Verified Test Bank Visual Perception Ch3

Chapter 3

Visual Perception

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. ____ refer(s) to the set of psychological processes by which people recognize, organize, synthesize, and give meaning (in the brain) to the sensations received from environmental stimuli (in the sense organs).

a. Comprehension

b. Recognition

c. Sensation

d. Perception

ANS: d REF: From Sensation to Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Understand

2. Julie sees a flower, she notes it is red and appears to be a rose. What is the distal object?

a. photon absorption in the rods and cones

b. the reflection of light off the rose

c. the actual rose

d. molecules released the rose

ANS: c REF: From Sensation to Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Understand

3. James Gibson defines ____ as the informational medium for vision.

a. reflected light from the object.

b. the actual object

c. your mind perceiving the object

d. sound waves generated by the object

ANS: a REF: From Sensation to Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

4. When your eyes are exposed to a uniform field of stimulation (e.g., a red surface area without any shades, a clear blue sky, or dense fog), you will stop perceiving that stimulus after a few minutes and see just a gray field instead. Such a uniform visual field is called a(n) ____.

a. Ganzfeld

b. percept

c. illusion

d. geon

ANS: a REF: From Sensation to Perception

KEY: Bloom’s: Understand

5. Transduction of electromagnetic light energy into neural electrochemical impulses occurs in the ____.

a. cornea

b. crystalline lens

c. retina

d. vitreous humor

ANS: c REF: From Sensation to Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

6. Which long thin photoreceptors work well under situations in which light is dim?

a. cones

b. crystalline lens

c. rods

d. ganglion cells

ANS: c REF: From Sensation to Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

7. Which short and thick photoreceptors work well in situations in which the light is bright?

a. cones

b. ganglion cells

c. rods

d. vitreous humor

ANS: a REF: From Sensation to Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

8. The neurochemical messages processed by the rods and cones of the retina travel via the ____ cells to the ____ cells.

a. bipolar; ganglion

b. astroglial; oligodendroglia

c. photoreceptors; photopigments

d. foveal; scleral

ANS: a REF: From Sensation to Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

9. The optic nerve consists of axons from ____ cells.

a. amacrine

b. ganglion

c. horizontal

d. oligodendroglia

ANS: b REF: From Sensation to Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

10. What part of the eye is a clear dome that protects the eye?

a. cornea

b. crystalline lens

c. iris

d. vitreous humor

ANS: a REF: From Sensation to Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

11. Which hypothesis suggests that there are two distinct visual pathways in the brain; one pathway is important for the location of the object in space and the other is for identifying the object?

a. Identity/Location

b. Identity/Use

c. What/How

d. What/Where

ANS: d REF: From Sensation to Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Understand

12. Which hypothesis suggests that there are two distinct visual pathways in the brain; one pathway is important for identifying the object and the other for identifying the function of the object?

a. Identity/Location

b. Identity/Use

c. What/How

d. What/Where

ANS: c REF: From Sensation to Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Understand

13. The theory of direct perception is a ____.

a. bottom-up theory

b. top-down theory

c. complete theory of perception

d. template theory

ANS: a REF: Approaches to Perception: How Do We Make Sense of What We See? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply

14. Gibson’s direct perception model is sometimes referred to as a(n) ____, because of Gibson’s concern with perception as it occurs in the everyday world rather than in laboratory situations.

a. anti-laboratory view

b. real-life view

c. world model

d. ecological model

ANS: d REF: Approaches to Perception: How Do We Make Sense of What We See? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand

15. The viewpoint of direct perception was championed by ____.

a. John Watson

b. Johanes Ponzo

c. Irvin Rock

d. James Gibson

ANS: d REF: Approaches to Perception: How Do We Make Sense of What We See? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

16. ____ start with the stimulus, are data driven, and view perception as occurring when the information from the stimulus is transported to the brain.

a. Cognition-driven theories

b. Stimulus models

c. Bottom-up theories

d. Top-down theories

ANS: c REF: Approaches to Perception: How Do We Make Sense of What We See? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand

17. The direct perception, template theories, feature theories, and recognition-by-components theory are all ____.

a. cognition-driven theories

b. stimulus models

c. bottom-up theories

d. top-down theories

ANS: c REF: Approaches to Perception: How Do We Make Sense of What We See? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand

18. A ____ refers to an exact model of a distinctive pattern or form, used as the basis for perception of patterns or forms.

a. template

b. proximate

c. percept

d. Gestalt

ANS: a REF: Approaches to Perception: How Do We Make Sense of What We See? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

