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Nociceptors respond to potentially damaging stimuli by sending signals to the spinal cord and brain. This process, called nociception, usually causes the perception of pain. [16] They are found in internal organs, as well as on the surface of the body. Nociceptors detect different kinds of damaging stimuli or actual damage.
Sensory receptors can receive stimuli from outside the body, as in touch receptors found in the skin or light receptors in the eye, as well as from inside the body, as in chemoreceptors and mechanoreceptors. When a stimulus is detected by a sensory receptor, it can elicit a reflex via stimulus transduction.
External receptors that respond to stimuli from outside the body are called exteroreceptors. [4] Exteroreceptors include chemoreceptors such as olfactory receptors and taste receptors, photoreceptors (), thermoreceptors (temperature), nociceptors (), hair cells (hearing and balance), and a number of other different mechanoreceptors for touch and proprioception (stretch, distortion and stress).
Sensory organs are organs that sense and transduce stimuli. Humans have various sensory organs (i.e. eyes, ears, skin, nose, and mouth) that correspond to a respective visual system (sense of vision), auditory system (sense of hearing), somatosensory system (sense of touch), olfactory system (sense of smell), and gustatory system (sense of taste).
Some sensory modalities include: light, sound, temperature, taste, pressure, and smell. The type and location of the sensory receptor activated by the stimulus plays the primary role in coding the sensation. All sensory modalities work together to heighten stimuli sensation when necessary. [1]
Mechanism of nociception via sensory afferents. Potentially damaging mechanical, thermal, and chemical stimuli are detected by nerve endings called nociceptors, which are found in the skin, on internal surfaces such as the periosteum, joint surfaces, and in some internal organs.
' pain receptor ') is a sensory neuron that responds to damaging or potentially damaging stimuli by sending "possible threat" signals [1] [2] [3] to the spinal cord and the brain. The brain creates the sensation of pain to direct attention to the body part, so the threat can be mitigated; this process is called nociception.
The somatosensory cortex encodes incoming sensory information from receptors all over the body. Affective touch is a type of sensory information that elicits an emotional reaction and is usually social in nature, such as a physical human touch. This type of information is actually coded differently than other sensory information.