Perception and Attention Quiz

Which of the following is not a role of attention?

• It allows us to finish something we set out to do.

• It allows us to switch between tasks seamlessly.

• It allows us to process multiple sources of information.

• It allows us to filter out information that is not important or relevant to us.

A key difference between bottom-up and top-down processing is

• bottom-up processing involves the way that information is organised, whereas top-down processing does not consider this at all.

• bottom-up processing is typically used with easy-to-understand stimuli, whereas top-down processing is used with more complex stimuli.

• bottom-up processing uses the individual stimulus features to create a complete understanding, whereas top-down processing uses prior contextual understandings to make sense of the stimulus features.

• bottom-up processing occurs in real-time, whereas top-down processing occurs before the stimulus is presented.

Which of the following statements best describes the process of becoming consciously aware of a sensory stimulus?

• The sensory stimulus is first detected by sensory receptors and first undergoes perception before being sent to the brain where it reaches conscious awareness.

• The stimulus is selected by sensory receptors that filter through the relevant stimuli, and send the sensory information to the brain where it undergoes perception to reach conscious awareness.

• All stimuli detected by sensory receptors have reached conscious awareness, and it is only those that are not detected at all that are not able to be noticed.

• The sensory stimulus is first detected by sensory receptors, then it is sent to the brain where it reaches conscious awareness and undergoes perception.

Which of the following visual perceptions are not facilitated by Gestalt principles?

• Being able to do paint-by-numbers, as you can recognise the shape that the final image is meant to be.

• Perceiving close-by items that appear similarly as a group.

• When an object is obscured, we perceive it as further away, and the object that is covering it up is perceived as closer to us.

• Being able to imagine closed lines in an incomplete shape to form a coherent image.

Luci is 80 years old and moved to Australia from England when she was 24 years old. She remembers a particular pie

that she used to eat from a shop in her hometown. Luci loved that the pie was so flavoursome, and has not had the

chance to try it again. For her 80th birthday, Luci’s family had one of the pies sent over from her hometown so that she

could try it again. Upon taking the first bite, Luci was very disappointed to find that it tasted very bland compared to

what she remembered.

Which of the following factors influencing gustatory perception is the most likely explanation for Luci’s difference in taste?

• The biological factor of age, as her taste buds would have decreased since the last time she tried the pie causing its flavours to be perceived more weakly.

• The social factor of culture, as the pie was a source of nostalgia for her hometown, but this was not actually reflective of the flavour.

• The psychological factor of appearance, as she may have remembered the pie looking different, causing her to think it also tastes different.

• The social factor of culture, as she no longer aligns with the cultural values symbolised by the pie and this caused her to dislike its taste.

Which of the following is considered to be a perceptual distortion?

• Experience of supertasters.

• Effects of miraculin.

• Perceptual set influencing flavour perception.

• The influence of texture on the intensity of flavours.

A sense being fallible means that

• it is unreliable and should not be trusted as accurate.

• it will experience perceptual distortions.

• it is biased.

• it is prone to error.

Perceptual distortions commonly occur in individuals who

• are healthy and have normally functioning brains.

• have a disruption to the functioning of one or more senses.

• have incurred significant brain damage.

• are intellectually below average.

Perceptual distortions involve

• an issue in the detection of sensory stimuli.

• an error in the interpretation of sensory stimuli.

• an overexposure to specific sensory stimuli.

• a difference in cognitive abilities.

Which of the following is not a common cause of the occurrence of visual illusions?

• An environmental influence.

• A psychological influence.

• Damage to the eye.

• A physiological influence.