senso-, sens-, sensi-, sensori-, sent-

(Latin: feeling, perception through physical awareness; to discern or detect by touch, smell, taste, sight, hearing, etc.)

The words in this list refer either to physical or mental perceptions, or a combination of both of them.

viscerosensory reflex (s) (noun), viscerosensory reflexes (pl)
A form of pain in which stimuli within the stomach area causes painful reactions when the stomach is touched or if any pressure is applied to another external region of the body: The tender and smarting viscerosensory reflexes were a result of somatic structures (skin and muscle) that came from a malfunctioning internal organ.

During the manual abdominal examination, Dr. Tall pressed firmly on various sectors of Jane's abdomen causing a viscerosensory reflex in her, and she winced and twisted away from the doctor's probing hands.

According to the medical examiner, there appeared to be a cyst under the patient's skin of her right hand which resulted in a viscerosensory reflex when it was touched by the dermatologist.

visuosensory (adjective), more visuosensory, most visuosensory
Pertaining to the perception of sight stimuli or discernible impressions with the eyes: The visuosensory actions start in the retinas of the eyes, or the membranes at the back of the eyes, which contain light-reaction rods and cone cells in the outer layers of the retinas which distribute the different colors of light to the brain.

The rest of the visuosensory functions of the eyes are concerned with focusing light, in the right quantities, onto the retinas from which large amounts of data are sent from them via the optic nerves to the brain for analyses.

If you would like to take self-scoring quizzes over many of the words in this section, then click on these Sensory Quizzes so you can see how much you know about the following "senso-, sensi-" words or learn more about them.


Related-word units meaning feeling: aesth-; pass-, pati-; patho-.