Sensory System

Question 1

What is the role of sensory receptors and systems?

Answer 1

help us learn about the environment around us by detecting and interpreting various stimuli.

Question 2

How is sensation different from perception?

Answer 2

sensory receptor cells by a stimulus, while perception is the interpretation of those sensations by the brain.

Question 3

What are the three structural categories of sensory receptors?

Answer 3

1. free dendritic endings (pain and temperature receptors).
2. encapsulated endings ( pressure and touch receptors).
3. structures to interpret specific stimuli (light receptors).

Question 4

How are sensory receptors classified based on location?

Answer 4

• Exteroreceptors
• Interoreceptors
• Proprioreceptors

Question 5

How are sensory receptors classified based on function?

Answer 5

• Chemoreceptors (detect chemical stimuli).
• Mechanoreceptors (interpret physical stimuli).
• Thermoreceptors (sensitive to temperature changes).
• Photoreceptors (detect light).

Question 6

What is the difference between general and special senses?

Answer 6

General senses are distributed throughout the body (e.g., touch, pain), while special senses have specific organs devoted to them (e.g., eye for vision, inner ear for hearing).

Question 7

What are sensory modalities and how do they differ?

Answer 7

Sensory modalities refer to different types of senses, each transduced in a unique way. Examples include taste, smell, touch, hearing, and vision, each processed by specific types of receptors.

Question 8

What are the primary taste modalities?

Answer 8

sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami

Question 9

How does gustation work?

Answer 9

taste buds detect chemicals in food, which trigger neurotransmitter release and send signals via the facial, glossopharyngeal, and vagus nerves to the brain for processing.

Question 10

How are olfactory stimuli detected?

Answer 10

in the nasal cavity, which bind odorant molecules and send signals to the brain for interpretation

Question 11

Why can smells trigger strong memories and emotions?

Answer 11

limbic system and hypothalamus, regions involved in memory and emotion.

Question 12

What are the main parts of the ear involved in hearing?

Answer 12

• External ear (collects sound waves).
• Middle ear (transmits sound waves).
• Inner ear (transduces sound waves into neural signals).

Question 13

How is sound transduced into a neural signal?

Answer 13

• vibrate the tympanic membrane, which
• moves the ossicles in the middle ear
• transferred to the cochlea
• fluid movement bends hair cells, creating nerve impulses.

Question 14

What structures are involved in balance and equilibrium?

Answer 14

vestibule and semicircular canals in the inner ear, with hair cells in the utricle, saccule, and semicircular ducts detecting head position and movement.

Question 15

How is balance information processed?

Answer 15

through the vestibulocochlear nerve to the medulla oblongata, cerebellum, and other brainstem regions

Question 16

What are the three layers of the eye?

Answer 16

• Fibrous tunic (sclera and cornea).
• Vascular tunic (choroid, ciliary body, and iris).
• Neural tunic (retina).

Question 17

How is light focused on the retina?

Answer 17

cornea and lens, with the lens adjusting shape for focus (accommodation) to direct light to the fovea for sharp vision

Question 18

What are the two types of photoreceptors in the retina?

Answer 18

rods (sensitive to low light) and cones (detect color). These photoreceptors change their membrane potential in response to light, initiating neural signals

Question 19

Describe the visual sensory pathway.

Answer 19

Visual signals from the retina travel through the optic nerve, cross at the optic chiasm, and continue via the optic tract to the thalamus and then the visual cortex for processing