BSCI 353 Final Exam Questions Well Answered Latest Update 2025-2026
time stimulation will mai - Answers
pathway 1 stimulus - LTP - Answers big pump after tetanus
Horseshoe crab eyes - Answers eccentric cells on the light side of the border fired more AP's
than expected - led to concept of lateral inhibition
Retina - Answers light absorption - membrane potential change - neurotransmitter release
receptive organization - Answers bipolar and ganglion cells have a center-surround organization
receptive field - Answers receptive field of a sensory neuron is a stimulus space in which the
presence of a stimulus within that space alters the firing of that neuron
stimulus spaces - Answers visual system - light in visual space
auditory system - frequency
somatosensory system - position on body
bipolar cells circular patch - Answers on/off center bipolar cells
on center - receives light in center will depolarize - sign inverting
off center - receive light in center will hyperpolarize - sign conserving
ganglion cells - Answers on/off center ganglion cells
glutamate - sign conserving
Why two types? - Answers Two luminance pathways.
Stimulus brighter than background
stimulus darker than background
how can glutamate produce opposite effects on bipolar cells? - Answers ionotropic/
metabotropic receptors
off center bipolar receptor - Answers ionotopric GluRs (AMPA and Kainite receptors)
On center bipolar receptor - Answers metabotropic (sign inverting) mGluRs (mGluR-6)
Off center pathway - Answers light abs - photoreceptor hyperpolarizes - decreases NT release -
fewer AMPA 7 Kainite Rs activated - less Na+ inflow - hyperpolarizes
On center pathway - Answers light abs - photoreceptor hyperpolarizes - decreases NT release -
,fewer mGluRs activated - more cGMP - open more cGMP-gated Na+ channels - bipolar cell
depolarizes
Circuitry responsible for generating receptive field center responses of retinal ganglion cells -
Answers on/off center ganglion cells - action potentials
on center ganglion cells to different light conditions - Answers light spot gets larger than center
- AP firing rate drops - ganglion cells respond stronger to luminance contrast
horizonal pathways in retina - Answers cone/rod
horizonal cell/bipolar cell
ganglion cells
horizontal cells - Answers receive inputs from center and surround photoreceptors and provide
inhibition back onto photoreceptor terminals
horizonal results in retina - Answers creating a receptive field surround effect on the bipolar
cells that is opposite for light as the center
what NT do horizontal cells use? - Answers GABA
if enter on/off system is lit - Answers little above normal - center is a little stronger than
surround
color processing - Answers spectral opponency
retinotopic organization of vision - Answers -spatial organization of visual space is preserved in
each processing region
-ex: neighbor neurons in retina connect to neighbor neurons in LGN, and to neighboring neurons
in V1
parallel streams of processing - Answers magnocellular pathway, parvocellular pathway,
koniocellular pathway
magnocellular pathway - Answers wide dendrites (larger RFs)
larger axons (fast)
rapidly changing stimulus (motion)
no color
parvocellular pathway - Answers narrow dendrites (smaller RFs)
smaller axons(slow)
, high acuity and color
hubel and wiesel - Answers neurons in the primary visual cortex respond selectively to oriented
edges
Dorsal MT - Answers spatial vision
Ventral V4 - Answers object recognition
sound - Answers wave of air molecule vibration, composed of alternating cycles of compression
and rarefaction
sound attributes - Answers amplitude (loudness)
Frequency (pitch)
phase
middle ear (impedance matching device; signal booster) - Answers decreasing membrane area -
eardrum - oval window
adding levers - three ear bones (ossicles)
cochlea - Answers fluid filled canal system with flexible partition
middle ear bone - Answers vibrates and push in oval window to create traveling waves
waves - Answers air molecule vs density
traveling wave theory - Answers reaches its peak amplitude at a specific location on the basilar
membrane dependent ON ITS Vibration Frequency
tonotopic map - Answers sound frequency is mapped across the length of the cochlea
narrower & stiffer (Base) - Answers higher frequency sound
wider (5x) and more flexible (apex) - Answers lower frequency sound
human frequency tune - Answers 2000-5000
organ of corti - Answers the transducer
each sensory cell has hair bundle (stereocilia) embedded under an overlying tectorial membrane
sound wave - Answers sound has up and down motions - nervous system translates this rather
than triggering light on phototransduction
time stimulation will mai - Answers
pathway 1 stimulus - LTP - Answers big pump after tetanus
Horseshoe crab eyes - Answers eccentric cells on the light side of the border fired more AP's
than expected - led to concept of lateral inhibition
Retina - Answers light absorption - membrane potential change - neurotransmitter release
receptive organization - Answers bipolar and ganglion cells have a center-surround organization
receptive field - Answers receptive field of a sensory neuron is a stimulus space in which the
presence of a stimulus within that space alters the firing of that neuron
stimulus spaces - Answers visual system - light in visual space
auditory system - frequency
somatosensory system - position on body
bipolar cells circular patch - Answers on/off center bipolar cells
on center - receives light in center will depolarize - sign inverting
off center - receive light in center will hyperpolarize - sign conserving
ganglion cells - Answers on/off center ganglion cells
glutamate - sign conserving
Why two types? - Answers Two luminance pathways.
