Communication Flashcards
What 2 areas are involved in sound interpretation?
Broca’s area Wernicke’s area
Where is the broca’s area located?
Fronto temporal segment involved in sound production
Where is the Wernicke’s area located and what does it do?
Parieto temporal segment sound detection
What is the area involved in vision?
Occipital lobe, contains the primary visual cortex light stimuli is perceived
What is the importance of correct interpretation of sensory singalys by the brain for the coordination of animal behaviour?
-signals from the enviro such as light and sound are only meaningful if they can be correctly interpreted by the brain to bring about a coordinated response -poor interpretation of signals will result in a lack of response to stimuli, resulting in countless detrimental issues. (Ability to sense respond to threats, hunt, communicate properly)
What are the 2 mechanisms insects use to detect sound?
Tactile bristles -tympanum
What do tactile bristles do?
located on the antennae and cuticle of insect (outermost layer, shed off in malting) they respond to low frequency vibrations
What does the tympanum do in insects>
cavity filled with air –> covered by an ear drum on the outside and a pressure drum valve on inside. Many nerve fibres are connected to this and directly picl up the vibrations
What are two examples of how insects detect sound?
Orthopterans (crickets) have tympanum located beneath knees Butterflies/moths have tympanum at the base of their wings
How do fish detect sound?
specialised organs to detect pressure change they have a lateral line sensory organ
What is a lateral line sensory organ?
a pair of sensory canals that run along the side of the animal.
How do lateral line sensory organs detect sound?
-changes in water pressure surrounding fish -distorts sensory cells in the canals -sending messages to the connected nerves
How do fresh water fish commonly detect sound?
they have a swim bladder (gas filled chamber) that helps bony fish maintain depth in water (thru bouyancy)
How does a swim bladder detect sound?
detects pressure changes, passes onto ossicles (Tripus, Schaphium, Claustrum) these ossicles join the swim bladder to the sensory chamber
What are fish ossicles called?
(Tripus, Schaphium, Claustrum)
How do mammals detect sound?
The killer whale uses its lower jaw bone to receive and conduct sound waves. The jaw bones contains a cavity filled with fat which is a great conductor of sound. It extends all the way to the auditory bulla
What is the auditory bulla in killer whales?
auditory info processing area
hearing aid description
an electronic device with a microphone & amplifier that that receives and amplifies the sound waves onto the tympanic membrane of the ear.
cochlear implant description
an electronic device consisting of an external microphone and speech processor that bypasses the damaged hair cells in the ears cochlea (& organ of Corti), directly stimulating the auditory nerve.
positioning of hearing aid
sits in the hollow of ear in pinna directing sound towards the ear canal or worn in a shell behind the ear.
energy transfer of hearing aid
- receives and converts sound energy to electrical energy through the microphone 2. The amplifier boosts the electrical energy/signals 3. Ear phone converts boosted electrical energy back into sound energy (of greater intensity than original sound)
role of microphone in a hearing aid
receives and converts sound energy to electrical energy
role of amplifier in a hearing aid
boosts the electrical signals from the microphone
role of earphone in a hearing aid
converts the boosted electrical signals back to a sound energy of now greater intensity
conditions under which hearing aids will assist hearing
People with sensorineural hearing loss • Recipient must have some hearing left Can only amplify sound
sensorineural hearing loss
when auditory nerve or hair cells damaged by aging, noise, illness etc Doesn’t assist in nerve deafness caused by damage to inner ear, auditory nerve or auditory centre of the brain
As hearing aids can only amplify sound, what is a limitation of this device?
recipients must have some hearing left.
what can hearing aids greatly improve?
comprehension, speech and low frequency discrimination
limitations of hearing aids
• Limited assistance in high frequency ranges • Amplification (Loud noises = annoying) • Batteries may run out (BUT most models give adequate warning of dying batteries) • not for nerve deafness
major limitation of hearing aids
- don’t cut out background noise (can be adjusted by can’t completely extract it. They amplify all sound not just what people want to hear
What happens when brain reintroduces sounds to the impaired ear
brain has to adjust to this addition, eventually brain will realise what the sounds are and then be able to block them out.
positioning of cochlear implant
surgically placed under skin behind the ear and a transmitter attached by a magnet on the outside

type of energy transformations in cochlear implant
Sound energy –> electrical energy –> radio waves –> electrical signals–> electrochemical
external parts of cochlear implant:
- Microphone (detects sound from enviro)
- Speech processor (selectively filters sound to prioritise audible speech & sends electrical energy through a thin cable to transmitter)
- Transmitter: a coil held in position by a magnet & transmits processed sound signals as radio waves to the internal device
method to model process of accommodation
- Use ray box and double convex lenses of varying thicknesses, paper, ruler and pencil.
- Pass a triple beam through a lens and plot the path onto the paper, then measuring the distance between the lens and the focal point.
