Unit 3 - The Other Senses Flashcards
What is sensory adaptation?
- The tendency of sensory neurons to stop firing in response to a stable or unchanging stimulus
What is absolute threshold?
- A measurement of the limits of sensory sensitivity
What is sensation?
- The process of receiving information from environmental stimuli through sensory receptors and the nervous system
What is sensorineural hearing loss?
- Hearing loss caused by damage to the cochleas hair receptors or the auditory nerves
-The result of inner ear damage or problems with the neural connection from the ear to the auditory cortex in the brain. - Also called nerve deafness
- Causes: Loud noises
What is conduction hearing loss?
- Hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts soundwaves to the cochlea
- Would occur if you have damage to the outer ear
- Causes: Chronic inner ear infections, ruptured ear drum, blockage of the eustachian tubes
What is the eardrum?
- AKA: Tympanic membrane
- Part of the outer ear
- Damage could result in conduction hearing loss
What is the hammer?
- AKA: Malleus
- Bone in the middle ear
- Damage would result in conduction hearing loss
What is the stirrup?
- AKA: Stapes
- Bone in the middle ear
- Damage would result in conduction hearing loss
In the ear, transduction occurs in the…
Cochlea
What is the cochlea?
- Does transduction
- In the inner ear
- Has hair cells that change vibrations to neural impulses
- Contain fluid
What are the eustachian tubes?
- Connect the middle ear to the back of the throat
- Help the ears drain fluid and equalize pressure
What is place theory?
- The pitch of a sound is determined by which part of the cochlea’s basilar membrane it stimulates.
- High-frequency noises produce vibrations near the beginning of the basilar membrane, which results in our ability to hear high-pitched, squeaky sounds.
What is frequency theory?
- Explains our ability to determine the pitch of a sound by the speed at which the cilia inside the cochlea vibrate.
- It explains that slow vibrations allow us to hear low-pitched sounds.
What is the main function of the middle ear?
- To transmit the vibrations from the tympanic membrane (eardrum) to the inner ear
What is the basilar membrane?
- Located inside the cochlea (in the inner ear)
- Contains receptors for hearing
What is the survival function of sweet tastes?
Indicates energy source
What is the survival function of salty tastes?
Indicates sodium, essential to psychological processes
What is the survival function of sour tastes?
Indicates potentially toxic acid
What is the survival function of bitter tastes?
Indicates potential poisons
What is the survival function of umami tastes?
Indicates proteins to grow and repair tissue
What is sensory interaction?
- The principle that one sense may influence another
- Ex: The smell and taste of food
What is the anvil?
- AKA: Incus
- Bone in the middle ear
What are the semicircular canals?
- In the inner ear
- Contain a small amount of fluid that when disrupted alerts the brain of the body being off balance.
- An imbalance or shift of this fluid could cause the symptoms from the prompt: dizziness, sensations of spinning, being off-balance, tilting, swaying, nausea, vomiting, and headaches.
- Once the fluid settles, a feeling of balance will return.
What is the kinesthetic sense?
- The body’s internal sense that allows for the understanding of the body’s movement and positioning.
- Often related to balance, this sense is not able to be disrupted as it is not what causes balance, but rather the understanding of balance.
What are proprioceptors?
- The sensory receptors of our kinesthetic sense.
- Located in our bones, joints, and soft tissues, such as muscles and tendons
- Our kinesthetic sense pertains to how we move our body and how we coordinate different body parts and their movements.
- Overactivation: Symptoms might present as chaotic body movements with multiple parts moving at once making walking, driving, or dancing difficult or impossible to achieve.
What are nocioreceptors?
- The pain receptors that lie within the skin, bones/joints, and organs and function as part of our kinesthetic sense.
- A lack of nocioreceptors would lead to a decrease in the pain sensed and/or decreased pain messages sent to the brain for processing.
What is vestibular sense?
- Vestibular refers to our sense of balance
- Our vestibular sense works in conjunction with the inner ear, specifically the cochlea and the fluid within.
