Sense Organs

Sense organs
• A sense organ is a group of receptor cells that respond
to a particular stimulus, such as light, sound, touch,
temperature and chemicals.
• Receptors: The parts of an organism’s body that detect
stimuli, it may be specialised cells or just the endings of
sensory neurones.
• In animals, the receptors are often part of a sense
organ.
• Your eye, for example, is a sense organ, and contains
receptor cells in the retina. These receptor cells are
sensitive to light.
 Transduction
• The special property of sensory cells and sense
organs is that they can convert one form of energy to
another.
• The forms of energy that make up the stimuli can be
very different, for example, mechanical, chemical,
light, but they are all transferred into pulses of
electrical energy in the nerves.
• When a receptor responds to a stimulus, it sends a
nerve impulse to the brain, which makes us aware of
the sensation.
• Example: (1)The eyes can transfer light energy into
the electrical energy of a nerve impulse. (2)The ears
transfer the energy in sound vibrations into nerve
impulses.
 The structure of the eye (overview)
• The part of the eye that contains the receptor cells is
the retina. This is the part which is actually sensitive
to light. The rest of the eye simply helps to protect
the retina, or to focus light onto it.
• Each eye is set in a bony socket in the skull, which
protects the eye. Only the very front of the eye is not
surrounded by bone. The eye is filled with fluid,
which helps to keep it in shape.
• The front of the eye is covered by a thin, transparent
membrane called the conjunctiva, which helps to
protect the parts behind it. (Conjunctivitis, when this
membrane becomes sore and inflamed.)
Appearance of right eye from the front
 Eye as a Chemical & Physical barrier
• The surface of the eye is always kept moist by
a fluid made in the tear glands.
• This fluid contains an enzyme called lysozyme,
which can kill bacteria.
• The fluid is washed across your eye by your
eyelids when you blink.
• The eyelids, eyebrows and eyelashes also
help to stop dirt from landing on the surface
of your eyes.
 Structure of the eye (details)
• The sclera is the tough, white outer coating that
extends from the cornea (the clear front section of
the eye) to the optic nerve at the back of the eye.
• The front part of the sclera is clear and allows light to
enter the eye. This part is called the cornea.
• The conjunctiva is a thin epithelium, which lines the
inside of the eyelids and the front of the sclera.
• The eye contains a clear liquid, which puts pressure
on the sclera, keeping the spherical shape of the
eyeball.
– The liquid behind the lens is jelly-like and called
vitreous humour.
– The aqueous humour in front of the lens is watery.
 Choroid and Ciliary body
• The choroid layer lies between the retina and
the sclera, and contains many blood vessels.
• In the front of the eyeball, it forms the iris and
the ciliary body.
• The ciliary body produces aqueous humour
and contains ciliary muscles, which control the
thickness of the lens
 Lens and Iris
• The lens is a transparent structure held in place by
a ring of fibres called the suspensory ligament.
• The eye lens is flexible and can change its shape.
• In front of the lens is a disc of tissue called the iris.
• When we describe the colour of the eye as brown
or blue, we are really referring to the iris.
• The iris contains pigments, which absorb light and
stop it passing through.
• The iris controls how much light enters the pupil,
which is a hole in the centre of the iris.
Horizontal section through left eye
 The iris
• In front of the lens is a circular piece of tissue
called the iris. This is the coloured part of your
eye. The iris contains pigments, which absorb
light and stop it passing through.
• In the middle of the iris is a gap called the pupil.
The size of the pupil can be adjusted.
• The pupil looks black because all the light
entering the eye is absorbed by the black
pigment in the choroid.
 Pupil size
• The wider the pupil is, the more light can get through to
the retina.
• In high light intensity, the iris closes in, and makes the
pupil small.
• This stops too much light getting in and damaging the
retina.
• In low light intensity, the iris pulls back from the pupil,
so that the pupil becomes larger. This allows more light
to reach the retina.
 Adjusting the size of the pupil
• To adjust the size of the pupil, the iris contains muscles.
• Circular muscles are arranged in circles around the pupil.
When they contract, they make the pupil get smaller.
• Radial muscles run outwards from the edge of the pupil.
When they contract, they make the pupil dilate, or get
larger
• The circular muscles and radial muscles are antagonistic
muscles.
• They work together to control an action and have
opposite effects. When one muscle contracts, the other
relaxes.
