2 Physiology Of Perception

Question 0

Axon

Answer 0

Part of a neuron that conducts the fiber impulses over distances. Also called the nerve fiber.

Question 1

Action potential

Answer 1

Rapid increase in positive charge in a nerve fiber that travels down the fiber. Also called the nerve impulse.

Question 2

Cell body

Answer 2

Part of a neuron that contains the neuron’s metabolic machinery and that receives stimulation from other neurons.

Question 3

Center-surround antagonism

Answer 3

Competition between the center and surrounding regions of the center-surround receptive field, caused by the fact that one is excitatory and the other is inhibitory. Stimulating Center and surrounding areas simultaneously decreases responding of the neuron, compared to stimulating the excitatory area alone.

Question 4

Center-surround receptive field

Answer 4

Receptive field that consists of a roughly circular excitatory area surrounded by an inhibitory area, or circular inhibitory center surrounded by an excitatory area.

Question 5

Cerebral cortex

Answer 5

2 mm thick layer that covers the surface of the brain and contains the machinery for creating perception, as well as for other functions, such as language, memory, and thinking.

Question 6

Convergence

Answer 6

When many neurons synapse onto a single neuron.

Question 7

Dendrites

Answer 7

Nerve processes on the cell body that receive stimulation from other neurons.

Question 8

Depolarization

Answer 8

When the inside of a neuron becomes more positive, as occurs during the initial phases of the action potential. Depolarization is often associated with the action of excitatory neurotransmitters.

Question 9

Distributed coding

Answer 9

Type of neural code in which different perceptions are signaled by the pattern of activity that is distributed across many neurons.

Question 10

Doctrine of specific nerve energies

Answer 10

Principal proposed by Mueller, which states that our perceptions depend on “nerve energies” reaching the brain and that the specific quality we experience depends on which nerves are stimulated. For example, activating the optic nerve results and see, and activating the auditory nerve results in hearing.

Question 11

Easy problem of consciousness

Answer 11

Problem of determining the relationship between physiological processes like nerve firing and perceptual experience. Note that this involves determining a relationship, not a cause.

Question 12

Excitatory area

Answer 12

Area of receptive field that is associated with excitation. Stimulation of this area causes an increase in a rate of nerve firing.

Question 13

Excitatory response

Answer 13

Response of the nerve fiber in which the firing rate increases.

Question 14

Excitatory transmitter

Answer 14

Neurotransmitters that causes the inside of a neuron to become more positively charged. Excitatory neurotransmitters increase the probability that an action potential will be generated and are also associated with increases in the rate of nerve firing.

Question 15

Excitatory-center-inhibitory-surround receptive field

Answer 15

Center-surround receptive field in which stimulation of the center area causes an excitatory response, installation of the surround causes an inhibitory response.

Question 16

Frontal lobe

Answer 16

Receiving signals from all of the senses, the frontal low plays an important role in perceptions that involved the coordination of information received through two or more senses. It also serves functions such as language, thought, memory, and motor functioning.

Question 17

Grandmother cell

Answer 17

Hypothesized type of neuron that responds only to a very specific stimulus, such as a person’s grandmother.

Question 18

Hard problem of consciousness

Answer 18

Problem of determining how physiological processes, such as ion flow across nerve membranes, cause different perceptual experiences.

Question 19

Hyperpolarization

Answer 19

When the inside of a neuron becomes more negative. Hyperpolarization is often associated with the action of inhibitory transmitters.

Question 20

Inhibitory area

Answer 20

Area of the receptive field that is associated with inhibition. Stimulation of this area causes a decrease in the rate of nerve firing.

Question 21

Inhibitory response

Answer 21

Response of a nerve fiber in which the firing rate decreases due to inhibition from another neuron.

Question 22

Inhibitory transmitter

Answer 22

Neurotransmitters that cause the inside of the neuron to become negatively charged. Inhibitory transmitters decrease the probability that an action potential will be generated and are also associated with decrease in the rate of nerve firing.

Question 23

Inhibitory-center-excitatory-surround receptive field

Answer 23

Center-surround receptive field in which stimulation of the center causes an inhibitory response and stimulation of the surround causes an excitatory response.

Question 24

Ions

Answer 24

Charged molecules found floating in the liquid that surrounds nerve fibers.

