PSYC 3530 Chapter Notes -Periaqueductal Gray, Retinal Ganglion Cell, Sensory Neuron
11 Nov 2013
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Document Summary
Each sensory system is organized on a similar, hierarchical plan. Sensory receptors are specialized cells that transduce, or convert, sensory energy (for example, light photons) into neural activity. We refer to people who lack receptors for parts of the usual visual spectrum as being color deficient or color-blind. For vision, light energy is converted into chemical energy in the photoreceptors of the retina, and this chemical energy is in turn converted into action potentials. In the auditory system, air-pressure waves are converted into a number of forms of mechanical energy, the last of which eventually activates the auditory receptors, which then produce action potentials. In the somatosensory system, mechanical energy activates mechanoreceptors, cells that are sensitive, say, to touch or pain. For taste and olfaction, various chemical molecules carried by the air or contained in food fit themselves into receptors of various shapes to activate action potentials.
