Terms to know about taste and smell

Odorant	Something you smell
Olfactory epithelium	The tissue in the nose which contains scent-detecting cells
Olfactory hairs	The dendrites of the scent-detecting cells. Don’t mix them up with inner ear hair cells or hair follicles!
Cribiform plate	The plate of bone under the olfactory epithelium. Damage to it can cause loss of the sense of smell
Olfactory nerves	The axons connecting the scent-detecting cells to the olfactory bulb. They run through the cribiform plate
Olfactory bulb	The part of the brain which synapses with the scent-detecting cells
Olfactory cortex	The part of the brain that processes olfactory impulses; on the medial side of the temporal lobe
Olfactory tract	The axons connecting the olfactory bulb with the olfactory cortex
Tastant	Something you taste. You should know how the five different tastes make the taste buds fire.
Taste buds	The epithelium containing sensory cells that detect tastants
Taste cortex	In the frontal lobe, under the anterior end of the temporal lobe
	You should know the nerves that carry taste information to the brain
Eye anatomy	– see the list of structures for lab at http://faculty.alverno.edu/bowneps/BI%20231%20course%20documents/Anatomy%20sheets/Sensory%20Organs.htm
Rhodpsin	The colored pigment inside rods which reacts to light. You should know how this pigment affects the rod’s firing
Bipolar cells	Pick up the sensory message from rods and pass it to ganglion cells
Ganglion cells	Carry the sensory message from bipolar cells to the brain. The optic nerves are made up of the axons of all the ganglion cells.
Convergence	When more than one rod attaches to a single ganglion cell. This makes vision more sensitive in low light
Sensitivity	How well you can see in low light. The more rods you have, the more sensitive your vision is
Acuity	How sharp your vision is. Your vision is sharpest if you have only one photoreceptor attached to each ganglion cell.
Optic chiasm	Where half of the axons from the ganglion cells cross over to the other side of the brain
Optic tract	The axons of the ganglion cells as they pass through the tissue of the brain
Superior colliculi	The part of the midbrain that controls eye reflexes
Optic radiation	Where the axons carrying information about sight fan out to attach to cells in the visual cortex
Visual cortex	In the occipital lobe
Ear anatomy	– see the list of structures for lab at http://faculty.alverno.edu/bowneps/BI%20231%20course%20documents/Anatomy%20sheets/Sensory%20Organs.htm
Conduction	When the pressure waves in the air are transmitted through ear structures
Conductive deafness	When a person becomes deaf because they can’t transmit the pressure waves
Sensorineural deafness	When a person can transmit the pressure waves, but their hair cells don’t fire in response
Bony labyrinth	The ‘tunnels’ and ‘chambers’ in the temporal bone within which the hair cells live
Vestibulocochlear nerve	The axons from the hair cells, going into the brain
Inferior colliculus	The part of the midbrain where reflex responses to sound are initiated
Auditory cortex	In the temporal lobe
Eustachian tube	Connects the middle ear to the throat; helps equalize air pressure on the two sides of the eardrum
Soma	Refers to all of the body except the internal organs
Viscera	The internal organs
Somatic senses	Senses felt by the soma; Touch, pressure, itch, vibration, temperature, proprioception, pain
Visceral senses	Senses felt by the viscera; mainly pressure and pain
Mechanoreceptors	Neurons that fire in response to mechanical stimuli
Chemoreceptors	Neurons that fire in response to chemical stimuli
Thermoreceptors	Neurons that fire in response to temperature
photoreceptors	Neurons that fire in response to light or dark
nociceptors	Neurons that fire in response to painful stimuli
proprioceptors	Neurons that fire in response to changes in body position