Sensation and Perception

Conduct three of the following experiments and record your reactions: Rub your index fingers gently over a piece of very coarse sandpaper a few times and rate its coarseness on a scale from 1 (very soft) to 7 (very coarse). After a minute or two, rub the same finger over the paper and again rate its coarseness. Did your perception of the coarseness change? How? Distribute one cup with sugar water and one with fresh water. Take …

…undesirable. Lack of sensitivity is obviously also undesirable. All senses have the ability to shift their operating range i.e. change the range of physical intensity levels which generate a perceptual response. This allows us to adapt to prevailing environmental conditions and remain sensitive to change - light and noise level, skin stimulation. Within each sensory modality, many subtle adaptation effects can also be generated, which tell us a lot about how the system operates.