Sensations

There are several types of analyzers based on modality:

  1. visual sensation - the sensation of light (brightness jump) and color (chromatic and achromatic colors). The receptor is the retina of the eye. Cones - sensitive to EM waves of different lengths - color vision. Rods - twilight vision. The cortical part of the visual analyzer is in the occipital region (field 17) of the brain cortex, which operates by the screen method.
  2. gustatory sensations - a combination of 4 tastes (bitter, salty - the root of the tongue, sour - the edges of the tongue, sweet - the tip). Stimulus–chemical substances dissolved in saliva or water. The cortical location is the temporal area.
  3. olfactory sensations - a kind of chemoreception, receptors are on the upper part of the nasal mucosa. Smelling and richness of smells.
  4. auditory sensations - the reflection of sound waves affecting the auditory receptor. Feeling the power of sound, vibration, tempo, and rhythm. The receptor is the cells of the inner ear. The auditory areas are in the temporal lobes of the brain. 5.Skin sensations: a) tactile (sensations of touch, pressure), receptors - numerous on the tongue and fingertips; b) warmth sense (thermoreceptors on the skin) - more receptors on the fingers and tongue; c) pain - most of the receptors are on the back and cheeks. Caused by thermal, mechanical and chemical influences, which can reach such intensity that they may destroy the body; d) sense of cold - more receptors on the neck, lower back, cheeks, nose.
  5. organic sensations - associated with internal receptors - satiety, hunger, suffocation, nausea, pain, etc.

Since sensations are largely provided by physiological processes - the activity of the sense organs, many of their characteristics can be measured with special devices.

However, different types of sensations are characterized not only by specificity but also by properties common to them. These properties include:

  • Quality.
  • Intensity.
  • Duration.
  • Spatial localization.

Quality is the key feature of a sensation, distinguishing it from other types of sensations and varying within this type. Auditory sensations differ in height, timbre, volume; visual - by saturation, color tone, etc. The qualitative variety of sensations reflects the infinite variety of the matter motion. The intensity of sensation is its quantitative characteristic, it is determined by the strength of the affecting stimulus and the functional state of the receptor. The duration of the sensation is its temporal characteristic. It is also determined by the functional state of the sense organ, but mainly by the time of stimulation and its intensity. When a stimulus is exposed to the sensory organ, the sensation does not arise immediately, but after some time, which was called the latent (hidden) period of sensation. The sensations are also characterized by the spatial localization of the stimulus. Spatial analysis carried out by distant receptors gives us information about the localization of the stimulus in space. Contact sensations (tactile, pain, gustatory) are related to that part of the body, which is affected by the stimulus. The localization of pain sensations is diffuse and less precise than that of tactile sensations.