All that information that our senses capture from the environment that surrounds us is known as sensation, which is produced by the intervention of sensory receptors (especially the five senses), which send information to the brain about what has been perceived. Subsequently, the brain interprets the information and acts accordingly. This system of reception of external stimuli is the fundamental idea of sensoperception. In other words, the perceived information accommodates our sensory capacity because each receptor cell is sensitive to one type of stimulus or another.
An overview of sensory perception in humans
Our body has highly specialized sensory systems. Through specific cells (the sensory receptors located in the eyes, tongue, nose and other parts) we can carry out the coding task that leads to specific sensations (cold, heat, fear, joy, etc.). Both the information we handle and the emotions we experience depend, to a large extent, on the mechanisms related to sensory perception. This complex process is possible because our brain is predetermined to interact with sensory cells.
Vision, touch, taste, smell, and hearing
If we think of human vision, it occurs because our eyes are designed with structures that enable perception. If one of these structures does not function correctly (for example, an alteration in the optic nerve) there is a visual limitation or directly an absence of perception of the images.
Somatic and skin sensitivity are involved in touch. The skin is the organ par excellence in perception through touch and is capable of capturing the temperature of objects and possible damage caused to this organ.
The sense of taste perceives four basic flavors (sweet, salty, sour and bitter and each of them is detected by specific taste buds).
The tongue has about ten thousand taste buds, which are unevenly distributed. The sense of smell is activated by the presence of airborne molecules that travel through the air and their size determines the extent of the smell that we perceive.
As for the ear, it works from the sound waves that pass through the auditory canal that ends at the eardrum, where the sound vibration occurs (the eardrum is attached to three small bones located in the middle ear which in turn connects with the inner ear and all this allows the hearing cells to send signals to the brain).
Photos: iStock - Yuri_Arcurs / Sergey7777