Question 25

Microelectrode

Answer 25

Thin piece of wire that is small enough to record electrical signals from a single neuron.

Question 26

Mind-body problem

Answer 26

One of the most famous problems in science: how do physical processes such as nerve impulses or sodium and potassium molecules flowing across membranes (the body part of the problem) become transformed into the richness of perceptual experience (the mind part of the problem)?

Question 27

Modular organization

Answer 27

Organization of specific functions into specific brain structures.

Question 28

Nerve

Answer 28

Group of nerve fibers traveling together.

Question 29

Nerve fiber

Answer 29

In most sensory neurons, the long part of the neuron that transmits electrical impulses from one point to another.

Question 30

Neural circuits

Answer 30

Neurons that are connected by synapses.

Question 31

Correlate of consciousness (NCC)

Answer 31

Connections between the firing of neurons and perceptual experience.

Question 32

Neuron theory

Answer 32

Idea that the nervous system consists of distinct elements or cells.

Question 33

Neurotransmitter

Answer 33

Chemicals stored in synaptic vesicles that is released in response to a nerve impulse and excitatory or inhibitory effect on another neuron.

Question 34

Occipital lobe

Answer 34

Lobe at the back of the cortex that is the site of the cortical receiving area for vision.

Question 35

Parietal lobe

Answer 35

Lobe at the top of the cortex that is the site of the cortical receiving area for touch and is the termination point of the dorsal (where or how) stream for visual processing.

Question 36

Permeability

Answer 36

Property of the membrane that refers to the ability of molecules to pass through it. If the permeability to a molecule is high, the molecule can easily pass through the membrane.

Question 37

Pineal gland

Answer 37

Gland at the base of the brain that Renée Descartes identified as being the seat of the soul.

Question 38

Primary receiving areas

Answer 38

Areas of the cerebral cortex the first received most of the signals initiated by a sense’s receptors. For example, the occipital cortex is the site of the primary receiving area for vision, in the temporal lobe is the site of the primary receiving area for hearing.

Question 39

Propagated response

Answer 39

Response, such as a nerve impulse, that travels all the way down the nerve fiber without decreasing in amplitude.

Question 40

Receptive field

Answer 40

Area on the receptor surface (the (the retina for vision; the skin for touch) that, when stimulated, affects the firing of that neuron.

Question 41

Receptor sites

Answer 41

Small area on the postsynaptic neuron that is sensitive to specific neurotransmitters.

Question 42

Receptors

Answer 42

Sensory receptor is a neuron sensitive to environmental energy if that changes this energy into electrical signals in the nervous system.

Question 43

Refractory period

Answer 43

Time period of about 1/1000th of a second that a nerve fiber needs to recover from conducting a nerve impulse. No new nerve impulses can be generated in the fiber until the refractory period is over.

Question 44

Resting potential

Answer 44

Difference in charge between the inside and outside of the nerve fiber when the fiber is not conducting electrical signals. Most new fibers have resting potentials about -70 mV, which means the inside of the fiber is negative relative to the outside.

Question 45

Reticular theory

Answer 45

Early alternative to neuron theory that held that nervous system consisted of large network of fused nerve cells.

Question 46

Selective permeability

Answer 46

Occurs when a cell membrane is highly permeable to one specific type of molecule, but not to others.

Question 47

Sparse coding

Answer 47

Idea that particular object is represented by the firing of a relatively small number of neurons.

Question 48

Specificity coding

Answer 48

Type of neural code in which different perceptions are signaled by activity and specific neurons.

Question 49

Spontaneous activity

Answer 49

New firing that occurs in the absence of environmental stimulation.

Question 50

Staining

Answer 50

Technique in which neurons take up dye that makes their structure visible.

Question 51

Synapse

Answer 51

Small space between the end of one neuron (the presynaptic neuron) and the cell body of another neuron (the postsynaptic neuron).

Question 52

Temporal lobe

Answer 52

Lobe on the side of the cortex that is the site of the cortical receiving area for hearing and the termination point for the ventral, or what, stream for visual processing. The number of areas in a temper a little, such as the fusiform face area and the extrastriate body area, serve functions related to perceiving and recognizing objects.

Question 53

Ventricles

Answer 53

Cavities located at the center of the brain that were identified by Galen as the source of “spirits” that determined human health, thoughts, and emotions.