 The Retina
• The retina is at the back of the eye.
• This is where the receptor cells are.
• When light falls on a receptor cell in the retina, the cell sends
an electrical impulse along the optic nerve to the brain.
• The brain uses the impulses from each receptor cell to build
up an image.
• Some of these receptor cells are sensitive to light of different
colours, enabling us to see coloured images.
• There are no receptor cells where the optic nerve leaves the
retina.
• This part is called the blind spot. If light falls on this place, no
impulses will be sent to the brain.
 Rods and cones
• The closer together the receptor cells are, the clearer the
image the brain can produce.
• The part of the retina where the receptor cells are packed
most closely together is called the fovea.
• This is the part of the retina where light is focused when you
look straight at an object.
• We have two kinds of receptor cells in the retina.
• Rods are sensitive to quite dim light, but they do not respond
to colour.
• Cones are able to distinguish between the different colours of
light, but they only function when the light is quite bright.
• Ther are 3 different kinds of cones, sensitive to red, green and
blue light.
Fovea and Blind spot(optic disc)
• Rods therefore allow us to see in dim light but
only in black and white, while cones give us
colour vision.
• The fovea contains almost entirely cones,
packed tightly together.
• When we look directly at an object, we use
our cones to produce a sharp image, in colour.
• Rods are found further out on the retina and
are less tightly packed.
• They show us a less detailed image.
 Vision
• Light from an object produces a focused image on the
retina (like a picture on a cinema screen).
• The curved surfaces of the cornea and lens both refract
(bend) the light rays that enter the eye, so that each point
of light from the object forms a point of light on the retina.
• These points of light will form an image, upside-down and
smaller than the object.
• The cornea and the aqueous and vitreous humours are
mainly responsible for the refraction of light.
• The lens makes the final adjustments to the focus.
• The pattern of sensory cells stimulated by the image will
produce a pattern of nerve impulses sent to the brain.
• The brain interprets this pattern, using past experience and
learning, and forms an impression of the size, distance and
upright nature of the object.
Image formation on the retina
Image formation in the eye
 The pupil/Iris reflex
• The change in size of the pupil is caused by exposure of the eye
to different light intensities.
• In high light intensity, it causes a contraction of circular muscle
in the iris and radial muscle fibres relax. This reduces the size
of the pupil and reduces the intensity of light entering the eye.
• In low light intensities, the circular muscle of the iris relaxes
and radial muscle fibres contract. This makes the pupil enlarge
and allows more light to enter.
• The change in size of the pupil is caused by an automatic reflex
action; cannot be controlled consciously.
• Although the nerve impulses go into the brain, the response of
the iris to light intensity (the stimulus) is fast and automatic.
• Like many reflexes, this is advantageous: it prevent possible
damage to retina caused by very bright light falling onto it.
The pupil / Iris reflex.
 Focusing light
• For the brain to see a clear image, there must be a
clear image focused on the retina.
• Light rays must be bent so that they focus exactly
onto the retina.
• Bending light rays is called refraction.
• Most refraction of the light entering the eye is
done by the cornea.
• The lens makes fine adjustments.
 Adjusting the focus
• Not all light rays need bending by the same
amount to focus them onto the retina.
• Light rays coming from an object in the
distance are only diverging slightly.
• They do not need much bending.
• These are considered to be parallel rays of
light.
 Accommodation (focusing)
• The eye can produce a focused image of near or a distant object.
• To do this the lens changes its shape, becoming thinner for
distant objects and fatter for near objects. This change in shape
is caused by contracting or relaxing the ciliary muscle, which
forms a circular band of muscle in the ciliary body .
• When the ciliary muscle is relaxed, the outward pressure of the
humours on the sclera pulls on the suspensory ligament. This
stretches the lens to its thin shape so it refracts light less.
• The eye is now accommodated (i.e. focused) for distant objects.
• To focus a near object, the ciliary muscle contracts and this
takes the tension out of the suspensory ligament. The lens is
elastic and flexible and so it can change to its fatter shape.
• This shape refracts light more and is better at bending the light
rays from a close object.
How accommodation is brought about by
changing shape of the lens
Focusing on a nearby object
Focusing on a distant object.
When the suspensory ligaments are tight, the lens is
pulled thin. When they are loosened, the lens gets
thicker.