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Maharashtra HSC Psychology study materials
Maharashtra HSC Psychology study resources

Maharashtra HSC Psychology practice questions

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Question 1Introduction to Psychology: Nature, Scope, Schools and Methods

Wilhelm Wundt is conventionally credited with founding scientific psychology because in 1879 he did which of the following?

  1. Published the first textbook describing behaviourist principles
  2. Introduced the psychoanalytic method of free association
  3. Developed the first standardised intelligence test
  4. Established a laboratory dedicated to the experimental study of conscious experience Correct answer.

Explanation

Wundt opened an experimental laboratory in Leipzig in 1879, where conscious experience was studied under controlled conditions using introspection. This deliberate use of experiment to study mind is what marks the birth of psychology as an independent science.

Question 2Introduction to Psychology: Nature, Scope, Schools and Methods

A psychologist defines psychology as the scientific study of behaviour and mental processes. Which feature of this definition most clearly distinguishes psychology from everyday observation of people?

  1. Its reliance on systematic, verifiable methods of gathering evidence Correct answer.
  2. Its dependence on philosophical speculation
  3. Its rejection of any study of inner experience
  4. Its exclusive focus on abnormal behaviour

Explanation

What separates psychology from common-sense guessing is methodology: observations are made systematically, under controlled or replicable conditions, and are open to verification by others. The definition does not exclude mental processes, nor is it limited to abnormality.

Question 3Introduction to Psychology: Nature, Scope, Schools and Methods

Which statement best captures the scope of psychology as a discipline?

  1. It studies only the unconscious mind as revealed in dreams
  2. It studies only the physiological structure of the nervous system
  3. It studies behaviour and mental processes across the full range of human and animal functioning Correct answer.
  4. It studies only the behaviour of persons diagnosed with mental disorders

Explanation

The scope of psychology is broad, covering perception, learning, memory, motivation, emotion, personality, social behaviour and abnormality, in humans and in other species. Narrowing it to clinical cases, nervous anatomy or dreams alone misrepresents that breadth.

Question 4Introduction to Psychology: Nature, Scope, Schools and Methods

A researcher studies how students' recall of a list of words changes when background noise is present or absent. Which goal of psychology is being served most directly?

  1. Prediction of behaviour
  2. Description of behaviour
  3. Control of behaviour
  4. Explanation of behaviour Correct answer.

Explanation

Explanation seeks to account for why a relationship exists, here why noise affects recall, by identifying underlying processes such as interference or reduced attention. Description would merely record the difference, prediction would forecast performance, and control would deliberately manipulate conditions to change outcomes.

Question 5Introduction to Psychology: Nature, Scope, Schools and Methods

A therapist helps a client replace maladaptive thought patterns so that the client's anxiety reduces. Which goal of psychology does this illustrate?

  1. Explanation of behaviour
  2. Control or modification of behaviour Correct answer.
  3. Prediction of behaviour
  4. Pure description of behaviour

Explanation

Control refers to using psychological knowledge to bring about a desired change in behaviour or experience, as in therapeutic intervention. The therapist is not merely describing or forecasting the anxiety but actively altering it.

Question 6Introduction to Psychology: Nature, Scope, Schools and Methods

In the context of psychology's methods, what does introspection mean?

  1. Recording the behaviour of others without their awareness
  2. Measuring physiological responses such as heart rate
  3. Interpreting the symbolic content of dreams
  4. Reporting one's own conscious experiences as they occur Correct answer.

Explanation

Introspection is the systematic self-observation and reporting of one's own conscious states, the method central to Wundt's and Titchener's laboratories. It is directed inward at one's own experience, not at others' behaviour or bodily measures.

Question 7Introduction to Psychology: Nature, Scope, Schools and Methods

Which criticism is most often raised against introspection as a research method?

  1. It requires expensive laboratory equipment
  2. It cannot be applied to conscious adults
  3. It examines behaviour rather than experience
  4. It is highly subjective and difficult to verify by another observer Correct answer.

