Chapter 7
During the first part of sensory physiology, students begin learning about electrical signals from the Central Nervous System in the context of graded potentials and action potentials. Some of the concepts students will study include lateral inhibition, referred pain, receptive fields, the Law of Specific Nerve Endings, and Weber's Law.
They will also look at the anatomy and physiology of the ear and how to differentiate between sensorineural and conduction deafness.
Topics to Review Before Lab:
- Exteroceptors vs. interoceptors
- Phasic vs. tonic sensory receptors
- Different types of receptors
- Law Of Specific Nerve Endings
- Weber's Law
- Generator potentials vs. action potentials
- Anatomy of the ear (outer, middle and inner)
Students will use an important piece of equipment, an oscilloscope, to measure their vocal frequencies while speaking and singing a standard scale. An oscilloscope is an extremely sensitive piece of equipment that measures changes in electrical potential over time. It will also be used in later labs also.