Sensations

Posted on August 4, 2008 by Madalin Szemkovics
Filed Under Basics |

The sensation is a primary psychic process that allows an individual to get in touch with the environment. The surrounding objects are introduced to our perception through sensations, but their function stop here, being just interceders between the objects and our perception.

There are six types of sensations, each with a different physical receiver. These are the visual (eyes), auditory(ears), kinesthetic (muscles, ligaments), tactile (skin), olfactory and gustative (nose and tongue), and organic (tissues and organs).

Visual sensations are based on the ability of the eye to receive and process the electromagnetic waves between 390 and 780 milimicrons. Visual sensibility can be luminous (when we distinguish light from darkness) and chromatic (through which we can separate colors).

Auditory sensations appear from vibrations around us, which must be at least 16 per second for us to perceive. The auditory sensibility has different characteristics, such as the harmonic hearing, which enables us to integrate a set of sounds into a single music piece and simultaneusly experience individual sensations, according to the composing sounds.

Kinesthetic sensations inform us of our position and movement in space. At first, the newborn and even the fetus have only involuntary movements, but as he exercises, his movements become organized.

Tactile sensations come from the gentle touching of the skin. They provide data about an object’s characteristics, like toughness or ruggedness.

The olfactory and gustative sensations are based on the chemical properties of things. The smell appears when particles of one environmental element enter our nostrils, and the taste, when particles end up on our tongue. Our taste buds are grouped in four sections, each receiving the sweet, salty, bitter and tart taste.

Organic sensations reflect the status of our internal status or changes, like thirst, hunger, pain, satisfaction, strenght or weakness. They are very important in determining our body’s needs and notifying our consciousness of their presence, so that we can further satisfy them.

Comments

• Recently Written

  • The Memory - Part I
  • The Thinking - Part II
  • The Thinking - Part I
  • Representation
  • Perception
  • Sensations
  • The Psychic

• Categories

  • Basics

• Archives

  • August 2008


• Blogroll

  Psyblog PsychCentral Forensic Milton Broome

• About

  Voolpoi is a website focused on behavioral and social psychology, dedicated to explaining different functions of our psychic and the correlations between them. I hope you'll enjoy finding out how our mind works, and get a better understanding of other people's reactions.

• Search