Special Senses: In a Nutshell (Nursing)

00:01 So to conclude our lecture on the special senses, we have five special senses: smell, taste, vision, hearing and equilibrium.

00:14 Smell occurs when odorants bind to the olfactory receptor cells sending an impulse to the brain by way of the olfactory nerve.

00:25 Taste occurs when tastants bind to the gustatory receptor cells and our taste buds sending impulses to the brain by way of the facial, glossopharyngeal and vagus nerves.

00:40 Vision involves two types of photoreceptors found in the retina of the eye - rods and cones.

00:48 These send impulses to the brain by way of the optic nerve that exits out of the retina.

00:56 Hearing involves the propagation of sound waves by way of vibrations through structures in the ear.

01:04 These vibrations move hair cells in the cochlea that send impulses to the brain by way of the vestibulocochlear nerve.

01:14 Also in the ear, equilibrium involves the vestibular apparatus.

01:20 Hair cells in the organs of this structure including the utricle, saccule and semicircular canals send impulses to the brain by way of the vestibulocochlear nerve.

01:35 This concludes our lecture on the special senses.

01:39 Thank you for listening.