Intro to the senses

Question 1

5 special senses

Answer 1

vision, hearing, equilibrium, taste, and smell

Question 2

4 somatic senses

Answer 2

touch, temperature, proprioception, nociception (pain and itch)

Question 3

Receptors

Answer 3

cells that convert stimuli into electrical signals

Question 4

what is the conversion from stimuli to electrical signals called?

Answer 4

transduction

Question 5

what are the receptors for sensory systems?

Answer 5

neurons

Question 6

what are the receptors for hearing

Answer 6

non-neuronal epithelial cells

Question 7

receptor potential

Answer 7

this refers to the graded change in membrane potential caused by the conversion of stimulus energy

Question 8

what happens after the receptor potential is triggered?

Answer 8

it may cause the receptor to release a neurotransmitter or if the receptor is a neuron, it may release an action potential

Question 9

adequate stimulus

Answer 9

form of energy that the receptor is most responsive to

Question 10

example of adequate stimulus

Answer 10

thermoreceptors are most sensitive to temperature

Question 11

chemoreceptors

Answer 11

respond to specific molecules or ions

Question 12

mechanoreceptors

Answer 12

respond to mechanical energy like pressure, vibration, gravity and sound

Question 13

thermoreceptors

Answer 13

respond to temperature

Question 14

photoreceptors

Answer 14

respond to light

Question 15

receptor threshold

Answer 15

the weakest stimulus that illicit a response

Question 16

perceptual threshold

Answer 16

the weakest stimulus that will cause a conscious perception

Question 17

what is the basic structure of a sensory system

Answer 17

primary neurons are the first neurons in the system

primary neurons synapse on the secondary sensory neuron

the secondary neurons synapse on the tertiaries

Question 18

what is the value of convergence

Answer 18

this means that the tertiary neuron is able to receive all the information from the several individual primary neurons

Question 19

why do we care about this value of convergence?

Answer 19

because it allows for efficient communication

Question 20

stimulus modality

Answer 20

sensory neurons carry information about what type of information is being carried, like if it is light, touch, or sound

Question 21

Modality by labeled lines

Answer 21

this basically means that the type of stimulus it is can also be identified by which types of axons carry them.

activity from neurons in the visual pathway mean light

activity from neurons in the auditory pathway mean sound

Question 22

phasic cells

Answer 22

respond to brief changes but then they stop after it becomes steady

Question 23

tonic cells

Answer 23

unlike phasic cells, they maintain their activity when the stimulus is steady, signalling the present level

Question 24

phasic-tonic cells

Answer 24

this is a combination of the 2 where they react in response to a change but don’t return all the way to zero but also carry information about its steady level

Question 25

are retinal cells phasic or tonic?

Answer 25

they are phasic

Question 26

what is an advantage to phasic signals

Answer 26

they make communication more efficient because our world is fairly stable we only really need to be paying attention to the changes that happen

Question 27

What are spatial changes? Why are they also efficient

Answer 27

these are differences between neighboring regions in space. it is able to tell the difference between one patch of area and one directly near the first. if we pinch our skin- we are able to feel the pinch and also where we are not being pinched due to these spatial changes

Question 28

what is another name for spatial changes

Answer 28

contrast

Question 29

what is the name for the locations where there is strong contrast

Answer 29

edges

Question 30

how can sensory system make edges more noticeable?

Answer 30

by lateral inhibition

Question 31

lateral inhibition

Answer 31

cells can either inhibit their neighbors or inhibit the cells their neighbors excite

Question 32

what is the path to run for most sensory pathways

Answer 32

to the cortex via the thalamus

Question 33

which sensory pathway does not cross the thalamus?

Answer 33

the olfactory pathway bypasses thalamus and goes directly to the brain from the nose

Question 34

what are equilibrium pathways?

Answer 34

these are pathways that go from the thalamus to the cerebellum

Question 35

why does it make sense for equilibrium pathways to go to the cerebellum as opposed to the cortex

Answer 35

because the cerebellum has been known to strongly influence balance

Question 36

Fill in the blank. Sensory Processing is ________.

Answer 36

inference.

Question 37

why is sensory processing inference

Answer 37

because our perceptions of the world is always educated guesses and our sense data is incomplete and ambiguous so the bran has to infer

Question 38

What does the kanizsa illusion reveal about our brains?

Answer 38

it shows that the brain mistrusts coincidences. our brain will see overlapping triangles because of the perfect alignments of the Vs and pacman figures