Sensation is the response of various receptors, organs and brain centers in the human body to external stimuli. For example, visual or auditory sensations are the result of reflection of optical or sound electromagnetic waves of a certain spectrum. Tactile - the reaction of skin receptors to contact with any object.
I see, I hear, I feel
The main properties of sensations are reduced to adaptation (adaptation to the stimulus to such an extent that the reaction to it is reduced to a minimum), sensitization (purposeful and deliberate increase in sensitivity to certain stimuli), contrast (amplification or weakening of the reaction to one of the stimuli when interacting with another: after a sweet candy, the apple seems more acidic than usual) and synaesthesia (there is no symbiosis of different kinds of sensations, for example, visual-auditory, when, under a certain influence of sound signals s a person the illusion of visual images).
Help with treatment
All types of sensations and their basic properties are inherent, can have different degrees of manifestation depending on the individual physicobiological characteristics of a particular subject. But all of them are of great importance from a psychological point of view. In particular, sensitization and adaptation are widely used in psychotherapy in order to develop the ability of the individual to a more vivid and emotional perception of various positive elements (in particular, this brings good results in the treatment of depressive states) or, conversely, to reduce sensitivity to certain negative for the patient irritants in a case of combating phobias.
The basic properties and regularities of sensations are clearly seen in the example of visual illusions, when the observed object can cause ambiguous or distorted perception caused by a contrasting background, or a certain distance and speed of movement.
Separately it is worth mentioning the adequacy of sensations, especially in the case of hallucinations , when there is a different sensory response to stimuli that are not correctly interpreted by brain centers. And the main property of sensations in this case is reduced to a false effect of the reflectivity of the sensors in response to various external catalysts,
The main properties of sensations in psychology have been studied for a long time and almost all of them are used in diagnosing and choosing a method of treating a patient. However, we must not forget that the degree of their manifestation is always individual and different people all feel differently. This explains the various preferences in the choice of taste, odor or color, which is especially important in the case of aroma or color therapy.