Exam 2: Vision Flashcards
To study and ACE Exam 2!
What characteristics do all senses share?
- Physical stimulus
- Stimulus transformed to neural code
- Perception of or response to stimulus
What is the purpose of senses?
Convey information from environment.
What is meant by “Perception is not reality”?
Information perceived does not match environment because we perceive certain parts of stimulus and interpret in terms of experience.
- Colors, tones, smells, tastes are constructs of our brain.
- Perception limited by capabilities of sensors and neural systems.
What is modality?
An attribute of stimulus.
- Type of energy transduced
What is location (stimulus attribute)?
Which receptors active (topography) and helps define size of object.
What is intensity (stimulus attribute)?
Size of response of each sensor.
What is timing (stimulus attribute)?
When receptor starts and stops signaling.
What is sensory transduction?
- Sensory receptor transduces stimulus energy into electrical signal, the receptor potential.
- Intensity and timing of stimulus related to amplitude and duration of receptor potential.
What is the idea of Labeled Lines?
- “Law of Specific Sense Energies”
- Each sensory receptor maximally sensitive to one type of energy and wired to specific area of brain.
- Modality perceived depends on which sensory pathway was activated.
- Action potentials only encode stimulus intensity and duration.
What is mechanical (category of receptor)?
Somatosensory, inner ear
What is chemical (category of receptor)?
Pain, itch, taste, smell
What is thermal (category of receptor)?
Body temperature, temperature of objects
what is electromagnetic (category of receptor)?
Vision
Describe mechanoreceptors and its function.
- Physical deformation of tissue opens ion channel and generates receptor potential.
- Found in skin for pressure, light touch, vibration.
- Found in inner ear for responding to sound waves.
What is useful about secondary messengers and what is effected?
- Chemoreceptors and photoreceptors
2. Benefit from signal amplification
What is meant when receptors are narrowly sensitive?
- Receptors not sensitive to full range of energies within a modality. EG. Different colors, tastes, pitches.
- Modlities divided into sub modalities based on receptor sensitivities.
- Each receptor has tuning curve.
Explain the neuronal tuning curve.
In terms of auditory, a neuron is able to elicit a response for certain frequencies depending on the intensity of the sound. EG. At lower sound frequencies (.5 kHz), the sound intensity must be high (100dB) in order for a neuron to respond and register the sound. At 2 kHz, a neuron can respond at sound intensities lower than 25 dB etc.
Receptive fields
- Similar in bipolar ganglion cells, LGN
- Circular
- Center surround organization
- Detect and encode contrast differences.
What is glutamate released by and do?
Glutamate is released by cones and inhibit on-center bipolar cells and depolarize off-center bipolar cells.
On-center ganglion cells fire with _______.
Rapid increase in illumination
Off-center ganglion cells fire with _______.
Rapid decreases in illumination.
What are M-Cells?
Magnocellular cells
- Project to LGN 1-2
- Color insensitive
- Identify general shape and movement of object.
What are P-Cells?
Parvocellular cells
- Project to LGN 3-6
- Detect color
- Identify form and color of object
Divisions of the Retina
Brain needs to combine the information from the nasal hemiretina and right/left temporal hemiretina.
What percentage of axons does the retina-geniculate-striate pathway have?
~ 90% of axons of retinal ganglion cells.
What is retinotopic organization?
Information from the receptive field is mapped accordingly in the brain.
How are activated receptors organized and what do they do?
- Receptors arrayed topographically. EG. A hand has many receptors that send specific information.
- Information about size and location in space (visual system, somatosensory system)
- Information about pitch (auditory), taste (gustation) or smell (olfaction).
Describe receptive fields.
- Neuron only responds to stimulation within receptive field.
- Receptor density varies in different regions.
- Receptor density affects level of detail of information received.
What happens with more receptors available?
More receptors = better image, higher sensitivity to something
Describe psychophysics
- Relationship between characteristics of stimulus and quality of perception.
- “Just noticeable difference” related to size of reference stimulus.
- Sensory threshold is stimulus that can be detected accurately 50% of time.
What is “Just noticeable difference”?
Detecting change based on the initial or reference stimulus. EG. Holding a soda can and then adding a 50lb bag of rice = noticeable difference.
How is the sensory threshold determined?
- Evaluated clinically.
- Minimum energy stimulus energy to generate action potential.
- Modifiable by psychological factors.