SAGE Reference - The SAGE Encyclopedia of Lifespan Human Development

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Sensory Systems

By: Martha Arterberry
In: The SAGE Encyclopedia of Lifespan Human Development
Edited by: Marc H. Bornstein
Subject:Lifespan Development, Lifespan & Developmental Psychology (general)
Keywords:cataracts; infants; retina; sensitivity; smell; taste; taste buds

The sensory systems underlie our capacity for touch, taste, smell, hearing, and sight. Each system has unique receptors (e.g., retina for sight and taste buds for taste), is governed by different neural structures (e.g., visual cortex or pons for sight or taste, respectively), and follows a unique developmental trajectory. In this entry, each system is described including the physiology, age of onset, refinements in childhood, and changes with advancing age.

Touch

[Page 1953]Our sense of touch allows us to perceive changes in pressure, temperature, and features of objects, and it often guides our actions. The receptors for touch lie in the skin and respond to mechanical stimuli, such as pressure, temperature, and other physical forces. Information from these receptors is processed in the somatosensory cortex in the ...

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  Arterberry, M. (2018). Sensory systems. In M. Bornstein (Ed.), The SAGE encyclopedia of lifespan human development (pp. 1953-1955). SAGE Publications, Inc., https://www.doi.org/10.4135/9781506307633.n726
  
  Arterberry, Martha. "Sensory Systems." In The SAGE Encyclopedia of Lifespan Human Development, edited by Bornstein, Marc H., 1953-55. Thousand Oaks,, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781506307633.n726.
  
  Arterberry, M. 2018. Sensory Systems. In: Marc H. Bornstein Editor, 2018. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Lifespan Human Development, Thousand Oaks,, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. pp. 1953-1955 Available at: <http://www.doi.org/10.4135/9781506307633.n726> [Accessed 21 Jun 2021].
  
  Arterberry, Martha. "Sensory Systems." The SAGE Encyclopedia of Lifespan Human Development. Edited by Marc H. Bornstein. Thousand Oaks,: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2018, pp. 1953-55. SAGE Knowledge. 21 Jun 2021, doi: http://www.doi.org/10.4135/9781506307633.n726.
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