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TOPIC OUTLINE CLASSIFCATION OF SENSORY RECEPTORS

(1) Overview of sensations
(2) Somatic senses
(3) Special senses
(4) Olfaction: sense of smell
(5) Vision
(6) Hearing and equilibrium

OVERVIEW OF SENSATIONS
→ SENSATION – conscious or subconscious
awareness of changes in external or internal
environment
2 types of senses:
1. General senses
- Somatic senses SENSORY RECEPTORS IN THE SKIN AND SUBCUTANEOUS
- Tactile sensations (touch, pressure, LAYER
vibration)
- Thermal sensations (warm and cold)
- Pain sensations & Proprioceptive sensations
(joint and muscle position movements) and
- Visceral senses (organs)
2. Special Senses – smell, taste, vision, hearing, and
balance

4 CONDITIONS FOR SENSATION TO OCCUR

(1) A stimulus or change in the environment,

capable of activating certain sensory neurons,
must occur.
(2) A sensory receptor must convert stimulus to
an electrical signal, which ultimately produces SOMATIC SENSES
one or more nerve impulses if it is large → SOMATIC SENSATIONS
enough. - Arise from stimulation of sensory receptors
(3) The nerve impulses must be conducted along in the skin, mucous membranes, muscles,
a neural pathway from the sensory receptor to tendons, and joints
the brain. - Tip of tongue, lip, fingertips – largest
(4) A region of the brain must receive and numbers of sensory receptors
integrate the nerve impulses into a sensation.
→ TACTILE SENSATIONS
OVERVIEW OF SENSATIONS - touch, pressure, vibration, itch, tickle
→ PERCEPTION a. Touch
- Conscious awareness and interpretation of - Tactile receptors in skin and subcutaneous
sensations layer (Meissner corpuscles in the dermis)
- Primarily function of cerebral cortex - Cutaneous mechanoreceptors (epidermis
→ ADAPTATION and dermis)
- Decrease in sensation during a prolonged b. Pressure
stimulus - Deeper sensations (lamellated or Pacinian
- Some receptors are rapidly adapting; others corpuscles in the dermis)
are slowly adapting - Internally around joints, tendons, muscles,
→ SENSORY RECEPTORS external genitalia
a. Free nerve endings c. Vibration – detects high and low frequency
b. Encapsulated nerve endings sensations
c. Separate cells d. Itch and tickle – stimulation free nerve endings
(from chemicals or when someone touches you)

LJAR 1
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OTHER SOMATIC SENSATIONS
→ THERMORECEPTORS
- free nerve endings that give two distinct
sensation: coldness and warmth
→ PAIN OR NOCICEPTORS
- free nerve endings located in nearly every body
tissue; provides pain sensation (fast pain/acute or
slow pain/chronic)
→ PROPRIOCEPTIVE
- Allows us to know where head and limbs are
located and how they move
- Kinesthesia – perception of body
movements
DISTRIBUTION OF REFERRED PAIN
SPECIAL SENSES
→ SMELL, TASTE, SIGHT, HEARING AND EQUILIBRIUM
- Receptors for special senses
- Housed in complex sensory organs such as
eyes and ears
→ OPHTHALMOLOGY – eye and disorders
→ OTORHINOLARYNGOLOGY – science that deals with
ears, nose, throat, and disorders
OLFACTION: SENSE OF SMELL
→ NOSE - 10-100 million receptors for sense of smell
→OLFACTORY EPITHELIUM – occupies upper portion of
nasal cavity:
a. Olfactory receptors
b. Supporting cells
c. Basal cells
→ Individual OLFACTORY RECEPTORS respond to hundreds
of different odorant molecules by producing electrical
signal that triggers one or more nerve impulses. Adaptation
(decreasing sensitivity) to odors occurs rapidly.
→ OLFACTORY PATHWAY
- On each side of the nose, about 40 bundles
of the slender, unmyelinated axons of
olfactory receptor cells extend through
about 20 holes in cribriform plate of the
ethmoid bone.
→ OLFACTORY (I) NERVES
- convey nerve impulses to the olfactory bulbs
- from there, impulses to the olfactory tract to
the limbic system, hypothalamus, and
cerebral cortex (temporal lobe)
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THICK & THIN SKIN
GUSTATION: SENSE OF TASTE
→ GUSTATION (taste) – sour, sweet, bitter, salty, umami
(savory/meaty)
Gustatory pathway
- 3 cranial nerves innervate the taste buds:
Facial (VIII), glossopharyngeal (IX), and vagus
(X)
- Impulses for taste conduct to the medulla
oblongata, limbic system, hypothalamus,
thalamus, and the primary gustatory area in
the parietal lobe of the cerebral cortex
TONGUE
LJAR 2
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VISION VISION: STRUCTURE OF THE EYE BALL
→ EYEBROWS, EYELASHES, EYELIDS, EXTRINSIC EYE
MUSCLE (move the eyeballs), LACRIMAL APPARATUS
(which produces tears) – accessory structures

→ 3 layers of eyeball:
a. Fibrous tunic (sclera and cornea)
b. Vascular tunic (choroid, ciliary body, and iris)
c. Retina

RETINA:
a. Neural layer – photoreceptor layer, bipolar cell
layer, and ganglion cell layer
b. Pigmented layer – a sheet of melanin-containing
epithelial cells

Inferior of the eyeball: VISION: RESPONSES OF THE PUPIL TO LIGHT

*The lens divides the interior of the eyeball intro two
cavities, the anterior cavity and the vitreous chamber.

