Sensory and Motor System

A Sense of Smell

What Does the Nose Do?

The nose smell and it's a big part of why you are able to taste things. The nose is also the main gate to the
respiratory system, your body's system for breathing.

What Are the Parts of the Nose?

The nose has two holes called nostrils. The nostrils and the nasal passages are separated by a wall called
the septum (say: SEP-tum). Deep inside your nose, close to your skull, your septum is made of very thin
pieces of bone.
Closer to the tip of your nose, the septum is made of cartilage which is flexible material that's firmer than
skin or muscle. It's not as hard as bone, and if you push on the tip of your nose, you can feel how wiggly
it is.
Behind your nose, in the middle of your face, is a space called the nasal cavity. It connects with the back
of the throat. The nasal cavity is separated from the inside of your mouth by the palate (roof of your
mouth).
What's the Trachea Do?
When you inhale air through your nostrils, the air enters the nasal passages and travels into your nasal
cavity. The air then passes down the back of your throat into the trachea or windpipe, on its way to the
lungs.

Your nose is also a two-way street. When you exhale the old air from your lungs, the nose is the main
way for the air to leave your body. But your nose is more than a passageway for air. The nose also warms,
moistens, and filters the air before it goes to the lungs.

What's the Mucous Membrane?

The inside of your nose is lined with a moist, thin layer of tissue called a mucous membrane. This
membrane warms up the air and moistens it. The mucous membrane makes mucus, that sticky stuff in
your nose you might call snot. Mucus captures dust, germs, and other small particles that could irritate
your lungs. If you look inside your nose, you will also see hairs that can trap large particles, like dirt or
pollen.
If something does get trapped in there, you can probably guess what happens next. You sneeze. Sneezes
can send those unwelcome particles speeding out of your nose at 100 mph!
Further back in your nose are even smaller hairs called cilia that you can see only with a microscope. The
cilia move back and forth to move the mucus out of the sinuses and back of the nose. Cilia can also be
found lining the air passages, where they help move mucus out of the lungs.
How Does Smelling Work?

The nose allows you to make scents of what's going on in the world around you. Just as your eyes give
you information by seeing and your ears help you out by hearing, the nose lets you figure out what's
happening by smelling. It does this with help from many parts hidden deep inside your nasal cavity and
head.

Up on the roof of the nasal cavity (the space behind your nose) is the olfactory epithelium. Olfactory is a
fancy word that has to do with smelling. The olfactory epithelium contains special receptors that are
sensitive to odor molecules that travel through the air.

These receptors are very small — there are about 10 million of them in your nose! There are hundreds of
different odor receptors, each with the ability to sense certain odor molecules. Research has shown that an
odor can stimulate several different kinds of receptors. The brain interprets the combination of receptors
to recognize any one of about 10,000 different smells.

How Does the Brain Recognize Smells?

When the smell receptors are stimulated, signals travel along the olfactory nerve to the olfactory bulb.
The olfactory bulb is underneath the front of your brain just above the nasal cavity. Signals are sent from
the olfactory bulb to other parts of the brain to be interpreted as a smell you may recognize, Example: like
apple pie fresh from the oven. Yum!

Identifying smells is your brain's way of telling you about your environment. Have you ever smelled your
toast burning? In an instant, your brain interpreted the smell and a problem and you knew to check on
your toast.

You learned to associate a certain smell with burning and now your brain remembers that smell so you
recognize it. Your sense of smell also can help you keep safe. For example, it can warn you not to eat
something that smells rotten or help you detect smoke before you see a fire.

How Does the Nose Help With Taste?

Most people just think of the tongue when they think about taste. But you couldn't taste anything without
some help from the nose! The ability to smell and taste go together because odors from foods allow us to
taste more ful

Nose Structure

The structure of the nose is explained as follows:

1. Bone: It supports the bridge of the nose.

 2. Cartilage: The upper cartilage provides support to the sides of the nose. The lower cartilage adds
width and height to the nose. It provides shape to the nostrils and nose tip.
3. Nasal Cavity: It is the hollow space through which the air flows.
4. Septum: The septum divides the inside of the nose into two chambers. It is a thin wall made of
bones and cartilage.
5. Mucous Membrane: The mucus membrane lines the nose, sinuses and throat. It moistens and
warms the air we breathe in. It also forms a sticky mucus that prevents dust and other small
particles from the nose.
6. Turbinates: Each side of the nose contains curved turbinates, and the bony ridges are lined with
mucous membranes.
7. Sinuses: The bone around the nose contains hollow, air-filled chambers known as sinuses. The
mucus flows into the nasal cavity from the sinuses.