19. According to ____ theories of form perception, we attempt to match characteristics of a pattern to those stored in memory, rather than to match a whole pattern to a template or a prototype.

a. constructive-perception

b. prototype

c. feature-matching

d. computational

ANS: c REF: Approaches to Perception: How Do We Make Sense of What We See? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand

20. The pandemonium model, based on the notion that metaphorical “demons” with specific duties receive and analyze the features of a stimulus, is a ____ theory of perception.

a. template

b. prototype

c. feature-matching

d. computational

ANS: c REF: Approaches to Perception: How Do We Make Sense of What We See? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply

21. ____ features are those that constitute the small-scale or detailed aspects of a given pattern.

a. Mega

b. Micro

c. Local

d. Global

ANS: c REF: Approaches to Perception: How Do We Make Sense of What We See? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

22. ____ features are those that give a form its overall shape.

a. Mega

b. Micro

c. Local

d. Global

ANS: d REF: Approaches to Perception: How Do We Make Sense of What We See? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

23. A study on pattern perception looked at stimuli in which a single “larger” letter was constructed of smaller letters (e.g., using small “s” letters to make a large “H”). In this study, participants were asked to identify the individual components (small letters) or identify the large letter. When the small letters were positioned close together, in general, participants were faster at identifying the larger letter versus the smaller letters. This is known as

a. global precedence effect.

b. local precedence effect.

c. macro-identity effect.

d. recognition-by-components.

ANS: a REF: Approaches to Perception: How Do We Make Sense of What We See? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand

24. A study on pattern perception looked at stimuli in which a single “larger” letter was constructed of smaller letters (e.g., using small “s” letters to make a large “H”). In this study, participants were asked to identify the individual components (small letters) or identify the large letter. When the small letters were positioned widely spaced, in general, participants were faster at identifying the smaller letters versus the larger letters. This is known as

a. the global precedence effect

b. the local precedence effect

c. recognition-by-components

d. micro-identity effect

ANS: b REF: Approaches to Perception: How Do We Make Sense of What We See? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

25. According to Hubel and Wiesel, ____ cells receive input from neural cells projected from the thalamus and then fire in response to lines of particular orientations and positions in the receptive field. These cells differ from one another in that each cell responses only to a specific line orientation.

a. simple

b. complex

c. subcortical

d. hypercomplex

ANS: a REF: Approaches to Perception: How Do We Make Sense of What We See? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand

26. In some areas of the brain, some ____ cells fire maximally only in response to very specific shapes (e.g., a hand or a face).

a. simple

b. complex

c. subcortical

d. hypercomplex

ANS: b REF: Approaches to Perception: How Do We Make Sense of What We See? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

27. According to the ____ theory of object perception, objects are recognized based on the perception of the distinctive arrangement of various geons (a set of three dimensional geometrical elements) that compose each object.

a. feature-matching

b. prototype

c. template

d. recognition-by-components

ANS: d REF: Approaches to Perception: How Do We Make Sense of What We See? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand

28. ____ perception refers to a key view of perception which asserts that the perceiver builds the stimulus that is perceived, using sensory information as the foundation for the structure, but also considering the existing knowledge and thought processes of the person.

a. Synthetic

b. Unconscious

c. Direct

d. Constructive

ANS: d REF: Approaches to Perception: How Do We Make Sense of What We See? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand

29. ____ perception is also known as intelligent perception, because it states that higher-order thinking plays an important role in perception.

a. Synthetic

b. Unconscious

c. Direct

d. Constructive

ANS: d REF: Approaches to Perception: How Do We Make Sense of What We See? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand

30. Identification of an item may be influenced by surrounding information especially when the sensory information is ambiguous. This illustrates ____ effects.

a. micro-identity

b. direct assimilation

c. context

d. synthetic conglomeration

ANS: c REF: Approaches to Perception: How Do We Make Sense of What We See? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand

31. Which effect occurs when recognition of an object is easier when it is seen in a grouping rather than when the object is presented in isolation?

a. configural-superiority effect

b. direct perception

c. computational configuration effect

d. synthetic conglomeration effects

ANS: a REF: Approaches to Perception: How Do We Make Sense of What We See? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand

32. Which context effect occurs when a target line that is part of a 3-D drawing is identified more accurately than when the line is part of a disjoined 2-D pattern?

a. configural-superiority effect

b. direct perception

c. object-superiority effect

d. complex line drawing effect

ANS: c REF: Approaches to Perception: How Do We Make Sense of What We See? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand

33. Which view of perception suggests that stimuli may be richly informative and perceptual processes may be very complex?

