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Physiology 210 > Special Senses Physiology > Flashcards

Special Senses Physiology Flashcards

(84 cards)

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1
Q

Somatosensory system

A

part of sensory system concerned with the conscious perception of touch, pressure, pain, temperature, position, movement, vibration

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2
Q

Somatic sensation

A

sensation from skin, muscles, bones, tendons, joints which is initiated by somatic receptors

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3
Q

Stimulus modality

A

one aspect of stimulus or what we perceive after a stimulus
light, sound, temperature, taste, pressure, smell

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4
Q

Proprioception/kinesthesia

A

sense of posture and movement
sensation of the position of your different body parts and muscle contraction in space

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5
Q

Graded potentials

A

not action potential
small depolarizations that act like EPSPs

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6
Q

Photoreceptors

A

respond to light

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7
Q

Mechanoreceptors

A

response to pressure

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8
Q

Thermoreceptors

A

response to temperature

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9
Q

Auditory receptors

A

response to sound

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10
Q

Meissner’s corpuscles

A

rapidly adapting mechanoreceptors that respond to touch and pressure

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11
Q

Merkel’s corpuscles

A

slowly adapting mechanoreceptors that response to touch and pressure

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12
Q

Free neuron ending

A

close to skin surface
nociceptors, thermoreceptors, slowly adapting mechanoreceptors

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13
Q

Pacinian corpuscles

A

rapidly adapting mechanoreceptors that respond to vibration and deep pressure

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14
Q

Ruffini corpuscles

A

slowly adapting mechanoreceptors that response to skin stretch

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15
Q

As stimulus intensity _____, more action potentials are generated at axon terminal of the afferent neuron

A

increases

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15
Q

Merkel’s corpuscle stimulation

A

remains on during the entire time that the stimulus or arm poke is occurring
the frequency of the action potentials decreases over time, but the action potentials are still generated the entire time that the stimulus is on

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16
Q

Meissner’s corpuscle stimulation

A

it immediately generates a receptor potential with the initial stimulus but quickly decays back to baseline
another receptor potential is generated when the stimulus turns off

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17
Q

Why do we have slowly adapting receptors?

A

filter unimportant info out
they tell you when you put a shirt on and when you take it off, but do not continually provide information all day that you are wearing a shirt

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18
Q

3 factors of stimulus localization

A
  1. receptive field size is the extent of the body which senses the poke
  2. density of innervations refers to the number of sensory receptors within a certain area of the skin, in the case of touch
  3. multiple receptive fields exist, and these receptive fields overlap with one another
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19
Q

Lateral inhibition

A

amplifies the signal from the neuron which is being directly stimulated
adjacent neurons on the edge of stimulus is strongly inhibited compared to central neuron
enhances the contrast between center and periphery regions to localize sensory input
B inhibits A and C strongly
A and C inhibit C weakly

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20
Q

Anterolateral system

A

pathway which carries pain, hot/cold temp up the somatosensory cortex

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21
Q

Dorsal column system

A

pathway which carries information on fine touch mechanoreception to somatosensory cortex

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22
Q

Anterolateral tract

A
  • painful stimulus on right arm
  • free nerve ending activate action potential
  • first synapse happens in the dorsal horn in spinal cord on the same side of body
  • second synapse crosses the spinal cord to left side of body
  • synapses the thalamus that takes info to cortex
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23
Q

