Vision and Audition
Olfaction and Gustation
Somatosenses
Memory
Learning
100

Describe the two types of visual receptor cells

  • rods (not much detail; work in low light)
  • cones (color; detail; need lots of light) – trichromat, see three wavelengths of light
100

Jake has a cold and his friend Mark makes him some tea to help him relax. Explain why Jake can't tell what kind of tea Mark made, but he knows that Mark didn't put enough sugar in it. 

  • taste vs. flavor – flavor is taste and smell together (taste+smell=flavor)
  • basic tastes: salty, sour, bitter, sweet, umami (savory)
100

List the name and function of the three types of touch receptors.

  • Hapsis (the sensation of touch and pressure)
  • Nociception (pain, temp, itch)
  • Proprioception- muscle, tendon, and joint perception (body awareness)
100

Explain the difference between learning and memory.

Learning: a relatively permanent change in an organism’s behavior as a result of experience

Memory: ability to recall or recognize previous experience

100

Describe the two ways of categorizing learning

  • Associative learning: associating two things with each other
  • Non-associative learning: response to SAME stimulus changes over time (learning a new response)
200

Explain how the receptor cells of the auditory sense are stimulated.

  • hair cells imbedded in basilar membrane in the cochlea, movement of this membrane with sound waves, it moves hair against the tectorial membrane
  • Stimulation opens mechanically gated K+ channels, depolarizes, releases NT like a neuron onto cranial nerve
200

How many different mechanisms are used to open ion channels in taste receptor cells?

  • 5 basic tastes: salty, sour, bitter, sweet, umami (savory) - each cell sensitive to only one taste
  • the specific mode of transduction (from chemical energy) depends on the tastant - Different taste receptor cells have different mechanisms for ion channels, etc. Salty is different from sour is different from bitter
200

Describe the two distinct pathways information from the touch receptors takes to the brain.

  • posterior spinothalamic tract: spinal cord through dorsal horns, brainstem, thalamus, somatosensory cortex (hapsis and proprioception)
  • anterior spinothalamic tract: crosses midline immediately in the spinal cord and moves directly to the thalamus, no midbrain synapses (nociception)
200
As you take notes during class and focus on remembering the information you just heard in the lecture, what type of memory are you using?
  • short term - working memory
200

Explain the difference between Pavlovian (classical) learning and operant learning.

  • Pavlovian (classical) learning - stimulus-stimulus associations (unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned stimulus, conditioned response)
  • operant learning - behavior-consequence associations (positive reinforcement – providing reward, negative reinforcement – alleviating unpleasantness)
300

Describe the two neural pathways taken by visual information.

  • geniculostriate pathway - “true” (conscious) vision - retina to LGN to VI of striate cortex (layered by function)
  • tectopulvinar pathway - retina to superior colliculus to pulvinar nucleus - helps with subconscious visual processes like detecting motion and directing the eyes there, also connects to amygdala in case of needed emotional connection
300

How do neurons communicate difference between distinct smells?

  • axons combine into glomeruli which consolidate info from ORCs
  • patterns of glomeruli stimulation create distinct and specific flavors/smells
300

Using a two-point test, Julie found that some areas of her body were more sensitive than others. Explain why she could distinguish between two points easier on some areas of her body than others.

  • Receptive fields - each receptor has a certain area on the body from which it receives information
  • areas with fewer neurons and larger receptive fields will be less sensitive - more neurons and smaller receptive fields are more sensitive
  • cannot distinguish between two points of contact on the skin unless each point is in a different cell's receptive field
300

Jesse has experienced a traumatic brain injury and cannot remember the day their father sat them down and taught them to tie their shoes, but they can still remember how to tie their own shoes every morning. What type of memory was damaged when they were injured?

  • explicit  memories - episodic (event we experienced)
  • Not injured: implicit memories - procedural (skills, “muscle memory”)
300

Describe and give examples of the two types of change in behavior you might see during non-associative learning.

  • habituation – decreases response 
  • sensitization – increases response 
400

Explain the difference between the two types of hearing loss.

  • peripheral hearing losses (external or middle ear)
  • central hearing losses (cochlea or auditory nerve) - most common, damage or death of hair cells, occurs normally with age, Higher frequencies go first
400

Which of the cranial nerves that carries information in the gustatory sensory system operates differently from the others and how?

  • cranial nerves V (pain and temperature, not taste), VII, IX, and X from different parts of mouth/throat
400

Explain why motion sickness occurs and give an example

  • Motion sickness – mismatch of visual and vestibular input, what you see and the movement you feel do not match
  • ex. inside a boat it looks like you are standing still, but you can feel the boat swaying


400

Jade's brother used to scare her with loud noises when they were growing up. Now, whenever she hears a loud noise she becomes frightened even if she knows the noise was nothing to worry about. What type of memory is being used when she becomes frightened by a noise now?

  • implicit memories: emotional conditioning – fear, nostalgia
400

How do calcium entry and kinases contribute to long-term potentiation?

  • Long-term potentiation (LTP):  a process of strengthening synaptic connections that   may underlie learning and memory
  • calcium entry and kinases strengthen the synapse - more AMPA receptors, genetic modifications, structural changes in post-synaptic neuron - these things make the neuron more likely to fire an action potential
500

Jane is shown several drawings of common household items but cannot identify what they are. If you were her doctor, where would you expect to find damage in her brain?

the ventral stream - information about what a person is seeing

500

Describe the difference between pheromones and other odors.

  • vomeronasal organ - processed in hypothalamus, specialized to process pheromones: odors that are used to communicate with other members of one’s species
  • a true pheromone has an invariant action that elicits a very particular response in the receiver
500

Describe how the receptor cells in the vestibular system are stimulated.

  • Three semicircular canals allow us to know where we are in relation to gravity
  • Fluid in canals has calcium deposits which stimulate canals when our head moves
500

Explain how Parkinson's Disease is related to memory.

  • Parkinson’s Disease – forgetting how to move
  • cells in the basal ganglia and substantia nigra stop producing dopamine
  • implicit - movement and procedural memories
500

Explain the connection between biology and environment for learning.

  • Early evidence that brains change when we remember/learn- enriched rats have different brains than impoverished rats.
  • physical changes in the brain - better environment – more glial cells, longer dendrites, larger cell bodies – allows for more learning
  • suggests human deprived of good environment at early age can cause long term delays due to physical brain changes
M
e
n
u