Main Points

These flashcards cover key vocabulary terms related to the sensory systems of taste, olfaction, and vision.

Taste Buds

Sensory organs that detect taste, most abundant in the tongue papillae.

Gustatory Epithelial Cells

The receptor cells of taste buds with gustatory hairs that detect tastants.

Tastants

Food chemicals that bind to receptors on gustatory epithelial cells.

Basic Taste Qualities

The five basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami.

Lipid Taste Quality

Potentially a sixth taste quality alongside the basic five.

Cranial Nerves VII, IX, and X

Nerves responsible for transmitting taste information to the brain.

Solitary Nucleus

A nucleus in the medulla that receives taste impulses from cranial nerves.

Olfactory Epithelium

The tissue located in the roof of the nasal cavity containing olfactory neurons.

Olfactory Sensory Neurons

Ciliated bipolar neurons that detect smells.

Olfactory Nerve (Cranial Nerve I)

The nerve formed by the axons of olfactory neurons.

Volatile Chemicals

Chemicals that can evaporate and are detected by olfactory neurons.

Olfactory Receptor Proteins

Approximately 400 types of proteins that detect different odors.

Glomerulus

The structure where olfactory neurons expressing the same receptor type synapse.

Mitral Cells

Cells that receive signals from the olfactory bulb and send them to the cortex.

Optic Nerve

The nerve that transmits visual information from the retina to the brain.

Optic Chiasma

The point where optic nerve fibers from each retina cross over.

Thalamus

The brain's relay station that processes sensory information, including vision.

Visual Cortex

The area of the brain that processes visual information.

Photoreceptors

Cells in the retina that absorb light and initiate visual signals.

Rods

Photoreceptors that are sensitive to low light levels and aid night vision.

Cones

Photoreceptors responsible for color vision and high-acuity vision.

Rhodopsin

The visual pigment in rods, made of retinal and opsin.

Light Refraction

The bending of light as it passes through different media.