TOUCH AND OTHER

“FORGOTTEN” SENSES

Nicole Kennedy. Courtney Brown. Andrea Feeney.Period 5

• Kinesthetic Sense (“Muscle Memory”): an ability to be aware of muscular movement and

position• To be fully present in the moment• Helps control and coordinate activities such as

walking and talking• This information is transferred from neurons in

the inner ear which controls balance, and also from receptors in our muscles/ligaments

KINESTHETIC SENSE

• Monitors awareness of body balance and movement.• The vestibular senses monitors:• static position:  this is the position we are in when we are not

changing position... For example if you are laying down without moving it’s your static position.

• Velocity (and direction):  this is the speed of our motion. It also controls our direction of movement. For example, walking forward or backwards in a fast or slow pace.

• Acceleration (and direction):  This is the speed in which someone is moving. It also controls the direction of movement. For example, if you’re go from a slow to fast pace (vice versa) and if you’re going forward or backward.

VESTIBULAR SENSE

• Somatosensory System: network of nerve endings and touch receptors

• The somatosensory system is responsible for sensations we feel such as temperature, pain, pressure, itches, textures, etc

• 4 types of receptors: mechanoreceptors, thermoreceptors, pain receptors, and proprioceptors

HOW IT HAPPENS

• Mechanoreceptors: Pressure, vibration, texture• -There are 4 known types of mechanoreceptors:

– Merkel's disks, Meissner's corpuscles, Ruffini's corpuscles, and Pacinian corpuscles

MECHANORECEPTORS

• Located in the very top layers of the dermis and epidermis– Palms, lips, tongue, eyelids, fingertips, face,

soles of feet• Merkel disks: slowly adapting receptors • Meissners corpuscles: rapidly adapting

receptors

MERKEL'S DISKS AND MEISSNER'S CORPUSCLES (MOST SENSITIVE)

• Located deep in the dermis• Run along joints, tendons, and muscles• Feels vibrations, movement of limbs, and

stretching of skin• Aids you in playing sports

RUFFINI'S CORPUSCLES AND PACINIAN CORPUSCLES 

• Located in the dermis• Hot & cold receptors

THERMORECEPTORS: PERCEIVE TEMPERATURES

• Detects pain• 3 million + pain receptors located throughout

your body• Detect pain that can be caused by mechanical

stimuli (cut or scrape), thermal stimuli (burn), or chemical stimuli (poison from an insect sting)

PAIN RECEPTORS

• Sense the position of the different parts of the body in relation to each other and the surrounding environment

• Found in tendons, muscles, and joints• Detect changes in muscle length or tension• Aids us in responsibilities such as dressing and

feeding ourselves

PROPRIOCEPTORS

• The four steps of the pain pathway are tied together by the Gate Control Theory.

• The three steps of the pain pathway are:– Transduction: The process in which the

afferent nerve endings take part in translating noxious stimuli (the pain) into nociceptive (Pain Fibers) impulses.

– Transmission: The process in which impulses are sent to the dorsal horn of the spinal cord, and then along the sensory tracts of the brain.

– Modulation: The process of amplifying the pain related neural signals.

– Perception: The conscious awareness of pain.

PAIN PATHWAY TRANSDUCTION