General Senses Quiz Flashcards
Sensory receptors
detect changes in the external environment and the internal environment of the body.
Stimulus
any form of energy change that stimulates a sensory receptor
transduction
ability to convert energy changes in the environment into nerve impulses
nociceptors
pain receptors
Exteroceptors
respond to stimuli in the external environment
Where are Exteroceptors located?
body surface or where they can receive an external stimulus.
Examples of Exteroceptors?
- touch and temp receptors (skin)
- light receptors (retina of the eyes)
- hearing (sound) receptors of the inner ear
Interoceptors
respond to stimuli in the internal environment of the body
Where are Interoceptors located?
within tissues or organ
examples of Interoceptors?
chemical receptors and blood pressure receptors in large arteries, pressure receptors in walls of hollow organs, chemical receptors in the hypothalamus, and stretch receptors
Proprioceptors
detect the stretching of tissues
Chemoreceptors
respond to chemicals
Photoreceptors
respond to light
Thermoreceptors
respond to an increase or a decrease in temperature
Mechanoreceptors
respond to mechanical stimul
General senses
based on receptors that are distributed throughout the body which respond to touch, pressure, temperature, vibration, or tissue stretching
Special senses
based on large, complex sense organs or small, localized groups of receptors in the head.
What are special senses in humans?
- smell (olfaction)
- taste (gustation)
- sight (vision)
- hearing and balance (equilibrium)
free nerve endings
Cutaneous touch receptors in humans
Meissner’s corpuscles
mechanoreceptors for touch and light pressure
hair follicle receptors
mechanoreceptors for light touch and hair movement
Ruffini’s corpuscles
mechanoreceptors for deep continuous pressure
Pacinian corpuscles
mechanoreceptors for deep pressure
tonic
receptors that generate a high frequency of nerve impulses as long as the stimulus is present
phasic
receptors that decreases over time when they are continually stimulated
What is sensory adaptation?
when a relatively unimportant stimulus is detected for a prolonged period, the rate of receptor discharge and slows and conscious awareness of the stimulus declines or disappear
negative afterimages
Sensations that the subject perceived when the hands were placed in the water at room
temperature
Referred pain
pain that is perceived to be in one area of the body when the source of the pain is actually in
another area of the body
outer ear
consists of auricle and external acoustic meatus
Auricle and function
- aka pinna
skin-covered cartilage that surrounds the opening of the external acoustic meatus;
functions to funnel sound waves into external acoustic meatus
Helix
fleshy rim of the auricle
Lobule
fleshy “earlobe” of the auricle (which lacks cartilage)
External acoustic meatus and function
- aka auditory canal
tube that extends from auricle to tympanic membrane - functions to conduct sound waves
to the tympanic membrane
Tympanic membrane and function
membrane (“eardrum”) between the outer ear and middle ear
- functions to vibrate in
response to sound waves and transfer vibrations to auditory ossicles in the middle ear
Middle ear
- aka tympanic cavity
- air-filled mucosa-lined cavity in temporal bone
Auditory ossicle
- three small articulating bones (malleus, incus, stapes) in middle ear cavity
- function to
transmit vibrations from tympanic membrane to the oval window
Malleus
auditory ossicle attached to the tympanic membrane
Incus
auditory ossicle between malleus and stapes
shapes
auditory ossicle attached to oval window
Pharyngotympanic tube and function
small tube that connects middle ear cavity to the throat (pharynx); functions to equalize air
pressure in the middle ear cavity with the atmospheric pressure
Oval window
attached to stapes; located between middle ear and inner ear; functions to transmit
vibrations of the stapes to the fluids (perilymph, endolymph) that fill the inner ear
Round window
functions to relieve excess fluid pressure in the inner ear by bulging into tympanic cavity
inner ear
bony labyrinth has three regions called the cochlea, semicircular canals and vestibule
Cochlea
spiral shaped shaped chamber with mechanoreceptors
Semicircular cana
three canals with hair cells that detect angular acceleration for equilibriu
Vestibule
cavity of the bony labyrinth between cochlea and semicircular canals
Utricle
has otoliths & hair cells that detect gravity & horizontal linear acceleration for equilibrium
Saccule
has otoliths & hair cells that detect gravity & vertical linear acceleration for equilibrium