A student reads a blurry word in a sentence as 'bank' when the surrounding sentence is about money, but reads the same blurry word as 'bank' near a paragraph about a river. What process is influencing perception?
- AExpectations from surrounding context guide interpretation of ambiguous sensory input.correct
- BAbsolute threshold increases because the letters become physically brighter.
- CRetinal disparity allows the student to judge distance with two eyes.
- DProcedural memory stores the motor steps for pronouncing words.
Why A is correct
The item tests top-down processing: prior knowledge and context shape perception.
top-down processing explains the evidence in "A student reads a blurry word in a sentence as 'bank' when the surrounding sentence is about money, but reads...". The credited option, "Expectations from surrounding context guide interpretation of ambiguous sensory input", is supported because The same stimulus is interpreted with help from context and expectations. "Procedural memory stores the motor steps for pronouncing words" is a real-looking alternative, but Procedural memory concerns skills and habits, not interpreting an ambiguous word; "Absolute threshold increases because the letters become physically brighter" also fails because The physical brightness is not described as changing. The aim is to connect the concrete evidence to the psychological mechanism, then reject choices that shift the process, time frame, or research logic away from the scenario pattern.
Common mistakes. "Absolute threshold increases because the letters become physically brighter" should be crossed out for this reason: The physical brightness is not described as changing. "Procedural memory stores the motor steps for pronouncing words" is no safer, because procedural memory concerns skills and habits, not interpreting an ambiguous word.