3_Peripheral Nervous System and Sensory Receptors Flashcards
What is sensation?
The process where sensory receptors receive information from both the internal and external environment and encode the information from transmission to various areas of the nervous system.
What is perception?
The process where the central nervous system receives and interprets the sensations based on present experiences; the present state of the internal and external environment, and memory of similar situations
Where does perception occur in various degrees of refinement?
Thalamus, basal ganglia, cerebellum and cortex
What is perception at the cortical level usually considered?
conscious perception
Unconscious perception is considered?
perception at the level of the cerebellum
The basal ganglia may be involved in unconscious representations of movement experiences, but also is involved with:
perception of inter- and intra-personal space
Without a cortex, perceptions are incomplete or skewed from the ___________________________________________.
normal which may include lack of localization, anesthesia or hyperesthesia, parasthesia.
What is sensory transduction?
changing the energy of a stimulus into a neural energy.
A stimulus energy can be ________, _________ and ____________.
mechanical, chemical and light
A stimulus energy produces a change in the receptor membrane such that a ________________________
a local potential difference occurs (in other words, NA+, K+ and CI- channels open to allow ion movement).
The local potential change is local and spreads _________________________.
only a few millimeters as it decays.
What is threshold for stimulation?
The amount of stimulus energy it takes to cause a local receptor potential and depends on the physical properties of the receptor itself.
What does it mean that some receptors have low thresholds?
it takes only a small stimulus to cause a local receptor potential.
Give an example of a receptor with a low threshold:
Meissner’s corpuscle - low frequency vibration
What does mean that some receptors have high thresholds?
it takes a larger stimulus to cause a local receptor potential.
Give an example of a receptor with a high threshold:
Ruffini endings - skin stretch, joint movement
What is the threshold for perception?
The lowest stimulus intensity necessary for perception of stimulus.
Threshold for perception is usually the same as the receptor threshold, however it may be modified by:
context and experience.
What is adaptation?
The duration for which the receptor potential is generated to the stimulus.
What determines adaptation?
The morphology of the receptor, e.g. Pacinian corpuscle receptor potential is rapidly adapting and thus a generator potential is only generated when the stimulus comes on or off.
Action potentials will only be generated at _______ and _______ of the stimulus
onset and offset
Ruffini corpuscles are slowly adapting and continue to signal ______________________.
throughout the duration of the stimulus.
How many types of stimuli are receptors specialized to respond to?
Receptors are specialized by their morphology to respond to only one type of stimulus.
What was the opposing theory about coding?
Patterns of stimuli similar to “Morse codes”, signaled they type of stimulus.