BODILY MECHANISMS PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY MIDTERM NOTES

These flashcards are designed to help students review key concepts from their physiological psychology midterm notes, focusing on bodily mechanisms and sensory pathways.

Rene Descartes

17th century philosopher who believed that the nerves from the eye send a pattern of impulses to the brain.

Coding

The process by which the brain interprets action potentials from nerves corresponding to different sensations.

Law of Specific Nerve Energies

Describes how stimulation of a particular nerve will produce a specific perception.

Photon

A particle of light.

Wavelength

The distance between successive peaks of a wave, related to light's properties.

Amplitude

The height of a wave, related to the intensity or brightness of light.

Brightness

Determined by the amount of photons released.

Cornea

The exterior surface of the eye that refracts light.

Refraction

Bending of light to focus images on the retina.

Iris

The colored ring of muscle tissue that controls the size of the pupil.

Pupil

The adjustable opening at the center of the eye that controls the amount of light entering.

Lens

The transparent structure that changes shape to focus light on the retina.

Accommodation

The process by which the lens changes shape to focus light on the retina.

Acuity

The sharpness of vision.

Myopia

Nearsightedness, where light is focused in front of the retina.

Hyperopia

Farsightedness, where light is focused behind the retina.

Presbyopia

A condition in which the lens becomes thick and less elastic due to age.

Retina

The layer of tissue at the back of the eye, containing photoreceptors.

Photoreceptors

Cells in the retina that detect light; includes rods and cones.

Rods

Photoreceptors that detect light and dark, primarily responsible for night vision.

Cones

Photoreceptors responsible for color vision and sharp details.

Fovea

The central part of the retina with a high density of cones for detailed vision.

Optic Nerve

The bundle of cells that transmits signals from the retina to the brain.

Blind Spot

The area where the optic nerve exits the eye, lacking photoreceptors.

Ganglion Cells

Cells in the retina that send visual information to the brain via the optic nerve.

Sclera

The tough, white outer coating of the eye.

Aqueous Humor

The clear fluid in the front part of the eye that maintains ocular pressure.

Vitreous Humor

The clear gel-like substance filling the space between the lens and retina.

Retina-Geniculate-Striate Pathway

Pathway from the retina to the lateral geniculate nucleus to the visual cortex.

Retinotopic Organization

Map-like organization of visual information at different levels of the pathway.

Lateral Inhibition

The process by which an excited neuron reduces the activity of its neighboring neurons.

Parvocellular System

Top four layers of the LGN responsive to color and fine details.

Receptive Fields

The specific area of the retina that affects the firing rate of a neuron.

Center-Surround Antagonism

The response of neurons where stimulation in the center of the receptive field is different from the surrounding area.

Magnocellular Neurons

Neurons with larger receptive fields responsive to movement and large patterns.

Koniocellular Neurons

Neurons with small cell bodies throughout the retina, involved in multiple functions.

Primary Visual Cortex (Area V1)

The area of the occipital cortex essential for visual processing.

Blindsight

The ability to respond to visual stimuli without conscious perception.

Feature Detectors

Neurons that respond to specific features of stimuli, such as edges or motion.

Selective Adaptation

When specific stimuli cause adaptation of neurons responding to those features.

Contrast Sensitivity

The ability to detect differences in light and dark, measured as a threshold percentage.

What Pathway

Also known as the ventral stream, responsible for identifying objects.

Where Pathway

Also known as the dorsal stream, responsible for localization of objects.

Prosopagnosia

A condition where individuals are unable to recognize faces.

Somatoparaphrenia

Inability to recognize body parts as one's own, often due to unilateral lesions.

Sound Waves

Pressure changes in the air or another medium that we perceive as sound.

Amplitude (Sound)

Size of pressure changes associated with loudness.

Frequency (Sound)

The number of pressure changes per second, perceived as pitch.

Decibels

A logarithmic unit measuring sound pressure level.

Audibility Curve

Graph showing the average threshold for hearing different frequencies.

Timbre

The quality of sound that distinguishes different types of sound production.

Pinna

The external part of the ear that collects sound waves.

Auditory Canal

The channel through which sound travels to the eardrum.

Tympanic Membrane

Also known as the eardrum, it vibrates in response to sound waves.

Ossicles

The three small bones in the middle ear that transmit vibrations.

Cochlea

The fluid-filled, snail-shaped organ in the inner ear responsible for hearing.

Transduction (Sound)

The process of converting sound waves into electrical signals.

Superior Olives

Structures in the auditory system involved in sound localization.

Inferior Colliculus

The main auditory center in the midbrain for integrating auditory signals.

Medial Geniculate Nucleus (MGN)

Thalamic relay nucleus for auditory information to the auditory cortex.

Vestibular System

Part of the inner ear that maintains balance and spatial orientation.

Semicircular Canals

Fluid-filled canals that detect angular acceleration in the head.

Gustatory Cortex

Area in the brain responsible for processing taste information.

Taste Buds

Groups of taste receptor cells located on the tongue.

Umami

A taste associated with monosodium glutamate, often described as savory.

Mechanisms of Taste Receptors

Processes through which taste cells convert chemical signals from food into neural information.

Rene Descartes __.

17th century philosopher who believed that the nerves from the eye send a pattern of impulses to the brain.

__ is the process by which the brain interprets action potentials from nerves corresponding to different sensations.

Coding

The __ of Specific Nerve Energies describes how stimulation of a particular nerve will produce a specific perception.

Law

A __ is a particle of light.

Photon

The __ is the distance between successive peaks of a wave, related to light's properties.

Wavelength

__ is the height of a wave, related to the intensity or brightness of light.

Amplitude

Brightness is determined by the amount of __ released.

photons

The __ is the exterior surface of the eye that refracts light.

Cornea

__ is the bending of light to focus images on the retina.

Refraction

The __ is the colored ring of muscle tissue that controls the size of the pupil.

Iris

The __ is the adjustable opening at the center of the eye that controls the amount of light entering.

Pupil

The __ is the transparent structure that changes shape to focus light on the retina.

Lens

__ is the process by which the lens changes shape to focus light on the retina.

Accommodation

__ refers to the sharpness of vision.

Acuity

Myopia is a condition where light is focused __ the retina.

in front of

Hyperopia is a condition where