Biological S

?

How do we sense touch?

  • somatosensation is process that conveys info regarding body surface and its interaction with environment
  • three main components
  • > sensory receptors
  • > somatosensory pathways
  • > sensory cortex

Sensory receptors

  • nature - pressure, temperature, pain
  • intensity - firing rate
  • duration - adaption
  • loction - receptive field

Nature: mechanoreceptors

  • ruffini ending
  • > slow adapting, respond to skin stretch
  • Merkels' disk
  • > slow adapting, respond to light touch
  • free nerve endings
  • > detect temperature and pain
  • Meissners' corpuscles
  • > rapidly adapting, respond to low frequency and light touch
  • Pacinian corpuscles
  • > rapidly adapting, deep receptors that respond to deep pressure and high frequency

Somatosensory homunculus

  • related to relative density…

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