Jacelene Chuatoco Vian Sy

Sense of temperature (heat and

coolness)

Thermoception

Thermoreception or thermoception is the sense by which an organism perceives the temperature of the external environment and the internal environment (body temperature). Thermoceptors allow the detection of cold and hot temperatures. This is felt through internal skin passages, or, rather, the heat flux (the rate of heat flow) in these areas. There are specialized receptors for cold (declining temperature) and to heat.

The cold receptors play an important part in the dog's sense of smell, telling wind direction. The heat receptors are sensitive to infrared radiation and can occur in specialized organs.

The thermoceptors in the skin are quite different from the homeostatic-thermoceptors in the brain (hypothalamus) which provide feedback on internal body temperature.

Thermoreception is a process in which different amounts of heat energy are detected by living organisms. Many behavioral responses happen through the stimulation of thermo-receptors. The main purpose is for maintaining the body temperature of the animals themselves.

For mammals, thermoceptors are found in their skin, in the deep tissues of their body, in the hypothalamus, and in the spinal cord.

Thermoceptors, which are sensitive to the surrounding environment changes (both externally and internally) help the mammals regulate and maintain a constant body temperature, because if they are stimulated by heat or coolness, their bodies will make responds such as sweating and shivering.

Living organisms are greatly impacted by temperature. Thermoception reflects one aspect of the harmonious interaction between a living organism and its external and internal environment.

The sensory capacity to detect hot and cold temperatures allows automatic homeostatic mechanisms in warm-blooded animals to adjust internal temperatures to keep them stable at desired levels; it allows cold-blooded animals to adjust their behavior in ways favorable to those organisms. Some snakes, such as pit vipers and boas, can use temperature detection to detect the direction and distance of a heat source (perhaps a warm-blooded prey) and insects like the beetle can use heat detection to find suitable locations to lay its eggs or the bug  to locate a blood source.

In vertebrates, most thermoception is done by the skin, perhaps via some free nerve endings. The details of how temperature receptors work is still being investigated. Mammals have at least two types of sensors: those that detect heat (i.e. temperatures above body temperature), and those that detect cold (i.e. temperatures below body temperature). There are also nociceptors that detect pain if the cold or heat is extreme enough to pass a certain threshold.

Sense of perception

Proprioception

Kinesthesia

From Latin proprius, meaning "one's own" and perception, proprioception is the sense of the relative position of neighbouring parts of the body and strength of effort being employed in movement. It is distinguished from exteroception, by which we perceive the outside world, and interoception, by which we perceive pain, hunger, etc., and the movement of internal organs.

Proprioception is the sense of the orientation of one's limbs in space. This is distinct from the sense of balance, which derives from the fluids in the inner ear, and is called equilibrioception. Proprioception is what police officers test when they pull someone over and suspect drunkenness. Without proprioception, we'd need to consciously watch our feet to make sure that we stay upright while walking.

Proprioception doesn't come from any specific organ, but from the nervous system as a whole. Its input comes from sensory receptors distinct from tactile receptors — nerves from inside the body rather than on the surface. Proprioceptive ability can be trained, as can any motor activity.

Without proprioception, drivers would be unable to keep their eyes on the road while driving, as they would need to pay attention to the position of their arms and legs while working the pedals and steering wheel. And a typist would not be able to type an article without staring at the keys. If you happen to be snacking while watching television, you would be unable to put food into your mouth without taking breaks to judge the position and orientation of your hands.

Sense of balance

Equilibrioception

Vestibular system

Equilibrioception is one of the physiological senses, it helps prevent humans and animals from falling over when walking or standing still. It also allows an organism to sense body movement, direction, acceleration and to attain/maintain postural equilibrium (in short, balance).

Balance is the result of a number of body systems working together: the eyes (visual system), ears (vestibular system) and the body's sense of where it is in space (proprioception). All of these are ideally needed to be intact. The organ of equilibrioception is the vestibular labyrinthine system found in both of the inner ears.

The vestibular system (which contributes to balance in most mammals and to the sense of spatial orientation) is the sensory system that provides the leading contribution about movement and sense of balance. Together with the cochlea (a part of the auditory system), it constitutes the labyrinth of the inner ear in most mammals.  As our movements consist of rotations and translations, the vestibular system comprises two components: the semicircular canal system, which indicate rotational movements; and the otoliths, which indicate linear accelerations.

The vestibular system sends signals primarily to the neural structures that control our eye movements and to the muscles that keep us upright. The projections to the former provide the anatomical basis of the vestibulo-ocular reflex, which is required for clear vision; and the projections to the muscles that control our posture are necessary to keep us upright.

The vestibular system, the region of the inner ear where three semicircular canals converge, works with the visual system to keep objects in focus when the head is moving. This is called the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR). The balance system works with the visual and skeletal systems (the muscles and joints and their sensors) to maintain orientation or balance. Visual signals sent to the brain about the body's position in relation to its surroundings are processed by the brain and compared to information from the vestibular, visual and skeletal systems.

Sensory information we receive from our middle ear is related to movement, balance and our change in head position. The vestibular sense tells us whether we are sitting, standing, kneeling, jumping, running, etc. 

As a child did you ever spin yourself in circles and then try to walk straight?  You couldn’t walk straight because your body was receiving impaired vestibular information.

This is the explanation:Movement of fluid in the semicircular

canals signals the brain about the direction and speed of rotation of the head - for example, whether we are nodding our head up and down or looking from right to left. Each semicircular canal has a bulb-ed end, or enlarged portion, that contains hair cells. Rotation of the head causes a flow of fluid, which in turn causes displacement of the top portion of the hair cells that are embedded in the jelly-like cupula.

Two other organs that are part of the vestibular system, the utricle and saccule, are called the otolithic organs and are responsible for detecting linear acceleration - movement in a straight line. The hair cells of the otolithic organs are blanketed with a jelly-like layer studded with tiny calcium stones called otoconia. When the head is tilted or the body position is changed with respect to gravity the displacement of the stones causes the hair cells to bend.

Normal balance functioning

Nociception

Defined as "the neural processes of encoding and processing noxious/harmful stimuli." It is the afferent activity produced in the peripheral and central nervous system by stimuli that have the potential to damage tissue. This activity is initiated by nociceptors, (also called pain receptors), that can detect mechanical, thermal or chemical changes above a set threshold. Once stimulated, a nociceptor transmits a signal along the spinal cord, to the brain. Nociception triggers a variety of autonomic responses and may also result in the experience of pain in sentient beings

Detection of noxious stimuli

Mechanical, thermal, and chemical stimuli are detected by nerve endings called nociceptors, which are found in the skin and on internal surfaces such as the periosteum or joint surfaces. The concentration of nociceptors varies throughout the body, mostly found in the skin and less so in deep internal surfaces. All nociceptors are free nerve endings that have their cell bodies outside the spinal column in the dorsal root ganglia and are named according to their appearance at their sensory ends.

Nociceptors have a certain threshold; that is, they require a minimum level of stimuli before they trigger a signal. Once this threshold is reached a signal is passed along the axon of the nerve into the spinal cord.

In some conditions, excitation of pain fibers becomes greater as the pain stimulus continues, leading to a condition called hyperalgesia.

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