The PNS consists of all neural structures outside…
Brain and spinal cord (CNS)
PNS is divided into two categories…
Sensory (afferent) division and Motor (efferent) division
Motor (efferent) division is divided into two categories…
Somatic nervous system and autonomic nervous system (ANS)
Autonomic nervous system (ANS) is divided into two categories…
Sympathetic and parasympathetic division
Sensory receptors:
Three ways to classify receptors:
Mechanoreceptors
respond to touch, pressure, vibration, and stretch
Thermoreceptors
sensitive to changes in temperature
Photoreceptors
respond to light energy (ex: retina)
Chemoreceptors
respond to chemicals (ex: smell, taste, changes in blood chemistry)
Nociceptors
sensitive to pain-causing stimuli (ex: extreme heat/cold, pressure, inflammatory chemicals)
Exteroceptors
- receptors in skin for touch, pressure, pain and temperature
Interoceptors (viscerorecptors)
Proprioceptors
(these are how we know where our body is in space)
Majority of sensory receptors belong to one of the two categories:
Simple receptors of general senses
Receptors for special senses
Survival depends upon…
Sensation: the awareness of changes in the internal and external environment
Perception: the conscious interpretation of those stimuli
Somatosensory system:
part of sensory system serving body wall and limbs
Somatosensory system receives inputs from:
input is relayed toward head, but processed along the way
Three levels of neural integration in sensory systems
Processing at the receptor level: Generating a Signal
for sensation to occur, the stimulus must excite a receptor, and the action potential must reach CNS
Three types of Neurons:
Multipolar
many processes extend from the cell body. all are dendrites except for a single axon.
Bipolar
two processes extend from the cell body. one is a fused dendrite, the other is an axon.
Unipolar
one process extends from the cell body and forms central and peripheral processes, which together comprise an axon.