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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. Commonly recognized sensory systems are those for vision , hearing , touch , taste , smell , balance and visceral sensation.
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).
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.
External receptors that respond to stimuli from outside the body are called exteroceptors. [4] Human external sensation is based on the sensory organs of the eyes , ears , skin , vestibular system , nose , and mouth , which contribute, respectively, to the sensory perceptions of vision , hearing , touch , balance , smell , and taste .
A mechanoreceptor, also called mechanoceptor, is a sensory receptor that responds to mechanical pressure or distortion. Mechanoreceptors are located on sensory neurons that convert mechanical pressure into electrical signals that, in animals, are sent to the central nervous system .
' 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.
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.
Taste buds, olfactory bulbs, photoreceptors, and other receptors associated with the five traditional sensory modalities, by contrast, are exteroceptors in that they respond to stimuli outside the body. [3] The body also contains proprioceptors, which respond to the amount of stretch within the organ, usually muscle, that they occupy. [3]