a. bottom-up

b. intelligent topographical

c. synthesis of bottom-up and top-down

d. top-down

ANS: c REF: Approaches to Perception: How Do We Make Sense of What We See? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

34. Top-down processing is to bottom-up processing as constructivist is to ____.

a. distal stimulus

b. configural superiority

c. direct perception

d. perceptual constancy

ANS: c REF: Approaches to Perception: How Do We Make Sense of What We See? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand

35. Which statement best describes our understanding of perception?

a. Bottom-up theories outline perceptual processing step-by-step.

b. Top-down theories outline perceptual processing step-by-step.

c. Perception involves a combination of both bottom-up and top down processing.

d. Little is understood about perception at the current time.

ANS: c REF: Approaches to Perception: How Do We Make Sense of What We See? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand

36. In which mental representation is the object stored in the way it is experienced by the perceiver?

a. object-centered representation

b. state-dependent representation

c. viewer-centered representation

d. egocentric representation

ANS: c REF: Perception of Objects and Forms KEY: Bloom’s: Understand

37. Which type of mental representation is stored in a manner that is independent of the object’s appearance to the observer?

a. object-centered representation

b. state-dependent representation

c. viewer-centered representation

d. form-centric representation

ANS: a REF: Perception of Objects and Forms KEY: Bloom’s: Understand

38. Which strategy suggests that information is characterized by its relation to a well-known or prominent item?

a. item centered representation

b. landmark centered representation

c. object-centered representation

d. viewer-centered representation

ANS: b REF: Perception of Objects and Forms KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

39. The ____ approach is based on the notion that the whole differs from the sum of its individual parts.

a. structuralist

b. functionalist

c. Gestalt

d. decompositional analysis

ANS: c REF: Perception of Objects and Forms KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

40. The law of ____ states that we view any given visual array in a way that most simply organizes the different elements into a stable and coherent form.

a. parsimony

b. Prägnanz

c. organization of elements

d. coherence

ANS: b REF: Perception of Objects and Forms KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

41. Which principle suggests that we divide visual information into information that appears closer and better defined and that which appears further away and unhighlighted?

a. object specification

b. binocular depth cues

c. decompositional analysis

d. figure-ground

ANS: d REF: Perception of Objects and Forms KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

42. The Gestalt principles of form perception, including proximity, similarity, closure, continuity, and symmetry, all support the overarching law of ____.

a. parsimony

b. Prägnanz

c. organization of elements

d. coherence

ANS: b REF: Perception of Objects and Forms KEY: Bloom’s: Understand

43. ____ showed that people tend to use Gestalt principles, even when confronted with novel stimuli.

a. Palmer

b. Gibson

c. Marr

d. Hubel and Wiesel

ANS: a REF: Perception of Objects and Forms KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

44. In Farah’s two-system account of pattern recognition, one system specializes in the recognition of parts of objects, and the second system specializes in recognizing ____.

a. various features of objects

b. motion of objects

c. stationary features

d. larger configurations

ANS: d REF: Perception of Objects and Forms KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

45. How might you use a configurational system to recognize cars?

a. You examine each feature of the car and match it to a type in memory.

b. You view the car holistically and then recognize it as a mustang.

c. You classify the car based on the type of engine it has.

d. You break the car into geons to determine its type.

ANS: b REF: Perception of Objects and Forms KEY: Bloom’s: Understand

46. Farah’s (2000) research using faces, parts of faces, houses and parts of houses found that ____.

a. face recognition involved primarily configurational processing

b. face recognition involves primarily feature analysis

c. both processes are equally involved in face recognition

d. neither process is involved in face recognition

ANS: a REF: Perception of Objects and Forms KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

47. What is the “face positivity” effect in older participants?

a. They are better able to recognize faces that are not distorted.

b. They are better able to recognize faces that are of the same race.

c. They are better able to recognize faces that show a happy emotion.

d. They are better able to recognize faces that are the same age as they are.

ANS: c REF: Perception of Objects and Forms KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

48. What is the expert-individuation hypothesis?

a. Once humans are adult, they are experts at face recognition.

b. The fusiform gyrus is active only when viewing faces.

c. Configurational processing is idiosyncratic in each person.

d. Activity in the fusiform gyrus is related to expertise.

