Bodily senses

Question 1

What are the six bodily senses?

Answer 1

• Touch
• Temperature
• Pain
• Position/ motion
• Balance
• Interoception (nerves feeling bodily processes)

Question 2

Touch

• What are mechanoreceptors?
• How does the info travel to the brain?

Answer 2

• Receptor cells in the skin that are sensitive to different tactile sensations
• Four different kinds of these cells that are different in terms of sensation: feet have different than hands, hands more sensitive then feet

Info goes: mechanorecetors –> spinal cord –> thalamus –> sensory cortex

Question 3

What is pain?

Answer 3

• The emotional and sensory experience associated with tissue damage

Question 4

• Psychogenic/ psychosomatic pain

Answer 4

Pain that occurs without obvious tissue damage:

- chronic pain 
- Fibromyalgia
- Phantom limb pain

Question 5

Nocieptive pain

Answer 5

Pain from tissue damage

Question 6

Nociceptors

Answer 6

• Pain receptors responsible for pain information

- These receptors send message to spinal cord then brain

Question 7

Do emotional and physical pain activate different areas of the brain?

Answer 7

No! Emotional and physical pain activate the SAME areas of the brain: Anterior cingulate cortex and insula
- pain areas of brain overlap the limbic system which
contains the amygdala which is responsible for emotion
which is why we get emotional when hurt
- Emotional pain is very real
- Depression and anxiety are very real

Question 8

How do we control pain?

Answer 8

Gate theory
- activating or suppressing neural networks by choosing
to open or close gates in the brain

Opioids
- Using endorphins ( the bodies natural painkillers)

Analgesics

• synthetic opioids
• morphine
• oxycodone
• people can get addicted by being first prescribed medication and then building dependency on that

Question 9

How do the chemical senses, smell and taste, help us in survival?

Answer 9

• These senses help us determine what is good to put into our bodies
• The receptors for these senses are regularly replaced as they are in the most exposed areas of the body

Question 10

Smell (olfaction) receptor cells

Answer 10

• Long cells that project to mucus membrane

example : dogs have more than humans why they are such good sniffers

Question 11

What is smell important for that is not talked about oftne?

Answer 11

important in sexual/social interaction of same species

- opposite MHC attract

Question 12

What is the olfactory bulb?

Answer 12

Structure in forebrain that sends info to smell-processing areas directly or indirectly by thalamus

Question 13

Where are the olfactory cortexes located?

Answer 13

Primary olfactory cortex- temporal lobe

Secondary olfactory cortex- frontal lobe

Question 14

How do smell and memory link?

Answer 14

Some axons from the olfactory go to the amygdala before continuing to the olfactory cortex

Question 15

What are the taste qualities?

Answer 15

bitter 
sweet
salty
sour
savoury

Question 16

Whats special about the region in the middle of the tongue?

Answer 16

It contains no taste buds

Question 17

What are the bumps on the tongue called?

Answer 17

papillae