Deck 12: Vestibular Sensation

Question 1

The _______ system is the collective term for neurons in cranial nerve VIII and the set of organs located in the inner ear that sense head motion and head orientation with respect to gravity.

A) orientation
B) balance
C) vestibular
D) auditory
E) gravity sensation

Answer 1

vestibular

Question 2

Which five organs make up the vestibular system?

A) One semicircular canal and four otolith organs
B) Two semicircular canals and three otolith organs
C) Three semicircular canals and two otolith organs
D) Four semicircular canals and one otolith organ
E) Five semicircular canals

Answer 2

Three semicircular canals and two otolith organs

Question 3

This term describes an illusory sense of spinning.

A) Kinesthesis
B) Graviception
C) Balance
D) Vertigo
E) Yaw

Answer 3

Vertigo

Question 4

The _______ reflex helps us see visual stimuli clearly, even when the head is moving.

A) otolithic
B) semicircular
C) saccadic
D) tracking
E) vestibulo-ocular

Question 5

The reason that videos shot with handheld cameras seem so shaky and hard to follow is because when we see something with our own eyes, our _______ allows us to compensate for our own motion and maintain a steady image on the retina.

A) vection
B) vestibular-autonomic integration
C) vestibular-ocular reflex
D) sense of gravity
E) sense of linear acceleration

Question 6

The _______ reflex is the term for eye movements that compensate for rotations of the head to maintain fixation on an object.

A) translational motion
B) angular motion
C) balance fixation
D) torsional motion
E) vestibulo-ocular

Question 7

If a person fixates on an object and then rotates her head to the right, the _______ reflex will cause her eyes to rotate to the left to maintain fixation.

A) vestibulo-ocular
B) torsional motion
C) translational motion
D) balance fixation
E) angular motion

Question 8

The sense of _______ is comprised of three interacting sensory modalities: our sense of linear motion, angular motion, and tilt.

A) spatial awareness
B) spatial orientation
C) balance
D) movement
E) heading

Question 9

_______ flow inward to the central nervous system from sensors in the periphery, while _______ flow outward from the central nervous system to the periphery.

A) Afferent signals; efferent commands
B) Efferent commands; afferent signals
C) Kinesthetic signals; balance commands
D) Balance commands; kinesthetic signals
E) Amplitude signals; direction commands

Question 10

The neural processes of posture control by which weight is evenly distributed, enabling us to remain upright and stable, is called

A) the active sense.
B) the vestibulo-ocular reflex.
C) kinesthesis.
D) balance.
E) the passive sense.

Question 11

_______ combines information from efferent commands (such as motor commands to turn the head) and afferent signals (such as the sense of angular motion) to improve our vestibular sense.

A) Vection
B) Graviception
C) Vertigo
D) Illusory self-motion
E) Active sensing

Question 12

If you stand on the side of a hill you experience a tilt sensation which can also be described as

A) orientation.
B) balance.
C) graviception.
D) angular motion.
E) linear motion.

Question 13

Which of the following, according to Gibson (1966), provides a "stable permanent framework of the environment" that provides an "underlying and ceaseless awareness of what is permanent in the world"?

A) Vection
B) Graviception
C) Vertigo
D) Illusory self-motion
E) Balance

Question 14

_______ are the toroidal tubes in the vestibular system that sense angular motion.

A) Otolith organs
B) Ossicles
C) Cochlea
D) Semicircular canals
E) Saccules

Question 15

If you close your eyes and rotate your head from side to side, as if to say "no," you are experiencing _______, which is registered by your _______.

A) angular motion; otolith organs
B) angular motion; semicircular canals
C) linear motion; otolith organs
D) linear motion; semicircular canals
E) tilt; otolith organs

Question 16

If you close your eyes and tilt your left ear towards your left shoulder, you are experiencing _______, which is registered by your _______.

A) angular motion; otolith organs
B) angular motion; semicircular canals
C) linear motion; otolith organs
D) tilt; semicircular canals
E) tilt; otolith organs

Question 17

The sense of _______ registers motion resulting from rotation.

A) orientation
B) tilt
C) balance
D) angular motion
E) linear motion

Question 18

Suppose you are wearing virtual reality goggles and there is a delay between when you turn your head and when the computer updates the display in the goggles. This creates a(n) _______ that might result in motion sickness.

A) angular acceleration
B) sensory integration
C) sensory conflict
D) linear acceleration
E) tilt sensation

Question 19

When you accelerate in a car and are pushed back into your seat, you are experiencing _______, which is registered by your _______.

A) angular motion; otolith organs
B) angular motion; semicircular canals
C) tilt; otolith organs
D) linear motion; semicircular canals
E) linear motion; otolith organs

Question 20

The sense of _______ registers head inclination with respect to gravity.