ANS: d REF: Perception of Objects and Forms KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

49. Alice does not recognize her own face in the mirror. Alice is experiencing _____.

a. spatial agnosia

b. prosopagnosia

c. simultagnosia

d. visual-object agnosia

ANS: b REF: Perception of Objects and Forms KEY: Bloom’s: Apply

50. ____ refers to a severely impaired ability to recognize human faces.

a. Spatial agnosia

b. Prosopagnosia

c. Simultagnosia

d. Visual-object agnosia

ANS: b REF: Perception of Objects and Forms KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

51. ____ occurs when our perception of an object remains the same even when our proximal sensation of the distal object changes.

a. Distal stimulus

b. Proximal stimulus

c. Sensation constancy

d. Perceptual constancy

ANS: d REF: The Environment Helps You See KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

52. When someone approaches us, we do not experience the person becoming larger as he or she comes closer, despite the fact that the retinal image is enlarging dramatically. This phenomenon is called ____ constancy.

a. distal

b. proximal

c. shape

d. size

ANS: d REF: The Environment Helps You See KEY: Bloom’s: Apply

53. When someone opens a door, we do not experience the door as becoming distorted in form, from a rectangle to a diamond to a flat, thin stripe, and the like. Rather, we recognize the door as remaining in its original form. This phenomenon is called ____ constancy.

a. distal

b. proximal

c. shape

d. size

ANS: c REF: The Environment Helps You See KEY: Bloom’s: Apply

54. Which cues about depth are represented in just two dimensions and can be seen with just one eye?

a. viewer-centered representations

b. monocular depth cues

c. perceptual constancies

d. binocular depth cues

ANS: b REF: The Environment Helps You See KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

55. Painters often use ____ in their work to provide a perspective of depth to the artwork.

a. viewer-centered representation

b. monocular depth cues

c. perceptual constancies

d. binocular depth cues

ANS: b REF: The Environment Helps You See KEY: Bloom’s: Apply

56. Texture gradients, relative size, interposition, linear perspective, and aerial perspective are all examples of ____ depth cues.

a. binocular

b. monocular

c. primary

d. higher-order

ANS: b REF: The Environment Helps You See KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

57. Which depth-perception cues are based on information received from both eyes?

a. object-centered

b. monocular

c. higher order

d. binocular

ANS: d. REF: The Environment Helps You See KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

58. In ____, the two eyes increasingly turn inward as objects approach the eyes; in turn, the brain interprets these muscular movements as indications of distance from the eyes.

a. binocular disparity

b. interposition

c. binocular convergence

d. motion parallax

ANS: c REF: The Environment Helps You See KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

59. In ____, the two eyes send increasingly differing images to the brain as objects approach the eyes.

a. binocular disparity

b. interposition

c. binocular convergence

d. motion parallax

ANS: a REF: The Environment Helps You See KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

60. Which neurons contribute to depth perception by integrating incoming information from both eyes?

a. binocular

b. disparity

c. ganglion

d. horizontal

ANS: a REF: The Environment Helps You See KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

61. ____ refers to a severe deficit in the ability to perceive sensory information.

a. Amnesia

b. Agnosia

c. Dyslexia

d. Aphasia

ANS: b REF: Deficits in Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

62. Melanie can sense all parts of her visual field, but the objects she sees do not mean anything to her. This phenomenon is called ____.

a. visual amnesia

b. prosopagnosia

c. simultagnosia

d. visual-object agnosia

ANS: d REF: Deficits in Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Apply

63. When seeing a pair of eyeglasses, a patient with ____ might first note that there is a circle, then there is another circle, then a crossbar, and finally guess that he is looking at a bicycle.

a. visual amnesia

b. prosopagnosia

c. simultagnosia

d. visual-object agnosia

ANS: d REF: Deficits in Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Apply

64. Disturbance in the temporal region of the cortex can lead to ____, in which a person is unable to pay attention to more than one object at a time.

a. visual-object agnosia

b. prosopagnosia

c. simultagnosia

d. optic agnosia

ANS: c REF: Deficits in Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

65. Which perceptual deficit causes a person to have a difficult time navigating the everyday environment?

a. simultagnosia

b. spatial agnosia

c. prosopagnosia

d. visual-object agnosia

ANS: b REF: Deficits in Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

66. Which part of the brain seems to play an important role in the recognition of faces?

a. fusiform gyrus of the temporal lobe

b. inferior colliculi

c. dorsal raphe nuclei

d. lateral geniculate nuclei

ANS: a REF: Deficits in Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

67. Many perceptual deficits are very specific and may only affect, for example, recognition of faces or perception of particular colors. This supports the idea of ____.

a. cross-system integration

b. associative processing

c. modularity

d. interactionism

ANS: c REF: Deficits in Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Apply

