"The sensory nervous system is a part of the nervous system responsible for processing sensory information."
An introduction to the senses and how they are processed in the brain.
Anatomy and physiology of the nervous system: Understanding the structure and function of neurons, nerves, and the brain is essential to understanding the sensory system.
The Central Nervous System: Understanding the organization and functioning of the CNS is important as it receives, processes sensory signals and initiates response.
The Peripheral Nervous System: Comprising of sensory and motor neurons, their function of responding to sensory stimuli and passing it to the CNS.
Sensory receptors: These are specialized cells that convert sensory stimuli into neural signals that are sent to the brain; studying the different types of receptors and their functions in the different sensory modalities helps one to understand the sensory pathways.
Modality-specific systems: This refers to the different sensory modalities such as vision, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.
Sensory integration: This is the process by which the brain combines information from various sensory modalities to form a unified percept of the environment around us.
Perception and consciousness: How the brain processes sensory information to construct our perception of the world.
Neuroplasticity: The brain's ability to reorganize and change function in response to experience or injury; how learning affects perception.
Sensory abnormalities and disorders: These encompass the various impairments and disorders that can occur in sensory processing and perception.
Cross-modal interaction: The relationship between the different sensory modalities, and how they work together to create our perception of the world.
Sensory deprivation: The effects of sensory deprivation, such as on perception and cognition.
Sensory-motor integration: The relationship between sensory input and motor output, and how they are coordinated.
Sensory adaptation and habituation: These are processes by which the sensory system adjusts to unchanging stimuli over time.
Sensory coding: This refers to how the brain encodes sensory information, such as the coding of frequency in hearing or color in vision.
Attention and sensory processing: The role of attention in selecting and filtering sensory information, and how it impacts our perception of the world.
Evolutionary and comparative approaches to sensory systems: Understanding the evolution of sensory systems across different species can provide insight into the functions of these systems and how they have changed over time.
Sensory deficits and aging: How aging and sensory deficits affect perception, cognition and behavior.
Neuroanatomy of sensory systems: The study of the specific brain areas associated with each sensory modality.
Development of sensory systems: How the sensory systems develop in utero, infancy, and childhood.
Sensory-driven behavior: The relationship between sensory input and behavior, and how behavior can be influenced by sensory input.
Visual System: The visual system is responsible for processing and interpreting visual information received from the eyes. It includes the retina, optic nerve, and the visual cortex.
Auditory System: The auditory system is responsible for processing and interpreting sound waves received from the ears. It includes the outer ear, middle ear, inner ear, auditory nerve, and the auditory cortex.
Gustatory System: The gustatory system is responsible for processing and interpreting taste sensations received from the tongue. It includes taste receptors, taste buds, and the gustatory cortex.
Olfactory System: The olfactory system is responsible for processing and interpreting odor sensations received from the nose. It includes olfactory receptors, olfactory bulbs, and the olfactory cortex.
Somatosensory System: The somatosensory system is responsible for processing and interpreting sensations of touch, pressure, and pain received from the skin and other tissues. It includes mechanoreceptors, nociceptors, and thermoreceptors, as well as the somatosensory cortex.
Vestibular System: The vestibular system is responsible for processing and interpreting information about the body's orientation and balance. It includes the inner ear structures and the vestibular cortex.
Proprioceptive System: The proprioceptive system is responsible for processing and interpreting information about the body's position and movement in space. It includes receptors located in the muscles, tendons, and joints, as well as the motor cortex.
Interoceptive System: The interoceptive system is responsible for processing and interpreting information about the body's internal organs and physiological states. It includes receptors located in the viscera, blood vessels, and other internal tissues, as well as the insular cortex.
Magnetoception: Magnetoception refers to the ability to perceive magnetic fields, which some species of animals possess. It may involve specialized magnetoreceptors located in the eyes or other parts of the body.
Electroception: Electroception refers to the ability to detect electrical fields, which some species of fish and other aquatic animals possess. It involves specialized electroreceptors located in the skin.
Photoreception: Photoreception refers to the ability of some organisms to sense light, either directly or indirectly. It includes photoreceptor cells located in the eyes of vertebrates and in various other tissues of other organisms.
Hydroreception: Hydroreception is the ability of some animals to perceive water movements, vibrations, or pressure changes associated with water velocity or direction. It involves specialized receptor cells that help animals such as fish detect prey and navigate underwater currents.
Thermoreception: This is the ability of some animals to sense thermal radiation or changes in temperature. It includes specialized receptor cells that help animals sense danger or locate food.
Chronoreception: Chronoreception refers to the perception of time cycles such as day and night or seasonal changes. It helps animals regulate their physiology, behavior and metabolism according to external time cues.
Baroreception: Baroreceptors detect changes in the pressure of bodily fluids such as blood vessels and the heart. This type of sensory system helps animals maintain and regulate their cardiovascular system.
"A sensory system consists of sensory neurons (including the sensory receptor cells), neural pathways, and parts of the brain involved in sensory perception and interoception."
"Commonly recognized sensory systems are those for vision, hearing, touch, taste, smell, balance, and visceral sensation."
"Sense organs are transducers that convert data from the outer physical world to the realm of the mind where people interpret the information, creating their perception of the world around them."
"The receptive field is the area of the body or environment to which a receptor organ and receptor cells respond."
"For instance, the part of the world an eye can see is its receptive field; the light that each rod or cone can see is its receptive field."
"Receptive fields have been identified for the visual system, auditory system, and somatosensory system."
"Sensory neurons are responsible for processing sensory information."
"Neural pathways are connections through which sensory information travels within the nervous system."
"Parts of the brain involved in sensory perception and interoception are included in the sensory system."
"Sense organs are transducers that convert data from the outer physical world to the realm of the mind where people interpret the information."
"People create their perception of the world around them by interpreting the information received through sense organs."
"Vision, hearing, touch, taste, smell, balance, and visceral sensation are sensory systems related to perception."
"The receptive field is the area to which a receptor organ and its cells respond."
"Receptive fields have been identified for the visual system."
"Receptive fields have been identified for the visual system, auditory system, and somatosensory system."
"Interoception refers to the internal sensations and awareness of the body's internal state."
"Sensory neurons are responsible for processing sensory information."
"Neural pathways are connections through which sensory information travels within the nervous system."
"People interpret sensory information received through sense organs, creating their perception of the world around them."