Sensory receptor

An organ that responds to a specific type of stimulus by triggering an action potential on a sensory neuron

Somatic receptors

Sensory receptors in the skin, muscle, and tendons

Visceral receptors

Sensory receptors in the internal organs

Special receptors

Sensory receptors in specific locations

Mechanoreceptors

Sensory receptors that respond to movement, whether it is light touch, vibration, or pressure

Thermoreceptors

Sensory receptors that respond to heat or cold

Photoreceptors

Sensory receptors that respond to light

Chemoreceptors

Sensory receptors that respond to chemicals

Nociceptors

Sensory receptors that respond to several types of excess stimulation, which is termed pain

Cutaneous receptors

Receptors in the skin

Propriocepters

Receptors in the skeletal muscles and tendons

Another difference between the SMNS and the ANS is the number of synapses in a given nerve pathway between the CNS and the effector. How many synapses are in an SMNS pathway between those two points? How many synapses are in an ANS pathway between those p

There is only one synapse between the CNS and the effector in the SMNS.

One other way to distinguish between the parasympathetic and sympathetic division is by the location of the autonomic ganglia. In one division, the autonomic ganglia are close to the spinal cord, while in the other they are close to the effector. In which

In the sympathetic division, the autonomic ganglia are close to the spinal cord. In the parasympathetic division, the autonomic ganglia are far from the spinal cord.

A neuroscientist is studying an autonomic nervous system pathway that extends from the spinal cord to the little finger. Is the ganglion of this pathway nearer to the finger of the spinal cord?

The ganglion is close to the spinal cord.

Sensory receptors in your eye detect a foreign object that is irritating the eye. An autonomic reflex is initiated that produces tears which wash the object out of the eye. Does this reflex activate sympathetic division nerves or parasympathetic division

The parasympathetic division nerves

A sensory receptor on a blood vessel within the kidney is stimulated when the blood vessel stretches. Is this a somatic, visceral, or special receptor? Is it a mechanoreceptor, thermoreceptor, photoreceptor, chemoreceptor, or nociceptor?

This is a visceral receptor. It is also a mechanoreceptor

You feel a sharp pain from stepping on a tack. What type of receptor was stimulated? What did the cerebral cortex's projection tell you about the stimulus? What did the cerebral cortex's determination of modality tell you about the stimulus?

Pain receptors are nociceptors. Projection told you the pain is in the foot. The modality is pain.

A doctor is trying to determine whether or not a patient's lower spinal cord has been severed. The doctor pokes the patient's foot with a pin, and the patient jerks his foot away. What question should the doctor ask to see whether or not the spinal cord h

The doctor should ask the patient whether or not he feels the pin prick

Of the cutaneous receptors we discussed, which type are thermoreceptors? Which type are mechanoreceptors? Which type are nociceptors?

They are free nerve endings. Hair follicle receptors, Pacinian corpuscles, Ruffini's organs, Merkel's disks, and Meissner's corpuscles are Mechanoreceptors.

We often smell things without even trying. However, sometimes we have sniff to smell something. Why does sniffing help us smell things that we otherwise would not smell?

Sniffing brings the air up to the superior part of the nasal cavity where the receptors are.

When people have a head cold, they often remark that their food does not taste very good. There is a reason for this. What is the reason?

In a head cold, the nose is often stopped up, making it difficult to smell. Since smell works together with taste buds to produce taste, without a good sense of smell, the sense of taste is not at its peak.

Space sickness is a disorder in the sense of balance experienced by astronauts who spend a lot of time in zero gravity. The disorder is the result of the brain not receiving the expected amount of sensory information from the inner ear. Would the disorder

The disorder is the result of too little information getting to the brain.

The major structures involved in hearing are listed below. Order them in terms of when they vibrate. Start with the structures that vibrate first and end with those that vibrate last.
incus, oval window, tympanic membrane, spiral organ, fluid of cochlea,

tympanic membrane, malleus, incus, stapes, oval window, fluid of cochlea, spiral organ

As light hits the eye and ends up on the retina, it passes through many (but not all) of the parts of the eye. What is the order?

cornea, anterior chamber, pupil, posterior chamber (aqueous humor), lens, vitreous humor, retina

What are the parts in the eye that the light does not pass through?

conjunctiva, ciliary body, the suspensory ligaments, the choroid, the sclera, and the optic nerve

If you have ever watched a meteor shower on a dark night, you tend to see a lot more meteors in your peripheral vision than you do at the center of your vision. Why?

Rods are concentrated away from the fovea centralis, so you see the meteors better when the light hits away from that region of the retina. This occurs in your peripheral vision.

You are focusing on an object very close to you. As the object moves away, what happens to the shape of the lens, the size of your pupil, and the position of your eyes?

The lenses flatten out, the eyes rotate away from each other to a position looking straight ahead, and the pupils dilate slightly.