All Free Psychology MCQs with Answers

• A. How we perceive individual features of objects when brain is impaired
• B. How we perceive multiple colours to perceive a whole colour
• C. How we integrate touch and vision
• D. How we integrate individual features of objects to perceive a whole object

Explanation: Feature integration theory explains how separate features such as colour, shape and orientation are combined to form the perception of a…

• A. The target/distractor difference is not based on a single feature, but on conjunctions of features
• B. Search time for the target is not constant, but instead rises with the number of distractors
• C. The observer apparently searches through the display serially, scanning each term or small group of items) successively (serial search)
• D. All of the above

Explanation: A conjunction search requires combining two or more features, so the target usually cannot be detected immediately and search time…

• A. Recurrent processing model
• B. Serial processing model
• C. Parallel processing model
• D. Selective adaptation model

Explanation: The recurrent processing model emphasizes feedback loops between higher-level brain areas and earlier sensory-processing stages.

• A. Neurons in V1 adapt to visual stimulation, so their response to a stimulus increases over time with repeated presentation
• B. The localized receptive fields and binocular characteristics of V1 neurons correlate very well with the perceptual characteristics of perceptual after-effects
• C. The neurons in area V1 are prime candidates for the mechanisms that underlie visual after-effects in people
• D. Images of complex objects trees; houses, people are initially analyzed by mechanisms that respond to their local physical characteristics and have no connection with the identity of the objects themselves

Explanation: Neural adaptation normally reduces a neuron's response after prolonged or repeated stimulation, rather than increasing it.

• A. After running your fingers over fine sandpaper, medium sandpaper feels coarser (and vice versa)
• B. After listening to a high tone for a while, a medium auditory tone appears higher
• C. Holding your hand under running cold (or hot) water before testing the temperature of baby's bath water will lead you to misperceive how comfortable the water will be for the baby
• D. After eating chocolate, orange juice tastes more tart

Explanation: After adapting to a high tone, a medium tone is generally perceived as lower, not higher, because of auditory pitch adaptation.

• A. A system of channels can only signal preferred orientation of any single channel
• B. Perceptual information is likely to be merged via a process that combines the activities across all channels
• C. As part of the process of synthesis, channel activities are likely to be weighted according to the level of activity in each channel
• D. The merging process may find the 'center of gravity' of the distribution of activity

Explanation: A single channel signals its preferred orientation, but a whole channel system can represent a distribution of orientations through the…

• A. 1 & 3
• B. 2 & 3
• C. 3 & 4
• D. 2 & 4

Explanation: In the tilt illusion, surrounding orientation can make a vertical pattern appear tilted away from the surround, and colour contrast shifts…

• A. The serial processing model is now known to be inadequate, or at least incomplete
• B. The serial model has been replaced, at or at least modified, firstly by the parallel processing model and then, most recently, by the recurrent processing model
• C. According to the parallel processing model, analysis of different stimulus attributes, such as identity and location, proceeds simultaneously along different pathways, even from the earliest stages
• D. According to the parallel processing model, the fact that there are cones and rods in the retina is evidence for multiple mechanisms that extract information in series from the retinal image

Explanation: Rods and cones provide different parallel mechanisms for analysing retinal information, not mechanisms that extract information in series.

• A. Respond to specific stimulus patterns
• B. Respond to the whole visual field
• C. Respond primarily to stationary objects
• D. Develop only after birth

Explanation: Many sensory neural circuits are tuned to particular patterns or features, such as edges, movement or specific orientations.

• A. Sight cells
• B. Second stage sensors
• C. Feature detectors
• D. Vision neurons

Explanation: Feature detectors are specialised neurons that respond to basic visual properties such as lines, angles, shading and movement.

• A. Relative size
• B. Retinal disparity
• C. Linear perspective
• D. Texture gradient

Explanation: Retinal disparity is a binocular cue because the brain compares the slightly different images received by the two eyes.

• A. Expands; constricts
• B. Constricts; expands
• C. Focuses; constricts
• D. Constricts; focuses

Explanation: In bright light, the iris contracts and makes the pupil smaller, limiting the light that reaches the retina.

• A. Locate in image
• B. Focus an image on the retina
• C. Combine the location and projection on the blind spot
• D. Project an image on the cornea

Explanation: The lens changes shape to focus incoming light precisely on the retina, producing a clear image.

• A. Cognition
• B. Perception
• C. Adaptation
• D. Sensation

Explanation: Sensation is the detection of physical information by sensory receptors, such as light by the eyes or pressure by the skin.

• A. Feature detection.
• B. Bottom-up processing
• C. Pre-attentive processing
• D. The phi phenomenon

Explanation: The phi phenomenon occurs when rapidly displayed stationary lights are perceived as a single moving light.

• A. The binocular cue for depth called convergence
• B. The monocular cue for depth called linear perspective
• C. The pictorial cue for depth called texture gradient
• D. The monocular cue for depth called motion parallax

Explanation: Motion parallax is a monocular depth cue in which nearby objects appear to move quickly across the visual field while distant objects seem…

• A. Perceptual adaptation
• B. The phi phenomenon
• C. Perceptual set
• D. Lightness constancy

Explanation: Lightness constancy allows an object to appear to retain the same brightness or shade despite changes in illumination.

• A. Kinesthetic
• B. Vestibular
• C. Olfactory
• D. Gustatory

Explanation: The vestibular sense, based in the inner ear, provides information about balance, head movement, and orientation in space.

• A. Relative size
• B. Accommodation
• C. Depth perception
• D. Convergence

Explanation: Convergence is a binocular depth cue: the eyes turn inward more sharply when viewing a nearby object.

• A. Pinna
• B. Aqueous humor
• C. Semicircular canals
• D. Oval window

Explanation: Aqueous humor is the fluid in the front part of the eye, not a structure of the ear.