Lesson 1 — Sensory Perception



Get Focused

In this lesson, you will explore some of the senses that help maintain homeostasis by responding to environmental stimuli. Sensory receptors, which are specialized neurons, receive stimuli such as taste, smell, touch, and temperature. You will learn about the special receptors for these senses and how they communicate information to the brain for processing. Later in the unit, you will explore the very important senses of sight and hearing.

You will examine how the brain processes information differently depending on your experiences. Investigators of accidents often are frustrated by widely different eyewitness accounts of the same accident, for example. One person's perception can be very different from that of another person.

What do you see in the following image? In this optical illusion (Image 1), do you see a young woman or an old woman? The young woman's chin is the old woman's nose and the young woman's necklace is the old woman's mouth.


Image 1 - United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs. Public Domain


Image 2 - Do you see a wine glass, or do you see  two faces?
 In this lesson, you will investigate the following focusing question:

  • What information about the environment do the senses of touch, smell, and taste communicate to a person's nervous system to maintain homeostasis?


Biology 30 © 2008  Alberta Education & its Collaborative Partners ~ Updated by ADLC 2019