CHAPTER 4               Sensation

1.     Vision is considered a sense because it

a.     translates information from the environment so that the nervous system can be affected by it.

b.     provides information to the nervous system.   c.         is empirical, or data based.

d.     involves information from the environment.

2.     A ______________ is a system that translates data from outside the nervous system into neural activity, thus giving the brain information about the world.

a.     perception    b.         stimulus            c.         receptive field               d.         sense

3.     Sensation and perception

a.     are different because perceptions are raw data interpreted by sensation.

b.     cannot be clearly separated.     c.      occur seconds apart in the same location of our nervous system.

d.     are the same basic neurophysiological process.

4.     When you listen to your favorite CD, the speakers create vibrations in the air. These vibrations are mechanical energy that must be converted into a neural response so that your brain can understand it and you can perceive the music. The conversion process is known as

a.     transmission.             b.         transduction.     c.         translation.        d.         coding.

5.     While walking outside, you notice the sun shining.  Your seeing the sunshine is related to visual processing of the light in your brain. The process by which physical energy (the sunshine) has been converted to neural activity in your brain is called

a.     reticular formation.    b.         habituation.       c.         transduction.     d.         accommodation.

6.     After wearing a pair of glasses for a while, you probably can’t feel them in contact with your skin. This is evidence of

a.     natural analgesics.     b.         kinesthesia.       c.         the McCollough effect.d.           adaptation.

7.     Wiley Coyote is setting a trap for the Road Runner when he accidentally drops an anvil onto his left foot. The pain sensations from his left foot would be represented in the _ of Wiley’s brain.

a.     left side        b.         front     c.         right side           d.         back

8.     When you listen to your favorite music, what is the order in which the sound approaches and enters your nervous system and is interpreted by your brain?

a.     Ear, thalamus, auditory association cortex, primary auditory cortex

b.     Ear, thalamus, primary auditory cortex, auditory association cortex

c.     Ear, primary auditory cortex, auditory association cortex, thalamus

d.     Ear, auditory association cortex, primary auditory cortex, thalamus

9.     In science fiction movies, when space ships shoot each other, the audience hears a loud bang. In reality, no sound should occur because

a.     it is too cold in space for sound to travel.

b.     in space, sound travels at the speed of light—too fast for humans to hear.

c.     sound requires a medium like air, which is absent in the vacuum of space.

d.     these sounds are beyond the range of normal human hearing.

10.   Jake has decided to buy a new stereo that produces high-quality sound so that he can pick out all the individual instruments when listening to his classical music CDs. In Jake’s stereo purchase he is most concerned about the ______________ of the sound that it produces.

a.     loudness       b.         timbre               c.         pitch                 d.         compression

11.   Brittany observed that the people having conversations on cell phones were quite loud, while those having conversations on pay phones were quite soft-spoken.  Those using cell phones were producing a higher ______ of sound waves than were those using pay phones.

a.     amplitude     b.         frequency         c.         timbre   d.         wavelength

12.   Terry loves to listen to the violin. As a joke, Carry replaced Terry’s favorite CD, “Sounds of the Violin,” with the CD “Sounds of the Cello.” When the music started playing, Terry immediately knew that the sounds were not made by the violin because each instrument has a unique

a.     pitch.            b.         frequency.        c.         wavelength.      d.         timbre.

13.   If you want to raise the pitch of Coach Knight’s voice so that it can only be heard by dogs, you will need to decrease its

a. wavelength.                  b.         frequency.        c.         amplitude.         d.         timbre.

14.   As you listen to your brilliant psychology instructor in class, the sound will travel through which of the following paths?

a.     Pinna, auditory nerve, thalamus, primary auditory cortex

b.     Pinna, cochlea, thalamus, auditory nerve, LGN

c.     Cochlea, ear canal, thalamus, primary auditory cortex

d.     Cochlea, thalamus, auditory nerve, primary auditory cortex

15.   Vince wants to prove his love to his girlfriend. He was thinking of giving her sunflowers, but on this starry, starry night he decides to cut off one of his outer ears and give it to her. Having taken psychology, Vince’s girlfriend replies, “How sweet, you have given me a(n) ______________ from your auditory system.”

a.     primary sensory cortex         b.         receptor           c.         accessory structure       d.         transductor

16.   The evil scientist, Simon B. Sinister has captured our hero, Wonderdog. Simon attaches electrodes to the receptors in Wonderdog’s cochlea. When Simon electrically stimulates the receptors, what will be the effect on Wonderdog?

a.     Wonderdog will experience no pain.             b.         Wonderdog will lose consciousness.

c.     The bones of Wonderdog’s middle ear will fuse together.

d.     Wonderdog will hear a strange noise.

