Lateral inhibition occurs in most sensory systems. If a large area of the sensor
ID: 3480964 • Letter: L
Question
Lateral inhibition occurs in most sensory systems. If a large area of the sensory periphery were stimulated in such a system (let’s say the somatosensory system: this means a large area of the skin were stimulated),
a) how would the rate of firing from a mechanoreceptor in the middle of the area compare to the firing of the same mechanoreceptor if a small spot in the middle of the area were stimulated? (Assume the small spot was large enough to just fill the center of the cell's receptive field.)
Explanation / Answer
Lateral inhibition is defined as the capacity of the excited neuron to reduce the activity of its neighbours.This disables the spread of action potential to the neighbouring neurons in lateral direction.
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