B. Sense of Taste

The tongue plays a fundamental role in several body functions such as swallowing, breathing, speaking,
and chewing.

The brain perceives taste when chemical molecules in food, called tastants, activate taste receptors cells in
the taste buds on the tongue, sending signals through cranial nerves to the brainstem, and ultimately to the
gustatory cortex, where the taste sensations are processed.

Taste Buds and Receptor Cells:

Taste buds are collections of sensory cells located on the tongue and other parts of the mount that contain
taste receptor cells.

Tastants and Activation:

When we eat or drink, chemicals in the food, called tastants, dissolve in saliva and interact with the taste
receptor cells

Signal Transmission:

These interactions trigger signals that are sent through cranial nerves (facial, glossopharyngeal, and vagus
nerves) to the brainstem.

When stimulated, the taste receptor cells send signals through three cranial nerves (facial,
glossopharyngeal, and vagus nerves) to the brainstem.
Brainstem Thalamus:

He signals are then relayed to the nucleus of the solitary tract in the medulla (brainstem) and then to the
thalamus, a relay station in the brain.

Gustatory Cortex:

Finally, the taste information is sent to the gustatory cortex, a region of the cerebral cortex located in the
anterior insula and frontal operculum, where conscious perception of taste occurs.

Flavor Perception:

The actual flavor we experience is a combination of taste and smell, as the olfactory system plays a
crucial role in how we perceive food.

Basic Tastes:

The brain processes tastes sensation and allows to identify and differentiate between the five basic tastes:
sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami (savory).

Other Sensations:

The tongue also feels other sensations, like texture and temperature, which are detected by the
somatosensory system.
C. Sense of Hearing

Main Parts of the Ear

1. Outer Ear:

 Pinna (Auricle): The visible part of the ear, made of cartilage, that collects sound waves
and funnels them into the ear canal.

 Ear Canal (External Auditory Meatus): a tube that directs sound waves towards the
eardrum.

 Eardrum (Tympanic Membrane): A thin, membrane-like tissue that vibrates when sound
waves hit it, transmitting the vibrations to the middle ear.

2. Middle Ear:

 Ossicles; Three tiny bone (malleus, incus, and stapes) that amplify the vibrations from
the eardrum and transmit to the inner ear.

 Eustachian Tube: A tube that connects the middle ear to the back of the throat, helping
to equalize air pressure in the middle ear.
 3. Inner Ear:

 Cochlea: A spiral-shaped, fluid-filled structure that converts sound vibrations into

electrical signals, which are then sent to the brain via the auditory nerve.

Vestibular System:

Includes the semicircular canals and other structures that help maintain balance.

 Semicircular Canals: Three fluid-filled loops that detect head movements and contribute
to balance.

 Vestibule: A central cavity in the inner ear that contains the utricle and saccule, which
also contribute to balance.

How Do We Hear?

Hearing depends on a series of complex steps that change sound waves in the air into electrical signals.
Our auditory nerve then carries these signals to the brain.

1. Sound waves enter the outer ear and travel through a narrow passageway called the ear canal,
which leads to the eardrum.
2. The eardrum vibrates from the incoming sound waves and sends these vibrations to three tiny
bones in the middle ear. These bones are called the malleus, incus, and stapes.
3. The bones in the middle ear amplify, or increase, the sound vibrations and send them to the
cochlea, a snail-shaped structure filled with fluid, in the inner ear. An elastic partition runs from
the beginning to the end of the cochlea, splitting it into an upper and lower part. This partition is
called the basilar membrane because it serves as the base, or ground floor, on which key hearing
structures sit.
4. Once the vibrations cause the fluid inside the cochlea to ripple, a traveling wave forms along the
basilar membrane. Hair cells—sensory cells sitting on top of the basilar membrane—ride the
wave. Hair cells near the wide end of the snail-shaped cochlea detect higher-pitched sounds, such
as an infant crying. Those closer to the center detect lower-pitched sounds, such as a large dog
barking.
5. As the hair cells move up and down, microscopic hair-like projections (known as stereocilia) that
perch on top of the hair cells bump against an overlying structure and bend. Bending causes pore-
like channels, which are at the tips of the stereocilia, to open up. When that happens, chemicals
rush into the cells, creating an electrical signal.
6. The auditory nerve carries this electrical signal to the brain, which turns it into a sound that we
received.
 D. Sense of Touch

The skin, the largest organ in the body, is the sensory organ for touch. The skin contains a variety of
nerve endings, combinations of which respond to particular types of pressures and temperatures. When
you touch different parts of the body, you will find that some areas are more ticklish, whereas other areas
respond more to pain, cold, or heat.

