Personal Senses

Paper Summary:

This paper explains the similarities of the individual senses, and draws reasonable assumptions as to how the senses work in concert with one another to enable the mind to create a complete picture of an individual's environment. The first exploration is of a personal observation with regard to the use of the senses to detect a bad piece of shellfish, followed by similarities in differences in the olfactory system and taste. The next exploration is of the epidermis, and some observations with regard to the similarities and differences of how motion is detected.

From the Paper:

"Smith and Margolskee state that taste cells lie within specialized structures called taste buds, which are situated in the epithelium of the mouth, predominantly on the tongue and soft palate. The majority of taste buds on the tongue are located within papillae, which are tiny projections that give the tongue its velvety, slightly rough appearance. They further state that the taste buds are onion-shaped structures that contain between 50 and 100 taste cells, each of which has fingerlike projections called microvilli that poke through an opening at the top of the taste bud called the taste pore. Chemicals from food, called tastants dissolve in the saliva and contact the taste cells through this pore, which interact, either with proteins on the surfaces of the cells known as taste receptors, or with pore-like proteins called ion channels. And it is these interactions that cause electrical changes in the taste cells that trigger them to send chemical signals that ultimately result in impulses to the brain. (Smith, Online) "

More papers on Personal Senses:

• Essay # 131323 : "Sense of Self: A Personal and Literary Analysis"
• Book Review # 98302 : "The Natural History of the Senses"
• Term Paper # 96450 : "Why Would You Doubt Your Senses?"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: