Chapter 4 The Sensory System

External Sensation
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Is the process of knowing material, concrete

stimuli through the external senses namely:
vision, audition, olfaction, gustation, and
cutaneous sensation.

The Four Elements of External Sensation

1. Stimulus
- refers to any aspect of the world that influences
our behavior or conscious experience
- the physical element of external sensation.
- Threshold Stimulus the minimum amount of
stimulus that is capable of producing a
sensation.
2. Receptor
- refers to any structure in our body that is
excitable to stimuli
- is a peripheral termination of a sensory or
afferent fibers
- 3 Types of Receptors:
o Exteroceptor receptors that are found
on the external surface of the body that
receive external stimuli.
Examples:
Vision Rods and Cones
Audition Cochlear cells
Olfaction Olfactory cells
Gustation Taste Buds
Cutaneous Sensation a variety of
somatosensory receptors

Proprioceptor receptors for body

awareness of position, posture and
movement.
Examples:
Muscle Spindle provide
information about changes in
muscle length
Golgi Tendon Organ provide
information about changes in
muscle tension
o Interoceptor/Visceroceptor - receptors
that detects stimulus within the body.
Examples of stimuli that would be
detected by interoceptors include blood
pressure and blood oxygen level.
3. Transmissor
- Refers to the bundle of nerve fibers (called
fiber tracts) that convey sensory messages or
impulses from one neuron to the next and finally
to the brain.
4. Brain Center
o Primary Sensory Area responsible for
basic sensory information
o Secondary and Association Areas
together with the Primary Sensory Area,
provides meaningful perception of
stimulus
o

Visual Sense
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Deemed as the most valued of all external

senses.

The Four Elements/Conditions of the Visual

Sense:
o Visual Stimulus LIGHT WAVES
Red longest wavelength
Violet shortest wavelength
o Visual Receptor RODS & CONES
Fovea point of clearest vision in
the retina
CONES
Conical Shape
Concentrated at the Center
Daytime Vision
Sensitive to Color
RODS
Tubular in shape
Concentrated at the
Periphery
Night time Vision
Not Sensitive to Color.
o Visual Transmissor OPTIC NERVE
Blind Spot point in the retina
devoid of rods and cones because
it is the point of exit by the optic
nerve
o Brain Center OCCIPITAL LOBE OF THE
BRAIN
Primary Visual Area
responsible for basic visual
information
Secondary and Association
Areas together with the Primary
Visual Area, provides meaningful
perception of stimulus

Auditory Sense
Olfactory and Gustatory Senses
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Nose Smell
Tongue Taste
Similar stimuli but Different states

Stimulus
-

Stimuli Chemical Substances

State Gas and Liquid form

Receptor
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Olfaction Olfactory cells within the nose

Gustation Taste Buds spread on the tongue

Transmissor
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Olfaction Olfactory Nerve

Gustation
o Facial Nerve Anterior 2/3 of tongue
o Glossopharyngeal Nerve Posterior 1/3
of tongue

Brain Center
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Primary olfactory area temporal lobe (odor)

Primary gustatory area lower portion of frontal
lobe (flavor)

Cutaneous Sensation
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