Bio Psych Ch 8

Front 1

Sensory Receptor Organ

Back 1

an organ specialized to receive particular stimuli

Front 2

Stimulus

Back 2

a physical event that triggers a sensory response

Front 3

Receptor Cell

Back 3

specialized cell that responds to a particular energy or substance in the internal or external environment and converts this energy into a change in the electrical potential across its membrane

Front 4

Adequate Stimulus

Back 4

type of stimulus for which a given sensory organ is particularly adapted

Front 5

Specific Nerve Energies

Back 5

the doctrine that the receptors and neural channels for the different senses are independent and operate in their own special ways and can produce only one particular type of information

Front 6

Labeled Lines

Back 6

concept that each nerve input to the brain reports only a particular type of information

Front 7

Sensory Transduction

Back 7

the process in which a receptor cell converts the energy in a stimulus into a change in the electrical potential across its membrane

Front 8

Generator Potential

Back 8

local change in the resting potential of a receptor cell that mediates between the impact of stimuli and the initiation of nerve impulses

Front 9

Pacinian Corpuscle

Back 9

a skin receptor cell type that detects vibrations

Front 10

Ruffini's endings

Back 10

skin receptor cell that detects stretch

Front 11

Free Nerve Endings

Back 11

an axon that terminates in the skin without any specialized cell associated with it and that detects pain and changes in temp

Front 12

Merkel's Disc

Back 12

skin receptor cell type that detects touch

Front 13

Meissner's Corpuscle

Back 13

skin receptor cell type that detects touch

Front 14

Threshold

Back 14

the stimulus intensity that is just adequate to trigger a nerve impulse in the axon

Front 15

Coding

Back 15

the rules by which action potentials in a sensory system reflect a physical stimulus

Front 16

Range Fractionation

Back 16

a hypothesis of stimulus intensity perception stating that a wide range of intensity values can be encoded by a group of cells each of which is a specialist for a particular range of stimulus intensities

Front 17

Somatasensory

Back 17

body sensations referring to touch and pain sensations

Front 18

Adaptation

Back 18

progressive loss of receptor sensitivity as stimulation is maintained

Front 19

Tonic Receptor

Back 19

receptor in which the frequency of nerve impulse discharge declines slowly or not at all as stimulation is maintained

Front 20

Phasic Receptor

Back 20

receptor in which the frequency of nerve impulse discharge drops rapidly as stimulation is maintained

Front 21

Sensory Pathways

Back 21

chain of neural connections form sensory receptor cells to the cortex

Front 22

Thalamus

Back 22

brain regions at the top of the brainstem that trade information with the cortex

Front 23

Central Modulation of Sensory Information

Back 23

process in which higher brain centers such as the cortex and thalamus suppress some sources of sensory information and amplify other

Front 24

Receptive Field

Back 24

stimulus region and features that cause the maximal response of a cell in a sensory system

Front 25

Primary Sensory Cortex

Back 25

for a given sensory modality the region of cortex that receives most of the information about that modality from the thalamus or in the case of olfaction directly from the secondary sensory neurons

Front 26

Secondary Sensory Cortex

Back 26

for a given sensory modality the cortical regions receiving direct projections from primary sensory cortex for that modality

Front 27

Receptive field/response of Pacinian Corpuscle

Back 27

large, vague boarders/fast-adapting

Front 28

Receptive field/response of Meissner's Corpuscle

Back 28

small, sharp boarders/fast-adapting

Front 29

Receptive field/response of Merkel's discs

Back 29

small, sharp boarders/slow-adapting

Front 30

Receptive field/response of Ruffini's ending

Back 30

large, vague boarders/slow-adapting

Front 31

Dorsal Column System

Back 31

somatosensory system that delivers most touch stimuli via the dorsal columns of spinal white matter to the brain

Front 32

Dermatome

Back 32

strip of skin innervated by a particular spinal root

Front 33

Pain

Back 33

the discomfort usually associated with tissue damage

Front 34

Congenital Insensitivity to Pain

Back 34

the condition of being born without the ability to perceive pain

Front 35

Noniceptor

Back 35

a receptor that responds to stimuli that produce tissue damage or pose the threat of damage

Front 36

Capsaicin

Back 36

a compound synthesized by various plants to deter predators by mimicking the experience of burning

Front 37

Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid type 1 (TRPV1)

Back 37

receptor that binds capsaicin to transmit the burning sensation from chili peppers and may detect sudden increase in temp

Front 38

McGill Pain Questionnaire

Back 38

1. sensory-discriminative quality (throbbing, shooting)
2. motivational-affective quality (tiring, sickening, fearful)
3. overall cognitive quality (no pain, mild, excruciating)

Front 39

Transient Receptor Protein 2 (TRP2)

Back 39

a receptor found in some nerve endings, that opens its channel in response to rising temperatures

Front 40

A§ Fiber

Back 40

A moderately large myelinated and fast conducting axon usually transmitting pain information

Front 41

C Fiber

Back 41

a small, unmyelinated axon that conducts pain info slowly and adapts slowly

Front 42

Peripheral Mediation of Pain (4 steps)

Back 42

1. damaged cells release substances that excite nerve endings
2. action potentials generated in the periphery can reflexively excite blood vessels and other cells to produce inflammation
3. info enters the dorsal horn of the spinal cord and is relayed
4. pain fibers release glutamate as a transmitter substance P as a neuromodulator in the spinal cord

Front 43

Cool-menthol Receptor 1 (CMR1)

Back 43

sensory receptor found in some free nerve endings that opend an ion channel in response to a mild temp drop or exposure to menthol

Front 44

Anterolateral/Spinothalamic System

Back 44

a somatosensory system that carries most of the pain info from the body to the brain

Front 45

Glutamate

Back 45

an amino acid transmitter the most common excitatory transmitter

Front 46

Substance P

Back 46

a peptide transmitter implicated in pain transmission

Front 47

Neuropathic Pain

Back 47

pain caused by damage to peripheral nerves; often difficult to treat

Front 48

Cingulate Cortex

Back 48

region of medial cerebral cortex that lies dorsal to the corpus callosum

Front 49

Off-center Ganglion Cell

Back 49

a retinal ganglion cell that is activated when light is presented to the periphery, rather than the center, of the cell's receptive field