The thousands of nerve endings in the skin respond to four basic sensations — pressure, hot, cold,
and pain — but only the sensation of pressure has its own specialized receptors. Other sensations are
created by a combination of the other four:

 The experience of a tickle is caused by the stimulation of neighboring pressure receptors.

 The experience of heat is caused by the stimulation of hot and cold receptors.
 The experience of itching is caused by repeated stimulation of pain receptors.
 The experience of wetness is caused by repeated stimulation of cold and pressure receptors.
Layers of the Skin

1. Epidermis:

 The outermost layer, providing a protective barrier against the external

environment.
 Composed of epithelial cells, including keratinocytes, melanocytes and
Langerhans cells.
 In thick skin (palms and soles), the epidermis has five layers: stratum corneum,
stratum spinosum, and straum basale.
 In thin skin ,the epidermis, has four layers: stratum corneum, stratum
granulosum, stratum spinosum and stratum basale.

2. Dermis:

 The middle layer, providing support and flexibility to the skin.

 Contains connective tissue, blood vessels, nerves, hair follicles, and sweat
glands.
 The dermis has two layers: the papillary dermis (superficial ) and the reticular
dermis (deeper).

3. Hypodermis ( Subcutaneous Tissue)

 The deepest layer, composed of fat and connective tissue.

 Provides insulation, energy storage, and cushioning for the body.
How the Brain works in Sense of Touch
The brain processes touch through a complex system starting with specialized receptors in the skin that
detect stimuli, sending signals through nerves to the spinal cord and then to the brain’s somatosensory
cortex for interpretation.
Touch Receptors:
The skin contains specialized receptors (like Merkel cells, Meissner corpuscles, Pacinian corpuscles) that
detect various stimuli like pressure, temperature, vibration and pain.
Sensory Nerves:
These receptors send signals along sensory nerves, which are bundles of fibers, to the spinal cord.
Spinal Cord:
The spinal cord relays the signals to the thalamus.
Thalamus:
 The thalamus, a relay station in the brain, then sends the signals to the somatosensory cortex.
Somatosensory Cortex:
This area in the parietal lobe of the brain processes the signals and translates them into a perception of
touch.
Pain and Other Sensations:
The somatosensory system also plays a role in perceiving pain, temperature, and the position of the joints
and muscles.
Rapid Response:
The somatosensory system can respond quickly to potentially harmful stimuli, like a burning sensation, to
minimize damage.

E. Sense of Seeing

How the Eye and the Brain Work Together

1. Light rays enter the eyes by passing through the cornea, the aqueous, the pupil, the lens, the vitreous, and
then striking the light sensitive nerve cells (rods and cones) in the retina.
2. Visual processing begins in the retina. Light energy produces chemical changes in the retina’s light
sensitive cells. These cells, in turn, produce electrical activity.
3. Nerve fibers from these cells join at the back of the eye to form the optic nerve.
4. The optic nerve of each eye meets the other at the optic chiasm. Medial nerves of each optic nerve cross,
but lateral nerves stay on the same side. The overlap of nerve fibers allows for depth perception.
5. Electrical impulses are communicated to the visual cortex of the brain by way of the optic nerve.
6. The visual cortex makes sense of the electrical impulses, and either files the information for future
reference or sends a message to a motor area for action.
Nearsightedness (Myopia), and Farsightedness (Hyperopia)
Near and farsightedness are the result of varying- shaped eyeballs that cause light to focus in front of or
behind the retina.
Perfect Vision
Light is focused from near and far objects exactly on the retina.

Light from near objects focuses behind the Light from far objects focuses in front of the
retina. retina.

