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[link] The basilar membrane is the thin membrane that extends from the central core of the cochlea to the edge. What is anchored to this membrane so that they can be activated by movement of the fluids within the cochlea?
[link] The hair cells are located in the organ of Corti, which is located on the basilar membrane. The stereocilia of those cells would normally be attached to the tectorial membrane (though they are detached in the micrograph because of processing of the tissue).
Watch this video to learn more about how the structures of the ear convert sound waves into a neural signal by moving the “hairs,” or stereocilia, of the cochlear duct. Specific locations along the length of the duct encode specific frequencies, or pitches. The brain interprets the meaning of the sounds we hear as music, speech, noise, etc. Which ear structures are responsible for the amplification and transfer of sound from the external ear to the inner ear?
The small bones in the middle ear, the ossicles, amplify and transfer sound between the tympanic membrane of the external ear and the oval window of the inner ear.
Watch this animation to learn more about the inner ear and to see the cochlea unroll, with the base at the back of the image and the apex at the front. Specific wavelengths of sound cause specific regions of the basilar membrane to vibrate, much like the keys of a piano produce sound at different frequencies. Based on the animation, where do frequencies—from high to low pitches—cause activity in the hair cells within the cochlear duct?
High frequencies activate hair cells toward the base of the cochlea, and low frequencies activate hair cells toward the apex of the cochlea.
Watch this video to learn more about a transverse section through the brain that depicts the visual pathway from the eye to the occipital cortex. The first half of the pathway is the projection from the RGCs through the optic nerve to the lateral geniculate nucleus in the thalamus on either side. This first fiber in the pathway synapses on a thalamic cell that then projects to the visual cortex in the occipital lobe where “seeing,” or visual perception, takes place. This video gives an abbreviated overview of the visual system by concentrating on the pathway from the eyes to the occipital lobe. The video makes the statement (at 0:45) that “specialized cells in the retina called ganglion cells convert the light rays into electrical signals.” What aspect of retinal processing is simplified by that statement? Explain your answer.
Photoreceptors convert light energy, or photons, into an electrochemical signal. The retina contains bipolar cells and the RGCs that finally convert it into action potentials that are sent from the retina to the CNS. It is important to recognize when popular media and online sources oversimplify complex physiological processes so that misunderstandings are not generated. This video was created by a medical device manufacturer who might be trying to highlight other aspects of the visual system than retinal processing. The statement they make is not incorrect, it just bundles together several steps, which makes it sound like RGCs are the transducers, rather than photoreceptors.
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