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PSYC 304: Sensation & Perception > Ch. 12 > Flashcards

Ch. 12 Flashcards

1
Q

vestibular organs

A

the set of five sense organs located in each inner ear that sense head motion and head orientation with respect to gravity
- sense of equilibrium
- located in the inner ear right next to the cochlea
- three semicircular canals that sense rotational motion and two otolith organs that sense gravity and linear acceleration

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2
Q

spatial orientation

A

a sense consisting of three interacting modalities: perception of linear motion, angular motion, and tilt
- sensory foundation for it is the vestibular system

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3
Q

vestibular system

A

the vestibular organs as well as the vestibular neurons in cranial nerve VIII and the central neurons that contribute to the functional roles that the vestibular system participates in
- contributes to clear vision when we move
- helps us maintain balance when we stand

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4
Q

vertigo

A

a sensation of rotation or spinning

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5
Q

vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR)

A

a short-latency reflex that helps stabilize vision by counterrotating the eyes when the vestibular system senses head movement

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6
Q

balance

A

the neural processes of postural control by which weight is evenly distributed, enabling us to remain upright and stable
- sensory foundation for it is kinesthesia

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7
Q

kinesthesia

A

perception of the position and movement of our limbs in space

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8
Q

active sensing

A

sensing that includes self-generated probing of the environment

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9
Q

efferent commands

A

information flowing outward from the central nervous system to the periphery
- ex. motor commands that regulate muscle contraction

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10
Q

afferent signals

A

information flowing inward to the central nervous system from sensors in the periphery

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11
Q

graviception

A

the physiological structures and processes that sense the relative orientation of gravity with respect to the organism
- tilt sensation

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12
Q

Relative to the vestibular organs of all other vertebrates, the human vertical canals are relatively large

A

Larger canals contribute to higher sensitivity, which is believed to yield enhanced head and eye stabilization when we run

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13
Q

angular motion

A

rotational motion like the rotation of a spinning top or swinging saloon doors that rotate back and forth

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14
Q

linear motion

A

translational motion like the predominant movement of a train car or bobblehead doll

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15
Q

tilt

A

to attain a sloped position like that of the Leaning Tower of Pisa

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16
Q

transduce

A

to convert from one form of energy to another (e.g., from light to neural electrical energy, or from mechanical energy to neural electrical energy)

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17
Q

for vestibular sensation, perceiving rotation, translation, and tilt requires that three different stimuli be transduced:

A

angular acceleration, linear acceleration, and gravity

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18
Q

angular acceleration, linear acceleration, and gravity are sensed by two types of vestibular sense organs

A

semicircular canals and otolith organs

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19
Q

semicircular canal

A

any of three toroidal tubes in the vestibular system that sense angular motion

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20
Q

angular acceleration

A

the rate of change of angular velocity

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21
Q

otolith organ

A

either of two mechanical structure (utricle and saccule) in the vestibular system that sense both linear acceleration and gravity
- predominant contribution to sense of head tile and sense of linear motion

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22
Q

linear acceleration

A

the rate of change of linear velocity

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23
Q

sense of angular motion

A

the perceptual modality that senses rotation

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24
Q

sense of linear motion

A

the perception modality that senses translation

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25
Q

sense of tilt

A

the perceptual modality that sense head inclination with respect to gravity

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26
Q

sensory conflict

A

sensory discrepancies that arise when sensory systems provide conflicting information
- ex. vision may indicate that you are stationary while the vestibular system tells you that you are moving

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27
Q

each of the three spatial orientation modalities includes two qualities

A

amplitude and direction

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28
Q

amplitude

A

in reference to vestibular sensation, the size (increase or decrease) of a head movement (with angular velocity, linear acceleration, tilt, etc.)