68. People who have an ____ have trouble perceiving sensory information.

a. agnosia

b. apraxia

c. aphasia

d. amnesia

ANS: a REF: Deficits in Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

69. Generally, people with agnosia have normal sensations of what is in front of them but have trouble with the ____ pathway.

a. where

b. what

c. whether

d. how

ANS: b REF: Deficits in Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

70. Which perceptual deficit is thought of in terms of damage to the “how” visual pathway, and results in difficulties with using visual inputs to guide movements?

a. tritanopia

b. akinetopsia

c. optic ataxia

d. apoptosis

ANS: c REF: Deficits in Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

71. Which color deficit is true color-blindness in that the person really has no ability to see any color?

a. deuteranopia

b. dichromacy

c. monochromacy

d. protanomaly

ANS: c REF: Deficits in Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

72. Which color deficit is the result of a malfunction in one of the mechanism for color perception in which the person may have a difficult time distinguishing particular colors?

a. achromatopsia

b. akinetopsia

c. dichromacy

d. monochromacy

ANS: c REF: Deficits in Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

73. In which color deficiency does a person has a difficult time distinguishing between the reds and the greens?

a. achromacy

b. deuteranopia

c. protanopia

d. tritanopia

ANS: c REF: Deficits in Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

74. In which color deficiency does a person have a difficult time with greens?

a. achromacy

b. deuteranopia

c. protanopia

d. tritanopia

ANS: b REF: Deficits in Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

75. In which color deficiency can a person see only shades of gray and no color at all?

a. akinetopsia

b. deuteranopia

c. rod monochromacy

d. tritanopia

ANS: c REF: Deficits in Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

76. Disturbance in the ____ region of the cortex can lead to simultagnosia.

a. parietal

b. temporal

c. occipital

d. frontal

ANS: b REF: Deficits in Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Apply

77. People with optic ____ deficit have trouble reaching for things

a. ataxia

b. apraxia

c. aphasia

d. amnesia

ANS: a REF: Deficits in Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

Essay

1. What is perceptual constancy and why is it important?

ANS: Perceptual constancy occurs when our perception of an object remains the same even when our proximal sensation of the distal object changes. The physical characteristics of the external distal object are probably not changing. But because we must be able to deal effectively with the external world, our perceptual system has mechanisms that adjust our perception of the proximal stimulus. Thus, the perception remains constant although the proximal sensation changes. Here we consider two of the main constancies: size and shape constancies.

REF: The Environment Helps You See KEY: Understand

2. What are the monocular depth cues?

ANS:

REF: The Environment Helps You See KEY: Remember

3. Define simultagnosia.

ANS: Disturbance in the temporal region of the cortex can lead to simultagnosia. In simultagnosia, an individual is unable to pay attention to more than one object at a time.

REF: Deficits in Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

4. What is the pattern recognition system? Explain how this system is important for perception.

ANS: Humans have two systems for recognizing patterns, according to Martha Farah. The first system specializes in recognizing parts of objects and in assembling those parts into distinctive wholes (feature analysis system). For example, when you are in a biology class and notice the elements of a tulip—the stamen, the pistil, and so forth—you look at the flower through this first system. The second system (configurational system) specializes in recognizing larger configurations, not analyzing parts of objects or the construction of the objects. For example, if you look at a tulip in a garden and admire its distinctive beauty and form, you look at the flower through the second system. The second system is most relevant to recognizing faces. When you spot a friend whom you see on a daily basis, you recognize him or her using the configurational system. You are so dependent on this system in everyday life you might not even notice some major change in your friend’s appearance, such as his or her having longer hair or having put on new glasses.

REF: Perception of Objects and Forms KEY: Bloom’s Understand

5. List and then explain the function of the various layers of the retina.

ANS: The retina contains the photoreceptors, which convert light energy into electrochemical energy that is transmitted by neurons to the brain. There are two kinds of photoreceptors—rods and cones. Each eye contains roughly 120 million rods and 8 million cones. Rods and cones differ not only in shape but also in their com- positions, locations, and responses to light. Within the rods and cones are photo pigments, chemical substances that react to light and transform physical electromagnetic energy into an electrochemical neural impulse that can be understood by the brain. The rods are long and thin photoreceptors. They are more highly concentrated in the periphery of the retina than in the foveal region. The rods are responsible for night vision and are sensitive to light and dark stimuli. The cones are short and thick photoreceptors and allow for the perception of color. They are more highly concentrated in the foveal region than in the periphery of the retina.

