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Behavioural And Cogntive Neuroscience > Week 9: Sensation & Perception > Flashcards

Week 9: Sensation & Perception Flashcards

1
Q

What is sensation?

A

The manner in which our sense organs receive information from the environment

Detecting a stimulus

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2
Q

What is perception?

A

The manner by which people select, organise, and interpret sensations

The summation of all sensory inputs mixed with goals, ideas, expectations

Understanding a stimulus

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3
Q

What is transduction?

A

The manner by which physical energy is converted into sensory neural processes

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4
Q

What is the former model of the organisation within the sensory system?

A

Receptors - transduced here, then goes along nerves into the THALAMUS, into the PRIMARY SENSORY CORTEX - SECONDARY SENSORY CORTEX - ASSOCIATION CORTEX

However it is much more complicated than this

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5
Q

What is the neocortex?

A

A thin sheet of cells that cover the rest of the brain

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6
Q

How are the cells in the neocortex organised?

A

Into 6 stereotypical layers

They are all arranged in the same way (types, arrangements, connections)

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7
Q

What are layers 1-3 of the neocortex for?

A

Cortex-cortex transmission

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8
Q

What is layer 4 of the neocortex for?

A

From the thalamus to the cortex (inbox)

Cells mostly get input from the thalamus

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9
Q

What are layers 5-6 of the neocortex for?

A

5 - send to all the way down to toes (muscles)
6 - to thalamus etc
(outbox)

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10
Q

What is the sensory organ and receptors for vision?

What do they do?

A

The eye
Rods and cones
Transduce neural signals up the optic nerve

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11
Q

What is the primary visual pathway?

A

Retina, optic nerve, optic chiasm, thalamus, occipital lobe

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12
Q

Are there any senses that do not go through the thalamus?

A

Olfaction does not

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13
Q

Multisensory integration?

A

Information is assimilated from various individual sensory systems and coordinated

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14
Q

What external energy is involved in hearing?

A

Occurs via sound waves which result from rapid changes in air pressure caused by vibrating objects

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15
Q

What is pitch?

A

The frequency of vibration

How many times does it go up and down in a period of time

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16
Q

What is loudness?

A

Sound wave intensity (increased amplitude)

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17
Q

What is timbre?

A

Provides information about the nature or complexity of the sound

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18
Q

Where are primary auditory receptors located and what are they?

A

Located in the inner ear (cochlea)

  • Tiny hair cells that convert sound energy into neural impulses (sent along to primary auditory cortex)
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19
Q

What is the external ear called? and the role?

A

The pinna

Includes the lobe and canal they funnel sound waves into the eardrum

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20
Q

What is the name of the eardrum?

A

Tympanic membrane

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21
Q

What is the middle ear?

A

A hollow region between the eardrum and cochlea that contains the ossicles

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22
Q

What are ossicles?

A

Middle ear bones

  • Malleus
  • Incus
  • Stapes

These vibrate at the frequency of soundwaves and transmits that to the inner ear

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23
Q

What is the process of energy moving through the ear?

A

Sound waves come in along the ear canal, making the eardrum vibrate.
This vibrations mess with the 3 middle ear bones.

The stapes vibrates the membrane called the oval window

Vibrations transferred into the fluid of the cochlea to reach the internal structure, the organ of corti

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24
Q

What is the cochlea?

A

The cochlea is a snail shaped structure of the inner ear containing the sensory organ for the auditory system - the organ of corti

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25
Q

What are the different parts of the organ of corti?

A

The basilar membrane - the hair cells reside on this

Hair cells - hair cells move, each of them is for a different frequency depending on where located on basilar membrane (varies with distance from the sound typically)

Tectorial membrane on top - resting on hair cells

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26
Q

What does the stimulation of hair cells trigger?

A

Action potentials in the auditory nerve

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27
Q

How is the primary auditory cortex organised?