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29
Q

direction

A

the line one moves along (or faces), with reference to the point or region one is moving toward (or facing)

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30
Q

three directions for sense of linear motion

A
  • Stepping forward or backward along the x-axis
  • Sliding from right to left along the y-axis
  • Translating up or down along the z-axis
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31
Q

three directions define sense of angular motion (the head can rotate in three independent ways)

A
  • Roll angular velocity
    Ex. cartwheels or lying on your back with your nose at the center of a merry-go-round
  • Pitch angular velocity
    Ex. when you nod “yes”
  • Yaw angular velocity
    Ex. when you shake your head “no”
32
Q

velocity

A

the speed and direction in which something moves

33
Q

otolith organs and semicircular canals respond to…

A

changes in velocity, called acceleration

34
Q

acceleration

A

a change in velocity

35
Q

hair cell

A

any cell that has stereocilia for transducing mechanical movement in the inner ear into neural activity sent to the brain; some hair cells also receive inputs from the brain
- act as mechanoreceptors in each of the five vestibular organs

36
Q

mechanoreceptor

A

a sensory receptor that responds to mechanical stimulation (pressure, vibration, or movement)

37
Q

hair cells as mechanical transducers

A
  • Head motion causes hair cell stereocilia to deflect
  • Stereocilia deflection causes a change in the hair cell voltage, which alters neurotransmitter release, which, in turn, evokes action potentials in those vestibular-nerve fibers that have one or more synapses on the hair cell
  • These afferent neurons carry the action potentials to the brain
  • In the absence of stimulation, vestibular hair cells have a negative voltage and release neurotransmitters at a constant rate
38
Q

receptor potential

A

a change in voltage across the membrane of a sensory receptor cell (in the vestibular system, a hair cell) in response to stimulation

39
Q

three semicircular canals

A

horizontal, anterior, and posterior

40
Q

ampulla

A

an expansion of each semicircular-canal duct that includes that canal’s cupula, crista, and hair cells, where transduction occurs

41
Q

crista

A

any of the specialized detectors of angular motion located in each semicircular canal in a swelling called the ampulla

42
Q

the three semicircular canals are maximally sensitive to…

A

rotations in different planes, thus yielding direction coding for head rotation

43
Q

how amplitudes is coded in the semicircular canals

A
  • In the absence of any rotation, many afferent neurons form the semicircular canals respond with a nearly constant rate of action potentials
  • The relatively high spontaneous firing rate of vestibular afferent neurons allows these neurons to decrease the firing rate for rotations in one direction and increase the firing rate for rotations in the opposite direction
44
Q

how direction is coded in the semicircular canals

A

The three semicircular canals are maximally sensitive to rotations in different planes; the result is direction coding of head rotations

45
Q

oscillatory

A

referring to back-and-forth movement that has a constant rhythm

46
Q

sinusoidal

A

referring to any oscillation, such as a sound wave or rotational motion, whose waveform is that of a sine curve; the period of a sinusoidal oscillation is the time that it takes for one full back-and-forth cycle of the motion to occur; the frequency of a sinusoidal oscillation is defined as the numeral 1 divided by the period

47
Q

Fourier Analysis

A

a mathematical procedure by which any signal— in this case, motion trajectories as a function of time— can be separated into component sine waves at different frequencies

48
Q

two structures in the otolith organs

A

utricle and saccule

49
Q

utricle

A

one of the two otolith organs; a saclike structure that contains the utricular macula
- consists of a small, oval-shaped, fluid-filled sac that is about 3 mm long in the longest direction and includes an area called the macula

50
Q

saccule

A

one of the two otolith organs; a saclike structure that contains the saccular macula
- consists of a small, oval-shaped, fluid-filled sac that is about 3 mm long in the longest direction and includes an area called the macula

51
Q

macula

A

any of the specialized detectors of linear acceleration and gravity found in each otolith organ

52
Q

otoconia

A

tiny calcium carbonate stones in the ear that provide inertial mass for the otolith organs, enabling them to sense gravity and linear acceleration
- denser than the surrounding fluid so that they are pulled by both gravitational force and inertial force due to linear acceleration
- resulting displacement of the otoconia drags the gelatinous layer, thereby moving the hair cell stereocilia, leading to changes in the hair cell receptor potential, which in turn causes changes in the rate of action potentials in the afferent neurons

