Chapter 7a: Sensory Physiology
What type of electrical signal precedes the formation of action potentials during sensory transduction?
Give an example of sensory information that is not perceived.
What is stimulus transduction?
What is an “adequate” stimulus?
Explain how graded potentials in the receptor membrane leads to action potentials?
What forms can sensory receptors take (the general classes on p. 188)?
How is the intensity of a stimulus encoded?
What can’t the amplitude of an action potential encode the stimulus intensity?
In neurophysiology, what is the definition of sensory adaptation?
What types of stimuli require vigilant monitoring my slowly-adapting receptors?
What are the characteristics of stimuli that are best monitored by rapidly-adapting receptors?
Define receptive field.
What is a sensory modality?
List as many sensory modalities as you can.
Do receptive fields of sensory neurons of different modalities overlap?
If you are recording action potentials from a first order sensory neuron, how would you be able to
determine the stimulus intensity?
How are labeled lines involved with the ability to locate a stimulus accurately?
What is acuity, and what factors influence acuity?
How can a single first order sensory neuron signal the location of a stimulus within its receptive field?
Explain how localization of sensations from internal organs such as the stomach and intestines is less
precise cutaneous localization.
What is the purpose of lateral inhibition? Why is it so named?
Why are we relatively poor at localizing changes in skin temperature and noxious stimuli?
Why might the suppression of sensory information be beneficial?
In which part of the nervous system are first order sensory neurons located? Second order?
In general, sensory inputs on the right side of the body are processed on which side of the brain?
What is the location of the somatosensory cortex?
In which lobes are the auditory, visual, and gustatory sensations processed?
What are polymodal neurons?
What role might non-specific ascending pathways play?
Give an example of how a cortical association area might function.
Overarching question: Stimulus type, intensity, location, and duration must be encoded, all in the form
of action potentials. How is this accomplished?