Special Senses 1

Question 1

What are the four specialized senses?

Answer 1

Taste, smell, sight, hearing

Question 2

What is different about the sense of touch

Answer 2

It’s a general, widespread sense

Question 3

What type of receptor is used in the eye to allow us to pick up visual cues?

Answer 3

Photoreceptors

Question 4

What senses use mechanoreceptors?

Answer 4

Hearing

Question 5

What senses use chemoreceptors

Answer 5

taste and smell

Question 6

What are taste buds?

Answer 6

organs of taste

Question 7

What are the specialized cells for taste

Answer 7

gustatory cells

Question 8

What are the five different tastes

Answer 8

sweet, salty, bitter, sour, umami

Question 9

What different types of chemicals do our taste buds pick up

Answer 9

sugars (sweet), amino acids (umami), sodium chloride and other salts (salty), alkaloids (bitter) and acids (sour).

Question 10

how is flavor detected by taste cells?

Answer 10

The chemical substance responsible for the taste is freed in the mouth and comes into contact with a nerve cell. It activates the cell by changing specific proteins in the wall of the sensory cell

Question 11

What other senses can be involved in our sense of taste?

Answer 11

Temperature
Olfaction
Pain
Texture

Question 12

What are the specialized cells that contain receptors for different odors

Answer 12

Olfactory receptors

Question 13

How is smell detected?

Answer 13

Hair cells in the olfactory organs contain proteins that stimulate receptors. When that chemical receptor is stimulated, it sends a signal to the olfactory nerve in the brain.

Question 14

Why do we experience anosmia when we are sick?

Answer 14

The membranes in our nose swell and block the receptors

Question 15

Why do boxers sometimes lose their sense of smell

Answer 15

Sometimes blows to the head can cause damage in the olfactory nerves in the brain

Question 16

What are two distinct functions of the ear

Answer 16

Hearing and equilibrium

Question 17

What does the tympanic membrane do

Answer 17

The tympanic membrane vibrates as sound waves hit it.

Question 18

What does the auricle do

Answer 18

Funnels sound waves into the tympanic membrane

Question 19

What are the three ossicles

Answer 19

Malleus, incus, stapes

Question 20

Where are the ossicles located

Answer 20

Middle ear

Question 21

How do the ossicles participate in our sense of hearing

Answer 21

They vibrate and the stapes taps on the oval window, moving the fluid in the cochlea

Question 22

How are the oval window and round window involved during sound detection

Answer 22

Vibrations in the oval window cause the fluid in the cochlea to move around

Question 23

What are the three channels inside the cochlea called?

Answer 23

Scala vestibuli, scala media, scala tympani

Question 24

The specialized cells hair cells (organ of Corti) in the inner ear allow you to hear - explain their location (with reference to the three ‘channels’ of the cochlea) and how they are involved in sound detection.

Answer 24

The organ of court is sandwiched between the two chambers of the cochlea in the cochlear duct. As the fluid in the other channels move, it pushes down on the walls of the cochlear duct and bend the hair cells on the organ of corti. The bending of these hairs cause mechanoreceptors to fire and cause an action potential.

Question 25

If you went to a rock concert and you complained about ringing in your ears and feeling like sounds were muffled, what do you think has happened to the hair cells in the cochlea?

Answer 25

The hair cells in the organ of corti have most likely bent temporarily.

Question 26

How is temporary hearing loss different from permanent hearing loss

Answer 26

In temporary hearing loss the hair cells are able to recover with time.

Question 27

What type of movement does the vestibule detect

Answer 27

rotation, tilts, linear motion

Question 28

What is the macula

Answer 28

Sensory receptors for static equilibrium

Question 29

What is an otolith

Answer 29

“ear stone” in vestibule

Question 30

Why are the calcium carbonate crystals important for detecting static equilibrium

Answer 30

The crystals lean to either end of the otolith as the head tilts, which moves the hair cells and signals receptors

Question 31

What is the function of the cupula and the ampulla

Answer 31

They detect dynamic equilibrium (shaking head no)

Question 32

What do the hairs on the hair cells do when the cupula bends?

Answer 32

They bend and send signals to the nerves

Question 33

Why do we have 3 canals?

Answer 33

3 different planes of movement

Question 34

What is the function of the auditory tube in the middle ear

Answer 34

Allows the ear to equalize the pressure in the tympanic cavity

Question 35

Where does an ear infection most commonly occur?

Answer 35

Middle ear

Question 36

Why are infants more susceptible to ear infections?

Answer 36

The auditory tube is more horizontal in infants, therefore it is more difficult for fluid to drain out of the middle ear

Question 37

What are tubes and how do they help with ear infections?

Answer 37

Tubes are placed in the ear drum and allow for fluid to drain out of the ear easier.

Question 38

Why do we have earwax?

Answer 38

To protect from microorganisms getting inside the ear