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Intro to Brain and Behaviour > Sensory Systems, Perceptions and Attention > Flashcards

Sensory Systems, Perceptions and Attention Flashcards

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1
Q

How is the sensory system organized?

A

A hierarchical organization

Flows through brain structures in order of increasing anatomical complexity

Apparent from a comparison of the effects of damage to various levels

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2
Q

What is functional segregation in the sensory system organization?

A

Different parts specialize in different kinds of analysis

Each of the 3 levels: primary, secondary, association

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3
Q

What is parallel processing in the sensory system organization?

A

Organization so that information flows between structures, simultaneously along multiple pathways

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4
Q

What is the function of the auditory system?

A

The function of the auditory system is the perception of sound

Sounds are vibrations of air molecules that stimulate the auditory system - your ears perceive someone talking as a vibrations

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5
Q

What parts of the ears are apart of outer ear?

A

Tympanic membrane (ear drum)

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6
Q

What parts of the ears are apart of the middle ear?

A

Ossicles (3 small bones)

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7
Q

What part of the ears are apart of the inner ear?

A

-Oval window
-Organ of Corti
-Hair cells of basilar membrane
-Tectorial membrane

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8
Q

What is the tonotopic organization?

A

The organization of the organ of Corti is tonotopic

Different frequencies produce maximal stimulation of hair cells at different points along the basilar membrane

Higher frequencies excite receptors closer to the oval window

Lower frequencies producing greater activation ay the tip of the basilar membrane

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9
Q

What is the order of the pathway from the inner ear to the primary auditory cortex?

A
  1. Hair cells synapse on neurons
  2. Axons enter metencephalon
  3. Synapse in ipsilateral cochlear nucleus
  4. Travel to superior olives
  5. Travel to the inferior colliculus via the lateral lemniscus
  6. Signals from each ear are combined at a low level (in the superior olives)
  7. Fibers ascend to the medial geniculate nucleus of the thalamus
  8. Fibers ascend to the primary auditory cortex in the lateral fissure
  9. Projections from each ear are bialateral
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10
Q

What is the auditory cortex?

A

Recieves input from medial geniculate nucleus (thalamus)

Core region (primary auditory cortex and 2 adjacent areas)

Belt surrounds the core

Parabelt areas - areas of the secondary auditory cortex but just on the outside of the belt

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11
Q

What is the organization of primate auditory cortex?

A

Tonotopically organization - responds to similar frequencies are close together

Contains functional columns - responds to similar frequencies

Poorly understood compared to vision

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12
Q

How does the auditory cortex integrates information?

A

Auditory signals are processed by two large areas of association cortex: prefrontal cortex and posterior parietal cortex

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13
Q

What are the two streams of the auditory cortex?

A

Anterior auditory pathway: identifies sound

Posterior auditory pathway: identifies where sound is

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14
Q

What is involved within the auditory-visual interactions

A

Integral part of sensory processing

Occurs in associations areas but also in primary areas (recent fMRI studies)

Some posterior parietal neurons have visual receptive fields and auditory receptive fields (work in monkeys)

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15
Q

What is the auditory cortex damage

A

Bilateral lesions do not cause deafness

Loss of the ability to process the structural aspects of sound

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16
Q

What occurs when their is damage to the anterior (“what”) pathway?

A

Difficultly identifying sounds

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17
Q

What occurs when their is damage to the posterior (“where”) pathway?

A

Difficulty localization sounds

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18
Q

What are some facts towards deafness in humans

A

Hearing impairment can lead to social isolation

Total deafness is rare (1% of hearing-impaired individuals)

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19
Q

What are two types of deafness within humans

A

Conductive deafness: damage to ossicles

Nerve deafness: damage to cochlea or nerve, loss of hair cell receptors

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20
Q

What is age-related hearing loss?

A

Part of the cochlea is damaged, results in a deficit in percieving high frequencies

High frequencies helped by hearing aids or cochlear implant

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21
Q

What is apart of the exteroceptive cutaneous system made up of

A

Mechanical stimulation: touch

Thermal stimulation: temperature

Nociceptive stimuli: surface pain

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22
Q

What is the proprioceptive system?

A

Body position

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23
Q

What is the interoceptive system?

24
Q

What are the four types of receptors?