Stimulus brighter than background
stimulus darker than background
how can glutamate produce opposite effects on bipolar cells? - Answers ionotropic/
metabotropic receptors
off center bipolar receptor - Answers ionotopric GluRs (AMPA and Kainite receptors)
On center bipolar receptor - Answers metabotropic (sign inverting) mGluRs (mGluR-6)
Off center pathway - Answers light abs - photoreceptor hyperpolarizes - decreases NT release -
fewer AMPA 7 Kainite Rs activated - less Na+ inflow - hyperpolarizes
On center pathway - Answers light abs - photoreceptor hyperpolarizes - decreases NT release -
,fewer mGluRs activated - more cGMP - open more cGMP-gated Na+ channels - bipolar cell
depolarizes
Circuitry responsible for generating receptive field center responses of retinal ganglion cells -
Answers on/off center ganglion cells - action potentials
on center ganglion cells to different light conditions - Answers light spot gets larger than center
- AP firing rate drops - ganglion cells respond stronger to luminance contrast
horizonal pathways in retina - Answers cone/rod
horizonal cell/bipolar cell
ganglion cells
horizontal cells - Answers receive inputs from center and surround photoreceptors and provide
inhibition back onto photoreceptor terminals
horizonal results in retina - Answers creating a receptive field surround effect on the bipolar
cells that is opposite for light as the center
what NT do horizontal cells use? - Answers GABA
if enter on/off system is lit - Answers little above normal - center is a little stronger than
surround
color processing - Answers spectral opponency
retinotopic organization of vision - Answers -spatial organization of visual space is preserved in
each processing region
-ex: neighbor neurons in retina connect to neighbor neurons in LGN, and to neighboring neurons
in V1
parallel streams of processing - Answers magnocellular pathway, parvocellular pathway,
koniocellular pathway
magnocellular pathway - Answers wide dendrites (larger RFs)
larger axons (fast)
rapidly changing stimulus (motion)
no color
parvocellular pathway - Answers narrow dendrites (smaller RFs)
smaller axons(slow)
, high acuity and color
hubel and wiesel - Answers neurons in the primary visual cortex respond selectively to oriented
edges
Dorsal MT - Answers spatial vision
Ventral V4 - Answers object recognition
sound - Answers wave of air molecule vibration, composed of alternating cycles of compression
and rarefaction
sound attributes - Answers amplitude (loudness)
Frequency (pitch)
phase
middle ear (impedance matching device; signal booster) - Answers decreasing membrane area -
eardrum - oval window
adding levers - three ear bones (ossicles)
cochlea - Answers fluid filled canal system with flexible partition
middle ear bone - Answers vibrates and push in oval window to create traveling waves
waves - Answers air molecule vs density
traveling wave theory - Answers reaches its peak amplitude at a specific location on the basilar
membrane dependent ON ITS Vibration Frequency
tonotopic map - Answers sound frequency is mapped across the length of the cochlea
narrower & stiffer (Base) - Answers higher frequency sound
wider (5x) and more flexible (apex) - Answers lower frequency sound
human frequency tune - Answers 2000-5000
organ of corti - Answers the transducer
each sensory cell has hair bundle (stereocilia) embedded under an overlying tectorial membrane
sound wave - Answers sound has up and down motions - nervous system translates this rather
than triggering light on phototransduction
