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Smell, or olfaction, is a chemoreception that forms the sense of smell. Olfaction has many purposes, such as the detection of hazards, pheromones, and food. It integrates with other senses to form the sense of flavor. [8] Olfaction occurs when odorants bind to specific sites on olfactory receptors located in the nasal cavity. [9]
Senses and receptors [ edit ] While debate exists among neurologists as to the specific number of senses due to differing definitions of what constitutes a sense , Gautama Buddha and Aristotle classified five 'traditional' human senses which have become universally accepted: touch , taste , smell , vision , and hearing .
Receptor cells disseminate onto different neurons and convey the message of a particular taste in a single medullar nucleus. This pheromone detection system deals with taste stimuli. The pheromone detection system is distinct from the normal taste system, and is designed like the olfactory system .
The Lady and the Unicorn, a Flemish tapestry depicting the sense of smell, 1484–1500. Musée national du Moyen Âge, Paris.. Early scientific study of the sense of smell includes the extensive doctoral dissertation of Eleanor Gamble, published in 1898, which compared olfactory to other stimulus modalities, and implied that smell had a lower intensity discrimination.
They also sense decrease in partial pressure of O 2, but to a lesser degree than for pCO 2 and H + ion concentration. The chemoreceptor trigger zone is an area of the medulla in the brain that receives inputs from blood -borne drugs or hormones , and communicates with the vomiting center (area postrema) to induce vomiting .
Somatosensation is considered a general sense, as opposed to the special senses discussed in this section. Somatosensation is the group of sensory modalities that are associated with touch and interoception. The modalities of somatosensation include pressure, vibration, light touch, tickle, itch, temperature, pain, kinesthesia. [18]
Hair follicle receptors called hair root plexuses sense when a hair changes position. Indeed, the most sensitive mechanoreceptors in humans are the hair cells in the cochlea of the inner ear (no relation to the follicular receptors – they are named for the hair-like mechanosensory stereocilia they possess); these receptors transduce sound for ...
Many fish also have chemoreceptors that are responsible for extraordinary senses of taste and smell. Although they have ears, many fish may not hear very well. Most fish have sensitive receptors that form the lateral line system, which detects gentle currents and vibrations, and senses the motion of nearby fish and prey. [1]