Final answer:
Muscle spindles and Golgi tendon organs are proprioceptive receptors that monitor muscle length and tension, respectively. They play a crucial role in proprioception and kinesthesia by sending signals to the cerebellum to enable the coordination of muscle movements and prevent injuries.
Step-by-step explanation:
The sensory receptors that monitor muscle length and the rate of change in muscle length are known as muscle spindles and Golgi tendon organs.
Muscle spindles are stretch receptors that detect the amount of stretch, or lengthening of muscles. They are essential for maintaining optimal muscle length.
Golgi tendon organs, on the other hand, are tension receptors that detect the force of muscle contraction and provide information about changes in muscle tension.
Both types of receptors are crucial for proprioception, which is the body's ability to perceive its own position in space, and kinesthesia, the sense of muscle movement, helping to protect muscles from injury by triggering reflexes that prevent overstretching and over-contraction.
Proprioceptive signals originating from limbs travel from the spinal cord to the cerebellum to coordinate muscle actions.
Unlike most sensory input that travels to the thalamus, these unconscious proprioceptive signals assist in the coordination of muscle activity without our conscious awareness.
Your complete question is:
Which of the following are receptors that monitor changes in muscle length? a. Muscle spindlesa. b. Meissner's corpuscle. c. Free nerve endings. d. Pacinian corpuscle. e. Golgi tendon organs.