Anatomy

The capacity of a live creature to respond to stimuli represents one of its primary properties. The human sensory system has advanced to the point where it can process hundreds of incoming information at once. This complexity helps an individual to be aware of their environment and respond appropriately (Cliff Notes, 2021). Sensory receptors are sensory neurons’ dendrites that are adapted for receiving certain stimuli. Three techniques are used to categorize sensory receptors; however, we will classify them depending on stimuli in this article.

Receptors	type of stimuli
Mechanoreceptors	physical forces such as pressure and stretching
Photoreceptors	lights
Thermoreceptors	temperature change (heat and cold)
Chemoreceptors	responds to the dissolved chemical during sensations of taste and smell and also detects internal chemical variations
Nociceptors	respond to a variety of stimuli associated with tissue damage. The final interpretation is pain
Baroreceptors	Sensitive to change in blood pressure

The difference between somatic and special senses is that somatic sense includes the receptors that are associated with the muscles, skins, viscera, and joints. Thus, their response to stimuli is not specialized. On the other hand, special senses include the receptors associated with taste, smell, balancing, static and dynamic equilibrium, and sight.

Receptors can also be classified based on their location on the body. These receptor groups include:

Exteroceptors; located at or nearing the skin surface; these receptors are responsible for sensing stimuli generated from the environment or on the skin’s surface. They include receptors responsible for tactile sensations such as pain, touch, hearing, vision, taste, and temperature. The other category of receptors classified by location includes Interoceptors or visceroceptors. They are the type of receptors responsible for responding to stimuli originating from the blood vessels and viscera organs. They are the sensory neurons associated with the automatic nervous system. The third and the last type of receptors by location include, proprioceptors which respond to stimuli that originate in the skeletal muscles, ligaments, tendons, or joints. The receptors are responsible for collecting information associated with body position and the physical condition of the environment.

The receptors responsible for detecting and sensing pain in our bodies are known as nociceptors. Nociceptors are sensory receptors that sense signals from injured tissue or the danger of injury and substances produced by the damaged tissue indirectly (Dafny, 2020). The free (bare) sensory terminals are present in the muscles, skin, joints, viscera, and bones.

References

Cliff Notes. (2021). Sensory Receptors. Anatomy and Physiology. Retrieved from

https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/anatomy-and-physiology/the-sensory-system/sensory-receptors

Dafny, N. (2020). Pain Principles (Section 2, Chapter 6) Neuroscience Online: An Electronic Textbook for the Neurosciences | Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy – The University of Texas Medical School at Houston. Neuroscience. Retrieved from

https://nba.uth.tmc.edu/neuroscience/m/s2/chapter06.html

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