Explanation

Introspective reports are private and depend on the observer's own language and honesty, so independent verification is difficult and results vary between observers. This subjectivity, together with the impossibility of testing young children or animals this way, weakened the method.

Question 8Introduction to Psychology: Nature, Scope, Schools and Methods

Structuralism, associated with Titchener, aimed primarily at which of the following?

  1. Analysing conscious experience into its basic elements Correct answer.
  2. Treating unconscious conflicts through therapy
  3. Describing how consciousness helps the organism adapt
  4. Explaining behaviour through stimulus-response bonds

Explanation

Structuralism sought to break conscious experience down into elementary components such as sensations, images and feelings, mainly through introspection. Adaptation to the environment belongs to functionalism, while the other options belong to psychoanalysis and behaviourism.

Question 9Introduction to Psychology: Nature, Scope, Schools and Methods

A psychologist argues that consciousness should be studied in terms of what it does, for example how attention helps a person adjust to a changing environment. This position is most consistent with which school?

  1. Structuralism
  2. Gestalt psychology
  3. Functionalism Correct answer.
  4. Behaviourism

Explanation

Functionalism, associated with James and strongly influenced by Darwinian thinking, asked what mental processes are for and how they aid adaptation. Structuralism instead analysed the contents of mind, Gestalt psychology emphasised organised wholes, and behaviourism excluded consciousness from study.

Question 10Introduction to Psychology: Nature, Scope, Schools and Methods

Gestalt psychology is best known for which central claim?

  1. Experience is organised into wholes that cannot be reduced to separate parts Correct answer.
  2. All behaviour is learned through reinforcement
  3. Mental disorders stem from unconscious conflicts
  4. Individual differences can be measured by standardised tests

Explanation

Gestalt psychologists held that perception and thought are organised wholes, so that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. This was a direct challenge to elementism, and it differs sharply from behaviourist, psychoanalytic and psychometric positions.

Question 11Introduction to Psychology: Nature, Scope, Schools and Methods

A student says that a melody sounds the same when played in a different key even though the individual notes differ. Which Gestalt principle does this best illustrate?

  1. The principle that perception is built from learned associations between stimuli
  2. The principle that unconscious wishes shape perception
  3. The principle that behaviour is shaped by reinforcement schedules
  4. The principle that the whole pattern takes precedence over its individual elements Correct answer.

Explanation

The transposition of a melody shows that the perceived whole, the relational pattern, is preserved even when the elements change, which is the core Gestalt insight. It is not an account of reinforcement, unconscious motivation or associative learning.

Question 12Introduction to Psychology: Nature, Scope, Schools and Methods

Which statement summarises the behaviourist position of Watson and Skinner?

  1. Psychology should focus on innate self-actualising tendencies
  2. Psychology should interpret the symbolic meaning of behaviour
  3. Psychology should analyse conscious experience into its elements
  4. Psychology should study observable behaviour and the conditions that control it Correct answer.

Explanation

Behaviourism insisted that psychology confine itself to observable, measurable behaviour and the environmental conditions that produce it, rejecting introspection. Elementism, humanistic self-actualisation and symbolic interpretation each belong to other schools.

Question 13Introduction to Psychology: Nature, Scope, Schools and Methods

A teacher praises a pupil each time the pupil completes homework promptly, and the prompt completion becomes more frequent. Which school's framework best explains this observation?

  1. Humanistic psychology
  2. Behaviourism Correct answer.
  3. Psychoanalysis
  4. Gestalt psychology

Explanation

The teacher is using a consequence, praise, to increase the frequency of a behaviour, which is the behaviourist principle of reinforcement. Psychoanalysis looks to unconscious conflict, Gestalt psychology to perceptual organisation, and humanistic psychology to growth and self-concept.

Question 14Introduction to Psychology: Nature, Scope, Schools and Methods

Psychoanalysis, as developed by Freud, places greatest emphasis on which of the following?