A) orientation
B) tilt
C) balance
D) angular motion
E) linear motion

Question 21

The sense of _______ registers motion resulting from translation.

A) orientation
B) tilt
C) balance
D) angular motion
E) linear motion

Question 22

_______ are the mechanical structures in the vestibular system that sense both linear acceleration and gravity.

A) Otolith organs
B) Ossicles
C) Semicircular canals
D) Cochlea
E) Saccules

Question 23

Which motion stimulus would yield the largest response from the vestibular system?

A) Constant rotation
B) Constant translation
C) Constant tilt
D) Linear acceleration
E) Angular motion

Question 24

The term for rotation around the x-axis is _______, rotation around the y-axis is _______, and rotation around the z-axis is _______.

A) pitch; roll; yaw
B) pitch; yaw; roll
C) roll; yaw; pitch
D) roll; pitch; yaw
E) yaw; pitch; roll

Question 25

When you take an elevator from the first floor to the fifth floor of a building, the motion you experience is called _______ translation.

A) positive x-axis
B) positive y-axis
C) positive z-axis
D) negative x-axis
E) negative z-axis

Question 26

When you drive forward in a car, the motion you experience is called _______ translation.

A) positive x-axis
B) positive y-axis
C) positive z-axis
D) negative x-axis
E) negative z-axis

Question 27

_______ have stereocilia that transduce mechanical movement in the vestibular labyrinth into neural activity sent to the brain stem.

A) Semicircular canals
B) Otolith organs
C) Saccules
D) Utricles
E) Hair cells

Question 28

A(n) _______ is the change in voltage of sensory receptor cells in response to stimulation.

A) voltage gradient
B) receptor potential
C) otolith response
D) utricle response
E) saccule response

Question 29

_______ are specialized detectors of angular motion located in each semicircular canal in a swelling called the ampulla.

A) Cupulas
B) Cilia
C) Kinocilia
D) Ampullae
E) Cristae

Question 30

If, for some unfortunate reason, your cristae are destroyed, which sense would you then lack?

A) Angular motion
B) Linear motion
C) Linear acceleration
D) Tilt
E) Gravity

Question 31

Semicircular-canal neurons respond to _______ and _______, but not _______.

A) acceleration; deceleration; constant velocity
B) acceleration; constant velocity; deceleration
C) deceleration; constant velocity; acceleration
D) roll; pitch; yaw
E) pitch; yaw; roll

Question 32

_______ are specialized detectors of linear acceleration and gravity found in each otolith organ.

A) Saccules
B) Otoconia
C) Maculae
D) Utricles
E) Cristae

Question 33

If, for some unfortunate reason, your maculae are destroyed, which senses would you then lack?

A) Linear motion and angular motion
B) Angular rotation and gravity
C) Angular rotation and tilt
D) Linear acceleration and gravity
E) Linear acceleration and angular acceleration

Question 34

The two otolith organs are the _______ and the _______.

A) maculae; cristae
B) saccule; maculae
C) saccule; cristae
D) utricle; maculae
E) utricle; saccule

Question 35

The _______ are tiny calcium carbonate stones in the ear that provide inertial mass for the otolith organs, enabling them to sense gravity and linear acceleration.

A) saccules
B) otoconia
C) maculae
D) utricles
E) cristae

Question 36

Refer to the graph.
The data in this graph show that when subjects are rotated in the dark, they first feel a sense of motion consistent with their actual motion, but soon feel as if they are _______. After 30 seconds, they feel as if they have _______. If the motion abruptly stops, subjects feel as if they are rotating in the _______ direction.

A) slowing down; sped up; opposite
B) slowing down; stopped; opposite
C) speeding up; slowed down; opposite
D) speeding up; stopped; same
E) slowing down; sped up; same

Question 37

_______ is an illusory sense of self motion produced when one is not, in fact, moving.

A) Vection
B) Yaw
C) Roll
D) Pitch
E) Tilt

Question 38

When participants are passively translated short distances while seated in a chair in the dark and then asked to use a joystick to actively move the chair to reproduce the distance that they just traveled, how do they do at this task?

A) They drastically underestimate the distance.
B) They slightly underestimate the distance.
C) They estimate the distance quite accurately.
D) They slightly overestimate the distance.
E) They drastically overestimate the distance.

Question 39

When participants stand on a tilted platform and then indicate which direction is "up" using a handheld haptic indicator, how do they do at this task?

A) They drastically underestimate the tilt.
B) They slightly underestimate the tilt.
C) They estimate the tilt quite accurately.
D) They slightly overestimate the tilt.
E) They drastically overestimate the tilt.

Question 40

Which situation might cause an illusory sense of self-motion due to multisensory integration?