Aqueous – a clear watery fluid that fills the space between the cornea and the vitreous. It is responsible
for nourishing the cornea, iris, lens, and maintaining the intraocular pressure.
Canal of Schlemm – is responsible for moving the aqueous from the front chamber in the eye through
aqueous veins into the bloodstream.
Ciliary Body – is made up of ciliary muscle which helps the accommodation of the lens and controls the
intraocular pressure of the eye. It is also where the aqueous is made.
Cones – light sensitive receptor cells mostly found in the central part of the retina. It is responsible for
sharp visual acuity and the discrimination of color.
Conjunctiva – a transparent mucous membrane that covers the outer surface of the eyeball except for the
cornea. It also lines the inner surface of the eyelid.
Cornea – the clear cone over the front part of the eye. It is responsible for most of the optical power of
the eye.
Choroid – a layer of the eye found between the retina and the sclera. It contains major blood vessels and
provides nourishment to the outer layers of the retina.
Fovea – is located in the center of the macula. It provides the sharpest vision.
Iris – a colored circular muscle that gives us the color of our eyes. It is responsible for controlling the
amount of light that gets into the eye.
Lens – is responsible for bringing rays of light into focus on the retina. It is a clear oval structure
suspended behind the iris which can contract and expand as needed to provide additional focusing power.
Macula – a small central area of the retina responsible for fine central visual acuity.
Optic Nerve – carries the light impulses for sight from the retina to the brain.
Retina – the most active area of the eye where the rods and cones are found. These receptors pick up the
bits and pieces of the visual signals and transport them to the optic nerve for transmission to the brain.
Rods – light sensitive receptor cells mostly found in the peripheral part of the retina. They are responsible
for night vision.
Sclera – the protective outer layer of the eye.
Vitreous – a clear jello- like substance between the lens and the retina that provides the structural support
to the eye.

Muscular System

Bones, Muscles, and Joints

What Are Bones and What Do They Do?

Bones provide support for our bodies and help form our shape. Although they're very light, bones are
strong enough to support our entire weight.

Bones also protect the organs in our bodies. The skull protects the brain and forms the shape of the face.
The spinal cord, a pathway for messages between the brain and the body, is protected by the backbone, or
spinal column. The ribs form a cage that shelters the heart and lungs, and the pelvis helps protect the
bladder, part of the intestines, and in women, the reproductive organs.
Bones are made up of a framework of a protein called collagen , with a mineral called calcium phosphate
that makes the framework hard and strong. Bones store calcium and release some into the bloodstream
when it's needed by other parts of the body. The amounts of certain vitamins and minerals that you eat,
especially vitamin D and calcium, directly affect how much calcium is stored in the bones.

Bones are made up of two types of bone tissues:

1. Compact bone - is the solid, hard outside part of the bone. It looks like ivory and is extremely
strong. Holes and channels run through it, carrying blood vessels and nerves.
2. Cancellous bone- which looks like a sponge, is inside compact bone. It is made up of a mesh-like
network of tiny pieces of bone called trabeculae (pronounced: truh-BEH-kyoo-lee). This is where
bone marrow is found.

In this soft bone is where most of the body's blood cells are made. The bone marrow contains stem cells,
which produce the body's red blood cells and platelets, and some types of white blood cells. Red blood
cells carry oxygen to the body's tissues, and platelets help with blood clotting when someone has a cut or
wound. White blood cells help the body fight infection.

Bones are fastened to other bones by long, fibrous straps called ligaments Cartilage a flexible, rubbery
substance in our joints, supports bones and protects them where they rub against each other.
Bones

Our bones give our bodies shape, and support and protect our organs and systems.

How Do Bones Grow?

The bones of kids and young teens are smaller than those of adults and contain "growing zones" called
growth plates. These plates consist of multiplying cartilage cells that grow in length, and then change into
hard, mineralized bone. These growth plates are easy to spot on an X-ray. Because girls mature at an
earlier age than boys, their growth plates change into hard bone at an earlier age.

Bone-building continues throughout life, as a body constantly renews and reshapes the bones' living
tissue. Bone contains three types of cells:

1. Osteoblasts- which make new bone and help repair damage

2. osteocytes - mature bone cells which help continue new born formation
3. osteoclasts -which break down bone and help to sculpt and shape it

What Are Muscles and What Do They Do?

Muscles pull on the joints, allowing us to move. They also help the body do such things as chewing food
and then moving it through the digestive system.

Even when we sit perfectly still, muscles throughout the body are constantly moving. Muscles help the
heart beat, the chest rise and fall during breathing, and blood vessels regulate the pressure and flow of
blood. When we smile and talk, muscles help us communicate, and when we exercise, they help us stay
physically fit and healthy.

