Special and General Senses

Senses General Senses Temperature Pain Touch pressure Vibration proprioception Special Senses Smell Taste Balance Hearing vision

General Senses Pain – Nociceptors – in skin, joints and periostea of bones, blood vessel walls, and few in visceral organs. – Fast pain – myelinated fibers carry sense. May be localized or deep – Slow pain – unmyelinated fibers – may be burning or aching pain – very general area. – Referred Pain- may not be where you think it is – see page 251 black book.

General senses, con’t Temperature- thermoreceptors: free nerve endings just beneath the skin, also in muscles, liver, and hypothalamus Cold receptors 3-4 times more numerous than warm receptors

General Senses Touch, Pressure and Position – Mechanoreceptors – general category Tactile receptors – touch, pressure, and vibration Proprioceptors – monitors position of joints, tendons and ligaments and the state of muscular contraction – watch out adolescent!

Sense of Smell- olfactory organs

Sense of Taste – Gustatory Sense

Vision

Optic Nerve

Visual Pathway

Near Sighted and Far Sighted

Rods and Cones of Retina Cones are for color vision, Rods for night vision

Color vision test A subject with normal color vision can read the number 26 in the above plate, but a person with colorblindness will see only a field of gray dots.

Sense of Hearing

Tympanic membrane Cool sound waves

Hearing Pathway

Balance – Vestibular Complex

Cochlear Implant?