SENSORY SYSTEM

Dr. SAIF ULLAH SH INSTITUTE OF PROFESSIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

Karachi Campus
Sensations

 Sensations are feelings aroused by change of

environment
Principle

 The integrity of sensory system is checked by

stimulating the receptors and noting the
sensation achieved as the information reaches
the post central gyrus (Sensory Cortex)
Types of Sensations

Primary
sensation
s
Cortical
sensation
s
Primary Sensations

Touch Pain

Temperature Position

Vibration
 Modalities

 Sense of touch

 Sense of vibration

 Proprioceptive impulses

 Sense of arousing

 Sense of Pain
 Sense of touch

 Includes:
 Fine touch
Able to localize touch
 Tactile localization
Able to identify the site of touch or pain
 Graphesthesia
Ability y to recognize writing on skin
 Stereognosis
Ability to recognize object
 Sense of vibration

 Ability to detect rapidly changing peripheral

conditions &

 Sense of alertness & consciousness

 Sense of Pain

 Ability to detect the intensity of Pain

 Fast or slow pain

 Acute or chronic pain

 Mild, Moderate or Severe pain

 Sense of Temperature
Ability to detect


Hot temperature


Cold temperature


Humidity


Extreme conditions

Cortical Sensations

2 point
Sense of discriminatio
localization n
Sense of Localization
 Signals from cutaneous receptors with in the
skin are transmitted to the brain by afferent
neurons to primary somatosensory cortex
through the thalamus

 Therefore the localization of touch can be

represented in a number of different
representations, each with their own reference
frame
Two point discrimination (2PD)

 Is the ability to discern that two nearby objects

touching the skin are truly 2 distinct points
during a neurological examination
 Widely used technique for assessing tactile

perception
 The patient is asked to report whether one or

two points was felt

Applied

Anesthesia
Hypoesthesia
Touch is
Decreased
completely
sense of touch
lost
Hyperesthesia
Sense of touch
heightened
DERMATOMES
Dermatomes
 Referred as part of embryonic
somite
 It is defined as the

“ Area of the skin that

provide sensory input to the
central nervous system
through one pair of the
spinal nerves ”
Dermatomal Rule

 It States that:

“Visceral pain is referred to dermatomes supplied

by the posterior roots through which the visceral
afferent impulses reaches the spinal cord ”
 o f
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M
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Clinical Significance
 All symptoms that follow a dermatome like pain or
rash may indicate pathology that involves the related
nerve root
 E.gs. Skin problems & certain viruses like chicken
pox & herpes zoster