Chapter 4: Sensation and Perception
Testing your knowledge of idioms and other vocabulary
Here are some more idioms, words used with figurative meanings, and other vocabulary items that you may not be familiar with. Match each item in column A with the appropriate meaning given in column B. If you are unsure, look at the sentence context given below. Remember that words may have different meanings in different contexts. The meanings given here are appropriate for the contexts from your textbook, but in different contexts the words in question might have different meanings. Answers are given on pages 26-27.
COLUMN A / COLUMN Ba. to be overwhelmed with / 1. extremely selective; choosy
b. custom designed / 2. distasteful; not pleasant
c. at the expense of / 3. to take control
d. to take over / 4. through the loss of; with damage to or reduction in something else
e. at full blast / 5. without much flavor
f. bland / 6. to be overcome by; to be overpowered by
g. to screen out / 7. to eliminate undesirable items; to get rid of unwanted items or people
h. picky / 8. to begin to do something before the appropriate time
i. yucky / 9. especially made; made to order
j. once-in-a-lifetime / 10. offensive; objectionable
k. to sort out / 11. to persuade
l. obnoxious / 12. in conclusion, to summarize
m. to coax / 13. to arrange; to isolate; to place into categories
n. to whiz by / 14. to move very quickly
o. to jump the gun / 15. rare; uncommon; very special
p. in sum / 16. very loud
Sentence context
a. Some level of filtering is needed so the brain is not overwhelmed with unnecessary information. (p. 128)
b. Each of our senses is therefore custom-designed to respond to only a select range of potential sensory information. (p. 128)
c. This greater sensitivity, however, is achieved at the expense of fine detail and color vision¾the job of the cones. (p. 135)
d. When the brightness level suddenly changes, how do the rods “take over” from the cones, and vice versa? (p. 135)
e. That means avoiding exceptionally loud noises (rock concerts, jackhammers, stereo headphones at full blast)… (p. 138)
f. Have you ever noticed how food seems bland when your nose is blocked by a cold and you cannot smell your food? (p. 139)
g. The major function of taste is to provide information about substances that are entering our digestive tract so that we can screen out those that may be harmful. (p. 140)
h. Why are children so picky about food? (p. 140)
i. For example, many Japanese children eat raw fish and some Chinese children eat chicken feet as part of their normal diet, whereas American children might consider these foods “yucky.” (p. 140)
j. Imagine for a moment that you are an Olympic skier, and you’re anxiously awaiting the starting signal that will begin your once-in-a-lifetime race for the gold medal in the giant slalom. (p. 140)
k. In almost every situation, there is an excess of sensory information, but the brain manages to sort out the important messages and discard the rest. (p. 144)
l. Surprisingly, obnoxious advertising does not always deter people from buying the advertised product (or candidate). (p. 145)
m. When an infant is placed on the platform and is coaxed by his or her mother to crawl to one side of the table, the infant will readily move to the “shallow” side but will hesitate or refuse to move to the “deep” side. (p. 151)
n. Close objects appear to whiz by; farther objects seem to move slowly, and very distant objects appear to remain stationary. (p. 154)
o. If a car backfires, runners at a track meet may jump the gun. (p. 156)
p. In sum, evidence exists that subliminal perception occurs, but the effect on subliminal persuasion is uncertain. (p. 158)
Reviewing your knowledge of English grammar
Many verbs in English occur together with a preposition. We call these constructions verb + preposition combinations. If you are unsure which preposition “belongs” with a certain verb, you can find this information in the dictionary by looking up the verb and studying the example sentences. Study the examples of these constructions given below:
The eye consists of several major parts: the cornea, the sclera, the pupil, the iris, the lens, and the retina. All these parts contribute to the vision process. If you are young and have good vision, you can focus on things that are both near and far. However, as people get older, the eyeball changes shape. To look at something close, older people usually have to put on reading glasses.
See how well you are able to complete the paragraph below by inserting the correct preposition in the blank spaces provided. When you are finished, you may check your answers in the answer key section.
Since ancient times, people have been interested ______ways to increase their sexual attractiveness. Many people believe that the use of perfumes, aftershave lotion, and other odorous substances will result ______increased sexual attractiveness. Of course, perfume companies rely ______this belief to sell their products. But is this belief based ______any scientific truth? In fact, many scientists today believe that sexual attractiveness arises ______the secretion of pheromones (chemical odors) such as the copulins which are given ______by female monkeys when they want to attract male monkeys.
