PSYB65H3 Chapter : Chapter Six
Document Summary
Sensory systems can be categorized into three organizing principles: sensory systems are characterized by hierarchical organization, each level of the organization contains functionally distinct cortical areas, the processing of sensory info occurs in parallel throughout the cortex. At the level of the eye, there are a large number of very specialized receptors that have one function: to transform light into signals that are meaningful in the nervous system. At the level of the association cortex, the job is more complex: to integrate info from a number of sensory systems into a perception of the outside world. As we move from the lowest to the highest level of sensory systems, we also see that the neurons change from having simple on/off sensory functions to those that respond optimally to stimuli of greater complexity and specificity. The deficits that arise when the various levels are damaged are informative as to the function of each of the levels.
