Cutaneous Senses

Question 1

Cutaneous Senses

1. Dermatomes

Answer 1

Cutaneous Senses: pressure, touch, warmth, cold and pain

1. Dermatomes: Axons carry info from Cutaneous receptors gather together in nerves that enter the spinal cord via the dorsal roots.
   
   1. the area of the body that is innervated by the dorsal root at a given segment of the spinal cord is referred to as the dermatome.
   2. T1=forearm dermatome/C8=ring and little finger dermatome/T2l-T12=trunk dermatores.
   3. adjacent dermatomes overlap so that damage to a nerve usually causes diminished sensation rather than a complete loss of sensation in the corresponding dermatome.

Question 2

1. Pain

Answer 2

Pain is not linked to a single type of stimulus (like most) but is elicited by several kinds of stimuli including pressure, heat, and cold.

Pain is unique, Not a function of local sensation but may be affected by other phenomena:

1. intensified by depression/anxiety or reduced by distraction, relatxaion, and hypnosis.
2. affected by age: older adults with chronic pain reported lower pain intensity than younger adults, and also fewer symptoms of depression and fewer problems coping with their pain (kind of antithetical)
3. Placebos: pain is very susceptible to placebos and for many people just the expectation that a drug or other treatment will stop pain is often sufficient to help.

Question 3

Pain:

Gate-Control Theory

Coping Strategies

Answer 3

1. Gate-Control Theory: nervous system can only process a limited amount of sensory information at any one time. When overloaded: cells in spinal cord act as gate that blocks some incoming pain signals.
   
   1. massaging the injured area, applying heat/cold, or engaging in distracting mental activities can close the gate!
2. Coping Strategies: Active vs. Passive
   
   1. **​active strategies: **exercise, PT, using distractions, ignoring the pain
   2. Passive strategies: restricting social activities, resting, taking medication and wishful thinking.
   3. research mostly says that active is better.

Question 4

Synesthesia

not pain, but another sensation/perception

Answer 4

Synethesia: joining senses: rare condition in which the stimulation of one sensory modality triggers a sensation in another sensory modality.

hear color and taste a shape.

due to inheritied factors or

limbic system or

cross-wiring or excessive neural connections in the sensory regions of the brain