Reference no: EM133195010

Assignment Description

Discussion: Pathways of the Sensory Systems

Continuing from the sense of touch last week, there are four additional senses: hearing, taste, smell, and vision. For any of these senses, the information needs to travel from the external environment, be transduced by sensory receptors, and then be transmitted to the brain. Along the way, information from most senses is filtered by passing through the thalamus before reaching the specialized sensory areas in the brain.

For this Discussion, you will explore the pathways from the environment to the brain for an assigned sense. Then you will consider a clinical condition in which that sensory system does not work correctly.

To prepare:

• To ensure that all five senses are considered in this class, you will be assigned a sense based on your last name.
  • Last Name A - E: Touch
  • Last Name F - J: Hearing
  • Last Name K - N: Smell
  • Last Name O - R: Taste
  • Last Name S - Z: Vision
• For your assigned sense, review this week's Learning Resources and focus on how signals from the environment are received in the brain.
• Research a clinical condition involving the impairment of your assigned sense.

Post a response to the following:

For your assigned sense:

• Describe the pathways from the environment to the brain.
• Identify and describe the receptors that transduce the signal from the environment. Then name and briefly describe the path that this sensory information takes from the receptors to the central nervous system.
• Include and describe the region of the brain where this signal terminates.
• Finally, describe a clinical condition in which this sense is impaired and the biological reason for the impairment.

Support your posting with specific references from literature in the Walden Library and Learning Resources.

References:

Breedlove, S. M., & Watson, N. V. (2019). Behavioral neuroscience (9th ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

• Chapter 9, "Hearing, Balance, Taste, and Smell"
• Chapter 10, " Vision"