HUMAN SENSES

Monique Mavronicolas

THE 5 SENSES
Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC) is credited with the traditional classification of the five sense
organs:
Sight
Smell
Taste
Touch
Hearing
Each of the 5 senses consists of organs with specialized cellular structures that have
receptors for specific stimuli. These cells have links to the nervous system and thus to the
brain. Sensing is done at primitive levels in the cells and integrated into sensations in the
nervous system. Sight is probably the most developed sense in humans, followed closely
by hearing.

SENSE: SIGHT

STRUCTURE: THE EYE

FUNCTION: SIGHT
The eye works like a camera, when you look at an object, the light rays reflected from the object hit the transparent cornea
at the front of your eye.
The rays are then partly focused and pass through the pupil, which enlarges or constricts depending on light conditions.
The lens varies its focusing power for near and distant objects and fine-focuses the rays to create a sharp image on the
fovea, the most responsive area of the light-sensitive retina at the back of the eye.
The coloured ring of the eye, theiris, controls the amount of light entering the eye. It closes when light is bright and opens
when light is dim.
A tough white sheet calledscleracovers the outside of the eye. Front of this sheet (sclera) is transparent in order to allow
the light to enter the eye, thecornea.
Ciliary muscles in ciliary body control the focusing of lens automatically.
Choroidforms the vascular layer of the eye supplying nutrition to the eye structures. Image formed on the retina is
transmitted to brain byoptic nerve.
The image is finally perceived by brain.
A jelly like substance calledvitreoushumour fill the space between lens and retina.
The lens, iris and cornea are nourished by clear fluid,aqueoushumour, formed by the ciliary body and fill the space
between lens and cornea.
This space is known asanterior chamber. The fluid flows from ciliary body to the pupil and is absorbed through the
channels in the angle of anterior chamber. The delicate balance of aqueous production and absorption controls pressure
within the eye.
Light rays focused by the cornea and lens produce an image on the retina that is upside down. Electrical signals from
stimulated cells in the retina travel along the optic nerve to the brain, where the image is interpreted as being upright.

THE EYE STRUCTURE AND

FUNCTIONS

Complete the missing words:

The eyeball consists of three layers, the
___________________________ - fibrous coat that supports the eye
___________________________ - tough, white connective tissue, located anteriorly and posteriorly
___________________________ - transparent tissue through which light enters the eye, located
anteriorly
The middle layer of the eye consist of three parts
___________________________ - a dark brown membrane located between the sclera & the retina, it
lines most of the sclera & is attached to the retina but can easily detach from the sclera and
contains blood vessels that nourishes the retina
___________________________ - connects the choroid with the iris, secretes aqueous humor that
helps give the eye its shape
___________________________ - the colored portion of the eye, extension of the ciliary body, located
in front of the lens and it has a central opening called the pupil
The inner layer of the eye also known as the ___________________________ is a thin dedicate structure in
which the fibers of the ___________________________ are distributed and extremely sensitive to
___________________________.

http://www.md-health.com/Parts-Of-The-Eye-And-Its-Function.html

EYE
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Basic eye function
optic system projecting an image;
system that perceives and encodes the received information for the brain;
life supporting servicing system.
Eye structure
The human eye is a complex optic instrument. Its main goal is to transfer the correct image to the optic nerve.
Corneais a transparent coat covering the front part of the eye. It has no blood vessels, but its refraction is great. It is part of the eye optic. Cornea borders sclera which is a non-transparent eye coat. See
cornea structure.
Anterior chamberis a space between cornea and iris. It is filled with intra-ocular fluid.
Irislooks like a circle with an opening in the middle (pupil). Iris consist of muscles that change pupil size by constricting and relaxing. IT is a part of the eye choroid. Iris is responsible for the colour of the eyes
(if it is blue this means it contains few pigment cell, if brown a lot). Its function is same as of aperture in a camera to adjust light flow.
Pupilis an aperture in iris. Its size usually depends on the illumination level. The more light the smaller the pupil.
Crystalline lensis the eye natural lens'. It is transparent, elastic can change its shape, focusing in almost instantly, therefore one can see well both near and far. It is located in a capsule and is withheld by
ciliary zonule. The crystalline lens like cornea is a part of the eye optic.
Vitreous bodyis a gel-like transparent substance located in the posterior part of the eye. The vitreous body supports the sphere of the eye ball and is part of the intraocular metabolism. It is a part of the
optic system.
Retinaconsists of photoreceptors (light sencing) and nerve (ganglion) cells. There are two types of receptor (transducer) cells in retina: cones and rods. These cells producing rhodopsin enzyme transform
light energy (photons) into electric energy of neural tissue, i.e. photochemical reaction takes place.
Rods have high light sensitivity and allow seeing in poor light, they are also responsible for periphery vision. Cones adversely need plenty of light for functioning but allow to distinguish small details
(responsible for direct vision) and ensure colour appreciation. Most cones are located in macula which is responsible for the sharpest vision. Retina adjoins choroid but not too snug in some areas. It is here that
it may detach under various retina diseases.
Sclerais the non-transparent outer coat of the eye bulb and in the frontal part of the eye it verges into the transparent cornea. 6 eye moving muscles are attached to it. It contains a few nerve terminals and
vessels.
Choroidinlays the back part of sclera, it adjoins retina and is closely linked to it. Choroid is responsible for blood supply of intraocular structures. And with retina disorders it is usually involved in the pathology
process. Choroid has no nerve terminals therefore when there is a trouble there, there is no pain which usually alarms about a problem.
Optic nervetransfers signals from nerve terminals to the brain.

SENSE: HEARING

STRUCTURE: THE EAR

FUNCTION: HEARING, BALANCE AND SPATIAL
ORIENTATION
The outer ear protrudes away from the head and is shaped like a cup to
direct sounds toward the tympanic membrane, which transmits vibrations
to the inner ear through a series of small bones in the middle ear called
themalleus,incusandstapes.
The inner ear, or cochlea, is a spiral-shaped chamber covered internally by
nerve fibres that react to the vibrations and transmit impulses to the brain
via the auditory nerve. The brain combines the input of our two ears to
determine the direction and distance of sounds.
The inner ear has a vestibular system formed by three semicircular
canals that are approximately at right angles to each other and which are
responsible for the sense of balance and spatial orientation. The
inner ear has chambers filled with a viscous fluid and small particles
(otoliths) containing calcium carbonate. The movement of these
particles over small hair cells in the inner ear sends signals to the brain that
are interpreted as motion and acceleration.

THE EYE STRUCTURE AND

FUNCTIONS

SENSE: SMELL

STRUCTURE: THE NOSE

FUNCTION: SMELL
Smell is our distant chemical sense. We can discern information about the
chemical composition of substances before coming into more direct
contact with them.
For many animals, smell is the most important sense.
Although for humans smell is not as important as say vision or hearing,
we do use smell more than we think to guide behaviour.
Smell is an important part of taste. Many qualities of foods that we think
we taste, are actually a function of smell.