Functional organization of the sensory systems. Processing of sensory information.
Sensory systems function to detect, encode, transmit, process, and interpret information from the internal and external environments.
The somatosensory system is composed of:
• Receptors
• Afferent pathways
• Cortical representation
They allow an organism to perceive its surroundings, interact with the world, and maintain homeostasis. This process involves a series of steps:
- Stimulus: A change in the environment that can be detected by a sensory receptor.
- Sensory Receptor: Specialized cells or structures that transduce (convert) a specific type of stimulus into an electrical signal.
- Sensory Transduction: The process by which the energy of a stimulus is converted into a receptor potential. This typically involves the opening or closing of ion channels in the receptor membrane, leading to a change in its membrane potential.
- Transmission: The receptor potential triggers action potentials in sensory (afferent) neurons. These signals are transmitted along neural pathways to the central nervous system (CNS).
- Processing: The CNS processes and integrates the sensory information, extracting relevant features and filtering out noise.
- Perception: The conscious awareness and interpretation of sensory information.
The neural circuits can be diverging or converging at certain points. (Check syllabus pt-80)