  1. The role of reinforcement in learning
  2. Unconscious motives and early childhood experiences in shaping behaviour Correct answer.
  3. The organisation of perceptual fields
  4. The objective measurement of reaction time

Explanation

Freud's theory treats behaviour and personality as driven largely by unconscious wishes and conflicts rooted in early development, and it uses methods such as free association and dream analysis. Reaction time, reinforcement and perceptual organisation belong to other schools.

Question 15Introduction to Psychology: Nature, Scope, Schools and Methods

A client's symptoms are interpreted as expressing a hidden wish of which the client is unaware. This interpretation is most characteristic of which approach?

  1. Behaviourism
  2. Cognitive psychology
  3. Psychoanalysis Correct answer.
  4. Gestalt psychology

Explanation

Reading symptoms as disguised expressions of an unconscious wish is the psychoanalytic mode of interpretation. Behaviourism would look for environmental contingencies, Gestalt psychology for perceptual structure, and cognitive psychology for information-processing mechanisms.

Question 16Introduction to Psychology: Nature, Scope, Schools and Methods

Humanistic psychology, associated with Maslow and Rogers, is distinguished by its emphasis on which of the following?

  1. The measurement of traits through factor analysis
  2. The reduction of experience to elementary sensations
  3. The person's inherent drive toward growth and self-actualisation Correct answer.
  4. The control of behaviour through conditioning

Explanation

Humanistic psychology stresses the whole person, free choice and an innate tendency toward growth and self-actualisation, and it treats the therapeutic relationship as central. Elementism, conditioning and trait measurement belong to other traditions.

Question 17Introduction to Psychology: Nature, Scope, Schools and Methods

Which school of psychology is most closely associated with the study of perception, learning and memory as processes of encoding, storage and retrieval?

  1. Psychoanalysis
  2. Functionalism
  3. Structuralism
  4. Cognitive psychology Correct answer.

Explanation

Cognitive psychology treats the mind as an information-processing system and studies processes such as attention, encoding, storage and retrieval. The other schools do not frame memory in these information-processing terms.

Question 18Introduction to Psychology: Nature, Scope, Schools and Methods

A researcher watches children in a playground from a distance and records the frequency of cooperative play without intervening. Which method is being used?

  1. Naturalistic observation Correct answer.
  2. Controlled experiment
  3. Survey
  4. Case study

Explanation

Naturalistic observation involves observing behaviour in its usual setting without manipulation by the researcher. An experiment would require deliberate manipulation of a variable, a case study would examine one individual in depth, and a survey would collect self-reports.

Question 19Introduction to Psychology: Nature, Scope, Schools and Methods

What is a principal advantage of naturalistic observation over laboratory experimentation?

  1. It eliminates observer bias completely
  2. It studies behaviour as it occurs in realistic settings Correct answer.
  3. It allows precise control of extraneous variables
  4. It establishes causal relationships more firmly

Explanation

Naturalistic observation gains ecological validity because behaviour is studied in its ordinary setting rather than an artificial one. It loses, however, the control that permits causal inference, and observer bias remains a real risk.

Question 20Introduction to Psychology: Nature, Scope, Schools and Methods

In an experiment on the effect of sleep on memory, participants are randomly assigned to either a full night's sleep or a shortened night. What is the independent variable?

  1. The amount of sleep Correct answer.
  2. The score on the memory test
  3. The participants' age
  4. The random assignment procedure

Explanation

The independent variable is the factor the experimenter manipulates, here the amount of sleep given to participants. The memory score is the dependent variable, age would be an extraneous variable if uncontrolled, and random assignment is a procedure rather than a variable.

Question 21Introduction to Psychology: Nature, Scope, Schools and Methods

Which feature most clearly distinguishes an experiment from a correlational study?

  1. The use of a sample of participants
  2. The measurement of two variables
  3. The reporting of results in numerical form
  4. The deliberate manipulation of an independent variable Correct answer.

Explanation

Only an experiment involves the researcher actively manipulating an independent variable and observing its effect, which is what permits causal conclusions. Correlation also uses samples, measures two variables and reports numbers, so none of those features distinguishes it.

