Overview

• Sensing = sensory cells translating stimuli

(chemical, electromagnetic, mechanical) into action
potentials that our nervous system can integrate
• General sensory receptors in our bodies are
typically modified nerve endings of sensory neurons
• Touch is considered a
general (somatic)
sense
– It relates to our ability to
detect pressure, pain,
temperature, and
tension through a
variety of general
sensory receptors
 Overview
• Special senses = vision, smell, taste, hearing, and
equilibrium
– Utilize special sensory receptor cells in sensory
organs (like your ear and eye) and/or epithelial
structures (like your taste buds and olfactory
epithelium) in your head
 Vision
• The dominant sense of humans
• Light = electromagnetic waves
• Photoreceptors in our
eyes (the vision
sensory organ) convert
light energy 
electrical energy (APs)
that then travel to the
brain
 Eye
• Surrounded by protective fat and the bony orbits in
the skull
• Accessory structures:
– Eyebrows: keep sweat and sunlight out of eyes
– Eyelids and Eyelashes: trigger reflexive blinking to
keep eyes moist
– Lacrimal apparatus:
consists of the lacrimal
gland that produces and
secretes tears and the
ducts that drain the
secretions
 Eye
• Accessory structures:
– Extrinsic eye muscles: 6 on each eyeball control
the eye’s movement Superior oblique
depresses & turns it
laterally Superior
Superior
rectus
rectus
elevates &
turns it
Superior oblique medially

Lateral
Lateral Medial rectus
rectus rectus Iateral
movement

Inferior Medial
oblique rectus
Inferior medial
Inferio movement
Inferior oblique rectus
r rectus elevates & turns it depresses &
laterally turns it
medially
 Eye
• Internally hollow with fluids (humors) that hold its
shape
• Wall of the eyeball is made of 3 layers:
– Fibrous layer = outermost layer
• Mainly sclera
(white stuff) =
anchoring site
for extrinsic
eye muscles
• Also includes
cornea =
window that
lets light into
the eye
 Eye
• Wall of the eyeball is made of 3 layers:
– Vascular layer = middle layer that includes…
The suspensory ligament (or
• Choroid = supplies all the ciliary zonule) is a halo of fibers
layers with blood encircling and holding up the lens

• Intrinsic eye muscles

– Ciliary body = ring of
muscle tissue around lens
– Iris (colored part of eye) =
ring of smooth muscle
between the cornea and
lens that contracts and
expands to change size of
pupil
• The pupil allows light into the
eye and so the iris controls
the amount that comes in
 Eye
• Wall of the eyeball is made of 3 layers:
– Inner layer = retina
• 2 layers:
– Outer pigmented
layer = pigment
cells that help
absorb light so it
doesn’t scatter
– Inner neural layer
= has tons of
neurons and
neuroglia which help
create pathways for
light
 Eye
• Wall of the eyeball is made of 3 layers:
– Inner layer = retina The fovea centralis
gives us our
The optic
disc is
sharpest and
• Millions of clearest vision!
where the
optic nerve
photoreceptors that exits the eye.
convert light energy 
APs that travel through
the optic nerve to the
thalamus, and then the
visual cortex in the
brain
– 2 types:
• Rods = register black and
white
• Cones = detect fine detail
and color
 Eye
• Inside of the eye:
– Lens = the convex transparent disc that focuses the
light that is allowed in and projects it onto the retina in
the inner layer
• Vitreous humor =
the clear gel that
fills the posterior
segment of the eye
behind the lens
• Aqueous humor =
the clear fluid that
fills the anterior
segment in front of
the lens
 Chemical Senses
• Smell (olfaction) and taste (gustation) =
chemical senses
– Use chemoreceptors to detect molecules in the
air (dissolved in fluids from our nasal membranes)
and our food (dissolved in saliva).
 Smell (Olfaction)
• Odor = the gaseous molecules we smell
• Molecules hit the olfactory epithelium in the
roof of the nasal cavity which has olfactory
sensory neurons
– Nose hairs filter out some of the molecules
 Smell (Olfaction)
• Molecules bind to receptors  APs down the olfactory
nerve into the ethmoid bone, and eventually to the
olfactory bulb that connects to our brain
– Travels down the olfactory tract to the olfactory cortex
– Signal gets sent to the frontal lobe to be identified and to the
emotional pathway in our limbic system
 Taste (Gustation)
• Taste buds = the sensory organ of taste
– Mainly inside of papillae (the bumps on your
tongue)
• Gustatory epithelial cells = taste
receptor cells
• Basal epithelial cells = stem cells
that make new gustatory epithelial
cells (like when you burn your
tongue on pizza rolls)
• Sensory receptor cells  APs  signal to the
gustatory cortex of brain  release of digestive
enzymes to break down the food  ENERGY!
 Hearing and Balance
• The ear is the sensory organ for hearing and
balance (equilibrium)
– Our ears are designed to receive mechanical
waves and convert them to nerve signals that our
brains can interpret
– Sound creates vibrations in
the air that hit our
eardrums and cause tiny
bones (auditory ossicles)
to move internal fluid
against a membrane

– This triggers tiny “hair” cells to stimulate neurons 

APs to the brain
 Ear
• 3 parts of ear = (1) outer/external and (2) middle ear
for hearing, (3) inner ear for hearing and maintaining
equilibrium
 Ear
• External (outer) ear
– Pinna (auricle) = part we see made of cartilage
– External acoustic meatus = auditory canal
– Function = Catch sound waves and pass them
deeper into the ear
through the auditory
canal
• Eventually collides
with tympanic
membrane
(eardrum) = the
connective tissue
boundary between
external and middle
ear
 Ear
• Middle ear = tympanic cavity = relay station between
outer and inner ear
– 3 tiny bones = the auditory ossicles = malleus (hammer),
incus (anvil), and stapes (stirrup)
– Function = amplify sound
waves to make stronger for
when they get to inner ear
• The auditory ossicles conduct
vibrations to the oval window
to get inner ear fluid moving
– Eustachian tube = a
passage from the middle
ear to the pharynx that aids
in equalizing pressure
around the eardrum
 Ear
• Inner ear = labyrinth (bony and membranous)
– Both divisions are filled with fluid that help conduct
the sound vibrations that allow us to hear and
respond to changes in our equilibrium
– Function = turn
physical vibrations
into electrical
impulses (APs) to
travel to brain
 Ear
3 parts in the inner ear’s bony labyrinth:
• Vestibule: key structure for maintaining balance
– Head movements cause fluid to stimulate hair cells  send AP
through the vestibular nerve
• Semicircular canals: aid
in maintaining balance
when head rotates
• Cochlea: contains hair
cells that vibrate at
different frequencies 
stimulating the organ of
Corti to send AP through
cochlear nerve to the
auditory cortex in the
brain