Physiology 3120 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Semicircular Canals, Sagittal Plane, Angular Acceleration

• School: Western University
• Department: Physiology
• Course: Physiology 3120
• Professor: Anita Woods

Document Summary

Conscious sensation from the vestibular system are not usually prominent but damage leads to: dizziness, nausea, sensation of self-spinning or room spinning. Has hair cells in membranous tubes filled with endolymph fluid (adjacent to cochlea) Cochlea: transduction of auditory information occurs: above the cochlea, there are elements of the vestibular system; semicircular canals + otolith endings. Rotational and linear movement: linear: straight through space, rotation: rotating head in space. Otoliths organs: utricle + saccule, signal: linear acceleration of the head (translation) and head tilt, detect: linear acceleration in any direction (dynamic) + gravity (static, provide linear sense of motion. Note: the vestibular system does not detect constant velocity (rare in nature) Picture contains: one semicircular canal + 2/3 otoliths. Critical similarity between the semicircular canal + otoliths: transduction elements are hair cells: movement of hair cells that transduce your motion through space.