Senses: Interpreting the World Around Us Review

The sensory system is an offshoot of the nervous system that specializes in receiving signals from external and internal stimuli and sending this information to the brain for processing. There are 6 main senses: touch, taste, smell, sight, hearing, and balance.
Somatosensation (touch) involves sensory receptors that respond to pressure, vibration, light touch, tickle, itch, temperature, pain, and proprioception. These receptors are found mainly in the skin, but can also be found in the muscles, tendons, joint capsules, ligaments, and walls of visceral organs.
Gustation uses chemoreceptors in the mouth to detect tastes. The primary organ of taste is the taste bud which is located on the tongue. There are five main tastes: salty, sour, bitter, sweet, and umami. Taste can be affected by genes and olfaction.
Olfaction uses chemoreceptors in the nose to detect smells. Olfaction is our most primitive sense, and its information is sent directly to the cerebral cortex.
The primary organ of sight is the eye. The eye is a complex organ that allows for the refraction of light. In order for us to see an object, light must first bounce off of that object and enter into our eyes, be refracted onto our retinas, be transduced into an action potential, and then processed by our brains.
The ear is the major sense organ for hearing. Sound is longitudinal waves that move through a medium such as air or water. In order for us to hear a sound, a wave must enter into the outer ear, be transformed into fluid waves by our middle ear, transduced into an action potential in the inner ear, and then processed by our brains.
Balance is regulated through the vestibular system within the ear. The vestibular system is a series of fluid-filled canals that detect the angle of the head in order to maintain equilibrium.

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