Sensory System Study Questions
Know the definitions of: receptor, transducer, exteroceptor, interoceptor, proprioceptor, thermoreceptor, chemoreceptor, photoreceptor, mechanoreceptor, general senses, special senses, and adaptation.
What is the difference between a tonic receptor and a phasic receptor?
How do the receptors for light touch and deep pressure differ?
What sensations are mediated by free nerve endings?
Taste and smell are both mediated by chemoreceptors. Compare the structure and function of these two types of chemoreceptors.
People with temporal lobe epilepsy often have olfactory hallucinations (uncinate fits) or olfactory auras. Why?
Axons of olfactory receptors pass through the ________ _________ of the ethmoid bone on the way to the ____________.
What do basal cells produce?
Why do taste sensations decrease when our nasal sinuses are congested with mucous?
What are the 5 taste qualities? What is their distribution on the tongue?
Which nerves carry taste information to the brain?
Where is the "gustatory center" of the brain?
Can we "taste" in regions of the mouth other than the tongue?
Taste (gustatory) receptors are housed within ________ _________, which in turn are found along the edges of 3 types of _____________.
How do filiform papilla differ from other papilla of the tongue?
Circumvallate papilla are found in the _______ of the tongue.
What are the major layers (tunics) of the eyeball? What are their functions?
Light entering the eye has to travel through many structures. Outline the sequence of structures light passes through to get to a photoreceptor. Conjunctiva -> etc.
What are the differences between rods and cones?
If we have 140 million rods and only 6 million cones per eye, why do we consider cones more important to our daily lives?
What are the three types of cones found in the human retina? What is dichromat?
What is the role of 11-cis-retinal in vision? How is it related to vitamin A?
______________ = 11-cis-retinal + opsin.
Outline the basic steps of phototransduction.
Caffeine inhibits phosphodiesterase. If it could affect a photoreceptor, what effect would it have? (would it mimic light or darkness?)
The outer segment of a photoreceptor is the responsible for _____________.
How do the lens, suspensory ligaments, and ciliary body function in near and far point accommodation?
What are near- and far-sightedness? What are they due to and how are they corrected?
As we age, our ability to accommodate lessens. Why?
What is glaucoma? How is it related to the function of the ciliary body?
What is a cataract? Conjunctivitis? Retinal detachment? Astigmatism?
How does retinitis pigmentosa differ from macular degeneration?
What is "tunnel vision?"
What are the 3 ear divisions? What structures are found in each of these divisions?
What is the function of the auditory tube?What are the other names for the auditory tube?
What is the function of those little muscles attached to the ossicles?
How are vibrations of the tympanic membrane transduced into the sensation of sound?
What is the difference between endolymph and perilymph?
What is the role of the high potassium concentration in endolymph?
What is the difference between sensorineural and conduction deafness?
What structures are associated with the sense of equilibrium? What is the difference between static and dynamic equilibrium?
What is the significance of the otoconia crystals (otoliths)?
What is the normal range of human hearing (in terms of frequency)?
What is a decibel? What is a Hertz? (no, not the type that O.J. advertised! P.S. the morgue-mobile is spelled differently)
How are loudness and tone/pitch handled (coded) by the inner ear?
What is the physiological explanation of motion sickness?