SPS Flashcards
What is sensation?
detection of environmental stimuli
What is perception?
the awareness, or interpreting of what we sense (events and objects)
What is perceptual process?
the steps from stimuli from responses
What are the seven steps to perceptual process?
i. distal stimulus
ii. proximal stimulus
iii. receptor process
iv. neural processes
v. conscious experience
vi. recognition
vii. action
What is a distal stimulus?
stimulus that is the actual object or event in the environment.
What is the proximal stimulus?
pattern of light from the object or event that reaches your retina (or the sound waves from its roar reaching your ears).
What are sensory receptors?
cells specialized to respond to environmental energy, with each sensory system’s receptor specialized to respond to a specific time of energy.
What is transduction?
transformation of environmental (light, sound, thermal, etc) energy into electrical energy. crucial for perception
What is neural processing?
the changes in these signals that occur as they are transmitted through the network of neurons
What is the cerebral cortrex?
a brain layer that contains the machinery for creating perceptions and other high-cognitive functions like language, memory, and emotions. examples being occipital, temporal, and parietal lobe
What is the occipital lobe?
primary receiving area for vision
What is the temporal lobe?
contains part of the primary receiving area for hearing
What is the parietal lobe?
contains the primary receiving area for the skin sense (touch, temperature, pain) and your awareness of your position (what room you are in, what an object can be identified as, etc)
What is the frontal lobe?
receives signals from all the senses and plays an important role in perceptions that involve coordination of information received through two or more senses. cognitive thinking, decision making, etc is taken place.
What is recognition?
placing an object in a category that gives it meaning.
What is action?
the final behavioral response which involves motor activities in response to a stimulus.
What is knowledge?
any information that the perceiver brings to a situation such as prior experience or expectations
What is categorizing?
to place objects into categories, an example of how knowledge acquired years ago can influence the perceptual process.
Explain what bottom-up processing is.
data-based processing; processing that is based on the stimuli reaching the rectors. no prior knowledge or experience are involved.
Explain what top-down processing
knowledge-based processing; processing that is based on knowledge. As the stimulus becomes more complex, the role of top-down processing increases.
What are labeled lines?
the brain recognizing the senses as distinct because their action potential travel along separate nerve tracks.
What is generator potential?
local change in membrane potential
What is sensory transduction?
the conversion of electrical energy from a stimulus into a change in membrane potential in a receptor cell
What is pacinian corpuscle?
a specific type of skin sensory receptor that responds to vibration and pressure (senses texture)
What is the somatosensory system?
set of specialized receptors and neural mechanisms responsible for body sensations such as touch and pain.
What is the receptive field?
the area within which the presence of a stimulus will alter a sensory neuron’s firing rate
What are phasic receptors?
display adaptation; the frequency of action potentials drops rapidly as stimulation is maintained
What are tonic receptors?
show little or no adaptation; the frequency of action potentials declines slowly or not at all as stimulation is maintained (important for signaling duration of a stimulus)
What is the dorsal column system?
delivers touch information
receptors send axons via the dorsal spinal cord to synapses on neurons in the brainstem. head to the thalamus, each sensory modality is sent to a different region of the thalamus.
What is the dermatome?
a strip of skin innervated by a particular spinal nerve?
What is the primary sensory cortex?
the region of cortex that receives most of the information about that modality from the thalamus.
What is the non-primary sensory cortex?
secondary sensory cortex, the cortical regions receiving direct projections from primary sensory cortex for that modality
What is the primary somatosensory cortex? (S1)
located in the post-central gyrus, receives touch information from the opposite side of the body.
What are polymodal neurons?
process input from different sensory systems
What is synethesia?
a condition in which a stimulus in one modality also creates a sensation in another.
ex; seeing a number evokes a color, music, taste, etc.
What is pain?
discomfort associated with tissue damage
What is the anterolateral system?
spinothalamic system transmits the sensations of pain and temperature to the brain.
What is Neuropathic pain
pain that persists long after the injury that started it has healed; disagreeable example of neuroplasicity where neurons continue to directly signal pain and amplify the pain signal in the absence of tissue damage.
What is analgesia?
the absence of or reduction in pain
What are antagonists?
muscles that counteracts the effects of another muscle
What are synergists?
Muscle that acts together with another muscle (to move a limb, for example)
What are motor neurons?
neurons that transmit neural messages to muscles
What is a neuromuscular junction?
the region where the motor neuron terminal meets its target muscle fiber; it is the point where the nerve transmits its message to the muscle fiber (acetylcholine is released)
What is proprioception?
collection of information about body movements and position
What is the muscle spindle?
muscle receptor that lies parallel to a muscle and sends impulses to the CNS when the muscle is stretched.
What is golgi tendon organs?
type of receptor found within tendons that sends impulses to the CNS when a muscle contracts
What is the pyramidal system?
corticospinal system; includes neurons within the cerebral cortex and their axons which form the pyramidal tract
What is the extrapyramidal system?
includes the basal ganglia and some closely related brainstem structures; axons pass into the spinal cord outside the pyramids of the medulla
What is ataxia?
loss of movement coordination?
what is Parkinsons disease?
neurodegenerative disorder characterized by tremors at rest, muscular rigitidy, and reduction in voluntary movement caused by loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra
What is huntington’s disease?
genetic disorder in which the destruction of basal ganglia results in a syndrome of abrupt, involuntary writhing movements and changes in mental functioning
What is the supplementary motor area? (SMA)
important for initiation of movement sequences, especially preplanned
What is the primary motor cortex?
major source of axons forming pyramidal tract; occupies the precentral gyrus and is organized as a map of the contralateral side of the body
What is the nonprimary motor cortex?
frontal lobe regions adjacent to the primary motor cortex that contribute to motor control and modulate the activity of the primary motor cortex
What are mirror neurons?
distinctive class of neurons that discharge both when an individual executes a motor act and when he observes another individual performing the same or a similar motor act
