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Stimuli and Responses in Humans Textbook (page 11 – 29)

Human beings have

Senses Sensory organs Stimuli
5 senses to detect HOME

the stimuli around

them. Sight Eyes Light BACK

Hearing Ears Sound NEXT

Touch, pain, heat,

Touch Skin pressure

Taste Tongue Chemicals

Smell Nose Chemicals

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Eye
HOME

BACK

Sclera
NEXT

Pupil
Iris

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 The cross section of the human eye

HOME

Conjunctiva Sclera BACK

Maintains the shape and

Protects the front part of
protecting the eye. NEXT
sclera.

Iris
The coloured part of the eye Suspensory
which controls the size of
ligament
the pupil. Holds the eye lens
in its position.

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 The cross section of the human eye

HOME
Ciliary muscles
Control the thickness
of the eye lens.
Choroid BACK

Black layer that prevents

reflection of light in the eye NEXT
and supplies oxygen and
nutrients to the eye.

Pupil
Opening in the centre of the
iris which controls the
quantity of light entering the Retina
eye. Layer containing
photoreceptors which detects
light and produces nerve
impulses.

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 The cross section of the human eye

HOME
Cornea
Transparent layer
which refracts and
Yellow spot BACK

focuses light onto the Part of the retina which is

retina. most sensitive to light as NEXT
it has many
photoreceptors.

Aqueous humour
Transparent fluid which
maintains the shape of the
eyeball and focuses light into
Blind spot
the eye. Part of the retina which is not
sensitive to light as there are no
photoreceptors and an exit point
for all optic nerve fibres.

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 The cross section of the human eye

HOME
Eye lens
Transparent and
BACK
elastic convex lens
which focuses light
onto the retina. NEXT

Vitreous humour
Transparent fluid which
maintains the shape of the
eyeball and focuses light into
the retina.
Optic nerve
Carry nerve impulses from
the retina to the brain to
be interpreted.
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Cone and rod cells are photoreceptors found in the retina of the eye.

Type of cell

Rod cell
HOME

Sensitive to
BACK
Intensity of light

NEXT

Type of cell Sensitive to Three types of light-sensitive cone cells:

Cone cell Colours of light • Red
• Blue
• Green
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Ear
Outer ear Middle ear Inner ear

HOME

BACK

NEXT

Earlobe
Collects and directs
sound waves into
the ear canal.
Ear canal
Directs sound waves to the
eardrum. 8
 Outer ear Middle ear Inner ear

HOME

BACK

NEXT

Ossicles
(made up of three
small bones) –
Amplify sound
vibrations and
transfer them to the
oval window.

Eardrum
Vibrates according to the frequency of the sound waves
received and transfers the vibrations to the ossicles. 9
 Outer ear Middle ear Inner ear

HOME

BACK

NEXT

Oval
window
Collects and
transfers sound
vibrations from the
ossicles to the Eustachian tube
cochlea.
Balances the air pressure on both sides of
the eardrum. 10
 Outer ear Middle ear Inner ear

HOME

BACK

NEXT

Semicircular Auditory nerve

canals Sends nerve impulses
(contain fluid) – from the cochlea to the
brain to be interpreted.
Detect the position
of the head and
help to balance the
body.
Cochlea
(contains fluid) – Detects and converts
sound vibrations into nerve impulses. 11
Nose

Function of Sensory Nerve

Cells for Smell
Nerve
Sensory cells for smell are HOME

tiny and covered with a layer Nasal cavity

of mucus. Chemical Sensory BACK
substances in the air will cell
dissolve in this layer of
s
mucus and stimulate the nter
NEXT

A i r e
cells to produce nerve
impulses. The nerve
impulses are then sent to
the brain to be interpreted
to determine the type of Nose
smell.
Tongue

Sensory Mucus
cell
Nostrils 12
Tongue

Pore
HOME

BACK

Supporting cell NEXT

Taste receptor

Papillae on the tongue Taste bud on the papillae

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 HOME
The importance of the taste bud in the tongue:
BACK
• Detecting chemicals in the food.
• Sending nerve impulses to the brain to be NEXT

interpreted as sweet, salty, sour, bitter,

umami tastes or a combination of the basic
tastes.

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Skin

Epidermis
HOME

Pain receptor
Detects stimuli that causes BACK
pain.

NEXT

Dermis

Touch receptor
Detects touch stimuli.

Fat layer

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Cold receptor Epidermis
HOME
Detects cold stimuli.