A

In a similar way to the hair cells in the organ of corti - for differing frequencies. But it is more complicated

Each of the cells responds preferentially to different frequencies

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28
Q

What is the superior temporal gyrus?

A

The secondary auditory cortex

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29
Q

What are odorants?

A

Molecules that give off a smell - they bind to receptors in olfactory cilia (in the nose)

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30
Q

What are glomeruli?

A

Clusters of convergent olfactory sensory neurons (clusters of receptors - send up to the cortex)

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31
Q

Where are the receptor cells in the nose?

A

In the upper part - embedded in a layer of mucous covered tissue

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32
Q

What is the process of olfaction?

A

Odorants come in through the nose
There is a porus portion of skull near olfactory bulb -the olfactory receptors come through this region chemicals bind here and send of action potentials that move to olfactory bulb

From here there are diffuse projections to the limbic system and then back to orbitofrontal cortex through the thalamus but in an indirect way

33
Q

What does the porus part of the skull where olfactory receptors reside mean?

A

Easy to damage - kills axons

A lot of head injuries can damage this area

34
Q

Why are smells so emotional and can trigger memories?

A

Because the limbic system is involved in the olfaction process

35
Q

What is taste referred to as?

A

Gustation

36
Q

Where are the taste receptors? What are they called?

A

They are in the tongue and oral cavities

These are in clusters of about 50 (located around papillae)

37
Q

What are the 4 primary tastes?

A

Sweet
Salty
Sour
Bitter

Each have sensory receptors of their own except for salty and sour - these act on ion channels

38
Q

What is the 5th taste?

A

Umami - meat or savoury

39
Q

Explain the structure of a taste bud?

A

There is a bulb or pore at the tip - for things to get in

Signals get sent down taste cells towards the gustatory afferent axons

40
Q

What is the process of gustation?

A

Taste receptors on tongue - signals going out to solitary tract
Projecting to thalamus to cortex

41
Q

Is the somatosensory system a singular system?

A

No there is actually 3 seperate and interacting systems

42
Q

What are the 3 main systems that interact to form the somatosensory system?

A

Exteroceptive: external stimuli (touch pressure and pain)
Proprioceptive: body position
Interoceptive: internal body conditions (temperature and blood pressure)

43
Q

Topographic organisation of the somatosensory cortex?

A

Each neuron in a particular column has a receptive field in some part of the brain

The more important/sensitive the part of the body is, the more area dedicated to it

44
Q

What does the iris do

A

Controls how much light enters the eye

45
Q

What does the pupil do

A

It is a circular hole where the light enters the eye

46
Q

What is the cornea

A

It is a curved transparent layer covering the iris and the pupil

The curvature is responsible for bending incoming light to focus it on the back of the eye

47
Q

What is the lens

A

It does the same as the cornea but can change its curvature to accommodate as it is made up of cells

48
Q

What does the retina do

A

It is a thin membrane that is at the back of the eye it is technically part of the brain

Receives light that the lens has focussed and convert it into neural signals for the brain

49
Q

What is the optic nerve

A

It contains the axons of ganglion cells and travels from the retina to the brain

50
Q

What is the fovea

A

It is the central part of the eye responsible for acuity (sharpness of vision) this is why we move our eyes

Retina is spread aside for the optic nerve to run through

51
Q

What is the blindspot of the eye

A

Is a region of the retina that contains no rods or cones - nothing to detect vision

52
Q

Where are our sensory receptors in the eye?

A

At the back of the eye - moves along the cells to the front of the eye to optic nerve

53
Q

What are cones?

A

Photopic (daytime) vision
High acuity colour information but need good lighting
Only found at the fovea - we move our eye so that we can have high acuity on what we want to focus on

54
Q

What are rods?

A

Scotopic (night time) vision

High sensitivity, allowing for low-acuity vision in dim light but no colour information

55
Q

How many ganglion cells for each cone?

