Nervous System and Sensitivity Flashcards
what is a stimulus?
a change in the environment/anything an organism responds to
what is reaction time?
the time that it takes for your body to respond to a stimulus
what are some examples of stimuli?
light, sound, heat, cold, pressure, pain, touch, chemicals in the air, chemicals in food
what are cells that detect a stimuli?
receptor cells. these receptor cells are located in sense organs
receptor cells do what?
they detect stimuli and then they send information in the form of an electrical impulse into the cns along a special nerve cell called sensory neuron.
what does the cns do?
the cns sends information out to an effector which will respond to the stimulus. the info is sent along another nerve cell called a motor neuron.
what is always the effector?
the effector is always a muscle or a gland so all of our responses to stimuli are carried out by either muscles or glands
why are reflexes important and helpful?
the message gets from the receptor to the effector as quick as possible. you do not waste time thinking about it
name two types of cells in the retina of the eye that detect light
rods and cones
what is the proper name for a nerve cell
a neuron
