SPECIAL SENSES

 Five senses that keep us in touch with what is going on in the external world: touch, taste,
smell, sight, and hearing.
 The other four "traditional" senses--smell, taste, sight, and hearing—are called special senses.
 Receptors for a fifth special sense, equilibrium, are housed in the ear, along with the organ of
hearing.
 In contrast to the small and widely distributed general receptors, the special sense receptors are
either large, complex sensory organs (eyes and ears) or localized clusters of receptors (taste
buds an olfactory epithelium).

PART I: THE EYE AND VISION

 Nearly 70 percent of all sensory receptors in the body are in the eyes.
 The optic tracts that carry information from the eyes to the brain are massive bundles,
containing over a million nerve fibers.

Anatomy of the Eye

External and Accessory Structures

 The adult eye is a sphere that measures about 1 inch (2.5 cm) in diameter. Only the anterior
one- sixth of the eye's surface is normally seen. The rest of it is enclosed and protected by a
cushion of fat and the walls of the bony orbit.
 The accessory structures of the eye include the extrinsic eye muscles, eyelids, conjunctiva, and
lacrimal apparatus.
 Anteriorly the eyes are protected by the eyelids, which meet at the medial and lateral corners of
the eye, the medial commissure (canthus) and lateral commissure (canthus), respectively.

Palpebral fissure- The space between the eyelids in an open eye

Eyelashes- Projectingnfrom the border of each eyelid

Tarsal Glands- Modified sebaceous glands associated with the eyelid edges.

- These glands produce an oily secretion that lubricates the eye

Ciliary glands- are modified sweat glands, lie between the eyelashes (cilium = eyelash)

- their ducts open at the eyelash follicles.

Lacrimal caruncle- On the medial aspect of each eye

- a raised area containing sebaceous and sweat glands that produce an oily, whitish secretion
that also lubricates the eye.

Conjunctiva- A delicate membrane lines the eyelids and covers part of the outer surface of the eyeball.

- It ends at the edge of the transparent cornea by fusing with the corneal epithelium.
- The conjunctiva secretes mucus, which helps to lubricate the eyeball and keep it moist.
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Lacrimal apparatus- consists of the lacrimal gland and a number of ducts that drain lacrimal secretions
into the nasal cavity.

- Lacrimal glands located above the lateral end of each eye.

They continually release a dilute salt solution (tears) onto the anterior surface of the
eyeball through several small ducts.
- The tears flush across the eyeball into the lacrimal canaliculi medially, then into the
lacrimal sac, and finally into the nasolacrimal duct, which empties into the inferior meatus
of the nasal cavity.
- Tears also contain mucus, antibodies, and lysozyme, an enzyme that destroys bacteria.
Thus, they cleanse and protect the eye surface as they moisten and lubricate it.
- When lacrimal secretion increases substantially, tears spill over the eyelids and fill the nasal
cavities, causing congestion and the "sniffles." Happens when the eyes are irritated by
foreign objects or chemicals and when we are emotionally upset

Six extrinsic eye muscles- are attached to the outer surface of each eye.

- These muscles produce gross eye movements and make it possible for the eyes to follow a
moving object.
-

Internal Structures: The Eyeball

Eyeball- the eye itself. Is a hollow sphere. Its wall is composed of three tunics, or layers, and its interior
is filled with fluids called humors that help to maintain its shape.

- The lens, the main focusing apparatus of the eye, is supported upright within the eye cavity,
dividing it into two chambers.

Layers Forming the Wall of the Eyeball

1. Fibrous Layer- the outermost layer,

- consists of the protective sclera and the transparent cornea
- The sclera (thick white connective tissue) is seen anteriorly as the "white of the eye."
 The central anterior portion of the fibrous layer is crystal clear.
- This "window" is the cornea through which light enters the eye.
 The cornea is well supplied with nerve endings.
 Most are pain fibers, and when the cornea is touched, blinking and increased
tear production occur. Even so, the cornea is the most exposed part of the eye,
and it is very vulnerable to damage. Luckily, its ability to repair itself is
extraordinary.
 The cornea is the only tissue in the body that is transplanted from one person to
another without the worry of rejection. Because the cornea has no blood
vessels, it is beyond the reach of the immune system.

