News tagged with sensory organ

New research holds promise for treatments for a range of women's health issues

Natural lubricants play an important role in health, including a well-known effect to help prevent osteoarthritis in knee and ankle joints. However, much is still unknown about their role and function in other areas of the ...

Ophthalmology created Apr 18, 2013 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

The Fat Chip: Controlling obesity the smart way

(Medical Xpress)—Gastric banding, a common surgery to reduce obesity, leaves much to be desired. Typically, the patient is left with a feeling of constant hunger. Stimulators implanted in the feeding centers ...

Overweight and Obesity created Apr 09, 2013 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast report

MRI shows brain abnormalities in migraine patients

A new study suggests that migraines are related to brain abnormalities present at birth and others that develop over time. The research is published online in the journal Radiology.

Neuroscience created Mar 26, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Neural 'synchrony' may be key to understanding how the human brain perceives

Despite many remarkable discoveries in the field of neuroscience during the past several decades, researchers have not been able to fully crack the brain's "neural code." The neural code details how the brain's ...

Neuroscience created Mar 12, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Sorting out stroking sensations: Biologists find individual neurons in the skin that react to massage

The skin is a human being's largest sensory organ, helping to distinguish between a pleasant contact, like a caress, and a negative sensation, like a pinch or a burn. Previous studies have shown that these ...

Neuroscience created Jan 30, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Why our backs can't read braille: Scientists map sensory nerves in mouse skin

Johns Hopkins scientists have created stunning images of the branching patterns of individual sensory nerve cells. Their report, published online in the journal eLife on Dec. 18, details the arrangement of the ...

Medical research created Dec 19, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Biologists achieve repair and read-through of stop mutations responsible for Usher syndrome

After years of basic research, scientists at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) are increasingly able to understand the mechanisms underlying the human Usher syndrome and are coming ever closer to ...

Genetics created Dec 04, 2012 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Activating the 'mind's eye': Scientists teach blind to read, recognize objects with sounds (w/ Video)

Common wisdom has it that if the visual cortex in the brain is deprived of visual information in early infanthood, it may never develop properly its functional specialization, making sight restoration later ...

Neuroscience created Nov 07, 2012 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (3) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Novel mechanisms underlying major childhood neuromuscular disease identified

A study by scientists from the Motor Neuron Center at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) suggests that spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a genetic neuromuscular disease in infants and children, results ...

Medical research created Oct 11, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Persistent sensory experience is good for aging brain

Despite a long-held scientific belief that much of the wiring of the brain is fixed by the time of adolescence, a new study shows that changes in sensory experience can cause massive rewiring of the brain, even as one ages. ...

Neuroscience created May 24, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

US begins stem cell trial for hearing loss

US researchers have begun a groundbreaking trial to test the potential of umbilical cord blood transplants, a kind of stem cell therapy, to treat and possibly reverse hearing loss in infants.

Medical research created Feb 08, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

How skin is wired for touch

Compared to our other senses, scientists don't know much about how our skin is wired for the sensation of touch. Now, research reported in the December 23rd issue of the journal Cell provides the first picture of how specia ...

Neuroscience created Dec 22, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Researchers supply major results for understanding the thalamus, the 'relay center' of the brain

The thalamus is the central translator in the brain: Specialized nerve cells (neurons) receive information from the sensory organs, process it, and transmit it deep into the brain. Researchers from the Institute ...

Neuroscience created Dec 14, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists discover an organizing principle for our sense of smell

The fact that certain smells cause us pleasure or disgust would seem to be a matter of personal taste. But new research at the Weizmann Institute shows that odors can be rated on a scale of pleasantness, and this turns out ...

Neuroscience created Sep 26, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

New perspectives on sensory mechanisms

The latest Perspectives in General Physiology series examines the mechanisms of visual, aural, olfactory, and tactile processes that inform us about the environment. The series appears in the September 2011 ...

Medical research created Aug 29, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Sensory system

A sensory system is a part of the nervous system responsible for processing sensory information. A sensory system consists of sensory receptors, neural pathways, and parts of the brain involved in sensory perception. Commonly recognized sensory systems are those for vision, hearing, somatic sensation (touch), taste and olfaction (smell).

The receptive field is the specific part of the world to which a receptor organ and receptor cells respond. For instance, the part of the world an eye can see, is its receptive field; the light that each rod or cone can see, is its receptive field. Receptive fields have been identified for the visual system, auditory system and somatosensory system, so far.

For more information about Sensory system, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.