NROSCI 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Dorsal Root Ganglion, Somatosensory System, Sensory Cortex
Document Summary
Carry info from environment to spinal cord to brain stem to sensory cortex. Stimulus detector - convert environmental stimulus to neural signal. We have to have something detect the stimulus. Sensory transduction: *look at this slide to add more info* Initial nervous system receiving center - receives input from stimulus detector. Where a lot of early on processing happens. Critical part of integrating all senses that relay info about environment. Encodes and processes sensory info from skin muscles and viscera. Axon extends in both directions from cell bodies (drg) Type of receptor ending determines type of stimulus activated. Size of receeptor ending determines size of receptive field. Sensory transuction: ion channels that open when they get pushed on. Allow influx of na+ or ca2+ that depolarize the receptor that depolarize the receptor afferents to cause ap. Graded receptor potentials: based on strength of stimulation. If its strong enough to bring it to threshold, it will fire an ap.
