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Psych c61 Midterm2 Review
Psych c61 Midterm2 Review
Signals from sensory receptors are manipulated by the nervous system (brain)
o Synaptic connections are impacted by info received via sensory pathways
Forms basis of mental experience of the world
Epistemology: how do we know what we know?
o Experience of the world is a function of what actually exists, the physics of our
sensory receptors and organs, and the neural manipulation of incoming signals by
the brain
o Nave realism: what we perceive is identical to what actually exists in the world
All forms of perception involve elaborate manipulation of signal info by the nervous
system
o Interaction of incoming neural signals with vast network of established activity in
the cerebral cortex
o Our perception being a transformed and constructed representation of what is out
there
The various sensory pathways are associated with organs of reception containing receptor
cells responding to particular kinds of physical stimuli
o 5 primary senses: taste, smell, sight, hearing, touch
o Vestibular sense
Organs of reception: semicircular canals of the inner ear
Receptor cells: hair cells
Physical stimuli: gravity and acceleration
Associated perceptual experience: balance
o Proprioception: stretch receptors in the muscles and joints gather info related to
muscle tension and joint movement
Used to tune body alignment and coordinated movement
Visual pathway in humans responds to a limited range of energies within the
electromagnetic energy spectrum
Geraniol: roses
o OH at end
Thiol: S-H
o Stinky
o Skunk smell: 2-butene-1-thiol, 3-methyle-1-butanethiol, 2-quinolinemethanethiol
o Asparagus pee: methanethiol, dimethylsulfide
Not found in asparagus
Result of digestive chemical transformation of asparagusic acid
Specific anosmia: loss of sensitivity to a specific kind of smell
o Due to genetic variation in one of the 350 olfactory GPCRs
General anosmia: loss of sensitivity to a large variety of aromas
o Sometimes a complete lack of olfactory sensitivity
o Caused by nasal congestion, head trauma, etc.
Hyperosmia: increased sensitivity to odors
o Appear transiently
o Migraine headache or pregnancy
Olfactory GPCR receptors are in membrane of olfactory receptor cells in the nasal
epithelium
Activation of olfactory GPCR synthesizes cAMP
o cAMP interacts with a type of cation channel that is gated by the binding of cyclic
nucleotides
o Result: influx of Ca++ and Na+ ions depolarizing cells and contributing to
signal generation
Olfactory receptor cells send axons into olfactory bulb of the brain
o Located immediately above and adjacent to the nasal cavity
o Cranial nerve 1: nerve fibers between the nose and olfactory bulb
o Axons form synapses with dendrites of mitral cells (triangular shape) in olfactory
bulb
o Mitral cells send axons to pyriform cortex (interior of brain) and amygdala
(limbic system)
o Pyriform cortex sends axons to the thalamus
o Connections are made to the orbitofrontal cortex of the frontal lobe
Durian fruit: very strong aroma
o From southeast Asia
o King of fruits
o Alfred Russel Wallace wrote about it
o Can evoke robust attractive/repulsive emotional responses
o Propanethiol (oniony), methylbutyrate (pineapple)
White and black truffle mushrooms
o Thousands of dollars
o Can evoke strong, generally very positive, emotional reactions
Pheromones: chemicals that carry signal info related to social communications between
members of the same species
o Metabotropic GPCR
o Glutamate: amino acid
Taste sensory info cranial nerve fibers lower brainstem cells in nucleus
solatarius 1) thalamus insula somatosensory cortex in parietal lobe 2)
hypothalamus amygdala
Hotness/spiciness/pungency enter brain differently
o Enter brainstem via 5th cranial nerve (trigeminal nerve) and are received by
regions of the brain closely associated with the perception of paine
o Chili: native to S. America
Member of Solanaceous family of plants along with tobacco
Hotness: capsicin
Capsaicin binds to receptor proteinshape-shift occurs ion channel
opens ion channel opens calcium ions flow from outside the cell to
inside depolarize the cell neural excitability
Thermal heat activates capsaicin-sensitive proteins
Increasing temperature of protein
o Capsaicin/thermal receptor proteins not just in mouth but all over the body
Type of ionotropic channel protein
TRP channels: transient receptor potential
Electrical response of fruit fly eye to light
o Capsaicin receptor: TRPV1
Ion channel opens to capsaicin, 43-50 degrees C, and piperine
Found in black peper
o Signaling pathway for cold: ionotropic receptor protein found in mouth and body
Calcium channel opens in response to binding of menthol
Found in mint plants
Temperatures under body temperature produce a shape-shift of protein and
open the channel
Same as heat but instead cold
TRPM8
o Pungency (mustard, horseradish): isothiocyanates
Sulfur, carbon, nitrogen
Ionotropic Ca++ channel (TRPA1): activated by binding of
isothiocyanatesneural signals
Flavor: taste, texture, smell
o DNA is damaged
o Cell membranes become leaky
Lower energetic radiation (longer wavelength): interactions w/ molecular and cellular
structures might not be energetic enough to generate a reliable neural signal
Eye: receptor organ for human vision
o Similar to camera
o Vitreous humor: transparent gelatinous fluid in the interior of eyeball
o Lens, cornea, and pupil focus light onto photosensitive retina at the rear of the
eyeball
Retina: layer of light-sensitive photoreceptor cells and several layers of
interconnected nerve cells
Crisscrossed with blood vessels
Latin rete: net
Light coming from center of visual field is focused by lens onto center of
retina (fovea or macula)
Latin fovea: pit
Latin macula: spot
Fovea: density of photoreceptor cells is highest visual acuity is
best
Rods: very numerous, sensitive to small amounts of lights
o Rhodopsin: absorb light and initiate process of
transformation of the light energy into a neural signal
o Black and white
o Sensitive to low light and nighttime
o 100 million
o Throughout the retina
Cones: mostly located at fovea, responds to higher intensity than
dim
o Cone-opsins: sensitive to bright light and daylight
o 5 million
o Concentrated in fovea
o SML wavelength absorbing cones
Blue, green, red
o Color
S: violet/blue
M: green/yellow
L: orange/red
Colors do not exist in the world; mental experiences related to nervous systems response
to electromagnetic radiation having different energies
Trichromatic color vision: there differenty types of cone photoreceptors with different
light-sensitivity ranges
o Non-primate mammals have only 2 cone photoreceptor tipes
o Birds have tetrachromatic color vision
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