Neurosciences: Sensory Systems

Neurosciences · Basic Sciences

How it begins

Sensory systems constitute the fundamental interface between the organism and its external and internal environment. Its essential function is to capture specific forms of physical or chemical energy from the environment, transduce them into electrochemical signals—action potentials and receptor potentials—and transmit them through hierarchical neural pathways to the cerebral cortex, where perception occurs...

What it covers

1. · Table of Contents
2. General Principles of Sensory Systems
3. · 1.1 Classification of Sensory Modalities
4. · 1.2 Sensory Transduction: Molecular Mechanisms
5. · 1.3 Principles of Sensory Coding
6. · 1.4 Sensory Adaptation
7. · 1.5 Hierarchical and Topographic Organization
8. Somatosensory System
9. · 2.1 Somatosensory Receptors
10. · 2.2 Primary Afferent Fibers
11. · 2.3 The Medial Lemniscal Pathway (Dorsal Spine)
12. · 2.4 The Anterolateral System
13. · 2.5 The Trigeminal Way
14. · 2.6 The Somatosensory Cortex: Laminar and Columnar Organization
15. Nociceptive System and Pain Mechanisms
16. · 3.1 Nociceptors: Types and Properties
17. · 3.2 Peripheral Sensitization and Inflammatory Soup
18. · 3.3 Processing in the Dorsal Horn: Central Sensitization
19. · 3.4 Descending Inhibitory Control of Pain
20. · 3.5 Gate Control Theory (Melzack & Wall, 1965)
21. · 3.6 Types of Pain and Clinical Correlations
22. Visual System
23. · 4.1 Ocular Optics and Image Formation
24. · 4.2 Photoreceptors: Cones and Rods
25. · 4.3 Retinal Processing
26. · 4.4 Optic Pathways: From the Optic Nerve to the Visual Cortex
27. · 4.5 Visual Cortex: Hierarchy and Processing Flows
28. Auditory System
29. · 5.1 Functional Anatomy of the Ear
30. · 5.2 The Organ of Corti and Hair Cells
31. · 5.3 The Principle of Cochlear Tonotopia
32. · 5.4 Central Auditory Pathway
33. Vestibular System
34. · 6.1 The Vestibular Labyrinth
35. · 6.2 Central Vestibular Pathway
36. Olfactory System
37. · 7.1 Olfactory Receptor Neurons (NRO)
38. · 7.2 The Olfactory Bulb and the Olfactory Cortex
39. Gustatorio System (Gusto)
40. · 8.1 Taste Buds and Receptor Cells
41. · 8.2 Gustatory Transduction Mechanisms
42. · 8.3 Central Gustative Route
43. Multisensory Integration and Plasticity
44. · 9.1 The Inverse Efficiency Rule and the Principle of Superadditivity
45. · 9.2 Bayes' Least Variance Principle (Multisensory Bayesian Integration)
46. · 9.3 Somatosensory Plasticity: Experience-Dependent Cortical Reorganization
47. · 9.4 The Thalamus as a Sensory Gate and Attentional Control
48. Clinical-Neurobiological Synthesis