17.   Sound input from the left ear goes primarily to the

a.     right cortex.              b.         medulla.            c.         left cortex.        d.         hypothalamus.

18.   Azul’s job is to create an exhibit at the science museum that lets people walk through a giant “eye” so they can understand how it works. If the museum visitors are supposed to follow the same path as real photons do, Azul should arrange their path to follow which order?

a.     Cornea, pupil, lens, retina                 b.         Pupil, cornea, lens, retina

c.     Cornea, pupil, retina, lens                 d.         Pupil, cornea, retina, lens

19.   Karlie is always told that she has beautiful eyes. To which part of her eye are people most likely to be referring when they tell her this?

a.     Cornea         b.         Iris       c.         Pupil     d.         Lens

20.   Wearing contact lenses, which rest on the surface of the eye, for extended periods would increase the risk of damage to which accessory structure of the eye?

a.     Lens b.         Retina               c.         Pupil                 d.         Cornea

21.   Kerri does not like light and wants to see no light at all. She could accomplish this by removing the ____ from both of her eyes.

a.     cornea          b.         lens      c.         retina    d.         basilar membrane

22.   Laurie is watching Teletubbies.  The lens in her eye bends light rays so that the image of La La and Po is focused on a certain point of the retina.  The ability for her lens to change shape to bend light is called

a.     assimilation.  b.         adaptation.       c.         accommodation.           d.         anchoring.

23.   After a bizarre beer brewing accident, Dirk experiences an eye injury. Dirk can’t see very well in low light conditions or at night. Dirk probably has malfunctioning

a.     cubes.          b.         spheres.            c.         cones.              d.         rods.

24.   Rudy has trouble with his vision because he was born without any rods.  Rudy most likely experiences all of the following except

a.     trouble seeing in dim light.     b.         poor peripheral vision.  c.          an inability to see colors.

d.     little convergence among his photoreceptors.

25.   You are having trouble reading a word in an exam item because the type is blurry.  So you move the page to be able to see the word most clearly.  You have probably just focused the word onto your

a.     optic nerve. b.         stapes.              c.         iris.                   d.         fovea.

26.   You are able to see crisp edges and sharp contrast because of  your

a.     bipolar cells. b.         ganglion cells.               c.         optic nerve.      d.         pupil.

27.   Because of an eye injury, you have to temporarily wear a patch over one eye. Using your uncovered eye, you notice that there is a small region of the visual field where you cannot see anything. This is known as

a.  temporary blindness.    b.  retinal discontinuity.   c..       retinal sympathy.   d. the blind spot.

28.   When you look at a picture, information about the right visual field is sent to the left hemisphere of the brain and information about the left visual field is sent to the right hemisphere of the brain.  This cross over occurs in the

a.     ganglion cells.           b.         bipolar cells.     c.         lateral geniculate nucleus.          d.         optic chiasm.

29. -During his adventures around the galaxy, Arthur Dent relied on an earpiece that deciphered all the strange

alien languages he heard.  Similarly, receptors in the ear encode sound waves into neural activity which the brain can understand, a process called

            a.         transduction.     b.         synthesis.          c.         transcription.     d.         accommodation

30.-In a freak Q-Tip accident, Clayton damages a specific part of his brain. As a result of this injury, Clayton

can no longer see objects that are in motion. The injury has affected Clayton’s ______________ processing of visual properties.

a.-parallel         b.-hierarchical   c.-spatial frequency       d.-opponent

31.-The same set of visual cortical cells would respond to viewing which of these pairs of objects?

a.- box and a door        b.-box and a baseball   c.- baseball and a bat    d.- light bulb and a door

32.-John, a talented singer and songwriter, has a condition known as synesthesia.  He attributes his creative

lyrics to the “mixing of senses” he experiences.  Recent research suggests that synesthesia occurs because

a.-all sensory information is processed in the same brain area.

b.-there are more extensive connections between neighboring brain areas than in nonsynesthetic people.

c.-there is an excess of dopamine in the association cortex.

d.-feature detectors in the brain become associated with multiple senses.

33.-Every time Rahvin approaches a traffic light, he claims that he can taste the red, yellow, or green lights as

 different flavors.  Such a mixing of sensory signals is known as

a.-conversion hysteria.  b.-trichromatic color theory.      c.-synesthesia.  d.-receptive error.

34.-The ____ sense is the only one that does not send information to the cortex via the thalamus.

a.-auditory        b.-visual           c.-olfactory       d.-somatic

35.-You are walking across campus and you notice an odor that is coming from livestock in the area.  Due to

            neural pathways, the smell is most likely to evoke a(n)

a.-visual memory.         b.-auditory memory.     c.-loss of your balance. d.-emotion.

