Reading 5.4/5.5 Flashcards
What are the three main parts of the ear?
The outer ear, the middle ear, and the inner ear.
What are the three tiny bones in the middle ear called?
The malleus (or hammer), incus (or anvil), and the stapes (or stirrup).
What is the cochlea?
A fluid-filled, snail-shaped structure in the inner ear that contains the sensory receptor cells (hair cells) of the auditory system.
What happens when sound waves travel along the auditory canal and strike the tympanic membrane?
The vibration of the tympanic membrane results in movement of the three ossicles in the middle ear.
What is the basilar membrane?
A thin strip of tissue within the cochlea where the hair cells are embedded.
How is auditory information processed in the brain?
Auditory information is shuttled to the inferior colliculus, the medial geniculate nucleus of the thalamus, and finally to the auditory cortex in the temporal lobe of the brain for processing.
What is the temporal theory of pitch perception?
It asserts that frequency is coded by the activity level of a sensory neuron, meaning that a given hair cell would fire action potentials related to the frequency of the sound wave.
What is the place theory of pitch perception?
It suggests that different portions of the basilar membrane are sensitive to sounds of different frequencies.
What cues does the auditory system use to localize sound?
Both monaural (one-eared) and binaural (two-eared) cues are used to localize sound. Each pinna interacts with incoming sound waves differently, providing monaural cues. Binaural cues include the differences in arrival time and loudness of sound at each ear.
What are the chemical senses?
Taste and smell are called chemical senses because both have sensory receptors that respond to molecules in the food we eat or in the air we breathe.
What is an umami
Umami is the fifth basic taste that is associated with a taste for monosodium glutamate (MSG). It is also referred to as a taste for savory or meaty flavors.
What is the role of taste buds?
Taste buds are formed by groupings of taste receptor cells with hair-like extensions that protrude into the central pore of the taste bud. They detect taste molecules, which bind to receptors on this extension and cause chemical changes within the sensory cell that result in neural impulses being transmitted to the brain via different nerves, depending on where the receptor is located.
What are the basic taste groupings?
Sweet, salty, sour, bitter, umami, and a growing body of experimental evidence suggests that we possess a taste for the fatty content of a given food.
What is olfaction?
Olfaction is the sense of smell, which detects odor molecules dissolved in the mucus in the top of the nose. The olfactory receptor cells are located in a mucous membrane at the top of the nose.
What is the function of olfactory receptor cells?
Small hair-like extensions from the olfactory receptor cells serve as the sites for odor molecules dissolved in the mucus to interact with chemical receptors located on these extensions. Once an odor molecule has bound a given receptor, chemical changes within the cell result in signals being sent to the olfactory bulb.