The rods and cones are connected to the brain. The neurochemical messages processed by the rods and cones of the retina travel via the bipolar cells to the ganglion cells. The axons of the ganglion cells in the eye collectively form the optic nerve for that eye. The optic nerves of the two eyes join at the base of the brain to form the optic chiasma. At this point, the ganglion cells from the inward, or nasal, part of the retina—the part closer to your nose—cross through the optic chiasma and extend to the opposite hemisphere of the brain. The ganglion cells from the outward, or temporal area of the retina closer to your temple go to the hemisphere on the same side of the body. The lens of each eye naturally inverts the image of the world as it projects the image onto the retina. In this way, the message sent to your brain is literally upside-down and backward.

REF: From Sensation to Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Understand

6. Compare and contrast agnosias and ataxias.

ANS: People who suffer from an agnosia have trouble perceiving sensory information. Agnosias often are caused by damage to the border of the temporal and occipital lobes or restricted oxygen flow to areas of the brain, sometimes as a result of traumatic brain injury. There are many kinds of agnosias. Not all of them are visual. Generally, people with agnosia have normal sensations of what is in front of them. They can perceive the colors and shapes of objects and persons, but they cannot recognize what the objects are. They have trouble with the “what pathway”.

A different kind of perceptual deficit is associated with damage to the “how pathway”. This deficit is optic ataxia, which is an impaired ability to use the visual system to guide movement. People with this deficit have trouble reaching for things. All of us have had the experience of coming home at night and trying to find the keyhole in the front door. It’s too dark to see, and we have to grope with our key for the keyhole, often taking a while to find it. Someone with optic ataxia has this problem even with a fully lit visual field.

REF: Deficits in Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Understand

7. Compare and contrast the theory of constructive perception with the theory of direct perception.

ANS: In constructive perception, the perceiver builds (constructs) a cognitive understanding (perception) of a stimulus. The concepts of the perceiver and his or her cognitive processes influence what he or she sees. The perceiver uses sensory information as the foundation for the structure but also uses other sources of information to build the perception. This viewpoint also is known as intelligent perception because it states that higher-order thinking plays an important role in perception. It also emphasizes the role of learning in perception.

According to Gibson’s theory of direct perception, the information in our sensory receptors, including the sensory context, is all we need to perceive anything. As the environment supplies us with all the information we need for perception, this view is sometimes also called ecological perception. In other words, we do not need higher cognitive processes or anything else to mediate between our sensory experiences and our perceptions. Existing beliefs or higher-level inferential thought processes are not necessary for perception.

REF: Approaches to Perception: How Do We Make Sense of What We See? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand

8. Compare and contrast at least two bottom-up theories of perception.

ANS: According to Gibson’s theory of direct perception, the information in our sensory receptors, including the sensory context, is all we need to perceive anything. As the environment supplies us with all the information we need for perception, this view is sometimes also called ecological perception. In other words, we do not need higher cognitive processes or anything else to mediate between our sensory experiences and our perceptions. Existing beliefs or higher-level inferential thought processes are not necessary for perception.

Template theories suggest that our minds store myriad sets of templates. Templates are highly detailed models for patterns we might recognize. We recognize a pattern by comparing it with our set of templates. We then choose the exact template that perfectly matches what we observe.

Yet another alternative explanation of pattern and form perception may be found in feature-matching theories. According to these theories, we attempt to match features of a pattern to features stored in memory, rather than to match a whole pattern to a template or a prototype. One such feature-matching model has been called Pandemonium (“pandemonium” refers to a noisy, chaotic place and hell). In this model, metaphorical “demons” with specific duties receive and analyze the features of a stimulus. In the Pandemonium model, conceived by Oliver Selfridge, there are four kinds of demons: image demons, feature demons, cognitive demons, and decision demons. The “image demons” receive a retinal image and pass it on to “feature demons.” Each feature demon calls out when matches are made between the stimulus and the given feature. These matches are yelled out at demons at the next level of the hierarchy, the “cognitive (thinking) demons.” The cognitive demons in turn shout out possible patterns stored in memory that conform to one or more of the features noticed by the feature demons. A “decision demon” listens to the pandemonium of the cognitive demons. It decides on what has been seen, based on which cognitive demon is shouting the most frequently (i.e., which has the most matching features).

Seeing with the Help of Geons: Irving Biederman suggested that we recognize 3-D objects by manipulating simple geometric shapes called geons (for geometrical ions). These shapes include objects such as bricks, cylinders, wedges, cones, and their curved axis counterparts. According to Biederman’s recognition-by-components (RBC) theory, we quickly recognize objects by observing the edges of them and then decomposing the objects into geons. The geons also can be recomposed into alternative arrangements. You know that a small set of letters can be manipulated to compose countless words and sentences. Similarly, a small number of geons can be used to build up many basic shapes and then myriad basic objects.

