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MED 104- MEDICAL PSYCHOLOGY > 9. SMELL > Flashcards

9. SMELL Flashcards

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1
Q
  1. What is anosmia?
A
  • it is the partial or complete loss of sense of smell
  • this also affects most of the ability to taste
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2
Q
  1. What can cause anosmia?
A
  • head trauma
  • respiratory infections
  • aging
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3
Q
  1. What is the function of sensory cells?
A
  • they translate electromagnetic, chemical and mechanical stimuli into action potentials
  • our nervous system then makes sense of these translations
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4
Q
  1. What is transduction?
A
  • it is the action or process of converting something (especially energy) or a message into another form
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5
Q
  1. What is another term for taste?
A
  • gustation
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6
Q
  1. What is another term for smell?
A
  • olfaction
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7
Q
  1. Which receptors are smell and taste dependent on?
    What do they detect?
A
  • they are dependent on chemoreceptors
  • these are found in the taste buds and the nasal passages
  • they detect molecules of food
  • they detect the air around us
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8
Q
  1. When are our chemical senses sharpest?
A
  • they are sharpest right at birth
  • they are what allows newborns to orient themselves chiefly by smell
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9
Q
  1. What are taste and smell powerful at doing?
A
  • they can activate memories
  • they can trigger emotions
  • they can alert us of danger
  • this is seen with PTSD and Depression cases
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10
Q
  1. What is necessary in order to smell something?
A
  • the odourant must be volatile
    (easily evaporated)
  • or it must be in a gaseous form
  • this is so that it can be absorbed by the nostrils
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11
Q
  1. What happens when a person sniffs harder and deeper?
A
  • they absorb more molecules from their surroundings
  • the smell is felt more
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12
Q
  1. What filters out the molecules that enter the nasal cavity?
A
  • the protective nose hairs that catch them
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13
Q
  1. What do these nose hairs prevent?
A
  • they prevent many molecules from making it all the way to the back of the nose
  • and hitting the olfactory epithelium
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14
Q
  1. What is the Olfactory Epithelium?
A
  • it is the Olfactory system’s main organ
  • it is a small, yellowish patch of tissue
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15
Q
  1. Where is the Olfactory Epithelium located?
A
  • it is located on the roof of the nasal cavity
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16
Q
  1. What does the Olfactory Epithelium contain?
A
  • it contains millions of olfactory sensory neurons
  • these are bowling pin shaped
  • they are surrounded by insulating columnar supporting cells
17
Q
  1. Where do the airborne molecules of any food end up?
A
  • they end up on the olfactory epithelium
18
Q
  1. What happens to the airborne molecules after they end up on the Olfactory Epithelium?
A
  • they dissolve in the mucus that coats the olfactory epithelium
19
Q
  1. What happens once the airborne molecules are in the mucus coating of the olfactory epithelium?
A
  • they are able to bind to the receptors
  • these receptors are located on the olfactory sensory neurons
20
Q
  1. What happens when the receptors on the olfactory sensory neurons hit their necessary threshold?
A
  • they fire action potentials up their long axons
  • these action potentials go through the ethmoid bone
  • the ethmoid bone is located in the olfactory bulb
  • this is in the brain
21
Q
  1. Are olfactory neurons specialised?
    How so?
A
  • olfactory neurons are specialised
  • they have receptors for just one kind of smell
22
Q
  1. What happens after each smell-specific neuron is triggered?
A
  • the signal travels down its axon
  • this is where it converges with other cells
23
Q
  1. In which structure does the signal and the other cells converge?
A
  • in the glomerulus
  • LATIN= this means ball of yarn
24
Q
  1. What is the glomerulus?
A
  • it is a tangle of fibres
  • it serves as a transfer station
  • this is where the nasal information turns into brain
    information
25
Q
  1. What happens inside the glomerulus?
A
  • the olfactory axons meet up with dendrites of a mitral cell
  • a mitral cell is another kind of nerve cell
26
Q
  1. What is present for each mitral cell?
A
  • there are any number of olfactory axons synapsing with it
  • they each represent and identify a single volatile chemical
27
Q
  1. What is the combination of the mitral cell and the olfactory neuron responsible for?
A
  • it detects a specific smell
28
Q
  1. What happens after the mitral cell picks up its signal from an olfactory neuron?
A
  • it sends this signal along the olfactory tract
  • this signal is sent to the olfactory cortex of the brain
  • the smell then hits the brain through two avenues
29
Q
  1. What are the two avenues through which smells hits the brain?
A
  • the one brings data to the frontal lobe
  • this is where it can be consciously identified
  • the other pathway heads straight for the hypothalamus,
    the amygdala and other parts of the limbic system
  • this is known as the emotional pathway
30
Q
  1. What are the attributes of the emotional pathway?
A
  • it is fast, intense and quick to trigger memories
  • if the odour is associated with something dangerous
  • it quickly activates your sympathetic system’s flight or
    fight response
31
Q
  1. Why can anosmia pose many problems?
A
  • without smell:
    - you can not access emotional memories associated
    with particular smells
    - you can not sniff out dangers in your environment

MED 104- MEDICAL PSYCHOLOGY (29 decks)

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