What is the primary difference in how touch sensation and hearing sensation are conveyed?

Question

A.  the neurotransmitters secreted by the sensory neurons
B.  the way that the axons physically connect to the brain stem
C.  the shape of the sensory axons
D.  the proteins that transduce the chemical signal in the brain
E.  the part of the brain that receives the signal

Clarify Question
What is the key concept addressed by the question?
What type of thinking is required?

Gather Content
What do you already know about sensory signaling? What other information is related to the question?

Choose Answer
Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?

Reflect on Process
Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?
 

Answer 1

E.  the part of the brain that receives the signal

Clarify Question
What is the key concept addressed by the question?
        · Differences between hearing and touch sensation.
What type of thinking is required?
            o This is an analyze question because you have to break sensory (touch and hearing) signaling into different stages and decide which aspects differ between touch and hearing.

Gather Content
What do you already know about sensory signaling? What other information is related to the question?
        · You already know that touch and hearing are similar in that they both utilize mechanoreceptors. When these mechanoreceptors are activated, they release neurotransmitters in both sensory systems. The mechanism of transmitting action potentials from sensory neurons to the brain is similar in both touch and hearing, but touch signals are processed in the parietal lobe while hearing signals are processed in the temporal lobe of the brain.

Choose Answer
Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?
        · If we analyze the first four answers, we find traits that are similar between all sensory systems. In each, neurotransmitters are secreted by the sensory neurons, the axons travel through the brainstem, the sensory neurons all have a similar shape, and the proteins that transduce the chemical signal in the brain (i.e., neurotransmitters). It is true that different sensory neurons can use different neurotransmitters, but is this a primary difference in how touch and hearing sensation are conveyed to our brain? A greater difference would be where the information is conveyed to in the brain. Touch information is processed in the temporal lobe and hearing is processed in the temporal lobe. Thus “the part of the brain that receives the signal” would be the most correct choice.

Reflect on Process
Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?
        o Answering this question correctly depended not only on understanding the steps of the sensory pathway of touch and hearing, but on your ability to determine which aspects of this pathway is responsible for the greatest differences in how these signals are conveyed to the brain. If you got an incorrect answer, did you fail to focus on the term primary difference in the question? Did you remember that different sensory systems are conveyed to different locations in the brain?