Question 22Introduction to Psychology: Nature, Scope, Schools and Methods

A researcher conducts an in-depth investigation of one person over several years, gathering interviews, test scores and biographical records. Which method is this, and what is its main limitation?

  1. Case study; findings may not generalise to other people Correct answer.
  2. Survey; responses may be dishonest
  3. Experiment; the sample is too small
  4. Naturalistic observation; the setting is artificial

Explanation

An intensive study of a single individual using multiple sources of information is a case study, and its chief weakness is limited generalisability because one person may be unrepresentative. It is not an experiment since no variable is manipulated.

Question 23Introduction to Psychology: Nature, Scope, Schools and Methods

A psychologist wants to know whether the number of hours students sleep is related to their examination marks, without controlling either variable. Which method is most appropriate?

  1. Correlational method Correct answer.
  2. Experimental method
  3. Introspective method
  4. Case study method

Explanation

When the aim is to establish whether two naturally occurring variables vary together, without manipulating either, the correlational method is appropriate. An experiment would require manipulating sleep, and the other methods do not address the relationship between two measured variables.

Question 24Introduction to Psychology: Nature, Scope, Schools and Methods

A correlation of −0.80 is found between hours of practice and number of errors on a task. Which interpretation is correct?

  1. Practice has no relationship with errors
  2. More practice is strongly associated with fewer errors Correct answer.
  3. More practice is strongly associated with more errors
  4. Practice causes errors to increase

Explanation

A negative correlation means that as one variable increases the other tends to decrease, and a value of −0.80 indicates a strong relationship. Correlation alone, however, never establishes causation, so a causal claim cannot be made from this coefficient.

Question 25Biological Bases of Behaviour: Nervous System, Endocrine System and Genetics

Which part of the neuron receives incoming messages and carries them toward the cell body?

  1. Axons
  2. Terminal buttons
  3. Myelin sheath
  4. Dendrites Correct answer.

Explanation

Dendrites are the branching extensions that collect signals from other neurons or from sensory receptors and conduct them toward the soma, where the information is integrated. The axon carries impulses away from the soma, while myelin and terminal buttons serve other functions.

Question 26Biological Bases of Behaviour: Nervous System, Endocrine System and Genetics

A student touches a hot vessel and pulls the hand back before consciously feeling the pain. Which structure explains this rapid withdrawal?

  1. The hypothalamus triggering the endocrine response
  2. The corpus callosum transferring the signal
  3. The spinal cord acting as a reflex centre Correct answer.
  4. The cerebellum storing the motor memory

Explanation

A spinal reflex arc routes the sensory input into the spinal cord, where interneurons connect directly to motor neurons, producing withdrawal before the signal reaches the cortex for conscious perception. This is why the response is faster than a voluntary reaction.

Question 27Biological Bases of Behaviour: Nervous System, Endocrine System and Genetics

Which division of the nervous system prepares the body for emergencies by increasing heart rate and dilating the pupils?

  1. Parasympathetic division
  2. Sensory division
  3. Sympathetic division Correct answer.
  4. Somatic division

Explanation

The sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system mobilises energy during stress, raising heart rate, dilating pupils and inhibiting digestion. The parasympathetic division does the opposite, restoring the body to a calm state.

Question 28Biological Bases of Behaviour: Nervous System, Endocrine System and Genetics

Damage to Broca's area in the left frontal lobe is most likely to produce which difficulty?

  1. Inability to understand spoken language
  2. Difficulty producing fluent speech Correct answer.
  3. Loss of the ability to recognise faces
  4. Failure to form new long-term memories

Explanation

Broca's area governs the motor programming of speech, so its damage produces expressive aphasia: the person understands language but speaks slowly and with effort. Comprehension is mainly served by Wernicke's area in the temporal lobe.

Question 29Biological Bases of Behaviour: Nervous System, Endocrine System and Genetics

Which brain structure acts as the relay station that directs sensory impulses to the appropriate cortical areas?

