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In perceptual psychology, a stimulus is an energy change (e.g., light or sound) which is registered by the senses (e.g., vision, hearing, taste, etc.) and constitutes the basis for perception. [2] In behavioral psychology (i.e., classical and operant conditioning), a stimulus constitutes the basis for behavior. [2]
Chemical stimuli, such as odorants, are received by cellular receptors that are often coupled to ion channels responsible for chemotransduction. Such is the case in olfactory cells . [ 12 ] Depolarization in these cells result from opening of non-selective cation channels upon binding of the odorant to the specific receptor.
Stimulation, in general, refers to how organisms perceive incoming stimuli. As such it is part of the stimulus-response mechanism. Simple organisms broadly react in three ways to stimulation: too little stimulation causes them to stagnate, too much to die from stress or inability to adapt, and a medium amount causes them to adapt and grow as they overcome it.
Stimuli are not necessarily translated into a percept and rarely does a single stimulus translate into a percept. An ambiguous stimulus may sometimes be transduced into one or more percepts, experienced randomly, one at a time, in a process termed multistable perception .
The stimulus–response model is a conceptual framework in psychology that describes how individuals react to external stimuli.According to this model, an external stimulus triggers a reaction in an organism, often without the need for conscious thought.
Classical conditioning occurs when a conditioned stimulus (CS) is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (US). Usually, the conditioned stimulus is a neutral stimulus (e.g., the sound of a tuning fork), the unconditioned stimulus is biologically potent (e.g., the taste of food) and the unconditioned response (UR) to the unconditioned stimulus is an unlearned reflex response (e.g., salivation).
Antecedent stimuli (paired with reinforcing consequences) activate centers of the brain involved in motivation, [4] while antecedent stimuli that have been paired with punishing consequences activate brain centers involved in fear. [5] Antecedents play a different role while attempting to trigger positive and negative outcomes. [6]
The controlling effects of stimuli are seen in quite diverse situations and in many aspects of behavior. For example, a stimulus presented at one time may control responses emitted immediately or at a later time; two stimuli may control the same behavior; a single stimulus may trigger behavior A at one time and behavior B at another; a stimulus may control behavior only in the presence of ...