- Repeat for other lenses.
- Experimetn with ways of producing light that model light from far and close objects.
how long has renal dialysis been available for and what knowledge is this treatment based on?
50 years
based on understanding of kidney function and osmotic processes in the body.
what options are availbale for renal dialysis and what principles does dialysis work on?
haemodialysis (filters blood outside of body)
and peritnoeal dialysis (operates in body)
Based on principles of the diffusion of solutes and ultrafiltration of fluid across a semi-permeable membrance, effectively replacing work done by glomerulus in the nephorn. Nitrogenous wastes (eg urea) diffuse acorsss a concentration graident from a high concentration in the blood to a low concentration in the dialysing solution in canister,
Today patients can hve machines at home adn treat themselves with minimla disruption to work and home life.
what must occur for an response to a stimulus to be initiated?
depolarisation must recah a threshold that is at least 15mV (-55mV) more than the resting potentional (-70mV).
Depolarisation occurs below this. It is an all or nothing event
what are the 5 sensory receptors we have and how are they conneted to the brain?
- photorecptors in retina detect light
- mechanoreceptors and hair cells in organ of corti -sound
- chemoreceptors in nose and tongue-taste and smell
- mechanoreceptors in skin-pressure or touch
connected by sensory neurones to brain which is divided into dinstict sensory areas.
what is located at the back of the cerebrum directly above the cerebellum?
visual cortex
what is processed in the underside of the frontal lobe in the cereburm
smell
what is processed in the temporal lobe?
hearing
what wave lengths can bees see and what for?
200-400nm seeing UV radiation (shorter wave lentghs) as well as green blue light (longer wavelength than UV)
What wave lengths can humans see and what part are they sensitive to?
380-750nm
sensitive to blue-green frequencies of visible spectrum
what wave lengths can pitvipers see and what do they use this for?
438-850nm
eg. rattle snakes use pits to detgect infra red radiation to hunt nocturnally
whAT is the result of different organisms having different numbers and types of colour sensisitve cones and wave length sensitivity ranges?
they have a different perception/understanding of their environment
what vision do mammals tend to have?
bi-chromatic
we have 2 types of photorecpetors
Predict a difference in the loudness of the sound in
each ear if the sound has a wavelength shorter than the length of the head.
Justify your answer.
If the wavelength of the sound is shorter than the length of the head, the ear closer to the source of the sound will detect a louder volume than the ear further away from the source of the sound. This is because the head blocks the path of the sound waves to the ear further away from the sound source.
what happens when peole are unable to see/hear?
it limits their capacity to communicate, whcih can cause personal distress as well as limit their ability to contribute to society.
By overcoming these problems, both individuals and society benefit. When these problems are solved, people can continue to make an economic contribution. Additionally, they will not need carers, which may be costly to the public.
what mechanisms do fish have to detect sound?
- lateral line with mehcanoreceptors hair cells in a copula detecting changes in pressure along side of fish
- inner ear with semi circular canals to detect vibrations from the swim bladder
why do the structures of cones vary depending on their location on the retina?
they vary in that there are 3 different types containing differing amounts of photopsins. The cones are thinner in shape within the fovea where they are arranged in a hexagonal lattice and are most numerous. As you move away towards the periphery, the cones thicken. They fall away to a constant level of 10-15 degrees and are interspersed with rods. the blind spot has no receptors at all.
outline role of rhodopsin in rods
rods are numerous around periphery of retina and detect changes in the shade of light. The role of rhodopsin in rods is that it is sensitive to blue-green light. When light hits the rod a change occurs in the shape, activing the rhodpsin molecule to separate into the protein opsin and free retinal part, causingchange in electrical potentioal. This triggers a nerve impulse that passes through to the optic nerve.
The rods work in low light levels, enabling the decetion of shape and movement of objects but no colour as they only have the one pigment type.
how many rods adn cones in human eye?
125 million rods
6.5 million cones
describe the nature and functioning of photoreceptor cells in a bee (insect)
STRUCTURE & FUNCTION:
- 1000’s of single lens eyes (ommatidia)pointing at many angles which each provide a single image, providing a mosaic image of the FOV. These photoreceptors are surrounded by support cells and separated by pigment cells.
- Nuerones located at end of ommatidia at back of eye, linking to optic nerve.
- TYPE OF IMAGE: mosaic image of FOV
-
ABILITY TO PERCEIVE COLOUR:
- Trichromatic vision (yellow, blue green, )
- 200-400nm
- UV radiation, (no red)
- Similarity: detects light
- Difference: has many ommatidia and can detect colour, can be more effecient in detecting movement than mammals.
