PSYC 273 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Gyrus, Spinal Nerve, Opiate
Document Summary
Stimuli : a physical event that triggers a sensory response: structure determines kind of energy or chemical it will respond to. Skin receptor types: pacinian corpuscle: skin receptor cell type that detects vibration & pressure. More cells are allocated to the spatial representation of sensitive, densely innervated sites, like the lips, than to sites that are less sensitive, like the back. Receptive field: the stimulus region & features that affect the activity of a cell in a sensory system: differ in: Ex: some neurons respond to light touch, while others fire rapidly in response to: sensory adaptation: the progressive lost of receptor response as stimulation is maintained. Ignore unimportant events: example: ignore buzz of overhead lights or clothes on you, phasic receptors: receptor in which the frequency of an action potential drops rapidly as stimulation is maintained. Sensory pathways reach cerebral cortex, where most complex aspects of sensory.
