Chapter 16
Sense Organs

1. Know what receptors are and understand how they work.
2. Know the types of receptors and what types of stimuli they respond to. If given examples of stimuli (i.e. hot grease, vinegar, hot sauce, feather, etc,) be able to recognize the type of receptor that would respond to each.
3. Does the human brain have pain receptors? If not, how do we have headaches?
4. Understand the differences between fast pain and slow pain.
5. Know the chemicals that are released from injured tissues and know their effects.
6. Know what referred pain is.
7. Know what the endogenous opioids are, where they are found and understand their role in pain modulation.
8. Understand what gustation means and know the location and types of lingual papillae. Know which ones have taste buds.
9. Understand the physiology of taste. Know the requirement for molecules to be tasted. Know the 5 primary taste sensations.
10. Know where sweet, salty, sour and bitter taste sensations are concentrated on the tongue.
11. Know the requirement for molecules to be smelled.
12. Understand why an odor doesn’t stay strong when you have been around it for several minutes.
13. Know the definition of sound and understand the nature of sound.
14. Understand what the terms ‘pitch’ and ‘loudness’ actually mean and know their units of measurement.
15. Know the components of the middle and inner ear and understand the function of each component.
16. Understand the function and location of the Eustachian tube.
17. Know what the ear ossicles are and know their location in relation to each other and to the eardrum. Know the function of the ossicles.
18. Know the muscles of the middle ear and their function.
19. Understand the physiology of hearing starting at the eardrum.
20. Understand what ‘equilibrium’ means and know the difference between static and dynamic equilibrium.
21. Know the general functions of the vestibule and cochlea.
22. Understand the function and components of the lacrimal apparatus.
23. Know the names of the eye muscles and know the directions they move the eye.
24. Know the tunics (layers) of the eyeball and know the parts of the eye they form.
25. Be able to trace the path of light from the cornea to the retina and know how the signal makes it from the retina to the primary visual cortex.
26. Know the structure and function of the optical components (cornea, aqueous humor, vitreous humor, lens, suspensory ligament, retina, macula lutea, fovea, etc.)
27. Understand the following abnormalities and know they affect the components above (cataracts, glaucoma, myopia, hyperopia, presbyopia, macular degeneration)
28. Know what part of the retinal contributes to the highest visual acuity.
29. Know the causes and effects of detached retina.
30. Know what the ‘blind spot’ is and why it is called such.
31. Understand photopupillary reflex (consensual reflex)
32. Know what the term ‘refraction’ means.
33. Understand the behavior of the eyes during the ‘near response’.
34. Know the differences between hyperopia and myopia; farsightedness and nearsightedness. Know how each is corrected.
35. Know the anatomy of the retina (types of cells, structure and function of cells).
36. Know what photoreceptors are. Know what their pigments are. Understand the function of pigments.
37. Know when rods and cones are most active.

38. Know the role of vitamin A in vision.

39. Understand the mechanisms involving light and dark adaptation.
40. Understand the need for both rods and cones (the duplicity theory).
41. Know the composition of photoreceptors in the fovea.
42. Know the different types of cones and their role in color vision.
43. Understand what color blindness is, how it is caused and why it affects more males than females.
44. Understand what depth perception means and know the requirements for depth perception.