Somatosensation Sensory Adaptation & Amplification: Sensory adaptation is change over time in responsiveness of sensory receptor to a constant stimulus (i.e. putting hand on a table, eventually you forget that it’s even there) → down regulation Sensory amplification is the up regulation of responsiveness to sensory input (i.e. a photon hitting the rod will generate a cascade of effects down the line) Proprioception & Kinesthesia: Proprioception is our ability to sense exactly where our body is in space, AKA “sense of position” → cognitive awareness of our body in space Muscle spindles are stretch receptors within the body of a muscle that primarily detect changes in the length of the muscle (stretch and contract with the muscle) → helps our brain know where our body is in space Kinesthesia is the movement of the body and is more behavioral Pain & Temperature:Nociception is our ability to sense pain Thermoception is our ability to sense temperature TrpV1 receives painful and temperature stimuli (heat causes a conformational change in the receptor) - Extra Notes: Go over skin cell receptor types: Merkel, Ruffini, Meissner, and Pacinian The Ruffini cylinder has a large receptive field and responds to stretch. The Merkel receptor has a small receptive field and is important in sensing fine details. The Meissner corpuscle has a small receptive field and is important in grip control. The Pacinian corpuscle, a fast adapting (FA II) mechanoreceptor that fires to ‘on’ and ‘off’ stimulus and response to vibration.