- 1000’s ommatidia which provide dots of shade and colour to indicate predators or prey with a change in colour/shade.
describe nature and functioning of photoreceptor cells in mammals (Humans)
Type of photoreceptor: single lens vertebrate eye with rods and cones in retina
Location of nuerones: at back of eye
Type of image: image focused onto retina is inverted and diminished
Ability to perceive colour: full colour vision (380-750nm), some of only mammals to do so
Similarity: detect light
Difference:
- high resolving power & greater visual acuity
- cililary photoreceptors allow for colour perception and sight in general to navigate around, communicate, and for depth perception.
Describe nature and function of photoreceptor cells in flatworms
Type of photoreceptor: photorecetpors in ocelli (light sensitive cup)
Image: if formed is unclear and not inverted, gives info about light intensity and direction
Ability to perceive colour: can’t only shades of light
Similarity: detects light
Difference: fewer photoreceptor cells than insect or mammal and has poor visual acuity
explain that colour blindness in humans results from the lack of…
one or more of the colour sensitive pigments in cones.
- A range of types, can be tested (Ishihara’s test)
- from mutated genes for red & green cones (can be inherited).
- 1+ cones don’t work/absent/visual pigment is defective
- red/green colour blindness affects males more (sex linked-recessive on X chromosome) -can’t distinguish between red & green colour, only shades (by rods)
limitations of colour blindness on individuals?
limit ability to do certain tasks, or work in certain occupations, eg electrician, aviation pilot
definition of how sound is produced
vibration of objects that cause adjoining particles to move forming a compression wave in a medium
what did we conclude from experiment using CRO and microphone, tuning forks and isntruments to id relationship between wavelength frequenceny and pithc of a sound?
by producing different sound with a msucial instreumtns and tuning forks we desmonstrated that a higher pitch gave a higher frequency adn shorter wavelength,
conclusion: velocity=frequency X pitch
how do fish produce sound
fish vibrate the muscles of their swim bladder (a gas filled sac that regulates buoyancy) to produce sound. They can also rub their fins together
to communicate btw members of same species and deter predators
how frogs produce sound
frogs have a large air sac below the chin whcih acts as a resonance chamber, amplifying sound.
- they puff up air sac under throat which acts as a resonance chamber
When nose is closed, air from lungs is pushed over vocal folds through windpipe into airsac, the slotis modulates air flow.
- assists in attracting a mate and informing others of presence/territory
frequency definition
number of waves that pass a given point per second (Hz)
determnes pitch
frequency of sound has same frequency as the vibration of the source of the sond
how do male grasshoppers and crickets produce sound
- rubbing veins on base of forewings
- creating friction between inner surfaces of their hind leng
for mating calls
difference between structure of fish with mammals and insects (eg cricket)
- lateral line gives fish info abotu changs in direction and speed of water moevemtn
- bony fish do not have a cochela (unlike human)and ear not open to outside(unlike human and cricekt)
- detects pressure waves (unlike human and cricket)
difference between human ear, fish’s lateral line (& inner ear for bony fish) and cricket’s tympanum
- can give info about changes in direction and pitch of sound
- has a cochlea , ear exposed to outside
- has a tympanic membrance which detects sound vibrations
SIMILARITY FOR FISH, INSECT AND MAMMAL
- all have structures that enable them to detect vibrations and nerve fibres that send this info to brain
differene between tympanum, ear and lateral line
- tympanic membrance directly exposed which detects sound waves
- can detect changes in direction of sound and certain pitches
- no cochlea
range of frequencies detected by humans bats and marine mammals
- Humans: 20 to 20 000 Hz
- Bats: 100 000 to 120 000 Hz
-
Marine mammal:
- dolphin: 200 to 200 000 Hz
Hz= how many cycles
Humans: 20 to 20 000 Hz
REASON: communication, detecting info about enviro
Bats: 10 000 to 120 000 Hz
REASON: high feqruency allows forecholocation, high frequency sounds used to determine nature and position of objects using echos
- since insect prey are small sound wave lengths need to be small to detect and reflect from the prey (high frequency has small wave lengths)
Marine mammal: dolphin: 200 to 200 000 Hz
REASON: echolation, sound waves travel through water to give dolphin image of direction size and image of prey
Whale can hear as low as 20Hz:
Reason: need communication over large distances, low frequency travels a long way underwater
limitations of cochlear implants
Very expensive for surgery + ongoing costs
- post operative side effects( droopy face/numbness of tongue)
- lots of therapy required for person to adjust to implant, (eg. help children to develop and understand spoken language, often w. lip reading)
- parents must also be educated
- Levels of success can vary, eg. ppl who have just lost hearing can adjust better than those deaf from birth
- has to be adjusted for certain situations, eg. watching TV/listening to music (frustrating for wearer)
benefits of cohclear implants (invented by Dr Graeme Clark)
have given hearing to many who would never been able to detect sound. Greatly improved their quality of life and ability to communicate+ participate in other roles/occupations in society and lead more independent lives.
(seems ot work best for people who have learnt to speak after lsoing their hearing)
Also continued ongoing research has improved the technology and enabled improved sound detection