BACK

Heat receptor NEXT

Detects heat stimuli. Dermis

Pressure receptor
Detects pressure
exerted. Fat layer

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Mechanism of Hearing
HOME

BACK

NEXT

Bell rings.

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Mechanism of Hearing
HOME

BACK

NEXT

Earlobe receives and

gathers sound waves

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Mechanism of Hearing
HOME

BACK

NEXT

Ear canal channels the

sound waves.

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Mechanism of Hearing
HOME

BACK

NEXT

Eardrum vibrates.

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Mechanism of Hearing
HOME

BACK

NEXT

Ossicle bones amplify

vibrations.

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Mechanism of Hearing
HOME

BACK

NEXT

Oval window
transfers sound
vibrations to cochlea.

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Mechanism of Hearing
HOME

BACK

NEXT

Cochlea converts sound

vibrations to nerve
impulses.

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Mechanism of Hearing
HOME

BACK

NEXT

Auditory nerve
sends nerve impulses to
brains.

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1.2

Mechanism of Hearing
HOME

BACK

NEXT

Brain
interprets sound.

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1.2

Mechanism of Sight
HOME

BACK

NEXT

Light rays enter the

eye.

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Mechanism of Sight
HOME

BACK

NEXT

Inverted and small

images are formed on
the retina.

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Mechanism of Sight
HOME

BACK

NEXT

A small, inverted image on

the retina willbe
interpereted as upright.

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 Sensitivity of the Tongue towards Different Taste Stimuli

• The sense of taste and the sense

of smell are connected.
HOME

• During eating, chemicals in food

Bitter
dissolve in saliva and stimulate
BACK
taste buds.
• Sour
The same chemicals will enter the NEXT
nasal cavity and stimulate the
sensory cells for smells. Umami
• People with the cold will find that
the food eaten is less tasty as the Salty
sensory cells for smells have been
covered in excess mucus. Sweet

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Unable to see Unable to see
microscopic through
objects Limitations of opaque
HOME
objects
Sight
BACK

NEXT

Blind spot Optical illusion

Unable to see
faraway
objects

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 Optical Illusion
Observe the images below. What can you see?

HOME

BACK

NEXT

Parallel lines or not?

Optical illusion occurs when an object that is seen differs from its actual state.
Optical illusion occurs because the brain is unable to accurately interpret the object
seen by the eye due to distractions around the object.
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 Blind Spot

Test your blind spot:

1 Draw a dot at one end of the paper. HOME

2 Draw a plus sign (+) between 15 – 20 cm away from the dot. BACK

15 – 20 cm 3 Close your right eye.

NEXT

4 Hold the paper about 50 cm away from your face.

5 With your left eye, look at the ‘+’. Slowly move the paper
Explanation
towards your face. State your observation.
We cannot see an object when an
6 Then, close your left eye. Repeat steps 3 to 5, by looking at the
image of that object is formed in a
dot with your right eye. State your observation.
blind spot on the retina. This is
because blind spots do not have
receptors.

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 Defects of Sight

Short-sightedness Long-sightedness

HOME

Defect
BACK

NEXT

In front of retina Position of image Behind retina

Eye lens is too thick or eyeball is too Eye lens is too thin or eyeball is
Causes of problem
long too short

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Unable to see distant Unable to see near objects
Problem
objects clearly clearly
HOME

BACK

By using concave By using convex lens NEXT

lens

Way to correct

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 Astigmatism

is another defect of sight

HOME

Some parts of the image The cause of astigmatism is the This defect can be corrected by
appear blurred regardless of uneven curvature of the cornea or using cylindrical lenses. BACK

the distance of the object. eye lens.

NEXT

Examples of devices to overcome limitations of sight:

Light microscope Binoculars X-ray machine Ultrasound machine

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 Limitations of
Hearing HOME

Unable to hear BACK

Unable to hear a
frequency beyond
sound that is too
the range of
soft NEXT
hearing

Aging
The eardrum
becomes less
elastic

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Examples of devices to overcome limitations of hearing:

HOME

BACK

NEXT

Loudspeaker Hearing aid

Stethoscope

Amplifies sound so For people with To hear heartbeat.

that it can be heard hearing loss
from far away. problems.

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 Defects of Hearing and Ways to Correct Them

Hearing
HOME

It is often caused by damage

impairment to the ear due to infection by
BACK

occurs when the sense of microorganisms, injury, ageing NEXT

hearing does not function process or continuous exposure to

properly. loud sounds.

Damage to the outer and middle ears can be corrected through clearing of
foreign objects, medicine or surgery. Damage to the inner ear is more difficult
to correct.

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