Overview / Special Senses Objectives
Special Senses Objectives
Primary Objective
Compare and contrast the transduction process that occurs in the auditory, visual and olfactory systems.Auditory system:
- From a physiological perspective, describe how sounds are transmitted through the middle ear, into the scalae, to cause basilar membrane movement.
- Define the place principle, and understand what this means in terms of how complex sounds are encoded in the cochlea (i.e., relate frequency coding to Fourier analysis).
- Describe the hair cell mechanotransduction process, incorporating the concepts of stereocilia deflection, tip links and transduction channels.
- Compare and contrast the physiological function of inner and outer hair cells.
- Describe otoacoustic emissions, and their relationship to outer hair cell contractility. Explain how efferent innervation of outer hair cells can modify acoustic signals.
Visual system:
- Explain the function of the cornea, iris (pupil) and lens, paying particular attention to the process of accomodation. List 4 common focusing defects, and methods for their correction.
- Contrast visual transduction as it occurs in rods and cones. Outline the specific molecular process that occurs during phototransduction in rods.
- Diagram how the topographic map is constructed in the lateral geniculate nucleus.
- Explain how lateral inhibition underlies ganglion cell processing, and contrast the processing of signals in simple vs. complex cells of the visual cortex.
- Describe visual system evidence for labelled line and pattern theories.
Olfactory system:
- List six structural dimensions that can be used to classify odourants.
- Name the olfactory epithelia and the types of receptor cells in each.
- Define the steps in the olfactory transduction process, differentiating among processing in the main olfactory epithelium (ORNs and GC-D neurons) and the vomeronasal organ (VNO cells).
- Contrast evidence for labelled line and pattern theories in the processing of olfactory information in the olfactory bulb.