Read the summary and the most important questions on Physiology of Behavior | 9780134080918 | Neil R. Carlson

• 1 exam 2 review

• 1.1 chapter 6 - vision

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• Describe the 3 stages of sensory processing.

  1. Reception - stimulus to receptor (absorption of physical energy by sensory receptor)
  2. Transduction - receptor to neuron (conversion of physical energy to electrical pattern in neurons)
  3. Coding - neuron to brain (correspondence between some aspect of the physical stimulus and firing of action potentials.

• Describe the 3 dimensions of light.

  1. Hue - wavelength of light (long wavelength = reddish color, short wavelength = bluish color)
  2. Brightness - intensity of light (great amplitude = bright color, small amplitude = dull color)
  3. Saturation - relative purity of light

• Describe monocular vs binocular cues and types of both.

  - monocular cues use only one eye to detect (size, perspective, depth, interposition/overlap of objects)
  - binocular cues use info from both eyes to detect (stereopsis/depth perception from retinal disparities from two eyes)

• Describe the dorsal vs. ventral streams.

  - dorsal stream- "where" pathway (where an object is located, speed and direction of movement; terminates in posterior parietal lobe)
  - ventral stream - "what" pathway (what an object is, shape, color, and movement; terminates in inferior temporal lobe)

• Describe the layers of the retina.

  From back to front, photoreceptors (rods and cones), bipolar cells, ganglion cells (the ones that produce APs)

• Describe how photoreceptors change their activity in light and dark.

  - Photoreceptors located at the back of the retina contain photopigments, which are made up of a protein (opsin) and a lipid (retinal)
  -  Photoreceptors depolarize in darkness and hyperpolarize in light --> at rest, Na+ and Ca2+ channels are open
  - In dark: photoreceptors continuously release glutamate at rest
  - In light: photopigment molecule (rhodopsin) splits in opsin and retinal. --> retinal interacts with g proteins and closes channels, which hyperpolarizes the photoreceptor and restricts glutamate release.

• Describe the order of transduction in vision.

  Transduction is when light stimuli is converted to a change in membrane potential
  - light generates hyperpolarization in photoreceptors --> depolarizing bipolar cells --> simulative ganglion cell firing signals to the brain.

• Describe the regions of the brain involved in vision.

  - LGN of the thalamus : has 6 layers that analyze different aspects of visual processing and relays info to the striate cortex (v1) - layers 1,4,6 contralateral; layers 2,3,5 ipsilateral
  -  Primary visual cortex (striate cortex/V1): highly organized in columns and layers; dorsal and ventral streams start here.
  - Visual Association cortex (extrastriate cortex/v2)

• 1.2 chapter 7 - other senses

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• Describe how the cochlea works (pitch, loudness)

  - pitch perception - different tones excite different areas of the basilar membrane.
  

  • place coding (moderate to high frequencies) - we perceive pitch depending on where the basilar membrane in activated.
  • rate coding (low frequencies) - the rate of neuron firing corresponds with the frequency of the sound.

  - loudness perception - 
  

  • for most frequencies, loud = more intense vibrations on eardrum
  • for very low frequencies, loudness can be conveyed by # of axons firing

• Describe the vestibular sense and its associated structures.

  The vestibular sense helps us maintain balance, keep our heads upright, an adjust eye movements to compensate for head movements. 
  

  • vestibular sacs - sense head tilt
  • utricle - horizontal head movement
  • saccule - vertical head movement

  • semicircular canals - sense rotation of head
  • changes in rotation an linear acceleration
  • receptors are hair cells; when cilia bend, ion channels open and K+ enters cilia, depolarizing cilia membrane an causing excitation of vestibular neurons.