Sensory Receptors Flashcards
What are the 3 ways to classify sensory receptors?
- Type of stimulus they detect
- Body location
- Structual complexity
What do mechanoreceptors sense?
Force, pressure (including blood pressure).
What do thermoreceptors sense?
Temperature change
What do photoreceptors sense?
Light
What do chemoreceptors sense?
chemicals in solution (smell, taste etc)
What do nocireptors sense?
Pain
What are exteroceptors?
Restond to stimuli outside the body. Skin and most special senses.
What are interoceptors?
Respond to stimuli within the body. Found in internal viscera and blood vessels.
What are proprioceptors?
Internal receptors but focused in the skeletal muscles, tendons, joins, ligaments and connective tissues. They give information about movements and positions of the body.
What is the difference between complex and simple receptors?
Simple receptors are just free nerve endings, while complex receptors are special sense organs in contact with a free nerve ending.
What are tactile corpuscles?
Small receptors in which a few spiralling sensory terminals are surrounded by Schwann cells and by a thin connective tissue capsule.
What are lamellar corpuscles?
Larger, deep pressure sensors are located deep in the dermis.
What are bulbous corpuscles?
Lie in the dermis and subcutaneous tissue and sense deep pressure and stretch.
What are muscle spindles?
Proprioceptors found in the perimysium that wraps individual fascicles detect muscle stretch and activate a reflex to resist stretch.
What are tendon organs?
Proprioceptors found in the junction of muscle and tendon, detect tendon stretch and relax the contracting muscle.
