Sensory Perceptions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 15

Sensory Perceptions - Essay Example Placing ones hand on fire, the sense of feel will detect the temperature and pass the information to the brain, which perceives it as hot. This causes immediate withdrawal of the hand, preventing injury. Likewise, after placing food in the mouth, the tongue’s sense of taste will detect and send a message of the food’s taste to the brain, which will perceive it as either pleasant tasting and palatable or not. One can then proceed to eat or not. Taking an example of how to cross the road, the sense of sight helps in judging distance or depth. Through the eyes, the sense of sight of an oncoming vehicle is sent to the brain, which then determines whether it is far enough for safe crossing or too close to let it pass, keeping one out of risk of being hit.   Factors that contribute to the accuracy of sensory information include repeatability and memory (Turnbull et al, 1995). In the example of placing ones hand on fire, the sense of simply seeing does not perceive it as hot. However, continuously placing the hand on fire and finding it to be hot conditions the brain to memorize that fire is always hot, and touching eventually becomes unnecessary for the brain to perceive the fire as hot. There is also the use of tried and accepted methodologies that comply with the principles of the scientific community (Turnbull et al, 1995). With regards to sensory perceptions, nature may be viewed as a person’s natural instincts and genetic structure (Tierney et al, 1995). Nurture can be termed as the environmental factors that influence and shape a person’s behavior. They include teaching and parenting styles and one’s social, cultural and economic background. Both nature and nurture have an impact on an individual’s sensory perception. Studies have shown that, in a nurturing environment, children gain knowledge of objects through their experiences with their mothers (Tierney et