Sensory System: A Tutorial Study Guide

Sensory System

A Tutorial Study Guide

Nicoladie Tam, Ph. D.

This book uses innovative pedagogy to advance knowledge in education, scholarship, and research by publishing worldwide as an independent publisher.

Authored by: Nicoladie Tam, Ph.D.

Published by: Nicoladie Tam, Ph.D.

First Published: August 17, 2013

Revision Date: December 23, 2021

Edition: 2nd

ISBN (eBook): 9781301660070

ISBN (paperback): 9798791970923

ISBN (audiobook):

Book statistics: words, paragraphs, and printed pages

Keywords: mental disorder, psychiatric disorder, pharmacotherapy, neuropsychology, neuropharmacology, neuropsychopharmacology, neuroscience, biology, study guide, tutorial

Book series: Science Textbook Series, authored by Nicoladie Tam, Ph.D.

This book is also available in printed PDF format and audiobook format.

Produced and published in the United States of America.

Copyright © 2021 by Nicoladie Tam, Ph.D. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or circulated in any form without prior written permission of the author, except for brief quotations in critical review articles. This condition applies to all acquirers of this publication.

ISBN 978-1-301-66007-0

Cover page image attribution credit: Tortuga/stock.adobe.com

Preface

Sensory System is a book chapter of the college-level textbook as a part of the Science Textbook Series authored by Nicoladie Tam, Ph.D. This book volume is used in the Principles of Biology course and the Principles of Neuropsychopharmacology course.

This book is written with specific pedagogical considerations to facilitate students' learning. It applies the proven best practices to motivate students in learning. It uses multiple pedagogical methodologies to engage students in active learning by participating in the knowledge acquisition process. It stimulates the curiosity of students by asking them questions and answering them immediately. It guides the students in their comprehension of knowledge by using examples and by giving them detailed explanations following the answers.

This book uses a step-by-step tutorial approach to walk through the process of refinement in learning — leading students by asking a simple question first, then followed by a more in-depth question. This helps students understand each principle incrementally. It solves a complex problem without overwhelming the students.

This tutorial approach breaks down a complex problem by addressing the puzzle one piece at a time. Students will then learn the methodology of scientific inquiry by following the author’s (instructor’s) lead one step at a time. It solves a problem by asking in-depth questions incrementally. The author (instructor) demonstrates the problem-solving process by illustrating how to solve a problem using the materials presented in the book chapter.

The technique is the question-and-answer inquiry-learning process. It uses the contents of the chapter materials as examples to illustrate how to find out the answers by asking questions. It explains the principles and concepts without needing the traditional narrative description of some complex phenomena. It subdivides the problems into small chunks of knowledge for students to acquire.

The goal-directed learning process is one of the pedagogical methods used in this book to facilitate students' inquiry-learning. It uses a targeted problem-solving process by homing in the problem. It applies the computer science theory in problem-solving to teach effective problem-solving using a highly efficient binary-search methodology as a pedagogical principle to teach students how to learn efficiently.

The binary-search (divide-and-conquer) method is essentially breaking down a complex problem by half each time and discard the irrelevant half of the solution space repeatedly. So students don't need to spend time on irrelevant materials and focus mainly on what is relevant. This process is done by asking a simple question first, then getting an immediate answer for the specific question without wasting time on other irrelevant content. The binary-search method then iterates the process of divide-and-conquer by keep subdividing the solution space into halves and then exploring the relevant half while discarding the irrelevant half. When the problem cannot be subdivided anymore, the final answer becomes the solution automatically.

Objectives (and Concepts to Learn) Section in this Book

This book is organized based on the pedagogical principles of higher learning. Each chapter starts with the Objectives and Concepts to Learn to introduce what are expected to learn. The Overview and Summary provide a concise summary of the contents of the materials, the key principles, and the concepts to be learned. This provides the expectation of what the learning outcomes would be right at the beginning to prepare for students to anticipate what is expected to learn.

