PSY201 Quiz 2 | Bradley University 2025

Senses

1. Vision.

2. Hearing.

3. Touch.

4. Smell.

5. Taste.

6. Pain.

7. Proprioception.

8. Temporal perception.

Sequence of Sensation

1. Receptor cells detect informaiton.

2. Sensory neurons convey information to the CNS by afferent pathways.

3. CNS processes information.

4. Processed sensory information is integrated into ongoing cognitive processes.

Recceptor Cells

Underlie all sensory function and are sensitive to specific stimuli in the environment.

Depolarization

Makes neurons more likely to fire.

Afferent

Moves towards the brain.

Efferent

Moves away from the brain.

Labeled Lines Principle

Each type of information has a distinct, parallel pathway to the brain.

Topographically Oraganization

Nerves that correspond to adjacent parts of the body are near eachother.

Somatosensory Cortex

Processes information on touch and body position from the skin and muscles of the body.
Located in the anterior parietal lobe.

Nociceptors

Sensory receptors responsible for pain.

Periaqueductal Grey

Secondary sensory cortex for pain.

Glutamatergic Nerves

Nerves that innervate nociceptors.

WCGW - Pain

Congenital Analgesia - Unability to feel pain.

Neuromuscular System

Encompasses all the body's muscles and is innervated by efferent motor pathways.
Enables movements, reflexes, and acts.

Movement

The contraction of an individual muscle or synergistic muscle group.

Act

Complex motor behaviors which require the coordination of multiple movements.

Motor Plan

A pattern of intended movements to complete an act.

Reflex

Unlearned and automatic motor responses.

Antagonistic Muscles

Arranged in opposite pairings where one muscle contracts and the other relaxes.

Synergistic Muscles

Both muscles work together to accomplish the same movement.

Motor Neuron

Innervates many muscle fibers creating a muscle group.

Proprioceptive Sensory Receptors

Contained in neuromuscular juntions and communicate to the brain the position of the body.

Muscle Spindles

Detect elongation of a muscle.

Golgi Tendon Organs

Detect tension of a muscle.

Pyramidal System

Refers to the bundles of axons that run from the motor cortex in the frontal lobe of the brain and down the pyramidle tract of the spinal cord.

Motor Cortex

Plans and executes the voluntary movement of the body.
Located in the posterior frontal cortex.
Organized somatotopically.

Supplementary Motor Cortex

Involved in initiation of planned movement and replays information from the basal ganglia to the motor cortex.

Premotor Cortex

Plays a major role in decision making.

WCGW - Motor Sensory Cortices

Phantom Limb - the continued sensation of an extremity that has been lost due to injury.

Extrapyramidal Systems

Includes all the motor pathways not in the pyramidal system.

Cerrebellum

Involved in error monitoring and correction.

WCGW - Extrapyramidal System

Huntington's Disease - A heritable neurodegenerative disorder of the basal ganglia that impairs movement.

Outer Ear

Captures and channels air vibrations.
Includes the exterior portions of the ear, ear canal, and tympanic membrane.

Middle Ear

Translates vibrational energy into mechanical energy and conveys it to the inner ear.
Includes the ossicles.

Inner Ear

Converts vibrational/mechanical energy to electrochemical signals and performs automatic auditory processing.
Contains the cochlea, basilar membrane, oval window, and the organ of corti.

Tympanic Membrane

Vibrates in response to captured sound energy.

Ossicles

Tiny bones that vibrate in response to movement in the ear drum and convey the vibrations to the oval window of the inner ear.

Cochlea

Translates vibrations into auditory information.

Basilar Membrane

Runs the length of the cochlea and ripples in response to vibration of the oval window.

Organ of Corti

Translates ripples from the basilar membrane to electrochemical energy/action potentials.

Hair Cells

The sensory receptors for auditory information.
Line the organ of corti between the basilar membrane and the tectorial membrane.

Vestibulochochlear Tract

Innervates the cochlea and auditory cortex.
Inverts at the cochlear nucleus in the brainstem.
Tonotopically organized.

Tonotopic

Information processing organized by tone.

3 Stages of Auditory Information Processing

1. Cochlear encoding.
2. Sound localization.
3. Complexauditory processing.

Place Coding

When hair cells in different regions respond to different frequenies.

Temporal Coding

When hair cells produce action potentials at the same frequency as the vibrations they detect.

Binaural Processing

The combining of information from both ears to determine the direction and distance of sound sources.

Interaural Intensity Differences (IIDs)

Differences in sound.

Interaural Temporal Differences (ITDs)

Differences in time of arrival.

Auditory Cortex

Binds pieces of auditory information into biologically-relevant sounds.
Processes musicality and rhythm.
Located in the sylvian fissure.

Vestibular System

The portion of the inner ear responsible for sensing balance and orientation.

Bone Labyrinth

The bony outgrowths of the chochlea that form the vestibular system.
Senses pitch and rotational movement along 3 axes.

Maculae

Senses direction of gravity and head orientation.

Ampullae

Senses movement/rotation of the head.

WCGW - Vestibular System

Drunkenness - softens ampullae causing the vestibular system to become hyperactive and oversensitive to movement and gravit