Sensory Systems, Memory, and Homeostasis Review

Flashcards covering sensory receptors, auditory and visual pathways, taste and olfactory transduction, learning mechanisms, and homeostatic hormones based on lecture quiz content.

Pacinian Corpuscle

A specific sensory receptor that correctly matches sensory input for vibration and pressure.

Factors in Stimulus Discrimination

The ability to discriminate features of stimuli is impacted by the number of receptive fields, the size of receptive fields, and the size of the body part, but not by computing power.

Ruffini's Endings

A mechanoreceptor characterized by a large receptive field size and a slow response speed.

Nociceptors

Pain receptors located only on free nerve endings.

Middle Ear

The specific part of the ear responsible for amplifying sound energies.

Stereocilia

The structure within the ear where sound transduction occurs.

Sensorineural Deafness

A type of deafness typically caused when hair cells fail to respond to the movement of the basilar membrane, resulting in no action potentials being fired.

Conduction Deafness

A type of deafness caused by damage to the middle ear, preventing sounds from reaching the cochlea.

Yaw

A type of head movement described as shaking which affects specific semicircular canals.

Umami

A taste evolved to ensure the body intakes enough protein.

Taste Receptor Cells (TRCs)

Cells that recognize categories of taste but are not considered true neurons.

Sour Transduction

A taste transduction mechanism that utilizes $H^+$ ions.

Olfactory Transduction

A process occurring in the olfactory system where the opening of $Cl^-$ channels causes an efflux of $Cl^-$ ions.

Visual Information Flow

The synaptic sequence in the retina: Photoreceptors $ightarrow$ Bipolar cells $ightarrow$ Ganglion cells.

Phototransduction

The conversion of light into neural signals which occurs specifically in the retina.

Optic Chiasm Lesion

An injury that impairs vision specifically in the left and right nasal retinas.

Dorsal Stream

A visual processing pathway associated with the perception of motion.

Classical Conditioning

A learning process where a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus are presented together.

Negative Reinforcement

A reinforcement type that increases a behavior through the absence or removal of a negative stimulus.

Semantic Memory

A type of declarative memory used for storing facts.

Sensitization

A process where the behavioral response to a stimulus increases over time.

Gluconeogenesis

An energy conversion process that produces glucose.

Insulin

A hormone that enables the body to utilize glucose and regulates glycogenesis; it is not produced in the liver.

Ghrelin

A hormone that stimulates NPY and AgRP neurons to increase appetite; its concentration is typically high after fasting for 48 hours.

Lateral Hypothalamus

The region of the hypothalamus specifically associated with increasing appetite.

Stage 3 Sleep

The sleep stage characterized by delta rhythms and deeper sleep states.

Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN)

A brain structure that receives input from ganglion cells to regulate the body's circadian rhythm.