sensory receptor

Examples of sensory receptor in the following topics:

• Introduction to Sensation

  • Sensation involves the relay of information from sensory receptors to the brain and enables a person to experience the world around them.
  • Sensory information (such as taste, light, odor, pressure, vibration, heat, and pain) is perceived through the body's sensory receptors.
  • These sensory receptors include the eyes, ears, mouth, nose, hands, and feet (and the skin as a whole).
  • Specialized cells in the sensory receptors convert the incoming energy (e.g., light) into neural impulses.
  • Explain how the brain and sensory receptors work together in the process of sensation

• Sensory Adaptation

  • Sensory adaptation is the decrease in the responsiveness of a sensory system that is confronted with a constant stimulus.
  • Sensory adaptation, also called neural adaptation, is the change in the responsiveness of a sensory system that is confronted with a constant stimulus.
  • One example of sensory adaptation is sustained touching.
  • When you rest your hands on a table or put clothes on your body, at first the touch receptors will recognize that they are being activated and you will feel the sensation of touching an object.
  • However, after sustained exposure, the sensory receptors will no longer activate as strongly and you will no longer be aware that you are touching something.

• Sensory Memory

  • Sensory memory allows individuals to retain impressions of sensory information for a brief time after the original stimulus has ceased.
  • Sensory memory is an automatic response considered to be outside of cognitive control.
  • Echoic memory is the branch of sensory memory used by the auditory system.
  • Haptic memory is the branch of sensory memory used by the sense of touch.
  • Sensory receptors all over the body detect sensations like pressure, itching, and pain, which are briefly held in haptic memory before vanishing or being transported to short-term memory.

• Sensory Absolute Thresholds

  • In neuroscience and psychophysics, there are several types of sensory threshold.
  • However, perhaps the most important sensory threshold is the absolute threshold, which is the smallest detectable level of a stimulus.
  • Sensory adaptation happens when our senses no longer perceive a stimulus because of our sensory receptor's continuous contact with it.
  • If you've ever entered a room that has a terrible odor, but after a few minutes realized that you barely noticed it anymore, then you have experienced sensory adaptation.
  • Explain what a sensory absolute threshold is and how it can be influenced

• Introduction to the Nervous System

  • The nervous system controls bodily function by gathering sensory input, integrating that information internally, and communicating proper motor output.
  • The general flow of information is that the peripheral nervous system (PNS) takes in information through sensory neurons, then sends it to the central nervous system (CNS) to be processed.
  • The main function of the CNS is the integration and processing of sensory information.
  • It synthesizes sensory input to compute an appropriate motor response, or output.
  • It is comprised of sensory receptors, which process changes in internal and external stimuli and communicate that information to the CNS.

• Stages of the Action Potential

  • The central nervous system (CNS) goes through a three-step process when it functions: sensory input, neural processing, and motor output.
  • The sensory input stage is when the neurons (or excitable nerve cells) of the sensory organs are excited electrically.
  • Neural impulses from sensory receptors are sent to the brain and spinal cord for processing.
  • A neuron affects other neurons by releasing a neurotransmitter that binds to chemical receptors.
  • This is in contrast to receptor potentials, whose amplitudes are dependent on the intensity of a stimulus.

• Somatosensation: Pressure, Temperature, and Pain

  • Receptor cells in the muscles and joints called proprioceptors also aid in the somatosensory system, but they are sometimes separated into another sensory category called kinesthesia.
  • Sensory cell function in the somatosensory system is determined by location.
  • Muscle receptors are most active in large joints such as the hip and knee joints, while joint and skin receptors are more meaningful to finger and toe joints.
  • Mechanoreceptors can be free receptors or encapsulated.
  • Examples of free receptors are the hair receptors at the roots of hairs, while encapsulated receptors are the Pacinian corpuscles and the receptors in the glabrous (hairless) skin: Meissner's corpuscles, Ruffini's corpuscles, and Merkel's discs.

• Gustation: Taste Buds and Taste

  • The tongue is the main sensory organ of the gustatory system.
  • They each contain a taste pore at the surface of the tongue which is the site of sensory transduction.
  • The salt receptor, NaCl, is arguable the simplest of all the receptors found in the mouth.
  • There are three different receptor proteins at work in a sour taste.
  • It is thought that umami receptors act similarly to bitter and sweet receptors (involving GPCRs), but very little is known about their actual function.

• The Central Nervous System (CNS)

  • The central nervous system is made up of the brain and spinal cord, which process sensory input and provide instructions to the body.
  • During this step in the process, the brain and spinal cord decide on appropriate motor output, which is computed based on the type of sensory input.
  • It houses the nerve centers responsible for coordinating sensory and motor systems in the body.
  • It regulates motor function and allows motor and sensory information to pass from the brain to the rest of the body.
  • Impulses are sent from receptors through the spinal cord to the brain, where they are processed and synthesized into instructions for the rest of the body.

• Olfaction: The Nasal Cavity and Smell

  • Perceiving complex flavors requires recognizing taste and smell sensations at the same time, an interaction known as chemoreceptive sensory interaction.
  • However, olfaction is anatomically different from gustation because it uses the sensory organs of the nose and nasal cavity to capture smells.
  • Each of the 350 receptor types is characteristic of only one odorant type.
  • In mammals, olfactory receptors have been shown to signal via G protein.
  • This is a similar type of signaling of other known G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR).