Question:

Golgi tendon organ is responsible for sensing?

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It lies in series with muscle fibres, so it reports the force the muscle generates.
Updated On: Jun 23, 2026
  • Tension
  • Length
  • Pressure
  • Proprioception
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The Correct Option is A

Solution and Explanation

Step 1: The Golgi tendon organ (GTO) is a proprioceptive sensory receptor located at the junction of muscle fibres and their tendon, arranged in series with the extrafusal muscle fibres.
Step 2: Because of this in-series position, when the muscle contracts or is stretched, the GTO is loaded and detects the force or tension developed by the muscle. It also senses the rate of change of tension. So the answer is tension (option a).
Step 3: Length (b) is detected by muscle spindles, which lie parallel to the extrafusal fibres and act as muscle length detectors, sensing length and rate of change of length.
Step 4: Pressure (c) is sensed by cutaneous receptors like Pacinian corpuscles, and generic proprioception (d) is too broad - the specific modality of the GTO is muscle tension.
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