Neuroscience and Sensory Perception: Key Brain Parts, Neurotransmitters, and Visual-Auditory Processing

Soma/cell body

Keeps neuron alive

Dendrites

Receive messages

Axon

Carries message away

Myelin sheath

Speeds up signal

Axon terminals

Release neurotransmitters

CNS

Brain + spinal cord

PNS

Everything else/outside brain + spinal cord

Somatic NS

Voluntary movement; things you choose

Autonomic NS

Automatic functions

Sympathetic NS

Energy; fight or flight

Parasympathetic NS

Calm; rest + digest

Autonomic functions

Breathing, blood pressure, heart rate, digestion

Parietal lobe

Touch / somatosensory

Frontal lobe

Motor

Temporal lobe

Auditory

Occipital lobe

Visual

Thalamus

Sensory relay

Amygdala

Emotion

Hippocampus

Memory

EEG

Electrical brain activity

CT

X-ray image of brain structure

MRI

Detailed brain structure

PET

Brain activity/metabolism

fMRI

Brain activity through blood flow

Retina

Contains rods + cones

Rods

Dim light, black/white

Cones

Color + detail

Monocular cue

One eye

Binocular cue

Two eyes

Retinal disparity

Difference between the images seen by the two eyes

Top-down processing

Uses experience/knowledge to interpret what you sense

McGurk Effect

What you see can affect what you hear

Vision

Light

Hearing

Sound

Vision amplitude

Brightness

Vision wavelength

Color

Hearing amplitude

Loudness

Hearing wavelength/frequency

Pitch

Vision receptors

Rods + cones

Hearing receptors

Hair cells

Vision processing area

Occipital lobe

Hearing processing area

Temporal lobe