Sensation Flashcards
Joannes Muller
Proposed the doctrine of specific nerve energies (Receptors and neural channels for the different senses are independent and that each uses a different nerve “energy”)
Labeled Line
Particular neurons are, at the outset, labeled for distinctive sensory experiences.
The Pacinian Corpuscle
This receptor detects vibration and is found throughout the body in skin and muscle.
Coding
The rules by which action potentials in a sensory system reflect a physical stimulus
Top-Down Processing
Processing in which higher brain centers, such as the cortex and thalamus, modulate sensory information, suppressing information from some sensors and amplifying it from others
Receptive Field
Consists of a region of space in which a stimulus will alter that neuron’s firing rate
Primary Somatosensroy Cortex
Where sensory receptors on the body surface are mapped. Primary cortex for receiving touch and pain information, in the parietal lobe
Tactile Skin Receptors
Of or relating to touch
Meissner’s Corpuscle
A skin receptor cell that detects light touch (fast adapting)
Merkel’s Disc
A skin receptor cell that detects light touch (fast adapting)
Ruffini’s Ending
A skin receptor cell type that detects stretching of the skin (slow adapting)
Free Nerve Endings
An axon that terminates in the skin without any specialized cell associated with it and that detects pain and/or changes in temperature.
Large axons conduct action potentials
more rapidly than small axons
Alpha Delta Fibers
A moderately large, myelinated and fast-conducting axon, usually transmitting pain information
C Fibers
A small, unmyelinated axon that conducts pain information slowly and adapts slowly
