NIH Toolbox

Go Search
Home
About Us
Login
  
 

WebPart Pages - Sensory

 Sensation

The Sensory domain consists of six sub-domains listed below. Full descriptions provided by clicking on respective links.

Sub-domains

Audition: Hearing is an obligatory, ongoing sensory function (i.e., it cannot be turned off) and is the resultant product when acoustic information is processed through three groups of peripheral structures (outer, middle and inner ears) and then subsequently through the central auditory nervous system (brainstem and cortex), to create auditory experience.

Olfaction: The ability to detect odors, to recognize and discriminate odor quality, and to identify the  source of odors are primary functions of the olfactory system.

Somatosensation: refers to the detection, discrimination and recognition of body (somato) sensations. Somatosensations include submodalities of touch sensation such as light touch (on the surface of the skin), firm pressure and texture discrimination, proprioception involving sensing the location and movement of body parts, temperature sensation, pain (nociception) and itch.

Taste: Taste perception arises from stimulation of taste receptors which are composed of modified epithelial cells and found most frequently on the papillae of the tongue throughout the oral cavity, on the hard and soft palates, the pharynx, the larynx, the epiglottis and the esophagus.

Vestibular Balance: The vestibular system transduces and processes angular and linear acceleration and deceleration of the head, enabling postural balance, locomotor control, and gaze stabilization, particularly during head movement.

Vision: Vision is a complex sensation that provides information about our surrounding environment. The process giving rise to vision begins when cornea and lens refract light from objects and surfaces in the world to form a panoramic hemispheric image on the retina, the thin layer of nerve cells that lines the inside surface of the eye.

 

 

 

 

 Sensation Team

Because of the scope of this domain, team members are listed under each sub-domain. Click sub-domain name to view teams.
National Institute of Child Health & Human Development National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine National Institutes of Health National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences National Eye Institute National Institute of Aging National Institute of Mental Health National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism National Institute of Drug Abuse The Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research
                      Settings