  1. Hypothalamus
  2. Amygdala
  3. Medulla oblongata
  4. Thalamus Correct answer.

Explanation

The thalamus sits above the brainstem and sorts incoming sensory information, sending it to the relevant cortical regions except for smell, which bypasses it. It is therefore described as the brain's sensory relay station.

Question 30Biological Bases of Behaviour: Nervous System, Endocrine System and Genetics

A person with a damaged cerebellum is likely to show which pattern of symptoms?

  1. Complete loss of language comprehension
  2. Inability to regulate body temperature
  3. Uncoordinated movements and poor balance Correct answer.
  4. Loss of emotional attachment to family

Explanation

The cerebellum fine-tunes motor activity, maintains posture and balance, and stores motor skills. Damage therefore produces clumsy, unsteady movement rather than loss of language, temperature control or emotional bonds.

Question 31Biological Bases of Behaviour: Nervous System, Endocrine System and Genetics

Which of the following is a function of the hypothalamus?

  1. Regulating body temperature and hunger Correct answer.
  2. Producing cerebrospinal fluid
  3. Storing declarative memories
  4. Controlling voluntary movement of the fingers

Explanation

The hypothalamus maintains homeostasis by regulating temperature, hunger, thirst and sleep, and by controlling the pituitary gland. It is a key link between the nervous and endocrine systems.

Question 32Biological Bases of Behaviour: Nervous System, Endocrine System and Genetics

In the resting state, the inside of a neuron's membrane is normally charged relative to the outside in which way?

  1. Positively, at about +70 millivolts
  2. Neutrally, at zero millivolts
  3. Negatively, at about -70 millivolts Correct answer.
  4. Positively, at about +30 millivolts

Explanation

The resting potential is about -70 millivolts because the inside of the axon is negatively charged compared with the outside, maintained by the sodium-potassium pump and selective membrane permeability. A positive value near +30 millivolts describes the peak of the action potential, not rest.

Question 33Biological Bases of Behaviour: Nervous System, Endocrine System and Genetics

After an action potential, how is the resting membrane potential restored?

  1. Calcium ions flood into the axon
  2. Potassium ions are pumped out and sodium ions are pumped in
  3. Neurotransmitters are reabsorbed into the dendrites
  4. Sodium ions are pumped out and potassium ions are pumped in Correct answer.

Explanation

The sodium-potassium pump uses metabolic energy to move three sodium ions out of the neuron for every two potassium ions it moves in, restoring the negative interior. This active transport re-establishes the polarised resting state after firing.

Question 34Biological Bases of Behaviour: Nervous System, Endocrine System and Genetics

Which statement best describes the role of myelin on a myelinated axon?

  1. It connects one neuron directly to the next
  2. It slows conduction so that signals remain accurate
  3. It generates the neurotransmitter used at the synapse
  4. It insulates the axon and speeds up impulse conduction Correct answer.

Explanation

Myelin is a fatty sheath wrapped around the axon by Schwann cells or oligodendrocytes, which insulates the fibre and allows the impulse to jump between nodes of Ranvier. This saltatory conduction makes transmission much faster.

Question 35Biological Bases of Behaviour: Nervous System, Endocrine System and Genetics

At a synapse, what happens immediately after neurotransmitter molecules bind to receptors on the postsynaptic membrane?

  1. The postsynaptic membrane's permeability changes Correct answer.
  2. The presynaptic neuron absorbs the entire axon
  3. The impulse reverses direction along the axon
  4. The myelin sheath contracts

Explanation

Binding opens ion channels in the postsynaptic membrane, changing its permeability and producing either an excitatory or inhibitory postsynaptic potential. This graded potential then determines whether the receiving neuron will fire.

Question 36Biological Bases of Behaviour: Nervous System, Endocrine System and Genetics

A drug that blocks the reuptake of a neurotransmitter will most likely have which effect at the synapse?

  1. Reduced release of the neurotransmitter from the terminal
  2. Immediate destruction of the postsynaptic receptors
  3. Complete loss of the myelin sheath
  4. Prolonged presence of the neurotransmitter in the synaptic gap Correct answer.

