Sensory System Flashcards
(98 cards)
2 basic group of senses
General and Special Senses
This General Senses provides sensory information about the body and the environment.
Somatic senses
This General Senses provides information about various internal organs primarily involving pain and pressure.
Visceral senses
Special Senses
Smell (olfaction)
Taste
Vision
Hearing
Balance
sensory nerve endings or specialized cells capable
of responding to stimuli by developing action
potentials
Sensort Receptors
respond to mechanical stimuli, such as the bending or stretching of
receptors
Mechanoreceptors
respond to chemicals
Chemoreceptors
Example of Chemoreceptors
odor molecules bind to chemoreceptors, allowing us
to perceive smell
respond to light
Photoreceptors
respond to temperature changes
Thermoreceptors
respond to stimuli that result in the sensation of pain
Nociceptors
General Senses
Touch
Pressure
Pain
Temperature
Vibration
Itch
Proprioception
light touch and superficial pressure
Merkel disks
associated with hairs; involved in detecting light touch (not very discriminative)
Hair follicle receptors
- fine, discriminative touch and are located just deep to the epidermis
- very specific in localizing tactile sensations
Meissner corpuscles
continuous pressure in the skin
Ruffini corpuscles
- deepest receptors; associated with tendons and joints
- relay information concerning deep pressure, vibration, and body position (proprioception)
Pacinian corpuscles
Group of unpleasant perceptual and emotional
experiences
Pain
- Perceived to originate in a region of the body that is
not the source of the pain stimulus - Most commonly sensed when deeper structures,
such as internal organs, are damaged or inflamed
Referred Pain
Special Senses and its receptors
Smell (olfaction) - chemoreceptors
Taste - chemoreceptors
Vision - photoreceptors
Hearing - mechanoreceptors
Balance - mechanoreceptors
- Airborne odorants become dissolved in the mucus
on the surface of the epithelium - The binding of the odorant to the receptor initiates
action potentials
Olfaction
sensory structures that detect taste stimuli
Taste buds
Where is Taste buds located?
on the surface of the tongue (papillae)
5 Basic type of Taste sensation
Sour
Salty
Bitter
Sweet
Umami (savory)