perception ch 12-15

Vestibular system

The five organs in the inner ear, that sense head motion and head orientation with respect to gravity

How many semi circular canals?

Three

How many otolith organs?

Two

Semi circular canals

Toroidal or two circular tubes in the vestibular system that senses angular motion

Sense of tilt

Registers head inclination with respect to gravity

Otolith organs

Mechanical structures in the vestibular system that sense both linear acceleration and gravity

Roll

Rotation around X axis

Pitch

Rotation around Y axis

Yaw

Rotation around Z axis

Hair cells

Stereocilia that transduce mechanical movements into neural activity

Cristae

Specialized detectors of angular motion located in semi circular canal

Otoconia

Tiny calcium carbonate stones in the ear

Vection

illusory sense of self motion one has even when not moving

Vestibulo-ocular reflex

Helps see visual stimuli clearly, even when the head is moving

Mal de debarquement syndrome

The sense of swaying rocking or tilting after you’ve spent time on a boat, but are not on the boat anymore

Ménière’s syndrome

Sudden and unexpected dizziness, imbalance, and spatial disorientation

How do semicircular canal neurons respond?

Respond to acceleration and acceleration, but not constant velocity

Names of the two otolith organs

Utricle and saccule

Kinesthesis

The perception of position and movements of your limbs in space. Your orientation in space.

Merkel sell neurite complexes

Slow adaptation, small receptive field SA I

Meissner corpuscles

Fast adaptation, small receptive field FA I

Ruffini endings

Slow adaptation, large receptive field

SA II

Pacinian corpuscles

Fast adaptation, large receptive field FA II

SA I

Sustained pressure very low frequency. Spatial deformation. Texture perception, and pattern/form perception.

SA II

sustained downward pressure, low sensitivity to vibration across frequencies. Lateral skin stretch, finger position.

FA I

Temporal changes in skin deformation -5 to 50. Skin slip, low frequency, vibration, detection, stable grasp

FA II

Temporal changes in skin deformation 50-700. High frequency, vibration, detection, fine texture perception.

Thermoreceptors

Receptors in skin that signal information about skin temperature

Nociceptors

Receptors that transmit information about very painful stimulus

C tactile afferents

Narrow diameter unmyelinated nerve fibers that transmit pleasant touch

Muscle spindles

Sensory receptors in muscle that senses how tight the tension of that muscle is

Dorsal horn

Region at the rear of the spinal cord, receives input from receptors in the skin

Homunculus

Map like representation of regions of the body processed in the brain

Somatotopic

Mapped in correspondence to the skin

Body image

Mental representation of your body in space

Gate control theory

System that transmits pain and incorporates modulating signals from the brain

Endogenous opiates

Chemicals released by the brain to block pain sensations being sent to the brain

Two point touch threshold

The minimum distance at which you know there are two stimuli present versus just one

Haptic perception

Your knowledge of the world from your sensory receptors in your skin, muscles, tendons, and joints

Tactile agnosia

Inability to identify objects by touch

Frame of reference

Used to define locations in space

Where are touch receptors located?

Dermis and epidermis

Anterior cingulate cortex ACC

Associated with unpleasant perception of pain

Odorant

A molecule defined by physiochemical characteristics that translates to perception of smell

olfactory cleft

Space at the back of nose where airflows where main olfactory epithelium is located

Cilia

First structures involved in olfactory signal transduction

Cribriform plate

Bony structure filled with tiny holes that separates nose from brain

Anosmia

The total inability to smell

Olfactory bulb

Tiny extension of the brain above the nose, where olfactory information is first processed

Mitral cells

Deepest layer of cells in olfactory bulb, respond to very specific odorants

Limbic system

Group of neural structures involved in emotion and memory

Trigeminal nerve

Gives information about feel of odorant

Shape pattern theory of olfaction

The odorant shapes fit into olfactory receptor shapes, different structures of receptors that match different shapes of odorants

Vibration theory of olfaction

There is a different vibrational frequency for each perceived smell

Binaral rivalry

Occurs with competition between the two nostrils for oder perception

Olfactory whites

Odor created when at least 30 odorants of equal intensity are combined together in span all of olfactory perceptual space

Tip of the nose phenomenon

The inability to name an odorant, even though it’s very familiar

Receptor adaptation

Biochemical phenomenon when receptors stop responding to odorant after continual exposure

Cognitive habituation

Psychological process with long-term exposure to odorant, leads to inability to detect odorant at all nose blind

Odor hedonics

The liking dimension of odor perception

Learned taste aversion

Disliking particular food after gastric illness

Pheromones

Chemicals admitted by a one member of a species and trigger, psychological or behavioral response in another member of the same species

McClintock effect

Women who live together over an extended time, began to have menstrual cycles that coincide

Taste

The sensation you get from solutions that contact receptors in your tongue

Flavor

Sensation you get from solutions that contact receptors in your tongue plus retino nasal olfaction sensation on tongue and smell

Papillae

Structures that give your tongue it’s bumpy appearance

filiform papillae

Small structures on tongue that have no taste function, responsible for bumpy appearance

Fungaform papillae

Mushroom, sheep structures, mostly on edges of tongue specifically on a very tip

Circumvallate papillae

Circular structures that form inverted V on rear of the tongue

Tastant

Any stimulus that can be tasted

Super taster

Individuals who have very very strong taste sensations

non-tasters

Those born without receptors to detect the bitter PROP

Cross modality matching

Ability to match the intensities of sensations that come from different sensory modalities. Match brightness of light to intensity of lemon.

Microvilli

Slender projections on tips of taste buds that extend into the taste pores

Basic tastes

Salty, sweet, bitter and sour

Umami

Fifth basic taste, meaty MSG

What produces salty taste?

Positively charged ions from sodium chloride

What produces sour taste?

Hydrogen ion

Theory of specific hungers

If you are craving something, you must be deficient in particular nutrient

Labeled line theory of taste coding

Each taste nerve fiber carries a specific taste quality. There is a nerve fiber that matches every taste.

What is the purpose of bitter taste?

To help identify poisonous foods

What happens with anesthesia of the chorda tympani?

Damage taste

Gustatory system

Responsible for detecting nutrients, and anti-nutrients before we ingest them