A

1:1

Whereas there are many rods for each ganglion cell

56
Q

Contralateral representation in the visual field?

A

Right visual field is represented in the left part of the brain and vice versa

optic chiasm - cross over structure

57
Q

How does vision reach the primary visual cortex?

A

Up optic nerve until reaches the optic chiasm and crosses over, then to lateral geniculate nucleus which is the thalamus - to the primary visual cortex

There is also a path taking information straight from the retina to the superior colliculus

58
Q

What is the organisation of the primary visual cortex (V1)?

A

Neurons are organised into vertical columns

Each neuron responds to stimuli from the same part of the retina

Related columns are clustered with half receiving input from the left eye and the other half from the right eye

59
Q

What is the flow of visual information after it reaches the thalamus?

A

Primary visual cortex (striate) - secondary visual cortex (prestriate) - visual association cortex (posterior parietal cortex & inferotemporal cortex)

60
Q

What happens as visual information flows through the hierarchy (eg. V1, V2 and so on)?

A

The receptive fields become larger and respond to more complex and specific stimuli

61
Q

What does the primary visual system receive information from?

A

Most input from lateral geniculate nucleus

62
Q

What kind of cells do receptive fields have? and what are their characteristics?

A
  1. Simple cortical cells: receptive fields are divided by straight lines, responding best to bars or edged, monocular
  2. Complex cortical cells : respond to straight lines of particular orientation - position of the stimulus in the field doesn’t matter, binocular
63
Q

Which part of the brain gets sensory input from all systems?

A

The superior colliculus

64
Q

What is synesthesia?

A

Messed up multi-sensory input

Synesthesia is a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway

65
Q

What is found in the brain of those with synesthesia?

A

Stronger white matter connectivity - more axons between sensory areas

66
Q

Explain the cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus (see slide 47)

A

If the ‘on’ bit of the cell is stimulated then you are fully activating the nucleus and it is firing at maximal activation - when a light stimulus is applied, fires rapidly

If the light only reaches the ‘off’ section then the light is going to inhibit it and it wont fire at all. when light isn’t applied they fire at a baseline slow rate

If the light is 50/50 on/off then we get no change, they just cancel each other out

67
Q

Total deafness in humans?

A

Rare but if occurs, in one of two forms

  1. Conductive deafness (damage to ossicles)
  2. Nerve deafness (damage to cochlea)
68
Q

What does partial cochlea damage result in?

A

Loss of hearing at particular frequencies

69
Q

Lesions to the auditory cortex in monkeys and humans?

A

Hindered sound localisation and pitch discrimination

70
Q

What is anosmia and how does it occur?

A

The inability to smell

- most commonly occurs after a blow to the head that damages the olfactory nerves

71
Q

What is ageusia and how common is it and why?

A

The inability to taste

- Not very common at all due to many pathways carrying taste - lots of backups to get information into perception

72
Q

Asomatognosia?

A

The failure to recognise ones own body parts (eg. the case of the man who threw his own leg out of bed)

73
Q

What is a loss of colour vision called and how does it typically occur?

A

Achromatopsia

Typically occurs due to bilateral damage to the occipital lobe in V4 that processes colour

74
Q

What is a scotoma?

A

Discrete regions of blindness

75
Q

What is neglect syndrome?

A

Involuntary failure to attend to sensory stimuli presented to the side of space opposite to the site of brain injury
E.g. only shaving one side of your face

76
Q

What does the McGurk effect show?

A

Shows how our vision can alter what we believe we are hearing

77
Q

Trilone paradox?

A

Tones can contain both a higher and lower frequency in them but our brains have a preference to what to listen to

78
Q

How does V1 size relate to the size illusion success?

A

Strongly correlated to the size of the V1 - Smaller V1 = stronger illusion

Why?
Larger V1 = stronger resolution because each neuron integrates across a smaller part of the visual field

Behavioural And Cogntive Neuroscience (9 decks)

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