Explanation

Reuptake normally removes transmitter from the gap so that its action ends. Blocking reuptake leaves the transmitter in the gap longer, so it binds repeatedly to receptors and prolongs its effect, which is how many antidepressants work.

Question 37Biological Bases of Behaviour: Nervous System, Endocrine System and Genetics

Which endocrine gland is called the master gland because it controls the activity of several other glands?

  1. Pituitary gland Correct answer.
  2. Pancreas
  3. Thyroid gland
  4. Adrenal gland

Explanation

The pituitary gland secretes hormones that regulate the thyroid, adrenal cortex and gonads, and it is itself directed by the hypothalamus. Because of this coordinating role it is conventionally called the master gland.

Question 38Biological Bases of Behaviour: Nervous System, Endocrine System and Genetics

Adrenaline secreted by the adrenal medulla during a frightening event is most directly responsible for which change?

  1. Reduced blood flow to skeletal muscles
  2. Decreased breathing rate
  3. Slowing of mental alertness
  4. Increased heart rate and blood glucose Correct answer.

Explanation

Adrenaline, released by the adrenal medulla, raises heart rate, blood pressure and blood glucose while increasing blood flow to skeletal muscles, supporting the fight-or-flight response. It does not slow breathing or reduce alertness.

Question 39Biological Bases of Behaviour: Nervous System, Endocrine System and Genetics

Which hormone is secreted by the thyroid gland and regulates the body's metabolic rate?

  1. Thyroxine Correct answer.
  2. Insulin
  3. Testosterone
  4. Cortisol

Explanation

The thyroid gland secretes thyroxine, which governs the rate at which cells use energy. Both under-secretion and over-secretion produce characteristic metabolic disturbances.

Question 40Biological Bases of Behaviour: Nervous System, Endocrine System and Genetics

A person whose pancreas secretes insufficient insulin is most at risk of which condition?

  1. Diabetes mellitus Correct answer.
  2. Dwarfism
  3. Hyperthyroidism
  4. Addison's disease

Explanation

Insulin enables cells to take up glucose, so insufficient insulin leaves glucose high in the blood, the defining feature of diabetes mellitus. Other disorders listed arise from thyroid, adrenal or pituitary dysfunction.

Question 41Biological Bases of Behaviour: Nervous System, Endocrine System and Genetics

Which statement correctly distinguishes hormones from neurotransmitters?

  1. Both are released only by neurons and act only within the brain
  2. Hormones travel through the bloodstream to distant targets, while neurotransmitters act across a synaptic gap Correct answer.
  3. Hormones act faster than neurotransmitters in every case
  4. Hormones act only on adjacent neurons, while neurotransmitters travel in the blood

Explanation

Hormones are secreted by endocrine glands into the bloodstream and act on target organs that may be far from the source, whereas neurotransmitters diffuse across the narrow synaptic gap to the next cell. This explains the generally slower but longer-lasting action of hormones.

Question 42Biological Bases of Behaviour: Nervous System, Endocrine System and Genetics

A child inherits one dominant allele for brown eyes and one recessive allele for blue eyes. What eye colour will the child most likely show, and why?

  1. Blue eyes, because the recessive allele is masked
  2. A blend of brown and blue, because both alleles act equally
  3. Neither colour, because the alleles cancel each other
  4. Brown eyes, because the dominant allele is expressed Correct answer.

Explanation

In simple dominance, the phenotype reflects the dominant allele even when only one copy is present, so the brown allele is expressed and the child appears brown-eyed. The recessive blue allele remains hidden in the genotype.

Question 43Biological Bases of Behaviour: Nervous System, Endocrine System and Genetics

Identical twins raised in different families are studied to estimate the contribution of heredity to a trait. What is the logic behind this design?

  1. The design measures only mutations occurring after birth
  2. Shared environments with different genes reveal the effect of upbringing
  3. Shared genes with different environments allow heredity and environment to be separated Correct answer.
  4. The twins' genes differ, so any similarity must come from the environment

Explanation

Identical twins share virtually the same genotype, so similarities that persist despite different rearing environments point to genetic influence, while differences highlight environmental effects. This is the standard logic of twin studies in behaviour genetics.