A) Thinking about riding a rollercoaster
B) Sitting still in a rollercoaster car before it starts moving
C) Riding a rollercoaster
D) Watching a first-person IMAX movie of a rollercoaster ride
E) Watching an IMAX documentary about the history of rollercoasters

Question 41

Suppose you are sitting still in a chair, wearing virtual reality glasses and experiencing the visual input of a roller coaster. You might feel like you are actually moving due to the sense of

A) linear acceleration.
B) vection.
C) tilt.
D) angular acceleration.
E) linear motion.

Question 42

When someone looks at visual display that rolls clockwise, they may start to feel as if they are

A) moving forward.
B) moving backward.
C) rotating counter-clockwise.
D) rotating clockwise.
E) falling.

Question 43

_______ is a change in afference caused by self-generated activity.

A) Vection
B) Sensory reafference
C) Sensory exafference
D) Illusory self-motion
E) Active sensing

Question 44

_______ is a change in afference caused by external stimuli.

A) Vection
B) Sensory reafference
C) Sensory exafference
D) Illusory self-motion
E) Active sensing

Question 45

The _______ innervate(s) glands, the heart, and the digestive system, and is responsible for regulation of many involuntary actions.

A) cranial nerves
B) autonomic nervous system
C) otolith organs
D) inferior rectus
E) vestibular nerve

Question 46

When you switch from lying down to standing up, which system or structure(s) is/are responsible for regulating the blood pressure in your head so that you don't faint?

A) Cranial nerves
B) Otolith organs
C) Inferior rectus
D) Autonomic nervous system
E) Vestibular nerve

Question 47

_______ typically result(s) from a disagreement between the motion and orientation signals provided by the semicircular canals, otolith organs, and vision.

A) Exhaustion
B) The tilt aftereffect
C) The vestibulo-ocular reflex
D) Motion sickness
E) Hallucinations

Question 48

If you read your phone while riding in the car, your visual input will not match your vestibular input and you might experience

A) the tilt aftereffect.
B) motion sickness.
C) the vestibulo-ocular reflex.
D) hallucinations.
E) exhaustion.

Question 49

People with damage to their vestibular systems experience _______ in their blood pressure after whole body tilt motion, compared to people with normal vestibular systems.

A) greater changes
B) the same changes
C) smaller changes
D) no change at all
E) gradually diminishing changes

Question 50

Loss of _______ would result in severely degraded balance, possibly causing one to fall.

A) the autonomic nervous system
B) vestibulo-ocular reflexes
C) vestibulo-spinal responses
D) tilt aftereffects
E) vection

Question 51

Which brain area processes vestibular information?

A) Parietal lobe
B) Frontal lobe
C) Occipital lobe
D) Temporal lobe
E) All the above

Question 52

Vestibular information reaches the cortex via the _______ pathways.

A) thalamocortical
B) temperoparietal
C) occipitalparietal
D) superior frontal
E) inferior frontal

Question 53

Which of the following describes a way that higher cognitive knowledge can influence motion perceptions?

A) If you are familiar with the curves in a road, the motion seems less intense.
B) If you are familiar with the curves in a road, the motion seems more intense.
C) The vestibular-ocular reflex can be affected by damage to the inner ear.
D) When listening to music, people sometimes sway back and forth.
E) When we get sleepy, we think about lying down.

Question 54

Which symptom is quite common with vestibular dysfunctions?

A) Tactile agnosia
B) Hemifield neglect
C) Spatial disorientation
D) Anosmia
E) Object agnosia

Question 55

The illusory sense of swaying, rocking, or tilting perceptions that occur after spending time on a boat and then returning to land is called

A) vection.
B) motion sickness.
C) Ménière's syndrome.
D) mal de debarquement syndrome.
E) vestibular flux.

Question 56

If you spend the day at the ocean playing in the waves, you might experience an illusory sense of rocking motion while you are falling asleep at night. This is known as

A) Ménière's syndrome.
B) mal de debarquement syndrome.
C) vection.
D) motion sickness.
E) vestibular flux.

Question 57

The sudden and unexpected onset of dizziness, imbalance, and spatial disorientation causing a patient to fall down or experience motion sickness so severe that they repeatedly vomit is called

A) vection.
B) illusory tilt.
C) Ménière's syndrome.
D) mal de debarquement syndrome.
E) vestibular flux.

Question 58

What are the three modalities of spatial orientation perception?

Question 59

What is the vestibulo-ocular reflex?

Question 60

What are the otolith organs and what do they sense?

Question 61

What is vection?

Question 62

Describe where and how motion signals are registered in the semicircular canals.

Question 63

Describe two syndromes that result from failures of the vestibular system.