Sensory Perception

Terms and Structure
Standard Definitions

Terms and Structure

Sensory perception occurs in organisms capable of performing neurophysiological processing of the stimuli in their environment, and covers the processes commonly called "the senses": hearing, vision, taste, smell and so on. Sensory perception involves detection of the stimulus and subsequent recognition and characterization of it. There are five different stimulus types involved in sensory processing - chemical, mechanical, electrical, light and temperature.

neurophysiological process
[i] sensory perception
---[p] detection of stimulus during sensory perception
------[i] detection of chemical stimulus during sensory perception
------[i] detection of electrical stimulus during sensory perception
[etc.]
---[i] sensory perception of chemical stimulus
------[p] detection of chemical stimulus during sensory perception
---[i] sensory perception of electrical stimulus
------[p] detection of electrical stimulus during sensory perception
[etc.]

The (known) senses are represented as processes underneath sensory perception. Most are worded sensory perception of stimulus modality, e.g. sensory perception of sound, sensory perception of touch, although some have more common names, such as visual perception or electroception.

A combination of stimuli may be used by some of the senses; for example, sensory perception of pain may come from temperature, mechanical, electrical or chemical stimuli. Similarly, stimuli of a certain type may be perceived by different senses: e.g. both sense of smell and taste use chemical stimuli. The structure is as follows:

sensory perception
[i] sensory perception of chemical stimulus
---[i] sensory perception of smell
------[p] detection of chemical stimulus during sensory perception of smell
---[i] sensory perception of taste
------[p] detection of chemical stimulus during sensory perception of taste
---[p] detection of chemical stimulus during sensory perception
------[i] detection of chemical stimulus during sensory perception of smell
------[i] detection of chemical stimulus during sensory perception of taste
------[i] detection of chemical stimulus during sensory perception of pain
...
[i] sensory perception of pain
---[p] detection of chemical stimulus during sensory perception of pain
---[p] detection of electrical stimulus during sensory perception of pain
---[p] detection of mechanical stimulus during sensory perception of pain
---[p] detection of temperature stimulus during sensory perception of pain

This structure is also repeated under the response to stimulus node:

response to stimulus
[i] detection of stimulus
---[i] detection of chemical stimulus
------[i] detection of chemical stimulus during sensory perception
---------[i] detection of chemical stimulus during sensory perception of smell
---------[i] detection of chemical stimulus during sensory perception of taste
---[i] detection of stimulus during sensory perception
------[i] detection of chemical stimulus during sensory perception
...
[i] sensory perception
---[p] detection of stimulus during sensory perception
------[i] detection of chemical stimulus during sensory perception
[etc.]

sensory perception of xxx may have the exact synonym perception of xxx.

Standard Definitions

sensory perception: The series of events required for an organism to receive a sensory stimulus, convert it to a molecular signal, and recognize and characterize the signal.
sensory perception of stimulus type stimulus: The series of events required for an organism to receive a stimulus type stimulus, convert it to a molecular signal, and recognize and characterize the signal.
detection of stimulus type stimulus during sensory perception of sensory modality: The series of events during the perception of sensory modality in which a stimulus type stimulus is received and converted to a molecular signal.