Sensation & Sensory Receptors Lecture

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms related to sensation, types of senses, and sensory receptors discussed in the lecture notes.

Sensation

Process initiated by stimuli acting on sensory receptors.

Perception

Conscious awareness and interpretation of sensations.

General Senses

Senses distributed over large parts of the body; include somatic and visceral information.

Somatic Senses

General senses that provide information about the body and environment such as touch, pressure, temperature, proprioception, and pain.

Visceral Senses

General senses that provide information about internal organs, primarily pain and pressure.

Special Senses

Smell, taste, vision, hearing, and balance; occur in specialized sense organs.

Proprioception

Sense of body position and movement.

Generator Potential

Action potential produced directly in a general sense receptor that propagates to the brain.

Receptor Potential

Graded potential in a special sense receptor that triggers neurotransmitter release onto an afferent neuron.

Mechanoreceptors

Receptors that detect compression, bending, or stretching; responsible for touch, pressure, proprioception, hearing, and balance.

Chemoreceptors

Receptors activated by chemicals binding to membrane proteins; involved in smell and taste.

Thermoreceptors

Receptors that respond to changes in temperature.

Photoreceptors

Light-sensitive receptors responsible for vision.

Nociceptors

Receptors that detect extreme mechanical, chemical, or thermal stimuli; produce the sensation of pain.

Cutaneous Receptors

Sensory receptors located in the skin.

Visceroreceptors

Sensory receptors located in internal organs.

Proprioceptors (Location-Based)

Receptors found in joints and tendons that detect stretch and body position.

Free Nerve Endings

Simple, unspecialized receptors that detect pain, temperature, and itch.

Merkel Disk

Tactile receptor that responds to light touch and texture.

Hair Follicle Receptor

Receptor that senses hair movement on the skin.

Pacinian Corpuscle

Deep pressure and vibration receptor with onion-like layers.

Meissner Corpuscle

Receptor sensitive to light touch and vibration in dermal papillae.

Ruffini End Organ

Receptor located mainly in dermis of fingers; responds to continuous touch or pressure.

Muscle Spindle

Proprioceptor that detects muscle stretch.

Golgi Tendon Organ

Proprioceptor that monitors tension in tendons.