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Sensory Systems
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
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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- Taste
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- Thinking
- Touch
- Universal Education
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- Age-Irrelevant Society
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- Climate and Environment
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- Death Rates, Leading Causes by Developmental Period
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- Early Childhood Development
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- Infancy
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- Late Versus Early Parenthood
- Life Span
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- Poverty and Brain Development
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- Genetics and Biology
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- Autonomic Nervous System
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- Brain
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- Sensory Systems
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- Patienthood
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- Physical Development and Growth
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- Physical Health
- Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST)
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Poverty and Brain Development
- Prenatal Development
- Presbyopia and Diseases of the Eye in Late Life
- Preterm Birth
- Schizophrenia
- Self-Care
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- Dynamic Systems Theory
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- Ethics in Research
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- Ethology
- Field Experiments
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- Goodness of Fit
- Growth Curve Modeling and Longitudinal Factor Analysis
- Hypothesis Testing
- Individual Differences in Life-Span Development
- Informed Consent
- Intensive Measurement Designs
- Interviewing Children
- Life-Span Research Projects
- Longitudinal Versus Cross-Sectional Design, Analysis
- Measurement
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- Microgenetic Analysis
- Mixed Method Study
- Multilevel Modeling: Application for Life-Span Research
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- Standardized Tests
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- Structured Observation
- Survey Research
- Survival Analysis
- Telehealth
- Time Sampling
- Twin Studies
- Validity
- Personal Characteristics
- Ability
- Achievement
- Aptitude
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- Behavioral Inhibition (Shyness)
- Big Five Personality Traits
- Career Choice
- Character Strengths and Virtues
- Competence Versus Performance
- Creativity
- Dismissive-Avoidant Individuals
- Ego Development
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- Giftedness
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- Intelligence
- Jealousy and Envy
- Joviality
- Kindness
- Motivation (Intrinsic, Extrinsic)
- Narcissism
- Optimism
- Organization
- Perfectionism
- Personality
- Physical Appearance
- Planning Skills
- Playfulness
- Pride
- Purpose
- Resilience
- Security
- Self-Esteem
- Self-Worth
- Sensation Seeking
- Sexual Identity
- Sexuality
- Skill
- Social Identity
- Temperament
- Temperament and Personality
- Tolerance
- Trustworthiness
- Well-Being
- Wisdom
- Relationships and the Social World
- Adolescent–Parent Relationships
- Adoption
- Adult Attachment
- Aggression
- Attachment
- Attraction, Interpersonal
- Autonomy-Supportive Parenting
- Beanpole Family
- Blended Family
- Caregiver Stress
- Close Relationships
- Coaching
- Cohabitation
- Convoy Model
- Coparenting
- Dating
- Diverse Families/Stepfamilies
- Divorce
- Domestic Violence/Partner Violence
- Dyadic Regulation
- Ethnic-Racial Socialization
- Familism
- Family Chaos
- Family Contexts
- Family Life Cycle
- Family Rituals
- Family Synchrony
- Family Systems
- Fathering
- Filial Anxiety
- Filial Piety
- Friendships
- Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Issues