Finding key information
Often, when authors want to support an argument or a key point, they first state the argument, and then either a) give examples from daily life or b) cite research evidence. Often both a) and b) are given to support the argument. The chart below illustrates how this is done in the following paragraph:
Most perceptual constancies are based on prior experience and learning. According to the principle of perceptual constancy, the perceived size of an object remains the same even though the size of its retinal image changes. Research shows that adults consistently outperform young children in tasks involving size constancy. For example, preschoolers often think that a car parked down the street is smaller than the car they are standing next to. Adults with more experience understand that the cars are the same relative size. However, in Turnbull’s (1961) study of pygmies in the Congo River Valley of Africa, it was shown that adults with no prior experience with distance viewing exhibited a similar misperception about the size of objects in the distance as do children. For example, one pygmy, upon seeing a herd of buffalo in the distance, thought that the buffalo were insects.
Argument / Perceptual constancies are based on prior experience and learning.Proof from daily life / Children often have difficulty understanding the size of objects in the distance, such as a car parked down the street.
Evidence from psychological research studies / The adult pygmies in Turnbull’s study in the Congo had a similar difficulty determining the size of objects in the distance, such as buffalo.
Read the section “Subliminal Perception” on pages 158. Then, fill in the chart below with the key components of the argument. When you are finished, you may check your answers in the answer key section.
ArgumentProof from daily life
Evidence from psychological research studies
Examining structural clues
Often when arguing a point of view, writers will first state the opposite point of view and then show contrasts by stating the correct point of view. Sentence connectors can be a valuable clue in identifying this type of structure:
The connector although occurs frequently to signal such contrasts.
Although many people believe that people are killed in car and train accidents because they didn’t see the train, psychologists believe that these accidents are caused by motion misperceptions -- i.e., that the victims did in fact see the train approaching but misjudged its speed.
Whereas functions in a similar manner to although.
Whereas many psychologists believe that depth perception is learned, there is evidence from visual cliff studies with young infants that this ability is innate.
Yet another connector which functions like whereas and although is while.
While many people think that obnoxious advertising stops people from buying a product, research shows that whether you like an ad or not is irrelevant.
Another common connector which signals contrast is however.
Silverman (1980) has proposed that subliminal messages are perceived by our unconscious mind. However, other research has not shown any support for this idea.
The connector nevertheless has the same meaning as the other connectors above. It is commonly used to begin a new sentence.
Perhaps you’ve noticed that a full moon looks gigantic when seen on the horizon but tiny by comparison when it is straight overhead. Nevertheless, the moon’s physical distance from the earth and the size of its image remain constant.
Sometimes other signals are used to show the contrast between the “right” and the “wrong” idea.
Most people estimate that the lines that separate lanes on a highway are 2 to 5 feet long; in reality, they are longer than 10 feet, and may be as long as 18 feet.
Locate 5 sentences in this chapter which contain a connector signaling contrast and write the sentences in the spaces below. Study your sentences to see if they follow the patterns noted above.
1. ______
______
2. ______
______
3. ______
______
4. ______
______
5. ______
______
Answer key
Testing your knowledge of idioms and other vocabulary
a. 6; / b. 9; / c. 4; / d. 3; / e. 16; / f. 5; / g. 7; / h. 1; / i. 2; / j. 15; / k. 13; / l. 10;m. 11; / n. 14; / o. 8; / p. 12;
Reviewing your knowledge of English grammar
Since ancient times, people have been interested in ways to increase their sexual attractiveness. Many people believe that the use of perfumes, aftershave lotion, and other odorous substances will result in increased sexual attractiveness. Of course, perfume companies rely on this belief to sell their products. But is this belief based on any scientific truth? In fact, many scientists today believe that sexual attractiveness arises from the secretion of pheromones (chemical odors) such as the copulins which are given off by female monkeys when they want to attract male monkeys.
Finding key information
Argument / There is evidence that subliminal perception occurs, but the effect on actual behavior is uncertain.Proof from daily life / People believed that movie theaters were manipulating consumers by subliminally presenting messages like “Eat popcorn” and “Drink Coca-Cola.” Record companies supposedly embedded subliminal messages in rock music that encouraged violence and sex in young listeners.
Evidence from psychological research studies / Scientific research on subliminal stimuli demonstrates that information processing does occur even when we are not aware of it (Bargh, 1999; Dimberg, Thunberg, & Elmehed, 2000; Greenwald & Banaji, 1995). Dimberg, Thunberg, & Elmehed (2000) found that subliminal presentation of happy or angry faces in pictures evoked matching unconscious facial expressions in the participant’s own facial muscles. Begg, Needham, & Bookbinder (1993) and Trappey (1996) found that subliminal stimuli are basically weak stimuli, and they have at best a modest effect on consumer behavior and absolutely no effect on the minds of youth listening to rock music or citizens’ voting behavior.
Examining structural clues
Answers will vary.
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