Know how the sensory organs in our body work
Hyderabad: This is in continuation to the last article focusing on neural system and mechanisms of neural coordination in a human body. Today, we will discuss the sensory reception and processing. Sensory reception and processing • The sensory organs detect all types of changes in the environment and send appropriate signals to the Central Nervous […]
Hyderabad: This is in continuation to the last article focusing on neural system and mechanisms of neural coordination in a human body. Today, we will discuss the sensory reception and processing.
Sensory reception and processing
• The sensory organs detect all types of changes in the environment and send appropriate signals to the Central Nervous System, where all the inputs are processed and analysed.
• Signals are then sent to different parts/ centres of the brain.
Sense organs
• We smell things by our nose, taste by tongue, hear by ear and see objects by eyes.
The nose
• The nose contains mucus-coated receptors which are specialised for receiving the sense of smell and called olfactory receptors.
• These are made up of olfactory epithelium that consists of three kinds of cells.
• The neurons of the olfactory epithelium extend from the outside environment directly into a pair of broad bean-sized organs, called olfactory bulb, which are extensions of the brain’s limbic system.
The tongue
• Both nose and tongue detect dissolved chemicals.
• The chemical senses of gustation (taste) and olfactory (smell) are functionally similar and interrelated.
• The tongue detects tastes through taste buds, containing gustatory receptors.
• With each taste of food or sip of drink, the brain integrates the differential input from the taste buds and a complex flavour is perceived.
To be continued…