Question 44Biological Bases of Behaviour: Nervous System, Endocrine System and Genetics

A phenotype such as height that shows a continuous range across a population is best described as resulting from which pattern?

  1. Polygenic inheritance influenced by environment Correct answer.
  2. A single dominant-recessive gene pair
  3. Inheritance of an acquired habit
  4. Mutation in a single chromosome

Explanation

Traits such as height are polygenic, meaning many genes each contribute a small effect, and environmental factors such as nutrition further modify the outcome. This produces the smooth, continuous distribution rather than two or three distinct categories.

Question 45Sensation, Attention and Perception

Which statement best describes the relationship between sensation and perception?

  1. Sensation involves memory and meaning, while perception involves only receptor activity.
  2. Sensation and perception are identical processes that occur only in the sense organs.
  3. Perception occurs first and determines which sensations the receptors will register.
  4. Sensation is the detection of stimulus energy by sense organs, while perception is the interpretation of that information in the brain. Correct answer.

Explanation

Sensation is a basic, largely physiological process in which receptor cells detect physical energy such as light or sound. Perception follows when the brain organises and interprets these raw sensory signals to give them meaning. The two are linked but distinct stages of information processing.

Question 46Sensation, Attention and Perception

The lowest intensity at which a stimulus can be detected about half the time is called the:

  1. Terminal threshold
  2. Difference threshold
  3. Subliminal threshold
  4. Absolute threshold Correct answer.

Explanation

The absolute threshold is the minimum amount of stimulus energy needed for detection on roughly 50 per cent of trials. It marks the boundary between not sensing and sensing a stimulus at all. Difference thresholds, by contrast, concern detecting a change between two already-detectable stimuli.

Question 47Sensation, Attention and Perception

A person can just notice the difference between a 100 g weight and a 102 g weight. According to Weber's law, if the standard weight is doubled to 200 g, the just-noticeable difference will be about:

  1. 1 g
  2. 2 g
  3. 102 g
  4. 4 g Correct answer.

Explanation

Weber's law states that the just-noticeable difference is a constant fraction of the original stimulus intensity. Here the fraction is 2/100, so for a 200 g standard the detectable change becomes 2 per cent of 200 g, that is 4 g. The absolute size of the change grows in proportion to the stimulus.

Question 48Sensation, Attention and Perception

In signal detection theory, a person's tendency to say 'yes, I detect the signal' regardless of whether it is present is called:

  1. Transduction
  2. Sensitivity
  3. Response bias Correct answer.
  4. Adaptation

Explanation

Signal detection theory separates the observer's actual ability to discriminate a signal (sensitivity) from their willingness to report it. The willingness to report is the response bias or criterion, influenced by motivation, expectation and the cost of errors. Two observers with equal sensitivity may still differ in response bias.

Question 49Sensation, Attention and Perception

Which statement about sensory adaptation is correct?

  1. It is an increase in receptor sensitivity after prolonged stimulation.
  2. It is the same process as perceptual interpretation.
  3. It occurs only in vision and never in other sense modalities.
  4. It is a decline in responsiveness to a constant, unchanging stimulus. Correct answer.

Explanation

Sensory adaptation is the reduced response of receptors when a stimulus remains constant, as when we stop noticing a wristwatch or a fan's hum. It is useful because it frees attention for new and changing information. The effect is temporary and reverses when the stimulus changes.

Question 50Sensation, Attention and Perception

Which statement about rods and cones in the retina is correct?

  1. Cones are concentrated in the periphery and rods in the fovea.
  2. Cones are more numerous than rods and detect dim light.
  3. Rods function best in bright light and provide colour vision.
  4. Rods are sensitive in dim light, while cones support colour and fine detail. Correct answer.

Explanation

Rods are highly sensitive to low light and support night vision, but they give poor detail and no colour. Cones respond in bright light and provide colour vision and sharp acuity, especially in the fovea. This division explains why colours look washed out in dim light.