Chapter 16: Sensory, Motor,

and Integrative Systems

Sensation

 Conscious and subconscious

awareness of changes in the external
or internal environment.
 Components of sensation:
Stimulation of the sensory receptor →
transduction of the stimulus →
generation of nerve impulses →
integration of sensory input.
Classification of Sensory
Receptors
 General senses: somatic and
visceral.
Somatic- tactile, thermal, pain and
proprioceptive sensations.
Visceral- provide information about
conditions within internal organs.
 Special senses- smell, taste, vision,
hearing and equilibrium or balance.
Types of Sensory
Receptors
 Free nerve endings: pain and
thermoreceptors.
 Encapsulated nerve endings:
pacinian corpuscles.
 Separate cells: hair cells,
photoreceptors and gustatory
receptor cells.
Generator Potential and
Receptor Potential
 Generator potential is produced by
free nerve endings, encapsulated
nerve endings, and olfactory
receptors. When it reaches a
threshold, it triggers one or more
nerve impulses in the axon of a first-
order sensory neuron.
 Receptor potential triggers the
release of neurotransmitter →
postsynaptic potential → action
Sensory Receptors and their
Relationship to First-Order Sensory
Neurons
Classification of Sensory
Receptors Based on the
Location
 Exteroceptors
 Interoceptors
 Proprioceptors
Classification of Sensory
Receptors based on the
type of Stimulus
 Mechanoreceptors
 Thermoreceptors
 Nociceptors
 Photoreceptors
 Chemoreceptors
 Osmoreceptors
Adaptation of Sensory
Receptors
 Rapidly adapting receptors: receptors
that detect pressure, touch and
smell.
 Slowly adapting receptors: receptors
that detect pain, body position, and
chemical composition of the blood.
Somatic Sensations

 Sensory receptors in the skin

(cutaneous sensations), muscles,
tendons and joints and in the inner
ear.
 Uneven distribution of receptors.
 Four modalities: tactile, thermal, pain
and proprioceptive.
Sensory Receptors in
the Skin
Tactile Sensations

 Include touch, pressure, vibration,

itch and tickle.
 Tactile receptors in the skin are
Meissner corpuscles, hair root
plexuses, Merkel discs, Ruffini
corpuscles, pacinian corpuscles, and
free nerve endings.
Meissner Corpuscles or
Corpuscles of Touch
 Egg-shaped mass of dendrites
enclosed by a capsule of connective
tissue.
 Rapidly adapting receptors.
 Found in the dermal papillae of
hairless skin such as in the fingertips,
hands, eyelids, tip of the tongue, lips,
nipples, soles, clitoris, and tip of the
penis.
Hair Root Plexuses

 Rapidly adapting touch receptors

found in the hairy skin.
 Free nerve endings wrapped around
hair follicles.
 Detect movements on the skin
surface that disturb hairs.
Merkel Discs or Tactile
Discs
 Alsoknown as type I cutaneous
mechanoreceptors.
 Slowly adapting touch receptors.
 Saucer-shaped, flattened free nerve
endings.
 Found in the fingertips, hands, lips,
and external genitalia.
Ruffini Corpuscles

 Also called as type II cutaneous

mechanoreceptors.
 Elongated, encapsulated receptors.
 Located deep in the dermis and in
ligaments and tendons.
 Found in the hands, and soles.
Pacinian or Lamellated
Corpuscles
 Large oval structure composed of a
multilayered connective tissue
capsule that encloses a dendrite.
 Fast adapting receptors.
 Found around joints, tendons, and
muscles; in the periosteum,
mammary glands, external genitalia,
pancreas and urinary bladder.
Thermal Sensations

 Thermoreceptors are free nerve

endings.
 Two distinct thermal sensations:
cold receptors-
warm receptors-
Pain Sensations

 Protective.
 Sensory receptors are nociceptors.
 Free nerve endings.
 Two types of pain: fast and slow.
 Fast pain: acute, sharp or pricking
pain.
 Slow pain: chronic, burning, aching or
throbbing pain.
Referred Pain

 Painis felt in or just deep to the skin

that overlies the stimulated organ or
in a surface area far from the
stimulated organ.
Distribution of Referred
Pain
Proprioceptive
Sensations
 Receptors are called proprioceptors.
 Slow adaptation.
 Weight discrimination.
 Three types: muscle spindles, tendon
organs and joint kinesthetic
receptors.
Muscle Spindles

 Interspersed among most skeletal

muscle fibers and aligned parallel to
them.
 Measure muscle stretching.
 Consists of intrafusal muscle fibers-
specialized muscle fibers with
sensory nerve endings and motor
neurons called gamma motor
neurons.
 Extrafusal muscle fibers- surrounding
A Muscle Spindle and a
Tendon Organ
Tendon Organs

 Located at the junction of a tendon

and a muscle.
 Protect tendons and their associated
muscles from damage due to
excessive tension.
 Consists of a thin capsule of
connective tissue that encloses a few
tendon fascicles.
Joint Kinesthetic
Receptors
 Found within or around the articular
capsules of synovial joints.
 Free nerve endings and Ruffini
corpuscles in the capsules of joints
respond to pressure.
 Pacinian corpuscles respond to
acceleration and deceleration of
joints during movement.
End of Chapter 16