Unit One: 11.12 - Chemical Senses + 11.13 - Body Senses

Gustation (taste)

the ability to sense and recognize different flavors in food and drinks using your tongue and mouth. It helps you detect basic flavors like sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami.

1)Taste buds on your tongue to sense food.
2)These buds send signals to your brain.
3)Your brain tells you if it's sweet, sour, salty, bitter, or savory.

Olfaction (smell)

the ability to detect and recognize scents or odors using your nose

1) Scent molecules from things around you, like food or flowers, enter your nose when you breathe.
2) Inside your nose, these molecules reach the olfactory receptors, which are special cells that detect smells.
3)The receptors send signals to your brain, and your brain identifies the smell.

gate control theory

suggests that pain signals are like messages that pass through a "gate" in the spinal cord. If the gate is "open," we feel more pain; if it’s "closed," we feel less pain. Things like distraction or rubbing the hurt area can help "close" the gate, making the pain feel less intense.

(example: you accidentally cut your finger while cooking. It stings at first, but then you start squeezing your finger. The motion or pressure sends new signals through your nervous system that can help “close the gate” for the pain signals from the cut. This reduces the intensity of the pain you feel because the brain now processes both the squeezing or shaking sensation and the pain, with the pain signals partially blocked.)

kinesthetic sense

the ability to sense the movement and position of your body parts without looking at them. It helps you know where your arms, legs, and other body parts are and how they’re moving, which is essential for coordination and balance.

(ex. touching your nose with your eyes closed. you KNOW where your nose is.)

vestibular sense

your body’s sense of balance and spatial orientation. It helps you know if you’re moving, standing still, or upside down, and keeps you steady and balanced.

(ex. when you ride in an elevator—you sense that you're going up or down even without looking outside. This is your vestibular sense telling you about changes in movement and orientation.)