2. Vascular Layer- The middle, or vascular layer, of the eyeball.

- has three distinguishable regions.
- Most posterior is the choroid a blood rich nutritive tunic that contains a dark pigment.
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- The pigment prevents light from scattering inside the eye. Moving anteriorly, the choroid is
modified to form two smooth muscle structures, the ciliary body, which is attached to the
lens by a suspensory ligament called the ciliary zonule, and the iris.
- The pigmented iris has a rounded opening, the pupil, through which light passes. Circularly
and radially arranged smooth muscle fibers form the iris, which acts like the diaphragm of a
camera. It regulates the amount of light entering the eye so that we can see as clearly as
possible in the available light.
- In close vision and bright light, the circular muscles contract, and the pupil constricts, or gets
smaller.
- In distant Vision and dim light, the radial fibers contract to enlarge (dilate) the pupil, which
allows more light lo enter the eye.
- Cranial nerve III (oculomotor) controls the muscles of the iris.

3. Sensory Layer- the innermost sensory layer of the eye is the delicate two-layered retina which
extends anteriorly only to the ciliary body.
- The outer pigmented layer of the retina is composed of pigmented cells that, like those of
the choroid, absorb light and prevent light from Scattering inside the eye. They also act as
phagocytes to remove dead or damaged receptor cells and store vitamin A needed for
vision.
- The transparent inner neural layer of the retina contains millions of receptor cells, the rods
and cones, which are called photoreceptors because they respond to light.
- Electrical signals pass from the photoreceptors via a two-neuron chain-bipolar cells and then
ganglion cells—before leaving the retina via the optic nerve and being transmitted to, and
interpreted by, the optic cortex. The result is vision.
- The photoreceptor cells are distributed over the entire retina, except where the optic nerve
leaves the eyeball; this site is called the optic disc.
- Since there are no photoreceptors at the optic disc, it results in a blind spot in our vision.
- When light from an object is focused on the optic disc, the object disappears from our view
and we cannot see it.
- The rods and cones are not evenly distributed in the retina.
 The rods are densest at the periphery, or edge, of the retina and decrease in
number as the center of the retina is approached. Allow us to see in gray tones in
dim light, and they provide our peripheral vision.
 Cones are discriminatory receptors that allow us to see the details of our world in
color under bright light conditions. They are densest in the center of the retina and
decrease in number toward the retinal edge.
- Lateral to each blind spot is the fovea centralis (fo've-ah sen-tră'lis), a tiny pit that contains
only cones. Consequently, this is the area of greatest visual acuity, or point of sharpest
vision, and anything we wish to view critically is focused on the fovea centralis.
- There are three varieties of cones. Each type is most sensitive to particular wavelengths of
visible light:
 One type responds most vigorously to blue light,
 another to green light.
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 Third cone variety responds to a range including both green and red
wavelengths of light.
 this is the only cone population to respond to red light at all, so these are called
the "red cones.”
 Impulses received at the same time from more than one type of cone by the visual
cortex are interpreted as intermediate colors, similar to what occurs when two
colors of paint are mixed.
 For example, simultaneous impulses from blue and red color receptors are seen as
purple or violet tones.
 When all three cone types are stimulated, we see white. If someone shines red
light into one of your eyes and green into the other, you will see yellow, indicating
that the “mixing and interpretation of colors occur in the brain, not in the retina.

Lens

- Light entering the eye focused on the retina by the lens

- A flexible biconvex crystal-like structure.
- Lens is held upright in the eye by the ciliary zonule and attached to the ciliary body
- Lens divides the eye into two segments:
 Anterior (aqueous) segment- anterior to the lens, contains a clear watery fluid called
aqueous humor
 Aqueous humor is similar to blood plasma and is continually secreted by a
special area of the choroid.
 It helps maintain intraocular pressure, pressure inside the eye. It provides
nutrients for the avascular lens and cornea.
 Aqueous humor is reabsorbed into the venous blood through the scleral venous
sinus, or canal of Schlemm, which is located at the junction of the sclera and
cornea.
 Posterior (vitreous) segment- posterior to the lens, is filled with a gel-like substance
called vitreous humor or vitreous body.
 Vitreous humor helps prevent the eyeball from collapsing inward by reinforcing
it internally.

