Touch, Pain, and the Brain
This is the mechanoreceptor that has a large receptive field and is slowly adapting, primarily detecting skin stretch.
What is Ruffini’s ending?
This characteristic of a sound wave is measured in decibels and perceived as loudness.
What is amplitude?
This neurotransmitter is released by taste receptor cells for salty and sour transduction.
What is serotonin (5-HT)?
This retinal region provides the highest visual acuity because of its high cone density and direct light input.
What is the fovea?
Patient H.M.’s surgery removed these three structures, causing severe anterograde amnesia.
What are the hippocampus, amygdala, and surrounding cortex?
In the dorsal column pathway, sensory information crosses the midline at this specific anatomical location before reaching the thalamus.
What is the medulla?
These are the three smallest bones in the human body that amplify sound vibrations in the middle ear. (Need to name all 3)
What are the malleus, incus, and stapes?
Sweet and umami tastes use GPCRs.These are the receptor names for sweet and umami. (Need to name both)
What are T1R2 + T1R3 for sweet and T1R1 + T1R3 for umami?
The retinofugal pathway includes these three major structures before reaching the LGN.
What are optic nerve, optic chiasm, and optic tract?
The DNMS task tests recognition memory and is impaired by lesions in this brain region.
What is the medial temporal lobe?
These are substances released by damaged cells that contribute to this phenomenon by opening ion channels and promoting inflammation. (Need to name at least one)
What are glutamate and substance P?
When stereocilia bend, this ion channel opens first, initiating depolarization in hair cells.
What is the mechanically gated potassium (K⁺) channel?
Unlike taste, olfactory information reaches the cortex without passing through this major relay station.
What is the thalamus?
A lesion in the left optic tract would cause loss of vision in this visual hemifield.
What is the right visual hemifield?
London taxi drivers have larger volumes in this brain region compared to bus drivers.
What is the posterior hippocampus?
This phenomenon describes a progressive decrease in a receptor’s response to a sustained stimulus, and can be actively modulated by the brain to suppress or amplify sensory input.
What is sensory adaptation?
Damage to the ossicles or tympanic membrane causes this type of hearing loss.
What is conduction deafness?
This ion’s efflux depolarizes olfactory receptor cells, even though this ion usually hyperpolarizes neurons in other contexts?
What is chloride (Cl⁻)?
This stream is also known as the "where" (motion/spatial) pathway.
What is the dorsal stream?
Maya starts participating more in class after realizing the professor gives bonus points for engaged students. This is an example of this type of operant conditioning.
What is positive reinforcement?
These are two types of fibers involved in pain perception. (Need to name both and specify which one is responsible for fast, sharp pain and which one for slow, dull pain)
What are A-delta fibers (fast, sharp pain) and C fibers (slow, dull pain)?
Unlike hearing aids, cochlear implants bypass these two structures to directly stimulate auditory nerve fibers.
What are the ossicles and hair cells?
The vomeronasal system detects these chemical signals, often involved in social and reproductive behaviors.
What are pheromones?
The resting membrane potential of a photoreceptor in darkness is approximately this value.
What is -30 mV?
Ava comes home late past curfew and loses car privileges for the weekend. This is an example of this type of operant conditioning.
What is negative punishment?