Examples of Sensory Adaptation

Sensory adaptation refers to the way your body adjusts to the effects of stimulation by adapting to such stimulation after a while. "Sensory adaptation" is diminished sensitivity of the sensory receptors due to overstimulation. The process of sensory adaptation enables your body to function in certain unfamiliar or unpleasant situations, while filtering out the initial source of irritation, shock or overstimulation.

Temperature

• Temperature adaptation helps the body adjust to a cold shower.

  An example of sensory adaptation is the way your body reacts to temperature. As long as the stimulus is not extreme, for instance, scalding hot water, your body will adjust to it very quickly. The human body perceives the sense of touch through the skin. The skin contains many receptors, all of which have different functions. There are receptors for such sensations as heat, cold, pressure and pain. Sensory adaptation to temperature is why your body quickly becomes used to a cold shower that may have been shocking at first. It is also the reason why your body quickly becomes used to a hot bath, which might have been uncomfortable at first.

Darkness

• Adaptation to darkness is a sensory adaptation.

  Dark adaptation occurs when the intensity of light is reduced. This reduced light intensity causes your eyes to adapt to the darkness. Some changes occur in your eyes to allow this to happen. First, there is a noticeable dilation of the pupils, to grant more light access to the retina. The next change or adaptation is the increased sensitivity of the color receptors of the eye. When there is little light, there is an increase in chemicals in the eye that react to light, to enable more of them to be struck by photons, or light particles. The final adaptation is in the rods, which are responsible for night vision. Like cones, light-sensitive chemicals in the rods increase when there is poor illumination.

Smell

• Adaptation to smell filters excessive smell.

  The sense of smell quickly adapts to any smell, be it pleasant or unpleasant. When someone with a particularly bad body odor enters a room, the bad smell is immediately apparent to people in the room. However, after a very short time the smell will cease to be as obvious, because a sensory adaptation to the smell has occurred. When someone else comes into the room from outside, he will be struck by the unpleasant smell, which people in the room have adapted to.