- The ophthalmoscope is an instrument that illuminates the interior of the eyeball, allowing
the retina, optic disc, and internal blood vessels at the fundus, or posterior wall of the eye,
to be viewed and examined.
 Such an examination can detect certain pathological conditions, such as
diabetes, arteriosclerosis, and degeneration of the optic nerve and retina.
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Physiology of Vision

pathway of Light through the Eye and Light Refraction

- When light passes from one substance to another substance that has a different density, its
speed changes and its rays are bent, or refracted.
- The refractive, or bending, power of the cornea and humors is constant. The lens can be
changed by changing its shape-that is, by making it more or less convex, so that light can be
properly focused on the retina.
 The greater the lens convexity, or bulge, the more it bends the light. The flatter
the lens, the less it bends the light.
- The resting eye is “set” for distant vision. In general, light from a distant source (over 20 feet
away) approaches the eye as parallel rays, and the lens does not need to change shape to
focus properly on the retina.
 Light from a close object tends to scatter and diverge, or spread out, and the
lens must bulge more to make close vision possible.
 To achieve this, the ciliary body contracts, allowing the lens to become more
convex.
 This ability of the eye to focus specifically for close objects (those less than 20
feet away) is called accommodation. The image formed on the retina as a result
of the light-bending activity of the lens is a real image—it is reversed from left
to right, upside down (inverted), and smaller than the object.
- The normal eye is able to accommodate properly. However, vision problems occur when a
lens is too strong (overconverging) or too weak (underconverging) or when there are
structural problems of the eyeball.

Visual Fields and Visual Pathway to the Brain

- Axons carrying impulses from the retina are bundled together at the posterior aspect of the
eyeball and leave the back of the eye as the optic nerve.
- At the optic chiasma (ki-as'mah; chiasm = cross) the fibers from the medial side of each eye
crossover to the opposite side of the brain.
- The fiber tracts that result are the optic tracts. Each optic tract contains fibers from the
lateral side of the eye on the same side and the medial side of the opposite eye.
 The optic tract fibers synapse with neurons in the thalamus, whose axons form the
optic radiation, which runs to the occipital lobe of the brain.
- Each side of the brain receives visual input from both eyes---from the lateral field of the eye
on its own side and from the medial field of the other eye.
 Also notice that each eye "sees" a slightly different view but that their visual fields
overlap quite a bit.
 As a result of these two phenomena, humans have binocular vision.
 Binocular vision, literally "two-eyed vision," provides for depth perception, also
called "three-dimensional" vision, as our visual cortex fuses the two slightly different
images delivered by the two eyes into one "picture."
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Eye Reflexes

- Both the internal and external (extrinsic) eye muscles are necessary for proper eye function.
- The autonomic nervous system controls the internal muscles. As mentioned earlier, these
muscles include those of the ciliary body, which alters lens curvature, and the radial and
circular muscles of the iris, which control pupil size.
 The external muscles are the rectus and oblique muscles attached to the eyeball
exterior (see Figure 8.3), which control eye movements and make it possible to
follow moving objects.
 They are also responsible for convergence, which is the reflexive movement of the
eyes medially when we view close objects.
 When convergence occurs, both eyes are aimed toward the near object being
viewed.
 The extrinsic muscles are controlled by somatic fibers of cranial nerves III, IV, and VI.
 When the eyes are suddenly exposed to bright light, the pupils immediately
constrict; this is the photopupillary reflex. This protective reflex prevents
excessively bright light from damaging the delicate photoreceptors.
 The pupils also constrict reflexively when we view close objects; this
accommodation pupillary reflex provides more acute vision.
- Reading requires almost continuous work by both sets of muscles. The muscles of the ciliary
body bring about the lens bulge, and the circular (or constrictor) muscles of the iris produce
the accommodation pupillary reflex.
 In addition, the extrinsic muscles must converge the eyes as well as move them to
follow the printed lines.
 This is why long periods of reading tire the eyes and often result in what is
commonly called eyestrain.
 When you read for an extended time, look up from time to time and stare into the
distance. This temporarily relaxes all the eye muscles.

