannes Mueller Ans: doctrine of specific nerve energies
(distinct senses)
Von Helmholtz Ans: perception is constructed from both senses
and cognitive processes, unconscious inference, three basic color
receptors
Hering Ans: colors are perceived through 2 pairs of opposing
colors (four primary colors, not three)
Weber's Law Ans: the just noticeable difference between two
stimuli is based on a proportion of the original stimulus rather
than on a fixed amount of difference
Fechner Ans: father of psychophysics, the study of the relation
between physical stimuli and the perception they elicit
Fechner's Law Ans: sensation is a logarithmic function of
physical intensity
© 2025 All rights reserved
, 3 | Page
Gestalt Psychology Ans: the whole is greater than the sum of its
parts
Law of Proximity (Gestalt) Ans: elements close to one another
tend to be perceived as a unit
Law of Common Fate (Gestalt) Ans: visual elements that move in
the same speed and/or direction are parts of a single stimulus
law of closure (gestalt) Ans: we tend to see complete figures even
when part of the information is missing
Law of Similarity (Gestalt) Ans: objects that are similar tend to be
grouped together
Law of Good Continuation (Gestalt) Ans: elements that appear to
follow the same pathway tend to be grouped together
Gibson and Direct Perception Ans: sensation is perception, what
you see is what you get
Information Processing Approach Ans: a perspective on
understanding cognition that divides thinking into specific steps
and component processes (LIKE A COMPUTER)
© 2025 All rights reserved
