Special neurons: sensory receptors

How sensory receptors have become specialized to respond to something other than a neurotransmitter messag3e

The characteristics of light waves

The parts of the eye and how light gets to the receptors

The structure of the retina

the receptor sites on rods and cones and the light sensitive pigments they contain

The differences between rods and cones

theories of color vision and where each seems to apply

the basis for color blindness/deficiency

The route taken by visual messages through brain

relationship between oour right and left visual fields and primary visual cortex

What is the difference between the “dorsal stream” and the “ventral stream”?

Damage to different parts of the visual pathways can lead to different losses of visual ability. What happens in each of these cases?

Primary visual cortex totally damaged - cortical blindness

Dorsal stream/parietal damage

Ventral stream/Inferior temporal cortex/fusiform gyrus damaged

visual or object agnosia

prosopagnosia



Characteristics of sound waves

Parts of ear and how they transmit sound input

Structure of cochlea and the hair cells in the organ of Corti on the basilar membrane

relationship to the cochlea to pitch

von Bekesy's research on the fluid movement in the cochlea and the peak of the traveling wave

What triggers the electrical responses of the hair cells

using what is known about the cochlea to create cochlear implant

Stops along the auditory pathway to cortex (superior olives, inferior colliculus, medial geniculate of thalamus)

How having 2 ears helps in sound localization

theories of pitch perception

Organization of auditory cortex (tonotopic)

2 types of deafness


Sleep and Biorhythms

What are the 2 main theories about why we sleep?


What is the difference between a circadian rhythm, a circalunar rhythm and a circaannual rhythm?

What do we mean when we say biorhythms are "endogenous"?

What is a free-running rhythm? How do they differ in characteristics from the rhythms seen under normal conditions?

What is a zeitgeber?

Blindness effects on circadian rhythms

How does SCN get input about the day/night cycle?

What is the research evidence about the location of the circadian biological clock?

That is the role of the pineal gland in sleep?

What stimulus is most effective in resetting the biological clock?

Describe at least 2 ways that you can “encourage” the resetting of your biological clock if, for example, you were going to London?

Which is an easier adjustment for your SCN - phase-delay or phase advance?

What recordings are a typical part of the polysomnogram used in sleep research?

How does the EEG change as we go from wakefulness to relaxation to falling asleep and then going deeper and deeper into sleep?

How do we move through the stages of sleep during a typical night of sleep?

How is NREM sleep different from REM sleep?

What parts of the brain are involved in maintaining wakefulness/alertness?

What parts of the brain are involved in sleep?

What are the characteristics of each of these sleep disorders:

REM behavior disorder

Narcolepsy

Sleep-walking

Night terrors

Sleep apnea

What are some of the types/causes of insomnia?