Stimulus and Psychophysics

Stimulus

How do we understand senses or sensation? We first need the basic knowledge of stimulus. “A stimulus is energy that produces a response in a sense organ.” Stimuli vary in both type and intensity. Different types of stimuli activate different sense organs. For instance, we can differentiate light stimuli, which activate our sense of sight and allow us to see the colors and shape of things. The sight stimuli are different from hearing stimuli that permit us to hear sound of different kinds.

Psycho-physics

Each sort of stimulus that is capable of activating a sense organ will also be considered in terms of its strength or intensity. The issue of how the intensity of a stimulus influences our sensory responses is considered as a branch of psychology known as psychophysics.

“Psychophysics is the study of relationship between physical nature of stimuli and a person’s sensory responses to them.” It plays a central role in the development of the field of psychology.