Sensory (afferent) division - Sensory Receptors - By structural complexity

6 important questions on Sensory (afferent) division - Sensory Receptors - By structural complexity

How are simple and complex receptors different in structure?

Simple sensory receptors are part of the primary sensory neuron itself, lacking separate receptor cells unlike complex sensory receptors. They come in unencapsulated or encapsulated free nerve endings varieties
Complex sensory receptors look different to simple sensory receptors and have non neural cells that synapse with sensory neurons.

How are simple and complex receptors different in function?

Simple receptors detect general senses like pain, temperature, touch, and pressure.
Complex receptors Detect special senses like vision, hearing, balance, taste, and smell


Where are simple sensory receptors found in comparison to complex receptors?

Simple receptors spread widely throughout the skin, muscles, and internal organs.
Complex receptors are confined to specific, sense organs in the head (eyes, ears, tongue, nose).
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Give 3 examples of simple “unencapsulated” sensory receptors

  1. Thermoreceptors
  2. Chemoreceptors
  3. Nociceptors

Special sense organs are special becuase they have what 2 things?

  • Specialised organs devoted to them
  • Sensory information is conveyed to the CNS via cranial nerves

Where in the thalamus does visual sensory information synapse? Which lobe and to what cortex is it relayed to by 3rd order neurons?

Predominant synapse in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) of the thalamus → to the visual cortex in the occipital lobe

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