Senses

Temporal lobe - learning, advanced visual processing),

Occipital lobe -vision

Parietal lobe -body sensations

Postcentral gyrus -primary somatosensory cortex

Parietal lobe -body sensation

Visual Pathways: Retina —> Optic Nerve —> Optic Chiasm —> Optic Tract.

▪ The thalamus sends information about vision to the amygdala and to the primary visual cortex in the occipital lobe.

▪ The amygdala uses visual information to make quick emotional judgments, particularly about harmful stimuli.

▪ The primary visual cortex responds to object, shape, location, movement, and color.

Sound - waves

Amplitude

Frequency

Complexity

Outer ear - gather the sound; tympanic membrane vibrates when sound reaches it, then triggers ossicles

Middle ear - ossicles, the vibration then trigger vibration of the oval window

Inner ear - oval window transfers the vibrations to the fluid of the snail-shaped cochlea

Two Streams of Auditory Cortex:

Anterior auditory pathway−identifies the sound

Posterior auditory pathway−identifies where the sound is

Parallel processing (info flows between structures, simultaneously along multiple pathways), can switch and focus on different stimuli, attention - perception

Somatosensory system: touch and pain

Exteroceptive cutaneous system: outside body

Mechanical stimulation - touch

Thermal stimulation - temperature

Nociceptive stimuli - sturface pain

Proprioceptive system -body position

Interoceptive system -within body

Stereognosis - identification of objects by hands, use both fast and slow-adapting receptors.

Tactile sensations are produced by multiple receptor mechanisms

Vestibular system carries information about the direction and intensity of head movements, which helps us maintain our balance.

Chemical senses evaluate potential foods

Olfaction- the sense of smell, is the response to chemicals that contact the membranes inside the nose. For most mammals, olfaction is critical for finding food and mates and for avoiding dangers.

The receptors for taste are not true neurons but modified skin cells. Like neurons, taste receptors have excitable membranes and release neurotransmitters to excite neighboring neurons,which in turn transmit information to the brain.