36.-Jonathan has been involved in a car accident and has suffered damage to his thalamus. Jonathan’s sense of

            _____ will be least impaired by his injuries.

a.-smell            b.-vision           c.-taste             d.-hearing

37. As soon as Rashidat caught a whiff of the cologne of the woman sitting in front of him in class, he was           attracted to her. Though she was a complete stranger, her smell was familiar. He was unable to place the

 smell, but it brought back good memories. Why?

                                a.-Rashidat was downwind from the woman’s pheromones.

b.-Connections from the olfactory bulb are plentiful in the amygdala.

c.-Rashidat’s vomeronasal organ was activated.            d.-The woman’s odor type was the same as his.

38.-A strange male rat takes over a territory occupied by a pregnant female. Even though they have no direct

            contact, the female aborts her pregnancy and becomes sexually receptive. This kind of communication

                        probably involves:         a.-gustation.      b.-pheromones.            c.-hormones.    d.-neurotransmitters.

39.-Tiffany is enjoying her favorite beverage, hot cocoa. Which of the following is not true?

a.-The cocoa’s sweetness is partly due to its warmth.

b.-The cocoa’s flavor is stronger because the cocoa is hot.

c.-Tiffany’s senses of smell and taste are working together.

d.-The cocoa’s chocolate is tasted by chocolate receptors located in Tiffany’s taste buds.

40.-Lenelle has been prescribed a bitter-tasting liquid medicine. The best way for her to take the medicine

            without realizing it tastes bad is to

a.-close her eyes and imagine it’s candy.                       b.-drink water after taking the medicine.

c.-plug her nose until the medicine is swallowed.            d.-roll the medicine to the back of the tongue.

41.-In humans, the area of the parietal lobe cortex that processes skin sensory information from the lips should

 be ___ the area of the parietal lobe cortex that processes skin sensory information from the ears.

a.-larger than                b.-smaller than              c.-similar to      d.-None of the above.

41.-A combat soldier is shot in the leg during an intense firefight. However, he does not experience any pain

            until he gets to the relative safety of the field hospital. This is an illustration of natural analgesia, which

            involves            a.-endorphins. b.-lateral inhibition.       c.-capsaicin.                 d.-kinesthesia.

42.-When Julio bumped his elbow on a towel rack, he rubbed the sore spot absent-mindedly. This action

reduced the amount of pain he felt. According to the gate-control theory of pain, how did the rubbing help?

a.-Julio’s brain sent competing messages down the spinal cord.

b.-Julio’s belief acted as a placebo.

c.-The rubbing sensations used the pathways that the pain sensations would have used.

d.-The rubbing sensations caused a “gate” in the pain-sensing area of the brain to close.

43.-Sammy is a world-class figure skater. He is well regarded for the speed and centering he is able to achieve

            in his spins on the ice. His ability to control his body in this way is probably attributable to his

a.-vestibular system.                 b.-autonomic system.    c.-A-delta fibers.          d.-Somatosensory system.

44. Helen’s ear infection became so severe that it also affected her vestibular sense organs. What happened?

a.-Nothing        b.-She began having dizzy spells.           c.-She became deaf.    

d.-Her vision began to be affected also.

45.-Vipool thought it would be fun to spin around in circle activating his vestibular sense and causing him to

            feel dizzy. Vipool stimulated all of the following except

a.-otoliths.        b.-vestibular sacs.         c.-semicircular canals.               d.-basilar membrane.

46.-Shawn’s leg has fallen asleep and now he has trouble walking because he cannot determine the position of

            his leg in space.  Shawn has lost his

a.-vestibular sense.       b.-sense of kinesthesia. c.-olfactory sense.        d.-sense of gustation.

47. -Which of the following would be a symptom of a loss of kinesthetic sense?

a.-Dizziness      b.-Emotionality c.-No feeling of pain

d.-Difficulty in walking without watching one’s feet

48.-An extremely well-developed kinesthetic sense would be very important for which of the following vocations?          a.-Wine taster                   b.-Piano tuner   c.-Ballet dancer            d.-Astronomer

Essay Questions

1.     Describe the problem of coding and how the doctrine of specific nerve energies helps to explain how the problem is solved in human sensory systems.

2.     Electromagnetic radiation is produced by a star. Xiaodan says, “What a bright star!” Please fill in the steps between the creation of the energy and the Xiaodan’s sensation.

3.     Explain the theories that describe how people see color.