Humans have three different kinds of muscle:

1. Skeletal muscle is attached by cord-like tendons to bone, such as in the legs, arms, and face.
Skeletal muscles are called striated (pronounced: STRY-ay-ted) because they are made up of
fibers that have horizontal stripes when viewed under a microscope. These muscles help hold the
skeleton together, give the body shape, and help it with everyday movements (known as
voluntary muscles because you can control their movement). They can contract (shorten or
tighten) quickly and powerfully, but they tire easily.
2. Smooth, or involuntary, muscle is also made of fibers, but this type of muscle looks smooth, not
striated. We can't consciously control our smooth muscles; rather, they're controlled by the
nervous system automatically (which is why they're also called involuntary). Examples of smooth
muscles are the walls of the stomach and intestines, which help break up food and move it
through the digestive system. Smooth muscle is also found in the walls of blood vessels, where it
squeezes the stream of blood flowing through the vessels to help maintain blood pressure.
Smooth muscles take longer to contract than skeletal muscles do, but they can stay contracted for
a long time because they don't tire easily.
 3. Cardiac muscle is found in the heart. The walls of the heart's chambers are composed almost
entirely of muscle fibers. Cardiac muscle is also an involuntary type of muscle. Its rhythmic,
powerful contractions force blood out of the heart as it beats.

How Does the Brain Work in Muscular System?

The movements your muscles make are coordinated and controlled by the brain and nervous system. The
involuntary muscles are controlled by structures deep within the brain and the upper part of the spinal
cord called the brain stem. The voluntary muscles are regulated by the parts of the brain known as the
cerebral motor cortex and the cerebellum .

When you decide to move, the motor cortex sends an electrical signal through the spinal cord and
peripheral nerves to the muscles, causing them to contract. The motor cortex on the right side of the brain
controls the muscles on the left side of the body and vice versa.

The cerebellum coordinates the muscle movements ordered by the motor cortex. Sensors in the muscles
and joints send messages back through peripheral nerves to tell the cerebellum and other parts of the brain
where and how the arm or leg is moving and what position it's in. This feedback results in smooth,
coordinated motion. If you want to lift your arm, your brain sends a message to the muscles in your arm
and you move it. When you run, the messages to the brain are more involved, because many muscles have
to work in rhythm.

Muscles move body parts by contracting and then relaxing. Muscles can pull bones, but they can't push
them back to the original position. So they work in pairs of flexors and extensors. The flexor contracts to
bend a limb at a joint. Then, when the movement is completed, the flexor relaxes and the extensor
contracts to extend or straighten the limb at the same joint. For example, the biceps muscle, in the front of
the upper arm, is a flexor, and the triceps, at the back of the upper arm, is an extensor. When you bend at
your elbow, the biceps contracts. Then the biceps relaxes and the triceps contracts to straighten the elbow.

What Are Joints and What Do They Do?

Joints are where two bones meet. They make the skeleton flexible — without them, movement would be
impossible.

Joints allow our bodies to move in many ways. Some joints open and close like a hinge (such as knees
and elbows), whereas others allow for more complicated movement — a shoulder or hip joint, for
example, allows for backward, forward, sideways, and rotating movement.

Joints are classified by their range of movement:

 Immovable, or fibrous, joints don't move. The dome of the skull, for example, is made of bony
plates, which move slightly during birth and then fuse together as the skull finishes growing.
Between the edges of these plates are links, or joints, of fibrous tissue. Fibrous joints also hold
the teeth in the jawbone.
 Partially movable, or cartilaginous (pronounced: kar-tuh-LAH-juh-nus), joints move a little.
They are linked by cartilage, as in the spine. Each of the vertebrae in the spine moves in relation
to the one above and below it, and together these movements give the spine its flexibility.
 Freely movable, or synovial (pronounced: sih-NO-vee-ul), joints move in many directions. The
main joints of the body — such as those found at the hip, shoulders, elbows, knees, wrists, and
 ankles — are freely movable. They are filled with synovial fluid, which acts as a lubricant to help
the joints move easily.

Three kinds of freely movable joints play a big part in voluntary movement:

1. Hinge joints allow movement in one direction, as seen in the knees and elbows.
2. Pivot joints allow a rotating or twisting motion, like that of the head moving from side to side.
3. Ball-and-socket joints allow the greatest freedom of movement. The hips and shoulders have
this type of joint, in which the round end of a long bone fits into the hollow of another bone.