Ch. 7 Vocab

Question 1

Perception

Answer 1

understanding of objects and events of external world that we acquire from neural processing of sensory information

Question 2

Sensation

Answer 2

the mental perception of a stimulus

Question 3

Adaptation

Answer 3

a biological characteristic that favors survival in a particular environment; (neural) decrease in action potential frequency in a neuron despite constant stimulus

Question 4

Adequate stimulus

Answer 4

the modality of stimulus to which a particular sensory receptor is most
sensitive

Question 5

Chemoreceptors

Answer 5

afferent neuron endings (or cells associated with them) sensitive to concentrations of specific chemicals

Question 6

Mechanoreceptors

Answer 6

sensory neurons specialized to respond to mechanical stimuli such as touch receptors in the skin and stretch receptors in muscle

Question 7

Nociceptors

Answer 7

sensory receptors whose stimulation causes pain

Question 8

Photoreceptors

Answer 8

sensory cells specialized to respond to light; contain pigments that make them sensitive to different light wavelengths

Question 9

Rapidly adapting receptors

Answer 9

sensory receptors that fire for a brief period at the onset and/or
offset of a stimulus

Question 10

Receptor potential

Answer 10

graded potential that arises in afferent neuron ending, or a specialized cell intimately associated with it, in response to stimulation

Question 11

Sensory receptors

Answer 11

cells or portions of a cell that contain structures or chemical molecules sensitive to changes in an energy form in the outside world or internal environment; in response to activation by this energy, the sensory receptors initiate action potentials in those cells or adjacent ones

Question 12

Sensory transduction

Answer 12

neural process of changing a sensory stimulus into a change in neuronal function

Question 13

Slowly adapting receptors

Answer 13

sensory receptors that fire repeatedly as long as a stimulus is ongoing

Question 14

Stimulus

Answer 14

detectable change in internal or external environment

Question 15

Thermoreceptors

Answer 15

sensory receptors for temperature and temperature changes, particularly in low (cold receptor) or high (warm receptor) range

Question 16

Acuity

Answer 16

sharpness or keenness of perception

Question 17

Lateral inhibition

Answer 17

method of refining sensory information in afferent neurons and ascending pathways whereby fibers inhibit each other, the most active fibers causing the greatest inhibition of adjacent fibers

Question 17

Coding

Answer 17

process by which neural signals from sensory receptors are converted into action potentials in the CNS

Question 18

Labeled lines

Answer 18

principle describing the idea that a unique anatomical pathway of neurons connects a given sensory receptor directly to the CNS neurons responsible for processing that modality and location on the body

Question 19

Modality

Answer 19

type of sensory stimulus

Question 20

Sensory unit

Answer 20

afferent neuron plus receptors it innervates

Question 20

Receptive field

Answer 20

area of body that, if stimulated, results in activity in that neuron,

Question 21

Ascending pathway

Answer 21

neural pathways that go to the brain; also called sensory pathways

Question 22

Somatosensory cortex

Answer 22

strip of cerebral cortex in parietal lobe in which neurons transmitting somatic sensory information synapse

Question 22

Cortical association areas

Answer 22

regions of cerebral cortex that receive input from various sensory types, memory stores, and so on, and perform further perceptual processing