Chapter 29: The Senses
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45 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Sensory Receptor | A specialized neuron that detects stimuli and sends info to the central nervous system. |
| Sensory Transduction | The conversion of a stimulus signal to an electrical signal by a sensory receptor. |
| Receptor Potential | The electrical signal produced by sensory transduction. |
| Sensory Adaption | The tendency of sensory neurons to become less sensitive when they are stimulated repeatedly. ex) a prominent smell becomes unnoticeable over time. |
| Pain Receptor | A sensory receptor that detects pain. |
| Thermoreceptor | A sensory receptor that detects heat/cold. |
| Mechanoreceptor | A sensory receptor that detects changes in the enviroment associated w/ pressure, touch, motion, or sound. |
| Stretch Receptor | A type of mechanoreceptor sensitive to changes in muscle length. |
| Hair Cell | A type of mechanoreceptor that detects sound waves. |
| Chemoreceptor | A sensory receptor that detects chemical changes within the body or a specific kind of molecule in the external enviroment. |
| Electromagnetic Receptor | A sensory receptor that detects energy of diff. wavelengths. |
| Photoreceptor | A type of electromagnetic sensory receptor that detects light. |
| Outer Ear | 1 of 3 main regions of the ear; made up of auditory canal and the pinna. |
| Pinna | The flap-like part of the outer ear, collects sound waves and channels them to the auditory canal. |
| Auditory Canal | Part of the outer ear that channels sound waves from the pinna or outer body surface to the eardrum. |
| Eardrum | A sheet of connective tissue separating the outer ear from the middle ear that vibrates & passes the waves to the middle ear. |
| Middle Ear | 1 of 3 main regions of the ear; a chamber containing 3 small bones (the hammer, anvil, and stirrup) that conveys vibrations from the eardrum to the oval window. |
| Eustachian Tube | An air passage between the middle ear and the throat that equilizes air pressure on either side of the eardrum. |
| Inner Ear | 1 of 3 main regions of the vertebrae ear; includes the cochlea, organ of Corti, and semicircular canals. |
| Cochlea | A coiled tube in the inner ear that contains the hearing organ, the organ of Corti. |
| Organ of Corti | The hearing organ in birds and mammals, located within the cochlea. |
| Basilar Membrane | The floor of the middle canal of the inner ear. |
| Semicircular Canals | Fluid-filled channels in the inner ear that detect changes in the head's rate of rotation or angular movement. |
| Eyecup | The simplest type of photoreceptor, a cluster of photoreceptor cells shaded by a cuplike cluster of pigmented cells; detects light intensity and direction. |
| Compound Eye | The photoreceptor; made up of many tiny light detectors, each of which detects light from a tiny portion of the field view. |
| Single-Lens Eye | The camera-like eye found in some jellies, polychaetes, spiders, many molluscs, and vertebrates. |
| Pupil | The opening in the iris that admits light into the interior of the eye. Muscles in the iris regulate the pupil's size. |
| Iris | The colored part of the vertebrae eye, formed by the anterior portion of the choroid. |
| Lens | The structure in an eye that focuses light rays onto the retina. |
| Retina | The light-sensitive layer in an eye, made up of photoreceptor cells and sensory neurons. |
| Fovea | An eye's center of focus and the place on the retina where photoreceptors are highly concentrated. |
| Sclera | A layer of connective tissue forming the outer surface of the vertebrae eye. The cornea is the frontal part of the sclera. |
| Cornea | The transparent frontal portion of the sclera, which admits light into the vertebrae eye. |
| Choroid | A thin, pigmented layer in the vertebrae eye, surrounded by the sclera. The iris is part of the choroid. |
| Vitreous Humor | A jellylike substance filling the space behind the lens in the vertebrae; helps maintain the shape of the eye. |
| Aqueous Humor | Plasma-like liquid in the space between the lens and the cornea in the eye; helps maintain the shape, supplies nutrients and oxygen, and disposes of its wastes. |
| Conjunctiva | A thin mucous membranethat lines the inner surface of vertebrae eyelids. |
| Visual Acuity | The ability of the eyes to distinguish fine detail. |
| Nearsightedness | An inability to focus on distant objects; occurs when the eyeball is longer than normal and the lens focuses distant objects in front of the retina; also called myopia. |
| Farsightedness | An inability to focus on close objects; occurs when the eyeball is shorter than normal and the focal point of the lens is behind the retina; also calles hyperopia. |
| Astigmatism | Blurred vision caused by a missshapen lens or cornea. |
| Cone | A photoreceptor cell in the retina stimulated by bright light and enabling color vision. |
| Rod | A photoreceptor cell in the vertebrae retina enabling vision in dim light. |
| Rhodopsin | A visual pigment that's located in the rods of the vertebrae eye and that absorbs dim light. |
| Photopsin | 1 of a family of visual pigments in the cones of the vertebrae eye that absorb bright, colored light. |
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