Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

Reply to comment

Skye Harmony's picture

questions about sensory input

I thought about something in class today. How can we explain sensory habituation, like a person getting "used to" the feeling of their clothes touching their body all day and no longer noticing it? Do the sensory neurons stop generating input after a while, or do we just stop noticing the input- and at what lpoint do we stop? Do the first action potentials stop firing so the signal isn't sent at all? Do they diminish somewhere along the way? Or does our I-function just know how to tune out the input that isn't relevant?

I also wonder about the sensations of itching and pain. Itching seems to occur with no sensory input, yet it feels as if there is sensory input. How can we explain this? And I think someone mentioned pain in the forum a few weeks back, but given that the only inputs to the nervous system are through sensory neurons, how do we experience pain- that is, how is it relayed to the sensory neurons and in turn to the nervous system?

Reply

To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.
3 + 3 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.