Unit 3 Lesson 7: Chemical Senses, Touch, and Pain

olfaction

sense of smell

gate control theory

our experience of pain is regulated by nerve cells in the spinal cord that acts as a gate

gustation

sense of taste

kinesthesia

awareness of body parts and movement

vestibular sense

sense of balance and posture

chemical senses

taste and smell; both are called _ because both have sensory receptors that respond to molecules in the food we eat or in the air we breathe

five tastes

sweet, salty, sour, bitter, umami

umami

fifth taste; a Japanese word for 'yummy', associated with MSG

taste buds

are formed by groupings of taste receptor cells with hairlike extensions that protrude into the central pore of the taste bud

olfactory receptor cells

are located in a mucous membrane at the top of the nose; small hairlike extensions from these receptors serve as the sites for odor molecules dissolved in the mucus to interact with chemical receptors located on these extensions

olfactory bulb

a bulblike structure at the tip of the frontal lobe where the olfactory nerves begin; once an odor molecule has bound a given receptor, chemical changes within the cell result in signals being sent here

Meissner's corpuscles

respond to pressure and lower frequency vibrations

Pacinian corpuscles

detect transient pressure and higher frequency vibrations

Merkel's disks

respond to light pressure

Ruffini corpuscles

detect stretch

thermoception

temperature perception

nociception

a signal indicating potential harm and maybe pain

inflammatory pain

pain resulting from tissue damage

neuropathic pain

pain resulting from damage to neurons

Congenital Insensitivity to Pain (Congenital Analgesia)

condition when individuals are born without the ability to feel pain

auditory system

system where most organs of the vestibular sense are located in

proprioception

perception of body position