53
Q

how amplitude is coded in the otolith organs

A
  • movement of stereocilia
  • larger accelerations move the otoconia more –> leads to greater deflection of the hair cell bundles, which causes larger changes in the hair cell receptor potentials
54
Q

how direction is coded in the otolith organs

A
  • in part from the otolith organs’ anatomical orientation
  • utricle will be sensitive primarily to any Earth-horizontal linear acceleration
  • saccule will be sensitive to vertical linear acceleration
  • variations in the orientation of hair cells
55
Q

three different techniques frequently used to investigate spatial orientation perception

A

thresholds, magnitude estimation, and matching

56
Q

magnitude estimation study

A

participants might be asked to give verbal reports of how much they tilted, rotated, or translated, using physical units like the number of degrees they rotated

57
Q

matching task

A

participants might be asked to align a visual line with perceived Earth-vertical

58
Q

velocity storage

A

prolongation of a rotational response by the brain beyond the duration of the rotational signal provided to the brain by the semicircular canals, typically yielding responses that are nearer the actual rotational motion than the signal provided by the canals

59
Q

dizziness and imbalance experienced when we stop rotating are due to…

A

an illusion of self-rotation caused by the semicircular-canal response

60
Q

dizziness

A

a commonly used lay term that nonspecifically indicates any form of perceived spatial disorientation, with or without instability

61
Q

imbalance

A

ack of balance; unsteadiness; nearly falling over

62
Q

multisensory integration

A

the process of combining different sensory signals; typically, combining several signals yields more accurate and/or more precise information that can be obtained from individual sensory signals

63
Q

vection

A

an illusory sense of self-motion caused by moving visual cues when one is not, in fact, actually moving

64
Q

crucial contributions of vision to sense of self-rotation

A

Signals related to vision converge with the semicircular-canal signals in the vestibular nuclei, which is the first place in the brain that vestibular information reaches

65
Q

sensory reafference

A

change in afference caused by self-generated activity; for the vestibular system, vestibular afference evoked by an active self-generated head motion would yield sensory reafference
- in order to avoid responding to sensory inputs that arise from self-generated actions, the sensory system needs to know what the motor system has done

66
Q

efference copy

A

a neural copy of an efferent command sent from the central nervous system to the periphery
- One example pertinent to spatial orientation is a copy of the efferent command sent to muscles; this muscle efferent copy transmits information about expected motion resulting from the anticipated muscle activation

67
Q

predicted sensory activity

A

brain’s estimate of sensory reafference is subtracted from the sensory afferent signal to eliminate reafferent information

68
Q

balance system

A

the sensory systems, neural processes, and muscles that contribute to postural control

69
Q

autonomic nervous system

A

the part of the nervous system that is responsible for regulating many involuntary actions and that innervates glands, heart, digestive system, etc.

70
Q

motion sickness

A

Typically results when there is a disagreement between the motion and orientation signals provided by the semicircular canals, otolith organs, and vision

71
Q

one hypothesis for motion sickness

A

it is a defense against some classes of poisons

72
Q

spatial disorientation

A

any impairment of spatial orientation; more specifically, any impairment of our sense of linear motion, angular motion, or tilt

73
Q

vestibulo-spinal reflexes

A

provides us with balance; without it, we would be unable to stand in the dark

74
Q

vestibular thalamocortical pathways

A

neurons from the vestibular nuclei carry vestibular information to the thalamus, where that information is processed and relayed to the cortex; cortex also projects back to the vestibular nuclei (feedback)

75
Q

Mal De Debarquement syndrome

A
  • after travelers disembark a ship after an extended trip, symptoms that usually only last a few hours continue to last
  • symptoms of spatial disorientation, imbalance, and rocking last a month or more after they disembark
  • in extreme cases, the symptoms can last for years and can be very debilitating
76
Q

Meniere’s syndrome

A
  • Suddenly experiencing dizziness, imbalance, and spatial disorientation so severe that one has to lie down or they will fall down
  • Severe motion sickness ensues and leads to repeated vomiting
  • these symptoms can occur suddenly and more or less unexpectedly at any time
  • Other symptoms include tinnitus (an illusory ringing sound), hearing loss, and a feeling of pain or fullness in the ear
  • Treatments include medications to lower pressure in the inner ear, implanted devices that provide transtympanic micropressure pulses, and sometimes procedures that destroy the vestibular apparatus

PSYC 304: Sensation & Perception (9 decks)

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