Audition and Touch Quiz

Mechanoreceptors

Type of receptors our ears are

Mechanoreceptor

A sensory neuron that responds to mechanical stimuli; usually produce pressure, stretch, or vibration

Amplitude

Loudness

Frequency

Pitch

Pinna

Functions to funnel sound

Ear canal

Transport waves to tympanic membrane

Semicircular canal

Gives us our sense of balance

Endolynph

Thick viscous fluid in the ear

Cochlea

The snail shaped structure of the inner ear that contains the auditory transducing mechanisms

Base for tectorial membrane

Basilar membrane

Tonotopic organization

Base: High frequency; Higher: Low frequency

Auditory pathway

Auditory nerve→Cochlear nucleus→Superior olivary nuclei→Inferior colliculi→Medial geniculate nucleus→Auditory cortex

Organization of auditory cortex

High frequency: Medial; Low frequency: Lateral

Auditory association cortex

Where sound goes once it reaches auditory cortex

Organization of auditory association cortex

Anterior deals with complex sounds, Posterior deals with sound localization

Pitch

A perceptual dimension of sound; corresponds to the fundamental frequency

Loudness

A perceptual dimension of sound; corresponds to intensity

Tympanic membrane

The ear drum

Ossicle

One of three bones of the middle ear

Malleus

Hammer - the first of three ossicles

Incus

The anvil - second of three ossicles

Stapes

The stirrup - third of three ossicles

Oval window

An opening in the bone surrounding the cochlea that reveals a membrane which the stapes bangs against sending fluid vibrations

Hair cell

Receptive cell of the auditory apparatus

Basilar membrane

A membrane in the cohclea of the inner ear

Core region

Primary auditory cortex located on a gyrus on the dorsal surface of the temporal lobe

Belt region

The first level of auditory association cortex; surrounds the primary auditory cortex

Parabelt region

Second level of auditory association cortex; surrounds the belt region

Cochlear implant

An electronic device surgically implanted in the inner ear that can stimulate the basilar membrane

Two sensations of touch

Nociception and Thermoception

Nociception

The body's physiological process of detecting and converting noxious stimuli into a neural signal, which may or may not lead to the conscious experience of pain

Thermoception

is the sense of heat and cold, which allows organisms to perceive temperature and react accordingly

Meissners corpuscle

• Fast acting

• Perception of motion across skin

• Fine texture by moving fingers

• Small receptive field

Merkel’s disk

• Slow acting

• Perception of motion across the skin

• Handgrip control

• Small receptive field

Ruffini’s corpuscle

• Slow acting

• Perception of skin stretch

• Large receptive field

Pacinian corpuscle

• Fast acting

• Perception of fine details

• Texture and shape perception

• Large receptive field

Pathways to the brain

Fine touch/vibration and Pain & Temperature

Fine touch and vibration pathway

Dorsal column of spinal cord, medulla, medial lemniscus, ventral posterior nuclei of thalamus, primary somatosensory cortex

Pain and temperature pathway

Dorsal column of spinal cord, spinothalamic tract, ventral posterior nuclei of thalamus, primary somatosensory cortex

Phantom limb pain

The perception of pain in a limb that is no longer present and is common after an amputation

Phantom limb pain cause

Brain and spinal cord rewire after an amputation

2PD Discrimination

Sensory homunculus

A visual map of the body that represents how sensory input is processed in the brain’s somatosensory cortex

Binaural differences

Hearing between both ears

Duplex theory

Interaural timing differences (ILD) and interaural level differences (ILD)

Posterior semicircular canal

Head tilt

Lateral semicircular canal

Horizontal

Anterior semicircular canal

Vertical

Ampullae

Base of each canal

Otolithic organ function

Gives us sensation for lateral head movement

Composition of otolithic organs

Made up of utricles and saccules