AP®PsychologyCollege BoardExam QuestionsBiological Bases of BehaviorSensation

Sensation (College Board AP® Psychology): Exam Questions

6 mins6 questions
1
1 mark

Researchers conducted a study in which participants completed a series of signal detection tasks. They found a positive correlation between participants' anxiety levels and the number of false alarms (reporting a signal when none was present). The researchers concluded that high anxiety causes people to be more likely to report false alarms.

Which of the following most accurately describes a flaw in this conclusion?

  • The sample size is too small to draw any conclusions about signal detection.

  • Signal detection tasks cannot measure differences between individuals.

  • The researchers used a biased measure of anxiety.

  • A cause-and-effect conclusion cannot be drawn because no independent variable was manipulated.

Choose your answer

2
1 mark

A researcher is designing a study to measure participants' absolute threshold for detecting a faint tone. A colleague suggests defining the absolute threshold as "the intensity at which the participant correctly detects the tone 100% of the time."

Which of the following best evaluates this definition?

  • It is correct, because the absolute threshold requires certainty of detection

  • It is flawed, because the standard definition is the intensity detected on 50% of trials

  • It is flawed, because absolute thresholds can only be measured using signal detection theory

  • It is correct, because participants must always detect a stimulus for it to be above threshold

Choose your answer

3
1 mark

A hearing scientist explains that the perception of high-frequency sounds depends on which part of the basilar membrane vibrates most strongly — with high frequencies activating the base of the membrane and low frequencies activating the apex.

Which of the following theories of pitch perception does this description support?

  • Frequency theory

  • Place theory

  • The opponent-process theory

  • The gate-control theory

Choose your answer

4
1 mark

A patient recovering from surgery reports that listening to music significantly reduces their perception of pain. Their doctor explains that the music activates sensory neural pathways that can inhibit or block the transmission of pain signals in the spinal cord before they reach the brain.

Which of the following theories of pain perception does the doctor's explanation reflect?

  • The frequency theory of pain

  • The opponent-process theory of pain

  • Signal detection theory

  • Gate-control theory

Choose your answer

5
1 mark

A woman reports that the smell of a particular cologne immediately and vividly evokes a rush of emotion and detailed memories of her late grandfather. Her therapist notes that olfactory stimuli are particularly powerful triggers for emotional memories.

Which of the following best accounts for this phenomenon neurologically?

  • Olfactory signals are processed by the cerebellum before reaching the cortex, enhancing motor memory

  • Olfactory signals travel through the thalamus to the motor cortex, strengthening procedural associations

  • Olfactory signals have a direct pathway to the limbic system, including the amygdala and hippocampus, linking smell closely to emotion and memory

  • Olfactory signals are processed more slowly than other sensory signals, giving them more time to form emotional associations

Choose your answer

6
1 mark

An astronaut returning from six months aboard a space station reports difficulty walking in a straight line and misjudging the position of objects when reaching for them. Physicians determine that her difficulties stem from disruption to the sensory system that detects the body's position, movement, and orientation relative to gravity.

Which sense is most likely affected?

  • Kinesthesis

  • The vestibular sense

  • Proprioception

  • Gustation

Choose your answer