Question

As the water evaporates from the skin of a swimmer who has just left a pool, the swimmer begins to shiver and goosebumps form on his skin. As the blood vessels under his skin move more internally, the goosebumps that form and the shivering are reactions to counteract the lowering of body temperature. After the swimmer has dried off the shivering stops and his body temperature returns to normal. This is an example of
a) Product inhibition
b) Disequilibrium
c)A negative feedback mechanism
d)A positive feedback mechanism

Answer 1

The feedback mechanism is the stimulation sent by the body in order to initiate a processor to slow down the process. The feedback can be positive feedback or the negative feedback. The positive feedback works in order to cause a change in the same direction. And the negative feedback causes a change in the opposite direction.

Complete answer: The swimmer when emerges from the pool they begin to shiver due to a decrease in their body temperature. This decrease in their body temperature is due to the drop in the environmental temperature. The skin is the sensory organ that sends the signals to the hypothalamus region of the brain which helps in increasing the body temperature by vasoconstriction. This also leads to the formation of the goosebumps on the skin surface. This activity of the body helps in conserving the energy of the body and helps to increase the body temperature. As the blood vessels under his skin move more internally, the reactions that occur in its counterpart are the goosebumps that form and the shivering that occurs due to the lowering of the body temperature. The swimmer dries himself and the shivering is stopped. This is due to the signal sent by the skin to the hypothalamus region to update the temperature of the body. The body when dried attains normal temperature so the hypothalamus region stops the goosebumps and the shivering as a response to the feedback provided by the skin. This feedback provided by the skin is the negative feedback mechanism.

So, the answer is ‘negative feedback mechanism’.

Note: The skin first provides the feedback to the brain regarding the low body temperature which needs to be released. The brain acts on it and shivering and goosebumps appear on the skin. Once the body has attained the normal body temperature the skin again sends feedback to stop the shivering. This feedback is opposing the direction of feedback provided earlier by the skin. So, it is called negative feedback.