Special Senses

• What is sensation?

  Speed of awareness of body conditions
• What are the general senses?

  • Somatic Senses: tactile, thermal, pain, proprioceptive
  • Visceral Senses: internal organ conditions
• What sensations are included in somatic senses?

  Tactile, thermal, pain, proprioceptive sensations
• What are the special senses?

  Smell, taste, vision, hearing, equilibrium
• What triggers touch sensations?

  Stimulation of tactile receptors
• How is pressure defined in tactile sensations?

  Sustained sensation over a larger area
• What causes vibration sensations?

  Rapidly repetitive sensory signals
• What mediates tickle sensations?

  Free nerve endings during external touch
• What are the types of tactile receptors?

  • Rapidly Adapting Receptors: Meissner Corpuscles, Hair Root Plexuses
  • Slowly Adapting Receptors: Merkel Discs, Ruffini Corpuscles
• Where are Meissner Corpuscles found?

  In hairless skin like fingertips and lips
• What do Hair Root Plexuses detect?

  Movements on the skin
• Where are Merkel Discs located?

  In the stratum basale
• What do Ruffini Corpuscles respond to?

  Skin stretch and sustained pressure
• What do Lamellated Corpuscles detect?

  High frequency vibrations
• What are exteroceptors?

  Receptors outside the body providing external information
• What do interoceptors provide information about?

  Internal environment conditions
• What do proprioceptors detect?

  Body movements and coordination
• How do thermoreceptors function?

  They respond to temperature changes
• What activates warm receptors?

  Temperatures between 30℃ and 45℃
• What are the types of mechanoreceptors?

  • Mechanoreceptors: detect movement, protect from harm
  • Chemoreceptors: detect chemicals in fluids
  • Photoreceptors: detect light in the retina
  • Thermoreceptors: detect temperature changes
  • Nociceptors: respond to painful stimuli
  • Proprioceptors: detect body position and movement
• What is fast pain?

  Sharp localized pain felt within 0.1 seconds
• What are the types of pain classifications?

  • Superficial Somatic Pain: well-localized from skin
  • Deep Somatic Pain: diffuse from muscles and joints
  • Visceral Pain: diffuse severe pain from internal organs
• What is referred pain?

  Pain felt in a surface area far from the organ
• What are odorants?

  Substances that enter the nasal cavity
• What happens when odorants contact olfactory receptor cells?

  They trigger an electrical signal/action potential
• Where do olfactory nerves synapse?

  In the glomeruli of the olfactory bulbs
• What is synaptic transmission?

  Conversion of electrical signal to chemical signal
• What do mitral and tufted cells do?

  Send electrical signals along their axons
• What is the primary pathway for olfactory information?

  Lateral olfactory stria
• What is the role of the limbic system in olfaction?

  Associates smells with emotions and memories
• What are tastants?

  Substances detected by taste buds
• Where are taste receptors located?

  In the tongue, soft palate, pharynx, epiglottis
• What cranial nerves transmit taste signals?

  Facial, glossopharyngeal, vagus nerves
• What are the five basic tastes?

  • Sweet
  • Salty
  • Sour
  • Bitter
  • Umami
• What is the role of the gustatory nucleus?

  Processes taste signals from taste buds
• What is the function of the medulla oblongata in taste?

  Transmits taste signals to the brain
• What happens to taste signals in the limbic system?

  They are associated with emotions and memories
• What is the role of the orbitofrontal cortex in taste?

  Involved in identification and recognition of tastes
• What is the role of the thalamus in the sensory system?

  It relays sensory information to the brain
• What is the function of the thalamus in relation to odors?

  It is involved in identification and recognition of odors