Science - Sensory and Motor Systems Flashcards
The five senses--visual, auditory, gustatory, olfactory, and somatosensory--and the motor system.
Cerebellar Deep Nuclei
Output of the cerebellum
Cerebellum
Part of brain hanging on the back for learning motor skills and integrating them with the senses
Basal Ganglia
Regulates motivation; the movement of muscles from a standstill
Reticulospinal Tract
Ventromedial motor path that keeps the torso and legs upright
Tectospinal Tract
Ventromedial motor path that combines senses to give instinctual response to sudden light touch or sound
Vestibulospinal Tract
Ventromedial motor path for vestibular system in inner ear, to keep body balance
Rubrospinal Tract
Lateral less important cognitive motor path for muscle tone (keep muscles in place)
Corticospinal Tract
Lateral most important cognitive motor path for movement you think about
Premotor Cortex
Works with M1 and supplementary cortex to determine the muscles needed for a given movement
Primary Motor Cortex (M1)
Processor of voluntary movements
Muscle spindle
Proprioceptive element connected to myotatic reflex
Myotatic Reflex
Knee jerk reflex occuring on tap of knee tendon
Upper Motor Neurons
Synapses from brain to lower motor neuron
Lower Motor Neurons
Neurons that synapse onto muscles to control them
Sensory Homunculus
Overrepresentation of somatosensory neurons for certain parts of the body
Primary Somatosensory Cortex (S1)
Somatosensory processing in the parietal lobe
Anterolateral Spinothalamic System
Path taken by pain and temperature to the brain
Dorsal Column Medial Lemniscal (DCML) System
Path taken by touch and proprioception to the brain
Efferent Axons
Motor neuron axons
Afferent Axons
Sensory neuron axons
Dorsal Root Ganglions (DRG)
Bundles of sensory neuron somas
Congenital Analgesia
Hereditary insensitivity to pain
Hyperalgesia
Increased sensitivity in previously damaged tissue
Nociception
Neural processing of tissue damage
Thermoreceptors
Unmyelinated free nerve endings for detecting temperature
Dermatomes
Sections of the spinal cord that correspond to areas of the body
Glabrous
Hair-less skin
Innervated
With a higher density of nerve endings
Merkel’s Discs
Detects shape and texture. Fire for the whole stimulus. In innervated skin.
Ruffini’s Endings
Detects skin stretch. Fire for the whole stimulus. In innervated skin.
Meissner’s Corpuscles
Detects low frequency vibration, flutter. Adapts to stimuli. Only in glabrous skin.
Pacinian Corpuscles
Detects deep vibration. Adapts to stimuli
Mechanoreceptors
Broad name of sensory receptors for touch, activated by physical stimuli
Sensory Transduction
Process of turning light, sound, touch on the skin into electrochemical signals
Proprioception
Sense of where your muscles, ligaments, and tendons are.
Vestibular System
Helps balance and to know where your body is in space
Somatosensation
All sensation from the skin; touch, vestibular, proprioception
Glomeruli
Spheres of matter in the olfactory bulb that represent a specific smell each
Cribriform Plate
Thin bone that olfactory axons penetrate to reach the olfactory bulb
Olfactory Bulb
First synapse of olfactory axons, made up of 2000 glomeruli
Odorants
Particles in the air that bind to smell receptors