Senses Lecture Notes

These flashcards cover key vocabulary terms and definitions related to the senses, their functions, and associated disorders.

General Senses

Sensations detected by simple, microscopic receptors, responsible for sensations such as pain, temperature, touch, and pressure.

Special Sense Organs

Large and complex organs involved in the senses of smell, taste, vision, hearing, and equilibrium.

Receptors

Specialized cells or structures that collect information from the environment and stimulate neurons to send impulses to the brain.

Sensation

A feeling that occurs when the brain becomes aware of a sensory impulse.

Perception

A person's view of a stimulus; the way the brain interprets sensory information.

Photoreceptors

Sensory receptors that respond to light; critical for vision.

Chemoreceptors

Receptors that respond to changes in chemical concentrations.

Thermoreceptors

Receptors that respond to changes in temperature.

Pain receptors (nociceptors)

Receptors that respond to tissue damage.

Proprioceptors

Receptors that provide information about body positions or changes in muscle length or tension.

Homunculus

A distorted human figure mapped onto the brain, showing how much brain area is dedicated to sensing or moving each body part.

Visual Pathway

The route by which light signals travel from the eyes to the brain, involving several structures for processing visual information.

Glaucoma

A group of eye diseases characterized by damage to the optic nerve, often due to increased intraocular pressure.

Cataracts

Clouding of the lens of the eye that leads to blurry or foggy vision.

Conjunctivitis

Inflammation of the conjunctiva, which can be caused by infections, allergies, or irritations.

Strabismus

A condition where the eyes do not align properly that can affect depth perception.

Nyctalopia

Difficulty in seeing in low light or darkness, also known as night blindness.

Taste Buds

Chemoreceptors responsible for detecting taste sensations.

Olfactory Receptors

Sensory receptors responsible for the sense of smell, located in the olfactory mucosa.

Two-Point Discrimination

The ability to distinguish between two separate points of touch on the skin.

Hearing Impairments

Conditions that affect the auditory system, including conductive and nerve impairments.

Mechanoreceptors

Receptors sensitive to mechanical stimuli, such as deformation, stretching, or bending of cells and tissues.

Primary Taste Sensations

The 5 basic qualities detected by taste buds: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami.

Rods and Cones

Photoreceptor types in the retina; rods function in dim light, while cones handle color vision and sharp details in bright light.

Auditory Ossicles

The 3 small bones in the middle ear (malleus, incus, and stapes) that transmit sound vibrations.

Cochlea

The snail-shaped structure of the inner ear containing the organ of Corti, responsible for hearing.

Sensory Adaptation

The process where receptors become less sensitive to a continuous and unchanging stimulus over time.

Referred Pain

Pain perceived at a site other than the actual location of the stimulus or tissue damage.

Accommodation

The adjustment of the thickness of the lens to focus on objects at different distances.

Equilibrium

The sense of balance, divided into static (head position relative to gravity) and dynamic (rotational movement).