Study These Flashcards
A

Free nerve endings: pain and temperature
Pacinian corpuscles: deep fast-adapting, skin displacement

Merkel receptors: slow-adapting

Ruffini corpuscles: Slow-adapting

25
What are the cutaneous perception?
All cutaneous receptors respond to stimuli with ion flow across membrane
26
What is the stereognosis?
Identification of objects by touch use both fast and slow-adapting receptors Tactile sensations produced by multiple receptor mechanisms Think getting dressed You feel the shirt being put on - fast-activating receptors Throughout the day, you don't feel the shirt unless you think about it - slow-activating receptors
27
What is the dorsal-column medial-lemniscus system - one of the two major somatosensory pathways?
Carries information about touch and proprioception - the body
28
What is the anterolateral system - one of the two major somatosensory pathways?
Mediates pain and temperature
29
In order, how does information get carried through the dorsal-column-medial-lemniscus?
1. Receptors enter spinal cord and ascend ipsilateral dorsal columns to the dorsal column nuclei 2. Dorsal column-nuclei decussate and ascend medial lemniscus 3. Travels to ventral posterior nucleus 4. Axons of the ventral posterior nucleus ascend to the somatosensory cortex
30
In order, how does information get carried through the anterolateral system?
1. Axons synapse as soon as they enter the cord 2. Second-order axons decussate and travel up three pathways Spinothalamic tract - projects to ventral posterior nucleus of thalamus Spinoreticular tract - projects to reticular formation and then to parafascicular and intralaminar nuclei of thalamus Spinotectal tract - Projects to mesencephalic tectum
31
What is neuropathic pain?
Severe/chronic pain from no known stimulus Develops after an injury Microglia may trigger hyperactivity in pain pathways
32
What are the chemical senses: smell and taste.
Monitor the chemical content of the environment
33
What is olfaction as a chemical smell?
Airborne chemicals
34
What is gustation as a chemical smell?
Chemicals in solution
35
How are adaptive roles of the chemical senses as a humans and other species?
Humans - chemical senses evaluate potential foods Other species - Chemical senses detect pheromones - Pheromonses regulate social interactions
36
What is the olfactory system?
Smell is responsible to airborne chemicals Human have 300 different olfactory receptors Chemotopic mapping occurs Olfactory receptor cells are produced across the lifespan and constantly replaced
37
What are the five primary tastes in gustatory system?
Sweet Sour Bitter Salty Umami
38
Where are taste receptors located?
Taste receptors are located in the tongue and throughout the gastrointestinal tract Survive only a few weeks and are constantly replaced
39
What is taste transduction in the gustatory system?
For sweet, umami and bitter is mediated by metabotropic receptors (G-protein linked) Salty and sour activate ionotropic receptors
40
What is anosmia as a brain damage disorder?
Inability to smell - Caused by damage to olfactory nerves as they pass through cribriform plate - Linked to elilepsy, down syndrome, parkinson's, multiple sclerosis, and other degenerative disorders
41
What is ageusia as a brain damage disorder?
Inability to taste - Rare - May be caused by damage to facial nerve
42
What is the role of prior experience have on perception?
Prior knowledge has a major influence on how we perceive the world
43
What is perceptual decision making?
Mental models of the world based on predictable and recurring sensory events Perceptual decision making consumes a large proportion of the energy used by the brain
44
What is the phantom limb syndrome?
Amputees brains believe that their missing limb is still there, pain may occur - tricking the brain using a mirror to make it think the missing limb is still there, which relieves the pain
45
What is the Charles Bonnet syndrome?
When individual is losing vision, they tend to start seeing visual hallucinations The brain is not getting much information from the visual system, but its used to that info. Brain works on the visual system which activates these hallucinations
46
What is the binding problem
Addresses how complex stimuli can be percieved as integrate wholes How does the brain combine these complex, multiple stimulus into one simple perception?
47
What are some characteristics of selective attention?
Improves the perception of the stimuli that are its focus, interferes with the perception of the stimuli that are not its focus
48
What is endogenous attention?
Focused on internal cognitive processess Believed to be top-down (from higher to lower levels)
49
What is exogenous attention?
Focused on external events Believed to be bottom-up (from lower to higher levels)
50
What is the cocktail-party phenomeon?
Happens in very loud environment How do you pay attention to one person? You drown out everything else to focus on whats important to you in that moment Someone calls you - you will be able to hear them
51
What is change blindness?
Classic example of selective attention Demonstrated by showing people two photographs identical in every aspect but one If allowed a brief delay, people have difficulty seeing change
52
Where does the top-down processing originate?
Prefrontal lobe and posterior parietal cortex
53
What does face identity activate?
Ventral visual pathway
54
What does the position of the face activate?
Dorsal pathway
55
What does selective attention strengthens?
Representation of attended-to stimuli
56
What does selective attention weakened?
Representation of external stimuli
57
What is visual simultanagnosia?
Difficultly attending to more than one object at a time Occurs due to damage to the posterior parietal cortex

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