Sensation and perception actually play two fundamental complimentary roles, which are indeed different in how people interpret the world. Sensation refers to how people sense the environment through smell, sound, sight, taste and touch which are the five senses. This noble information is mainly sent to the brain in raw form and then perception takes over. Perception is defined as the way people interpret these sensations and thus making sense of the surrounding. It is worth noting that sensation refers to something that people can feel whereas perception refers to something that can be seen. Sensation is mainly a passive process that brings information that comes from the outside world to the brain and the body whereas perception is an active process of interpreting, organizing and selecting the information, which the sense brings to the brain (May, 2007).
Adaptation is a behavioural or physical characteristic, which has been developed and it offers an allowance to an organism to be able to better survive in their environments. It is paramount to note that adaptations are mainly because of evolution. Adaptation can take place when a gene changes or mutates by accident. This mutation can lead to the organism to better reproduce or survive and it eventually passes this trait to its other offspring. Adaptation can take many generations in order to develop (Goldstein, 2013).
My environment affects adaption in a very humongous manner whereby the body will try to adjust to the various environmental changes that take place. A case in point is when it becomes cold and the body responds by sending senses to my brain and the body starts to shiver and I should therefore wear warm and when it gets hot, the body starts to sweat meaning I should wear light. Thus, the environment determines how the body will adapt to the environmental changes that are taking place. In the first case of rubbing the index finger on the rough surface, the body slow adjusts and the roughness tends to ease off the more I rub. The index finger had effectively adapted to the rough surface and it did not feel the roughness after some more rubs. In the second case, I was indeed surprised by the taste of the fresh water since I had tasted sugar water, which was very sweet, and then after tasting the fresh water, the fresh water tasted natural and tasteless. The tongue had already adapted to the sweetness of the sugar (Mather & Mather, 2009).
In the third case scenario, the eyes were truly adapting to the darkness of the room the more I continued to stay there since the light was diminishing slowly. The sense of seeing was slowly adapting and responding to the environmental change that was taking place. In the fourth scenario, the left hand was in the hot water whereas the right hand was in the cold water. Then after three minutes, I transferred my hands into the lukewarm water and there was a sudden change in the temperature whereby the left hand felt a shock due to the lukewarm water since it had already adapted to the hot temperature whereas the right hand felt warm due to the temperature change. My hands had actually adapted to the different water temperatures and after putting them in the lukewarm water, the hands felt a shock (Goldstein, 2013).
The comprehensive description of the sensory systems that were involved in these experiments included the receptors, touch senses, the spinal cord and the brain. In the first scenario, the sensory system involved the receptors in the index finger that first felt roughness of the surface. The receptors sent the touch senses the message that the surface was rough and it then transmitted this senses to the spinal cord and finally to the brain. The brain had to perceive that the surface was rough, it thus had a perception on the surface, and it had to adapt by sending an adaption message back to the index finger. The index finger was finally able to adapt slow as I continued rubbing and this is the main reason the surface seemed not to be rough anymore (May, 2007).
In the second scenario, the tongue receptors activated the taste senses and they were able to taste senses were able to notice the sweetness of the water and they therefore sent this message to the brain via the brain and the brain perceived the water as sweet and the tongue adapted to this. However, after tasting the fresh water, the tongue felt a difference in the taste of the fresh water since it had already adapted to the sweetness of the water. The third case scenario involves the seeing senses that had already adapted to the flashlight but after having stayed in the dark room for sometime and with the help of the cards, the eye receptors activated the seeing senses that the room was becoming darker and this message was sent to the brain via the spinal cord. The brain then perceived this message and it interpreted that the room was slowly becoming darker as I continued staying in the dark room. In the last scenario, the receptors of both hands had varied temperature perception and after dipping the hands in the lukewarm water, the hands had different perceptions due to the sudden temperature change (Mather & Mather, 2009).
The signal detection theory and the sensory integration theory are some the sensory systems that are mainly concerned with how people feel, see, touch, taste and smell. The signal detection theory states that nearly every decision and reasoning making takes place ideally in the presence of various uncertainties. Thus, the signal detection theory offers graphic notation and precise language for analysing noble decision making in situations of uncertainty. The main approach of this theory contains direct application for people concerning sensory experiments that focus on how people feel, see, touch, taste and smell. Thus, the signal detection theory is used as a means of quantifying the ability to distinguish between random patterns and information-bearing patterns mainly referred to as stimulus in the human beings. On the other hand, the sensory integration theory states that sensory integration involves a neurobiological process, which organizes sensation from the environment and a person’s body and thus making it possible for body usage within a certain environment effectively (Goldstein, 2013).
The temporal and spatial concepts of inputs from various sensory modalities are unified, associated and interpreted. The sensory integration theory proposes the stipulation of sensory inputs that are enhanced in the context of a consequential activity, which then produces an adaptive response that results to brain function changes and behaviour (May, 2007).
These two theories have some similarities, which include the effective exploration of the sensory system, and they provide an in-depth perspective of what actually happens with various responses. They expound on the adaption of the body to the external environment and how the various messages are sent from the receptors to the brain and the corrective response that the body makes in order to effectively adapt. However, the two theories also differ in the concept that they utilize. A case in point is the signal detection theory that deals with situations of uncertainty whereas the sensory integration theory deals with a neurobiological process that organizes both the person’s body as well as the environment (Mather & Mather, 2009).
Adaption is integral from an evolutionary perspective since it leads to survival of people as well as organisms. From time immemorial, survival has always been a fundamental aspect to any human being and organism and the only way they could survive was through adaption to the various environmental conditions that took place. This phenomenon is also being practiced to date since it is part of nature. It is paramount to note that the environment is dynamic and it keeps changing and thus, they need to effectively adapt to these changes is paramount. Lack of adaption to the prevailing environment always leads to destruction and damage, which can eventually, leads to death. Evolution is defined as a gradual process whereby something changes into a diverse and the results are a better form or a more complex form. Thus, human beings and organisms have evolved through adaption to the numerous changes of the environment for the purposes of survival. Without adaption, the evolution process is impossible since the human beings as well as the organisms have to change and adapt which eventually leads to new forms for the sole purposes of survival (Goldstein, 2013).
References
Goldstein, E. Bruce. (2013). Sensation and Perception (With Psychology Coursemate With Ebook Printed Access Card). Wadsworth Pub Co.
Mather, G., & Mather, G. (2009). Foundations of sensation and perception. Hove, East Sussex [England: Psychology Press.
May, M. (2007). Sensation and perception. New York: Chelsea House Publishers.