PART II: THE EAR: HEARING AND BALANCE

- Fluids must be stirred to stimulate the receptors of the ear: sound vibrations move fluid to
stimulate hearing receptors, whereas gross movements of the head disturb fluids
surrounding the balance organs.
 Receptors that respond to such physical forces are called mechanoreceptors
- Our hearing apparatus allows us to hear an extraordinary range of sound, and our highly
sensitive equilibrium receptors keep our nervous system continually up to date on the
position and movements of the head.
 Without this information, it would be difficult if not impossible to maintain our
balance or to know which way is up.
 Although these two sense organs are housed together in the ear, their receptors
respond to different stimuli and are activated independently of one another.
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Anatomy of the Ear

- Ear is divided into three major areas: the external, or outer, ear; the middle ear; and the
internal, or inner, ear.
 The external and middle ear structures are involved with hearing only.
 The internal ear functions in both equilibrium and hearing.
 External (Outer) Ear
- is composed of the auricle and the external acoustic meatus.
- The auricle, or pinna is what most people call the "ear"—the shell-shaped structure
surrounding the auditory canal opening.
 In many animals, the auricle collects and directs sound waves into the auditory
canal, but in humans this function is largely lost.
- The external acoustic meatus (or auditory canal) is a short, narrow chamber (about 1 inch
long by 1/4 inch wide) carved into the temporal bone of the skull.
- In its skin-lined walls are the ceruminous glands, which secrete waxy yellow cerumen, or
earwax, which provides a sticky trap for foreign bodies and repels insects.
- Sound waves entering the auditory canal eventually hit the tympanic (tympanum =drum)
membrane, or eardrum, and cause it to vibrate.
 The canal ends at the eardrum, which separates the external from the middle ear.
 Middle Ear
- is a small, air-filled, mucosa-lined cavity within the temporal bone.
- It is flanked laterally by the eardrum and medially by a bony wall with two openings, the
oval window and the inferior, membrane- covered round window.
- The pharyngotympanic tube, or auditory tube, runs obliquely downward to link the middle
ear cavity with the throat, and the mucosae lining the two regions are continuous.
- Normally, the pharyngotympanic tube is flattened and closed, but swallowing or yawning
can open it briefly to equalize the pressure in the middle ear cavity with the external, or
atmospheric, pressure.
- -This is an important function because the eardrum does not vibrate freely unless the
pressure on both of its surfaces is the same.
- When the pressures are unequal, the eardrum bulges inward or outward causing hearing
difficulty (voices may sound far away) and sometimes earache.
- The tympanic cavity is spanned by the three smallest bones in the body;
 ossicles- which transmit the vibratory motion of the eardrum to the fluids of the inner
ear. These bones, named for their shape, are the hammer, or malleus (mă'le-us);
 anvil, or incus (in'kus);
 stirrup, or stapes
 Like dominoes falling, when the eardrum moves, it moves the hammer and transfers
the vibration to the anvil.
 The anvil, in turn, passes the vibration on to the stirrup, which presses on the oval
window of the inner ear.
 The movement at the oval window sets the fluids of the inner ear into motion,
eventually exciting the hearing receptors.

 Internal (Inner) Ear

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- The internal ear is a maze of bony chambers called the bony labyrinth, or osseous labyrinth
 located deep within the temporal bone behind the eye socket.
 The three subdivisions of the bony labyrinth are;
 the spiraling, pea-sized cochlea
 vestibule - The vestibule is situated between the semicircular canals and
the cochlea
 semicircular canals.
 The bony labyrinth is filled with a plasmalike fluid called perilymph. Suspended in
the perilymph is a membranous labyrinth, a system of membrane sacs that more
or less follows the shape of the bony labyrinth.
 The membranous labyrinth itself contains a thicker fluid called endolymph.

PART III: CHEMICAL SENSES:

SMELL AND TASTE

- The receptors for taste and olfaction are classified as chemoreceptors because they respond to
chemicals in solution.
- Five types of taste receptors have been identified, but the olfactory receptors (for smell) are
believed to be sensitive to a much wider range of chemicals.
- The receptors for smell and taste complement each other and respond to many of the same
stimuli.

Olfactory Receptors and the Sense of Smell

- Even though our sense of smell is far less acute than that of many other animals, the human
nose is still no slouch in picking up small differences in odors.
- The thousands of olfactory receptors, receptors for the sense of smell, occupy a postage stamp-
sized area in the roof of each nasal cavity.
- Air entering the nasal cavities must make a 90° turn to enter the respiratory passage way below,
so sniffing, which causes more air to flow superiorly across the olfactory receptors, intensifies
the sense of smell.
- The olfactory receptor cells are neurons equipped with olfactory hairs, long cilia that protrude
from the nasal epithelium and are continuously bathed by a layer of mucus secreted by
underlying glands.
- When the olfactory receptors located on the cilia are stimulated by chemicals dissolved in the
mucus, they transmit impulses along the olfactory filaments, which are bundled axons of
olfactory neurons that collective make up the olfactory nerve (cranial nerve I).