Nervous System

3 The Senses
REVIEW Recall the definition of the Review Vocabulary term.
VOCABULARY
stimulus
stimulus

NEW VOCABULARY Use your book to define each term.

taste bud
taste bud 
lens
retina
lens 
rod
cone
cochlea retina 
semicircular canal

rod 

cone 

cochlea 

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semicircular canal 

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 3 The Senses (continued)
Identify the sensory receptors in the mouth and nasal cavity.

Sensory
receptors

Compare the steps in smelling and tasting. Write the steps for
smelling on the left. Write the steps for tasting on the right. Some
steps have been completed for you.

Chemical molecules
touch receptors in your
nose.

Receptors respond to
chemicals.

Receptors send
information to the
olfactory bulb in the brain.
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Compare how rods and cones in your eyes help you to sense light.

Rods Cones
Both

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3 The Senses (continued)
Sequence the steps in how your sense of hearing works, by writing
the numbers 1 to 5 in the squares to the left of the steps.

The hairs produce electric impulses that travel to

the cerebrum, where they are interpreted as
sound.

The stapes causes the membrane of the oval

window to move back and forth.

Sound waves enter your ear and travel down to

the end of the ear canal.

Sound waves strike the eardrum and cause it to

vibrate. The vibrations pass to the bones in the
middle ear.

Fluid in the cochlea moves, causing the hair cells

to bend.

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Get It? Summarize how each sense organ detects changes in the
environment.

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 3 The Senses (continued)
CHECK YOUR PROGRESS
1. Diagram the route of a sound wave from the auditory canal until it causes a nerve
impulse to be generated.

2. Predictwhat might be the result if the cornea was damaged.

3. Analyzethe importance of the kind of receptors found in the fingers.

4. Explainwhy it might be difficult to taste when you have a cold and your nasal
passages are clogged.
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5. Constructan experiment to test the idea that certain areas of the tongue are
taste-specific.

6. Developa hypothesis as to why people who have lost their sense of sight still
experience sight occasionally. People who once could hear occasionally experience
sound. Why might these phenomena occur?

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