REF: Approaches to Perception: How Do We Make Sense of What We See? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand

9. What is prosopagnosia and how might it affect those who have it?

ANS: Prosopagnosia—the inability to recognize faces—implies damage to the configurational system. Somebody with prosopagnosia can see the face of another person and even recognize whether that person is sad, happy, or angry. But what he fails to recognize is whether that person being observed is a stranger, his friend, or his own mother. The ability to recognize faces is especially influenced by lesions of the right fusiform gyrus, either unilateral or bilateral. Facial memories are affected, in particular, when the bilateral lesions include the right anterior temporal lobe. Because they have so much difficulty recognizing faces, people with prosopagnosia may have trouble in other areas of life as well. They may not be able to follow movies because they cannot keep track of the different actors and fail to recognize them when they appear in different scenes of the movie, for example.

REF: Perception of Objects and Forms KEY: Bloom’s Understand

10. Explain and then compare the what/where hypothesis and the what/how hypothesis.

ANS: A pathway in general is the path the visual information takes as it enters the human perceptual system through the eyes to its being completely processed. Generally, researchers agree that there are two pathways. Work on visual perception has identified separate neural pathways in the cerebral cortex for processing different aspects of the same stimuli. Perception deficits, such as ataxia and agnosia, indicate the existence of different pathways. The information from the primary visual cortex in the occipital lobe is forwarded through two fasciculi (fiber bundles): One ascends toward the parietal lobe (along the dorsal pathway), and one descends to the temporal lobe (along the ventral pathway). The dorsal pathway is also called the where pathway and is responsible for processing location and motion information; the ventral pathway is called the what pathway because it is mainly responsible for processing the color, shape, and identity of visual stimuli. This is the what–where hypothesis. Most of the research in this area has been carried out with monkeys. In particular, a group of monkeys with lesions in the temporal lobe were able to indicate where things were but seemed unable to recognize what they were. In contrast, monkeys with lesions in the parietal lobe were able to recognize what things were but not where they were.

The what–how hypothesis is an alternative interpretation of the visual pathways. This hypothesis suggests the two pathways refer not to what things are and to where they are, but rather to what they are and to how they function. According to the what–how hypothesis, spatial information about where something is located in space is always present in visual information processing. What differs between the two pathways is whether the emphasis is on identifying what an object is or, instead, on how we can situate ourselves so as to grasp the object.

The what pathway can be found in the ventral stream and is responsible for the identification of objects. The how pathway is located in the dorsal stream and controls movements in relation to the objects that have been identified through the what pathway. Ventral and dorsal streams both arise from the same early visual areas. The what–how hypothesis is best supported by evidence of processing deficits: There are deficits that impair people’s ability to recognize what they see and there are distinct deficits that impair people’s ability to reach for what they see (how).

REF: From Sensation to Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Understand

11. Describe briefly what the Gestalt principles of closure and continuity represent.

ANS: Continuity: We tend to perceive smoothly flowing or continuous forms rather than disrupted or discontinuous ones.

Closure: We tend to perceptually close up, or complete, objects that are not, in fact, complete.

REF: From Sensation to Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Remember

12. Imagine that you land on a planet where the inhabitants change size (height and width in a proportional manner) at will at any given time; thus, size constancy only applies to inanimate objects on the planet. Briefly describe three monocular depth cues and explain how you would use each of them to estimate an inhabitant’s size at any specific moment.

ANS: Specifics will depend on which cues are chosen

REF: From Sensation to Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Understand

13. What are the advantages of having both top-down and bottom-up processing systems?

ANS: Both top-down and bottom-up processing approaches have garnered empirical support. On one level, the constructive-perception theory, which is more top-down, seems to contradict direct-perception theory, which is more bottom-up. Constructivists emphasize the importance of prior knowledge in combination with relatively simple and ambiguous information from the sensory receptors. In contrast, direct perception theorists emphasize the completeness of the information in the receptors themselves. They suggest that perception occurs simply and directly. Thus, there is little need for complex information processing.

Sensory information may be more richly informative and less ambiguous in interpreting experiences than the constructivists would suggest. But it may be less informative than the direct-perception theorists would assert. Similarly, perceptual processes may be more complex than hypothesized by Gibsonian theorists. This would be particularly true under conditions in which the sensory stimuli appear only briefly or are degraded. Degraded stimuli are less informative for various reasons. For example, the stimuli may be partially obscured or weakened by poor lighting. Or they may be incomplete, or distorted by illusory cues or other visual “noise” (distracting visual stimulation analogous to audible noise). We likely use a combination of information from the sensory receptors and our past knowledge to make sense of what we perceive.

