Lecture 2

Question 1

The vestibular organs help us by providing a sense of:

Answer 1

1. Linear motion
2. Angular motion
3. Tilt

Question 2

A sense consisting of three interacting sensory modalities-perception of linear motion, angular motion and tilt is called?

Answer 2

Spatial orientation

Question 3

What are the three directions for sense of rotation?

Answer 3

Roll: rotation around x-axis
Pitch: rotation around y-axis
Yaw: rotation around x-axis

Question 4

What receptors does the vestibular system use?

Answer 4

Any cell that has stereocilia for transfixing mechanical movement in the inner ear into neural activity sent to the brain (for example: hair cells).

Question 5

What is the name for the mechanical structures in the vestibular system that sense both linear acceleration and gravity?

Answer 5

Otoliths organs.

Question 6

What are the sources of our sense of linear velocity and gravity?

Answer 6

Up, down, left, right, front, back.

Question 7

How many hair cells does the utricle contain?

Answer 7

About 30,000 hair cells

Question 8

How many hair cells does the saccule have?

Answer 8

About 16,000 hair cells

Question 9

What are the three experimental paradigms typically used to investigate spatial orientation perception?

Answer 9

Threshold estimation, magnitude estimation and matching.

Question 10

Define magnitude estimation?

Answer 10

Participants report how much (e.g. how many degrees) they think they tilted, rotated, or translated.

Question 11

What is the name for: ‘participants are tilted and they orient a line with the direction of gravity. This is done in a dark room with only the line visible to avoid any visual cues to orientation’?

Answer 11

Matching which is one of the experimental paradigms.

Question 12

Define sensory integration?

Answer 12

The process of combing different sensory signals.

Question 13

What is it called when an illusory sense of self motion produced when you are not, in fact, moving?

Answer 13

Vection.

Question 14

Touch receptors are embedded in outer layer(________) and underlying layer (_______) of skin.

Answer 14

Epidermis

Dermis

Question 15

What are epidermis and dermis categorised by what three things?

Answer 15

1. Type of stimulation to which the receptor responds.
2. Size of the receptive fields.
3. Rate of adaptation (fast versus slow).

Question 16

Perception of the movement of our limbs in space is named?

Answer 16

Kinesthesia.

Question 17

What is proprioception?

Answer 17

Perception of the position of our limbs in space.

Question 18

What is the name for this definition? ‘Collectively, sensory signals from the skin, muscles, tendons, joints, and internal receptors.

Answer 18

Somatosensation.

Question 19

What are kinesthetic receptors?

Answer 19

Mechanoreceptors in muscles, tendons, and joints.

Question 20

What is a muscle spindle?

Answer 20

A sensory receptor located in a muscle that senses its tension.

Question 21

What is the sensory receptor called that signals information about changes in skin temperature?

Answer 21

Thermoreceptors.

Question 22

What are the two distinct populations of thermoreceptors?

Answer 22

Warmth fibres and cold fibres

Question 23

When does a thermoreceptors have a response?

Answer 23

When you make contact with something warmer or colder than your skin.

Question 24

What is a nociceptors?

Answer 24

Transmit information about stimulation that causes damage to skin.

Question 25

What are the two groups of nociceptors?

Answer 25

A-delta fibres that are myelinated. C fibres that are unmyelinated.

Question 26

What is pain sensation triggered by?

Answer 26

Nociceptors.

Question 27

What is analgesia?

Answer 27

Decreasing pain sensation during conscious experience.

Question 28

Gate neurons block, pain transmission and are activated by harmful stimulation applied to another area of the body as well as top down influences from the brain (I.e., expectations). What is this theory called?

Answer 28

Gate control theory.

Question 29

Define pain sensation?

Answer 29

Nociceptors provide signal when there is impending or ongoing damage to body’s tissue -“nociceptive” pain.

Question 30

One damage has occurred, site can become more sensitive which is called?

Answer 30

Hyperaglesia.

Question 31

What is neuropathic?

Answer 31

Pain as a result of damage to or dysfunction of neurons system.

Question 32

Define homunculus?

Answer 32

Map-like representation of regions of the body in the brain. Adjacent areas on skin connect to adjacent areas in brain.

Question 33

What is the two-point threshold?

Answer 33

The minimum distance at which two stimuli are just perceptible as seperate.

Question 34

What is haptic perception?

Answer 34

Knowledge of the world that is derived from sensory receptors in skin, muscles, tendons and joints, usually involving active exploration.

Question 35

What is the name for a stereotypical hand movement pattern used to contact objects in order to perceive their properties? These exploratory procedures were described by Lederman and Klatzky.

Answer 35

Exploratory procedure.

Question 36

What is tactile agnosia?

Answer 36

The inability to identify objects by touch, caused by lesions to the parietal lobe.

Question 37

Define body image?

Answer 37

The impressionof our bodies in space.

Question 38

Define phantom limb?

Answer 38

Sensation perceived from a physically amputated limb of the body.

Question 39

What is the name for the ability of neural circuits to undergo changes in function or organisation as a result of previous activity?

Answer 39

Neural plasticity.