ANTERIOR CAVITY – contains aqueous humor (produces

intraocular pressure within the eye)

VITREOUS CHAMBER – contains the vitreous body (helps

the eyeball from collapsing and holds retina)

VISION: ACCESSORY STRUCTURES OF THE EYE

VISION: MICROSCOPIC STRUCTURE OF RETINA

VISION: STRUCTURE OF THE EYEBALL

SUMMARY OF THE EYEBALL

LJAR 3
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SUMMARY OF THE EYEBALL VISION: NORMAL & ABNORMAL REFRACTION IN EYEBALL

VISION
VISION
→ PHOTOPIGMENT (visual pigment) – substance that can
→ REFRACTION OF LIGHT RAYS by the cornea and lens,
absorb light and undergo a change in structure
which focus and inverted image on the central fovea of the
→ RHODOPSIN – photopigment in rods (usually
retina.
nonfunctional in daylight)
→ CONES – function in bright light and provide color vision
→ For viewing close objects, the lens increases its curvature
(accommodation), and the pupil constricts to prevent light
VISUAL PATHWAY
rays from entering eye through the periphery of the lens.
→ Nerve impulses arise in ganglion cells and conducts along
the optic (II) nerve, through the optic chiasm and optic
Improper refraction may result from:
tract to the thalamus. From the thalamus, impulses extend
→ MYOPIA – nearsightedness to the primary visual area in the occipital lobe of the
→ HYPEROPIA – farsightedness cerebral cortex.
→ ASTIGMATISM – irregular curvature of the cornea
or lens

→ CONVERGENCE – movement of eyeballs toward the nose

to view an object
→ CONSTRICTION OF PUPIL – an autonomic reflex for light
rays

VISION: REFRACTION OF LIGHT RAYS

HEARING & EQUILIBRIUM

3 MAIN REGIONS:
1. EXTERNAL EAR
- collects sound waves and channels them
inward
- auricle, external auditory canal, eardrum
2. MIDDLE EAR
- conveys sound vibration to the oval window
- auditory (eustachian) tube, auditory ossicles,
oval window
3. INTERNAL EAR
- houses the receptors for hearing and
equilibrium
- Bony labyrinth and membranous labyrinth
- Spinal organ (organ of corti) – organ of
hearing

LJAR 4
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STRUCTURE OF THE EAR (6) The fluid pressure waves are transmitted from
the scala vestibuli to the scala tympani and
eventually to the membrane covering round
window.
(7) As the pressure waves deform the walls, this
creates pressure waves inside the cochlear
duct.
(8) The pressure waves bend the hairs of spiral
organ and stimulate the vestibulocochlear (VII)
nerve.

AUDITORY PATHWAY
→ SENSORY NEURONS in the cochlear branch of the
vestibulocochlear (VIII) nerve terminate in the medulla
oblongata. Auditory signals then pass to midbrain,
RIGHT INTERNAL EAR thalamus, and temporal lobes.
→ STATIC EQUILBRIUM is the orientation of the body
relative to the pull of gravity. The maculae of the utricle and
saccule are the sense organs of static equilibrium.
→ DYNAMIC EQUILIBRIUM is the maintenance of body
position in response to rotational acceleration and
deceleration.
→ Most VESTIBULAR BRANCH axons of the
vestibulocochlear (VIII) nerve enter the brain stem and
terminate in the medulla and pons; other axons extend to
the cerebellum.

PHYSIOLOGY OF HEARING: RIGHT EAR

LOCATION & STRUCTURE OF RECEPTORS IN MACULAE OF

PHYSIOLOGY OF HEARING RIGHT EAR

(1) The auricle directs sound waves into the

external auditory canal.
(2) Sound waves striking the eardrum cause it to
vibrate.
(3) The central area of the eardrum connects to
the malleus, which also starts o vibrate. The
vibration is transmitted from the malleus to
the incus and then the stapes.
(4) As the stapes moves back and forth, it pushes
the oval window in and out.
(5) The movement of the oval window sets up
fluid pressure wave of the cochlea.

LJAR 5
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LOCATION AND STRUCTURE OF MEMBRANOUS SUMMARY OF SOMATIC & SPECIAL SENSES
SEMICIRCULAR DUCTS

SUMMARY OF STRUCTURE OF THE EAR

LJAR 6