Chapter 13 Flashcards
(29 cards)
PNS
outside Brain/Spinal cord
PNS: Include Sensory receptors
– Peripheral nerves
– Associated ganglia
– Motor endings
PNS
Provides links to/from the external environment
Classification of Sensory Receptor: Location
Exteroceptors – near or at body surface; touch, pain,
pressure, temperature receptors in skin
– Interoceptors – visceral receptors, monitor chemical, tissue, and temperature stimuli
– Proprioceptors – constantly “advise” the brain and cerebellum of movements
Sensory Receptor: Classified by stimulus:
Thermoreceptors, chemoreceptors, mechanoreceptors, nociceptors, photoreceptors
Classified by structural complexity:
Simple (unencapsulated or encapsulated)
– Complex – special senses
Sensory Receptors: monitor your world!
Structures specialized to respond to stimuli
* Activation of receptors = Depolarizations that trigger impulses to the CNS
* Sensory Integration: From Sensation to Perception
Sensation
(you become aware of-Thalamus) to
Perception
(Interpretation/understanding-Cortex)
Sensation to Perception:
Survival
Sensation
Perception
Sensation to Perception: Survival
Depends upon Sensation/Perception
Sensation to Perception: Sensation
awareness of changes in the internal and external environment
Sensation to Perception: Perception
conscious interpretation of those stimuli occurring in Cortex
3 main levels of neural integration in the somatosensory system are
Receptor level – Sensory receptors
– Circuit level – Ascending pathways (“wiring” pathway)
– Perceptual level – Neuronal circuits in the Cerebral cortex
Specificity
Receptor for that particular stimulus energy
Receptive field
must be stimulated (the smaller the field = more accurate localization)
converted
Stimulus energy converted into graded potential
Tonic Receptors
(Equilibrium): always on, alterations in frequency
Phasic Receptors:
normally “off” (Touch)/Report a change
Adaptation
occurs when sensory receptors are subjected to an unchanging stimulus
Adaptation
Receptor membranes become less responsive
– Receptor potentials decline in frequency/stop
– Pain receptors DO NOT adapt
– Slowly adapt/Not at all: Merkel’s discs, Ruffini’s
corpuscles, and Interoceptors that respond to chemical levels in the blood
Adapt Quickly: Pressure/Touch/Smell adapt quickly
Thalamus projects fibers to
–Somatosensory cortex
– Sensory association areas
Processing at the Perceptual Level
Brain interprets the activity of a specific receptor ALWAYS the same based on where it went (occipital lobe interprets visual signals)
* The result is an internal, conscious image of the
stimulus
Projection:
brain refers sensations to their usual point of stimulation