ANATOMY - Term Test 1 (Sensory Organs)

Question 1

Where are photoreceptors found?

Answer 1

Only in the eye (sensory retina)

Question 2

How are photoreceptors stimulated?

Answer 2

activated by light stimuli (if intensity is great enough to create a receptor potential)

Question 3

What are nociceptors?

Answer 3

Primary sensory receptors for pain

Question 4

Where are nociceptors found?

Answer 4

all over the body except for in brain tissue

Question 5

How are nociceptors activated?

Answer 5

• activated by powerful/intense stimuli of any kind that results in tissue damage
• produces pain sensation

Question 6

What are thermoreceptors and where are they located?

Answer 6

Free nerve ending receptors

• Warm receptors located deep in the dermis
• Cold receptors located in the deepest layer of the epidermis

Question 7

How are thermoreceptors activated?

Answer 7

• by changes in temperature
• warm receptors: Activated above 25 deg C
• cold receptors: most active at ~10-40 deg C

Question 8

What are mechanoreceptors and where are they found?

Answer 8

• receptors that respond to physical movement in the environment
• found in skin, ear

Question 9

How are mechanoreceptors activated?

Answer 9

by mechanical stimuli that “deforms” or changes the position of the receptor resulting in a receptor potential

Question 10

What are chemoreceptors and where are they located?

Answer 10

• receptors that respond to chemicals
• responsible for taste and smell and monitoring concentration of specific chemicals in the blood
• located in the nose (olfactory epithelium), taste buds (excluding other ones in the body that are outside of general senses)

Question 11

How are chemoreceptors activated?

Answer 11

Activated by amount or changing concentration of certain chemicals

Question 12

What is cerumen?

Answer 12

Ear wax; wax-like substance secreted by modified sweat glands in auditory canal

Question 13

What is the auricle?

Answer 13

outer portion of the ear: visible appendage on side of head surrounding opening of external acoustic meatus

Question 14

What is the external acoustic/auditory meatus?

Answer 14

Ear canal; ends at tympanic membrane

Question 15

What is the tympanic membrane?

Answer 15

ear drum - stretches across inner end of canal separating outer ear from the middle ear

Question 16

Presbyopia

Answer 16

• inability to focus the lens properly as we age (lenses lose elasticity and thus ability to bulge and accommodate for near vision)
• can be compensated with reading glasses when near vision is needed

Question 17

Glaucoma

Answer 17

• excessive intraocular pressure caused by abnormal accumulation of aqueous humor
• reduced blood flow occurs due to increased pressure which causes degeneration of the retina and eventual loss of vision (slow progression)
• extensive damage can cause “halos” in bright lights
• one of the most common characteristics: swelling or “cupping” of optic disks

Question 18

Cataracts

Answer 18

• cloudy spots in eye’s lens that develop with age
• associated with difficulties with night vision (due to weak beams from dim light not being able to pass through the cloudy spots)

Question 19

Presbycusis

Answer 19

• progressive hearing loss due to nerve impairment (degeneration of nerve tissue in the ear and the vestibulocochlear nerve)
• associated with aging
• First to go is usually high-pitch/frequency sounds

Question 20

Ménière’s disease

Answer 20

• chronic inner ear disease with unknown cause, may lead to nerve damage
• Characterized by tinnitus, progressive nerve deafness, and vertigo (sensation of spinning)

Question 21

Myopia

Answer 21

• nearsightedness
• caused by elongated eyes causing the image to focus in front of the retina
• can be corrected with concave contact lenses/glasses, or refractive eye surgery

Question 22

Otosclerosis

Answer 22

• inherited bone disorder that impairs the conduction of sound waves by structural irregularities in the stapes
• Usually first appears during childhood or early adulthood as tinnitus

Question 23

Tinnitus

Answer 23

ringing in the ears