Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Four types of sensory neuron. Sensory neurons, also known as afferent neurons, are neurons in the nervous system, that convert a specific type of stimulus, via their receptors, into action potentials or graded receptor potentials. [1] This process is called sensory transduction.
In certain sensory neurons (pseudounipolar neurons), such as those for touch and warmth, the axons are called afferent nerve fibers and the electrical impulse travels along these from the periphery to the cell body and from the cell body to the spinal cord along another branch of the same axon.
The sensory nervous system is a part of the nervous system responsible for processing sensory information. 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 .
Afferent neurons are pseudounipolar neurons that have a single process leaving the cell body dividing into two branches: the long one towards the sensory organ, and the short one toward the central nervous system (e.g. spinal cord). These cells do have sensory afferent dendrites, similar to those typically inherent in neurons. [1]
In vertebrates, the majority of neurons belong to the central nervous system, but some reside in peripheral ganglia, and many sensory neurons are situated in sensory organs such as the retina and cochlea. Axons may bundle into nerve fascicles that make up the nerves in the peripheral nervous system (like strands of wire that make up a cable).
The cell bodies of sensory neurons known as first-order neurons are located in the dorsal root ganglia. [2] The axons of dorsal root ganglion neurons are known as afferents. In the peripheral nervous system, afferents refer to the axons that relay sensory information into the central nervous system (i.e. the brain and the spinal cord).
The axons of second-order neurons of the gracile and cuneate nuclei are known as the internal arcuate fibers and when they cross over the midline, at the sensory decussation in the medulla, they form the medial lemniscus which connects with the thalamus; the axons synapse on neurons in the ventral posterolateral nucleus which then send axons to ...
In humans, the cerebral cortex contains approximately 14–16 billion neurons, [1] and the estimated number of neurons in the cerebellum is 55–70 billion. [2] Each neuron is connected by synapses to several thousand other neurons, typically communicating with one another via cytoplasmic processes known as dendrites and axons.