Q&A (Question-and-Answer) Section in this Book

The core of the tutorial lies in the Q&A (question-and-answer ) section where questions are answered immediately followed by detailed explanations of the principles and concepts. Examples are often given to illustrate the concepts and apply them in real life. This question-and-answer approach in the tutorial engages students in learning by stimulating their curiosity. It rewards students by answering the question thoroughly with detailed explanations immediately following each answer.

Critical, Analytical, and Creative Thinking Section in this Book

Finally, each chapter and section ends with review questions to summarize what they have learned by putting them together and analyzing what they have learned. The review questions are subdivided into Critical Thinking Questions, Analytical Thinking Questions, and Creative Thinking Questions. These open-ended questions are designed to stimulate students' thinking by asking questions that require thinking-out-of-the-box instead of thinking-inside-the-box.

Table of Contents

Nicoladie Tam, Ph. D. 1

This book uses innovative pedagogy to advance knowledge in education, scholarship, and research by publishing worldwide as an independent publisher. 1

This book is also available in printed PDF format and audiobook format. 1

Produced and published in the United States of America. 1

Copyright © 2021 by Nicoladie Tam, Ph.D. All rights reserved. 1

No part of this publication may be reproduced or circulated in any form without prior written permission of the author, except for brief quotations in critical review articles. This condition applies to all acquirers of this publication. 1

ISBN 978-1-301-66007-0 1

1

Cover page image attribution credit: Tortuga/stock.adobe.com 1

Preface 1

Objectives (and Concepts to Learn) Section in this Book 1

Q&A (Question-and-Answer) Section in this Book 2

Critical, Analytical, and Creative Thinking Section in this Book 2

Table of Contents 3

1. Sensory System 1

Objectives 1

Concepts to Learn 1

Summary 1

Sensory Transduction 1

Sensory Receptor Cells 2

Sensory Encoding 2

1.1.1. Sensory Transduction 3

Objectives 3

Concepts to Learn 3

Summary 3

Q&A 3

What is sense? 3

Sense is the ability to detect physical energy from the environment. 3

What is sensory modality? 3

Sensory modality refers to the various senses that animals experience, such as vision, hearing, touch, temperature, pain, etc. 3

How are different sensory modalities defined? 4

Sensory modalities are defined by the characteristics conveyed by the physical energy. For instance, vision is conveyed by photo (light) energy, and temperature sense is conveyed by thermal energy. 4

How do we sense our surroundings? 4

The sensors (sensory cells) are the conversion of one form of energy to another called sensory transduction. 4

What is sensory transduction? 4

Transduction is converting one form of energy to another form of energy. 4

Why is there a need for transduction in the brain? 4

Because the brain uses action potentials to process information, all information needs to be converted into action potentials before the brain can understand. 4

Where is sensory transduction done? 5

Sensory transduction occurs in sensory receptor cells. Most sensory receptor cells are independent specialized cells for transducing energy, while some other sensory receptor cells are neurons themselves. 5

What is the role of the sensory receptor cell? 5

It performs the transduction process – converting one type of energy to another, which ultimately will be converted into action potentials. 5

What do all sensory receptor cells have in common? 5

They all transduce energy. 5

1.2. Sensory Receptor Cells 6

Objectives 6

Concepts to Learn 6

Summary 6

Q&A 6

How are different sensory receptors classified? 6

The sensory receptor cells can be classified based on the physical energy they transduce: 6

Give examples of photoreceptors? 7

Examples are: 7

Give examples of mechanoreceptors? 7

Examples are: 7

In skin: 7

In muscle: 7

In blood vessel: 7

Give examples of chemoreceptors? 7

Examples are: 7

Give examples of thermoreceptors? 8

Examples are: 8

Give examples of electroreceptors? 8

Examples are: 8

Give examples of magnetoreceptors? 8

Examples are: 8

Give examples of nociceptor? 8

Examples are: 8

What does this mean when senses are merely transduction of energy? 8

It means that depending on how the animals were evolved, they can have very different senses depending on which energy source they are detecting. 8

How do we know if see or feel the same? 8

If the sensory receptor cells transduce the same way, and if the brain processes them the same way, then yes, we would know we feel the same. But if they don’t transduce