PSYC 3670 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Deep Cerebellar Nuclei, Skeleton, Genetic Disorder
18 Oct 2016
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Evolution has endowed each species with its own unique set of capabilities. Sensory systems rely on specialized receptor cells to detect energies, as well as brain systems that receive input from these receptors. Part i: sensory processing and the somatosensory system. There are labelled lines within general sensory categories too. Receptor cells convert sensory signals into electrical activity. The structure of a receptor cell determines the particular kind of energy or chemical to which it will respond. An electrical charge in the receptor resembles the excitatory postsynaptic potentials. Careful studies of skin sensations reveal qualitatively different sensory experiences: pacinian corpuscle: also called lamelated corpuscle. A skin receptor cell type that detects vibration and pressure. If it exceeds the firing threshold, action potentials are generated that travel via sensory nerves to the spinal cord. Threshold: here, the stimulus intensity that is just adequate to trigger an action potential in a sensory cell.
