LESSON 8.
SENSORY AND MOTOR MECHANISMS
SENSORY SYSTEM
The sensory system is composed of sense organs that are sensitive to the signals from the
environment.
The senses are:
olfaction (smell)
gustation (taste)
somatosensation (sensations associated with the skin and body)
audition (hearing)
equilibrium (balance)
vision
Somatosensation belongs to the general senses, which are those sensory structures that are
distributed throughout the body and in the walls of various organs.
The special senses are all primarily part of the somatic nervous system in that they are
consciously perceived through cerebral processes, though some special senses contribute to
autonomic function.
The general senses can be divided into:
Somatosensation, which is commonly considered touch, but includes tactile, pressure,
vibration, temperature, and pain perception.
Visceral senses, which are separate from the somatic nervous system function in that
they do not normally rise to the level of conscious perception.
Sensory Receptors - detect the changes in the environment.
Types of Sensory Receptors:
Photoreceptors- are the cells in the retina that respond to light.
Mechanoreceptors- are respond to mechanical stimuli and are the basis for most
aspects of somatosensation, as well as being the basis of audition and equilibrium in the
inner ear.
Chemoreceptors- respond to chemical stimuli and are the basis for olfaction and
gustation.
Thermoreceptors- are sensitive to temperature changes, and photoreceptors are
sensitive to light energy.
Pain receptors- also called nociceptors, are a group of sensory neurons with specialized
nerve endings widely distributed in the skin, deep tissues (including the muscles and
joints), and most of visceral organs.
Parts of the Human Eye
Sclera- is the outermost layer of the eyeball. It forms the white of the eye and in front,
there is a transparent cornea.
Conjunctiva- lines the eyelids and the front of the eyeball. It helps keep the eyes moist.
Iris- giving the eye its color, is formed from the choroid.
Retina- contains photoreceptor cells which transduce light energy into action potentials.
Two Types of Photoreceptors in the Human Retina
I. Rod cells- use the pigment called rhodopsin. They are used for night vision and can detect
only shades of gray and not color.
ll. Cone cells- distinguish various colors and they are sensitive to bright light.
There are 3 types of cones:
1. short-wavelength sensitive cones or S-cone
2. middle-wavelength sensitive cones or M-cones
3. long-wavelength sensitive cones or L-cones
Three Types of Eyes that have Evolved in the Animal Kingdom
I. Eye cups in flatworms and other invertebrates
II. Compound eyes in insects and arthropods
III. Single lens eyes in squid
How Hearing is Possible in the Human Ear
The outer ear lobes catch sound waves and channel them to the eardrums.
From the eardrum, the middle ear amplifies the sound wave vibrations to three small
bones – the hammer, anvil and stirrup.
The sound waves travel to the oval window.
The Eustachian tube equalizes air pressure in the middle ear and outer ear.
The hearing organ is in the inner ear, composed of several channels of fluid wrapped in
a spiral cochlea. This is encased in the bones of the skull.
Vibrations in the oval window produce pressure waves. These waves travel through the
upper canal to the tip of the cochlea, enter the lower canal and fade away.
Pressure waves of the upper canal push down to the middle canal and the membrane
below this canal vibrates. These vibrations stimulate hair cells attached to the
membrane by moving them against the overlying tissue.
The hair cells are able to develop receptor potentials causing release of
neurotransmitters that induce action potentials in the auditory neurons.
How Odor and Taste Senses are Achieved
The senses of odor and taste are interrelated.
Chemoreceptors in the nose detect molecules, differentiated into numerous types of
odor.
In the upper portion of the nasal cavity, there are olfactory chemoreceptors.
Odor molecules enter the nose and bind to specific receptor molecules on the
chemoreceptor cilia. This event triggers receptor potentials.
In the tongue, chemoreceptors in taste buds detect salty, bitter, sweet and sour tastes.
Taste perception is due to similar signal mechanisms as mentioned above for smell.
What one “tastes” is actually “smell” or odor. The common cold (due to a virus) can
disrupt our sense of smell, thus, we lose taste for the food. Both tasting abilities and
sense of smell change with age. In humans, the senses decline dramatically by age 50
and continue to decline. A child may find a food to be too spicy, whereas an elderly
person may find the same food to be bland and unappetizing.
MOTOR MECHANISM
The motor mechanism is responsible for generating responses and carrying out actions based
on the information processed by the sensory system.
Types of Skeleton
A skeletal system is necessary to support the body, protect internal organs, and allow for the
movement of an organism.
1. Hydrostatic skeleton- occurs in a body compartment in which a volume of fluid is held under
pressure.
2. Exoskeleton- muscles are attached inside. Joints are thin and flexible.
3. Endoskeleto- consists of rigid but flexible support made of bones, cartilage surrounded by
masses of muscles.
The skeletal system in vertebrates is divided into the following:
I. Axial skeleton – skull and backbone (spiral cord); rib cage
II. Appendicular skeleton – bones of the appendages (arms, legs, fins) and bones linking the
appendages to the axial skeleton – the pectoral and pelvic girdles
The body contains three types of muscle tissue:
1. Skeletal muscle tissue forms skeletal muscles, which attach to bones or skin and control
locomotion and any movement that can be consciously controlled.
- A skeletal muscle cell is surrounded by a plasma membrane called the
sarcolemma with a cytoplasm called the sarcoplasm.
2. Smooth muscle tissue occurs in the walls of hollow organs. Smooth muscle has no striations,
is not under voluntary control, has only one nucleus per cell, is tapered at both ends, and is
called involuntary muscle.
3. Cardiac muscle tissue is only found in the heart, and cardiac contractions pump blood
throughout the body and maintain blood pressure
The Sliding Filament Theory of Muscular Contraction
For a muscle cell to contract, the sarcomere (a sarcomere is the region from one Z line to
the next Z line.
Many sarcomeres are present in a myofibril, resulting in the striation pattern
characteristic of skeletal muscle) must shorten. However, thick and thin filaments—the
components of sarcomeres—do not shorten.
Instead, they slide by one another, causing the sarcomere to shorten while the filaments
remain the same length.
The sliding filament theory of muscle contraction was developed to fit the differences
observed in the named bands on the sarcomere at different degrees of muscle
contraction and relaxation.
The mechanism of contraction is the binding of myosin to actin, forming cross-bridges
that generate filament movement
When (a) a sarcomere (b) contracts, the Z lines move closer together and the band gets
smaller.
The A band stays the same width and, at full contraction, the thin filaments overlap.
When a sarcomere shortens, some regions shorten whereas others stay the same
length.
A sarcomere is defined as the distance between two consecutive Z discs or Z lines; when
a muscle contracts, the distance between the Z discs is reduced.
The H zone—the central region of the A zone— contains only thick filaments and is
shortened during contraction.
The I band contains only thin filaments and also shortens.
The A band does not shorten—it remains the same length—but A bands of different
sarcomeres move closer together during contraction, eventually disappearing.
Thin filaments are pulled by the thick filaments toward the center of the sarcomere until
the Z discs approach the thick filaments.
The zone of overlap, in which thin filaments and thick filaments occupy the same area,
increases as the thin filaments move inward
The thin myofilaments, actin, stay at the center and the thick myofilaments, myosin,
slide past one another. Every muscle that contracts is therefore a “pull” not a push.
