Chapter 6 Flashcards
Somatosensation:
sensory information form the skin and musculoskeletal system
Superficial or cutaneous
information from the skin
Proprioception
information from the musculoskeletal system
What is the speed of information processing determined by?
Diameter of the axons
Degree of axonal myelination
Number of synapses in the pathway
Sensory information:
nerve impulses generated from original stimuli
Sensation
awareness of stimuli from the senses
Where does interpretation of sensation into meaningful forms occur?
cerebrum
What are mechanoreceptors?
respond to the mechanical deformation of the receptor by touch, pressure, stretch, or vibration
What are chemoreceptors?
respond to substances released by cells, including damaged cells after injury or infection
What are thermoreceptors?
transmit information regarding heat or cold
What is included in sensation from the skin?
touch
pain
temperature
Pain
nociceptors which are free nerve endings
Temperature:
also free nerve endings that responds to warmth or cold within a non-damaging temperature range
How is touch categorized?
fine
coarse
Fine touch:
includes a variety of receptors and subsensations
Coarse touch:
mediated by free endings throughout the skin
What do cutaneous receptors respond to?
touch, pressure, vibration, stretch, noxious stimuli, and temperature
What are receptive fields?
areas of skin innervated by a single afferent neuron
smaller distally and larger proximally
Where are somatosensory peripheral neurons?
Are outside the spinal cord in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) or brain in the cranial nerve (CN) ganglia
How many axons do peripheral sensory neurons have?
2
distal
proximal
Distal peripheral nerve axons:
Conduct messages from the receptor to the cell body
Proximal peripheral nerve axons
Project from the cell body into the spinal cord or brainstem
A-alpha (Ia and II) axon function receptor type
proprioception
muscle spindle
A beta axon function receptor type
touch
merkel, meissner, pacinian and ruffini