Dorsal column tract

A
  • tap on the right shoulder
  • mechanoreceptors activate action potential
  • first synapse happens in the brainstem on the same side of the body
  • second synapse crosses the brainstem to left side of body
  • synapses the thalamus that takes info to cortex
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24
Somatosensory cortex
- sensory info goes from the thalamus to somatosensory cortex - located behind the motor cortex and central sulcus - activates motor cortex neurons - different regions of body represent different regions in cortex - amount of room taken up in cortex is how densely innervated the sensory receptors
25
Photoreceptors are _____ at rest
depolarized
26
Photoreceptors are _____ when activated
hyperpolarized
27
Optical component
focusing the visual image on receptor cells front part of eye
28
Neural component
back part of eye photoreceptors transform image into patten of graded potentials
29
Visible light
we are seeing the light that is reflected off the object and it is hitting the photoreceptors
30
Sclera
white part of eye membrane surrounding the eyeball
31
Extraocular muscle
attached to sclera responsible for eye movements
32
Cornea
where sclera becomes clear at very front responsible for refracting light waves static
33
Pupil
hole that allows light to pass through into back of the eye
34
Iris
regulates size of pupil and amount of light entering eyeball eye colour innervated by ANS
35
Lens
behind the iris works with cornea to focus visual image on retina
36
Zonular fibers
attached to the lens attached to ciliary muscles
37
Ciliary muscles
can contract and relax to change the shape of lens when object is very close, ciliary muscle will contract which causes lens to get fatter and shorter and increases refraction
38
Retina
located behind the lens back of eye photoreceptors are found
39
Rods
activated in very low light monochromatic
40
Cones
activated when there is more light colour vision
41
Retinal ganglion cells
activated by rods and cones take info back towards brain
42
Optic nerve
leaves through back of eyeball towards thalamus and cortex made of axons of retinal ganglion cells
43
Aqueous humor
gelatinous fluid that fills the space between lens and cornea
44
Vitreous humor
gelatinous fluid found behind the lens
45
Refraction
light travels from less dense medium into more dense medium light bends cornea image is upside down
46
Accomodation
process of using ciliary muscles in lens to focus an object lose the ability around 45 years old due to breakdown of ciliary muscles
47
Presbyopia
loss of elasticity of the lens resulting in inability to accommodate for near vision age-related
48
Myopia
nearsightedness eyeball is too long and too much refraction occurs image is reconstructed in front of retina corrected by concave glasses
49
Hyperopia
farsightedness eyeball is too short and too little refraction occurs image is reconstructed behind the retina corrected by convex glasses
50
Astigmatism
oblong shape of eyeball corrected by glasses or complex laser surgery
51
Glaucoma
damage to photoreceptors due to increased intraocular pressure build up of aqueous humor which pushes lens on vitreous humor which pushes retina no successful treatment
52
Cataracts
clouding of the lens age-related cells of lens die and debris builds up corrected by replacing lens with silicone or fake lens
53
3 interneurons in eye
horizontal, bipolar, Amacrine cells take info from photoreceptors and transfer to retinal ganglion cells
54
Phototransduction by cones in dark
GTP --> cyclic GMP by guanylyl cyclase cyclic GMP binds to receptor on cation channel allowing sodium and calcium into cell depolarization
55
Phototransduction by cones in light
- disks contain photopigment called retinal - cis retinal --> trans retinal by light - conformation activates cyclic GMP phosphodiesterase - cyclic GMP --> GMP by cyclic GMP phosphodiesterase disallowing sodium and calcium into cell - hyperpolarizing
56
Activaty of a single cone activates:
2 bipolar cells 2 retinal ganglion cells
57
OFF pathway
- no light (depolarization) - OFF bipolar cell is activated by glutamate (a lot being released) and ON bipolar cell is inhibited by glutamate (very little being released) - graded potential generated at OFF bipolar cell to produce actional potentials in retinal ganglion cells - spontaneously hyperpolarize in the absence of input
58
ON pathway
- light (hyperpolarization) - ON bipolar cell is activated by glutamate (a lot being released) and OFF bipolar cell is inhibited by glutamate (very little being released) - graded potential generated at ON bipolar cell to produce actional potentials in retinal ganglion cells - spontaneously depolarize in the absence of input
59
Info from lateral field of view -->
nasal region of retina --> crosses to the contralateral side at optic chiasm --> lateral geniculate nucleus --> visual cortex
60
Info from medial field of view -->
temporal region of retina --> travels on same side/ipsilateral side --> lateral geniculate nucleus --> visual cortex
61
Pinna
physical or external ear that resides outside the head funnel the zones of compression and rarefaction toward middle ear
62
Sound
movement of air molecules zones of compression: air molecules are tightly packed zones of rarefaction: relatively few air molecules
63
Amplitude
how many air molecules are located within one zone of compression
64
Frequency/pitch
distance between the zones
65
Tympanic membrane
- outer ear - moves in and out as amplitude and frequency of the sound
66
3 bones in middle ear
tympanic membrane --> malleus --> incus --> stapes
67
Purpose of middle ear
- act as levers to amplify sound - to pass sound from air to fluid
68
Muscles in the middle ear
malleus - tensor tympani muscle stapes - stapedius muscle
69
Purpose of muscles in middle ear
- to protect the ear from consistent, ongoing, loud sounds by contracting - will not protect from a really loud sudden band because no time to contract
70
Oval window
the foot of the stapes pushes against the oval window and the cochlea and pushes fluid forward
71
Cochlea
inner ear 3 compartments
72
3 compartments of cochlea
scala vestibuli - top, perilymph cochlear duct - middle, endolymph scala tympani - bottom, perilymph
73
Activation of sensory receptors in auditory system
movement of fluid down from the scala vestibule to scala tympani
74
Cochlear duct
where the sensory receptors are located (hair cells)
75
Organ of Corti
allows from transduction of sound vibrations into neural signals
76
Hair cells
- stereocilia protruding from the tips - single row of inner hair cells - three rows of outer hair cells
77
Inner hair cells
extend into the endolymph and transduce pressure waves caused by fluid movements int the cochlear duct into receptor potentials
78
Outer hair cells
attached to the basilar membrane different regions of basilar membrane vibrate maximally at different frequencies
79
Vestibulocochlear nerve
takes auditory info from ear towards brain
80
Stereocilia bent towards tallest member of bundle
- potassium flows in - depolarization - calcium flows in - glutamate is released - graded potential
81
Stereocilia bent towards shortest member of bundle
- nothing happens
82
Hearing aids
- auditory machinery is not as sensitive - an amplifier is placed in auditory canal which activated existing machinery
83
Cochlear implant
- people have damage to certain components of ear - machinery does not work - speaker is put outside head and transduces into electrical impulses - electrodes go from speaker down to vestibulocochlear nerve - bypasses outer, middle, inner ear, taken directly

Physiology 210 (12 decks)

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