16.1 Flashcards
(32 cards)
What is the conscious or subconscious awareness of changes in the external and internal environment ?
Sensation
What is the interpretation of sensations and is primarily a function of the cerebral cortex?
Perception
What is the uniqueness of each sensation; distinguishes one sensation from another (touch, pain, vision, hearing) called?
Sensory modality
each sensory neuron only carries one modality
What are the 2 classes of sensory of sensory modalities?
- GENERAL SENSES
- SPECIAL SENSES
What are the 2 types of general senses?
- Somatic senses
- Visceral senses
Which type of sense is this?
Tactile sensations (touch, pressure, vibration, itch, tickle)
Thermal sensation (heat or cold)
Pain sensations
Proprioreceptive receptors
Movements of limbs and head
Positions of limbs and body parts
Somatic senses
(Type of general senses)
What are visceral senses?
Provide information about conditions within internal organs (pressure, stretch, chemicals, nausea, hunger)
What are special senses?
Sensory modalities of smell, taste, vision, hearing, equilibrium or balance
Where does the process of sensation begin in?
A sensory receptor (can be either a specialized cell or the dendrites of a sensory neuron)
When does a sensory receptor respond?
Vigorously to a stimulus (change in environment)
Weakly or not at all to all other stimuli
What are free nerve endings?
Bare, not encapsulated dendrites
Lack any structural specializations that can be seen under a light microscope
What are encapsulated nerve endings?
Their dendrites are enclosed in a connective tissue capsule that has a distinctive microscopic structure (ex. Lamellated corpuscles)
What do the different types of capsules enhance in encapsulated nerve endings?
Enhance the sensitivity or specificity of the receptor
What type of nerve endings would receptors for pain, temperature, tickle, itch and some touch sensations? (Free nerve endings or encapsulated nerve endings)
Free nerve endings
What types of receptors would be encapsulated nerve endings? (Examples)
Receptors for other somatic and visceral sensations (such as pressure, vibration and some touch sensations)
What are seperate cells ?
Sensory receptors for some special senses are specialized special cells that synapse with sensory neurons
What are some examples of separate cells?
Hair cells for hearing and equilibrium in the inner ear, gustatory records for taste buds & photoreceptors in the retina of the eye for vision
Are olfactory receptors for the sense of smell separate cells?
No
They are located in olfactory cilia
(Hair like structures that project from the dendrite of an olfactory receptor cell)
A sensory experience that receptor responds to a stimulus be creating a graded potential called?
Receptor potential
In sensory receptors with free nerve endings or encapsulated nerve endings, how do the nerve impulses reach the CNS?
If the receptor potential is large enough to reach threshold it triggers one or more nerve impulses in the axon of the sensory neuron
The nerve impulses propagate along the axon into the CNS
In seperate cells, how do the nerve impulses reach the CNS?
The receptor potential triggers the release of a neurotransmitter through exocytosis of synaptic vesicles.
The neurotransmitters liberated from the synaptic vesicles diffuse across the synaptic cleft and produce a postsynaptic potential
If the threshold is reached the PSP will trigger one or more nerve impulses which propagate along the axon to the CNS
Receptors located at or near the external surface of the body; are senstive to stimuli originated outside the body & provide info about the external environment ?
Exteroreceptors
Which receptors would be involved with the sensation of hearing, vision, smell, taste, touch, pressure, vibration, temperature & pain
Exteroreceptors
What are interoreceptors? (Or visceroreceptors)
Located in the blood vessels, visceral organs, muscles and nervous system and monitor conditions in the internal environment. Nerve impulses produced by interoreceptors usually not consciously perceived - activation of strong stimuli may be felt as pain or pressure