Receptors and Sensory Input

Question 1

Mechonreceptors

Answer 1

Concerned with pressure (including BP), hearing, and balance

Question 2

Nocireceptors

Answer 2

Pain

Question 3

Thermoreceptors

Answer 3

temperature

Question 4

Photoreceptors

Answer 4

Light

Question 5

Receptor Potential

Answer 5

When a stimulus changes the potential across a receptors membrane

Question 6

Pacinian Corpuscle

Answer 6

1) Special mechanoreceptor
2) Has an unmyelinated nerve ending within nerve tissue and an afferent myelinated nerve that leaves the connective tissue

Question 7

sensory adaptation

Answer 7

a change over time in the responsiveness of the sensory system to a constant stimulus

Question 8

Lateral Inhibition

Answer 8

The inhibition that neighboring neurons in brain pathways have on each other.

I.e:
(For example, in the visual system, neighboring pathways from the receptors to the optic nerve, which carries information to the visual areas of the brain, show lateral inhibition. This means that neighboring visual neurons respond LESS if they are activated at the same time than if one is activated alone. So the fewer neighboring neurons stimulated, the more strongly a neuron responds. this process greatly increases the visual system’s ability to respond to edges of a surface. This happens because neurons responding to the edge of a stimulus respond more strongly than do neurons responding to the middle. The “edge” neurons receive inhibition only from neighbors on one side – the side away from the edge. Neurons stimulated from the middle of a surface get inhibition from all sides.)

Question 9

What are the 3 types neurons involved in sensory pathway?

Answer 9

1st, 2nd, and 3rd order

Question 10

Discuss 1st, 2nd, and 3rd order neurons

Answer 10

1st order neuron carries information from the receptive field to the spinal cord. Synapses with 2nd order synapse coming from opposite side of spinal cord.

2nd order neuron comes from the opposite side, synapses with 1st order neuron, and carries that information up to the thalmus. It then synapses with 3rd order neuron

3rd order neuron continues to ascend until it reaches the targeted region of the somatosensory cortex.