REF: Approaches to Perception: How Do We Make Sense of What We See? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply

14. Select two sensory modalities other than vision and identify the associated distal object, informational medium, proximal stimulation and perceptual object.

ANS:

REF: From Sensation to Perception KEY: Bloom’s: Understand

15. What if perception occurred only through bottom-up processing? Explain what implications this would have for how we deal with our world.

ANS: Bottom-up processing can account for how we recognize general instances of chairs, lamps, and faces and so on, but it does not adequately explain how we recognize particular chairs or particular faces.

REF: Approaches to Perception: How Do We Make Sense of What We See? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply

16. Suppose that for Halloween, you are enlisted to use your knowledge of depth perception to create a small room where the sense of depth is distorted. Describe two depth cues and then explain how you would use these toward your goal.

ANS:

Answers will vary depending on the cues selected.

REF: The Environment Helps You See KEY: Understand

17. Describe the Müller-Lyer illusions and how it occurs.

ANS: The Müller-Lyer illusion involves two lines of equal length. One line has outward facing arrows on each end, pointing away from the line and the other has inward facing arrows, pointing towards the midpoint of the line. In this illusion, we tend to view the equally long line segments as being of different lengths. Oddly enough, we are not certain why such a simple illusion occurs. Sometimes, the illusion we see in the abstract line segments is explained in terms of the diagonal lines at the ends of the vertical segments which may be implicit depth cues similar to the ones we would see in our perceptions of the exterior and interior of a building.

REF: The Environment Helps You See KEY: Understand

18. Describe two anomalies in color perception. How might deficits in color perception affect life in a “media rich” world?

ANS: There are several kinds of color deficiency, which are sometimes referred to as kinds of “color blindness.” Least common is rod monochromacy, also called achromacy. People with this condition have no color vision at all. It is the only true form of pure color blind- ness. In this condition the cones are nonfunctional. They see only shades of gray as a function of their vision through the rods of the eye. Most people who suffer from deficits in color perception can still see some color, despite the name color blindness. In dichromacy, only two of the mechanisms for color perception work, and one is malfunctioning. The result of this malfunction is one of three types of color blindness (color-perception deficits). The most common is red-green color blindness. People with this form of color-blindness have difficulty in distinguishing red from green although they may be able to distinguish, for example, dark red from light green. The extreme form of red-green color blindness is called protanopia. The other types of color blindness are deuteranopia (trouble seeing greens with symptoms similar to protanopia) and tritanopia (confusion of blues and greens, and yellows that disappear or appear as light shades of reds).

Implications will vary. However, most media designers are well-aware of the importance of not relying on color alone as a cue or indicator.

REF: Deficits in Perception KEY: Understand

19. Describe how a person with monocular depth cues but no binocular depth cues “survive” in today’s world. What would be the implications of having just the one set of cues for depth?

ANS: Individuals who have useful sight in only one eye can learn to function with monocular cues given that the needed information is available. However, in an artificial situation that removes the monocular cues (e.g., a large room with walls, floor and ceiling of uniform color, no shadows, no gradients and only a single object of unknown size), distance would be impossible to calculate.

REF: The Environment Helps You See KEY: Understand

20. What is the role of perception in motor vehicle accidents?

ANS: Perceptual processes and change blindness play a significant role in accidents and efforts at accident prevention. About 50% of all collision accidents are a result of missing or delayed perception. Especially two-wheeled vehicles are often involved in “looked-but-failed-to-see” accidents, in which the driver of the involved car states that he did indeed look in the direction of the cyclist but failed to see the approaching motorcycle. It is possible that drivers develop a certain “scanning” strategy that they use in complex situations, such as at crossroads. The scanning strategy concentrates on the most common and dangerous threats but fails to recognize small deviations, or more uncommon objects like two-wheeled vehicles. In addition, people tend to fail to recognize new objects after blinking and saccades (fast movements of both eyes in one direction). Generally, people are not aware of the danger of change blindness and believe that they will be able to see all obstacles when looking in a particular direction. This tendency has implications for the education of drivers with regard to their perceptual abilities. It also has implications for the design of traffic environments, which should be laid out in a way that facilitates complex traffic flow and makes drivers aware of unexpected obstacles, such as bicycles

REF: Why Does It Matter? Perception in Practice KEY: Bloom’s: Understand