Intro to the Sensory Systems Lecture 1

Challenges understanding sensory systems

• Brain - sophisticated organ

  • Around 100 billion neurons

  • Ea. neuron connected to 7K other neurons

  • 500 glial cells

  • e.g. Many cords in order to process/compute

• Neuron - Have RCPTs responding to NTs, neuromodulators, hormones

  • Chem. env. increases intricacies

• Visual system emphasis

  • Due to ½ cortex responsible for visual processing

  • Researchers understand visual systems the most

  • Vision principles applicable > other senses

• Function of sensory systems extremely hard

  • The sensory information we get is ambiguous

  • 1. Info in env. ambiguous > POV of eye