- Gender Socialization
- Glass Ceiling
- Grandchildren
- Grandparents
- Homophily
- Household Chaos
- Household Economics
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- Indiscriminate Social Responsiveness
- Interactions, Interpersonal
- Intergenerational Programs
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- Intergenerational Transmission
- Internal Working Model
- Interpersonal Relationships
- Intersubjectivity
- Kinship
- Marital Conflict
- Marital Relationships
- Marriage
- Mattering
- Mentoring
- Multigenerational Family
- Neurobiology of Affiliation
- Neurobiology of Mothering
- Nuclear Family
- Online Communication
- Organization of Relationships: Messiness and Reparation
- Ostracism
- Parent–Child Conflict
- Parent–Child Interactions
- Parent–Child Synchrony
- Parental Authority
- Parental Conditional Regard
- Parenting
- Parenting by Lesbians and Gay Men; Outcomes for Children and Youth
- Parenting Style
- Peer Rejection
- Peer Victimization
- Peers
- Pets
- Popularity
- Public Engagement
- Remarriage
- Romantic Relationships
- School–Family Links
- Siblings, Sibling Relationships
- Single Parenthood
- Social Capital
- Social Competence
- Social Exclusion
- Social Groups
- Social Information Processing
- Social Isolation
- Social Networks
- Social Relationships
- Social Support
- Stepfamilies
- Stepfamilies and Blended Families
- Street Life
- Teen Parenthood
- Transactions
- Victimization
- Work/Family Conflict
- Services
- Adult Day Services
- Assisted Living
- Child Care
- Continuing Care Retirement Communities
- Early Child Care
- End-of-Life Care
- Government
- Hospice Care
- Medicaid
- Medicare
- Nurse Home Visiting
- Nursing Homes and Skilled Nursing Facilities
- Palliative Care
- Prevention Programs
- Public Policy
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- Social Safety Net Programs
- Social Security
- Sociocultural Constructs
- Accidents
- Adaptation
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- Altruism
- Art
- Asceticism
- Athletics
- Attitudes
- Authority
- Awe
- Beauty
- Causality
- Census
- Conformity
- Conscience
- Dance
- Deception
- Discipline
- Dissent
- Empathy
- Ethics
- Familism
- Forgiveness
- Free Will
- Gender
- Generosity
- Glass Ceiling
- Human Rights
- Identity Development
- Ideology
- Inequality
- Insurance
- Justice
- Law
- Leadership
- Leisure
- Liberalism
- Materialism
- Mattering
- Media
- Morality
- Negotiation
- Norms
- Organizations
- Ownership
- Paradox
- Philanthropy
- Politics
- Property
- Public Engagement
- Reciprocity
- Rejection Versus Acceptance
- Sin
- Social Capital
- Social Categorization
- Social Inequality
- Social Status
- Socioeconomic Status
- Specificity Principle
- Status Hierarchy
- Stereotype (Stereotyping)
- Symbolic Representation
- Time
- Universal Education
- Values
- War
- Work
- Socioemotional Development
- Affective Forecasting
- Aggression
- Anger
- Anxiety
- Bullying
- Character Strengths and Virtues
- Child Abuse and Neglect
- Child Maltreatment
- Closure and Grief
- Compassion
- Coping
- Crying
- Cyberbullying
- Difficult Children
- Discriminating Sociability
- Discrimination/Prejudice
- Disgust
- Doubt
- Emotion Regulation
- Emotion Socialization
- Emotional Expression
- Emotional Intelligence
- Emotion-Focused Coping
- Emotions
- Empathy
- Fear
- Gender Development
- Gender Identity Development
- Gratitude
- Grief
- Guilt
- Happiness
- Hope
- Jealousy and Envy
- Life Goals
- Life Satisfaction
- Loneliness
- Love
- Parent–Child Interaction
- Persuasion
- Phobias
- Prosociality
- Psychological Needs
- Psychosexual Stages of Development
- Psychosocial Development
- Psychosocial Moratorium
- Regret
- Sadness
- Self
- Self-Actualization
- Self-Deception
- Self-Esteem
- Self-Perceptions
- Self-Regulation
- Self-Worth
- Sensation Seeking
- Sex Differences
- Sex Education
- Sexual Assault
- Sexual Attitudes
- Sexual Identity
- Sexual Risk Behaviors
- Shame
- Smile
- Social and Emotional Behavior
- Social Anxiety
- Social Development
- Social Understanding
- Sympathy
- Theory of Mind
- Trust
- Theory
- Activity Theory
- Developmental Theory
- Diathesis–Stress Model
- Dynamic Systems Theory
- Eriksonian Theory
- Ethnotheories
- Evolutionary Theories of Aging
- Information Processing
- Life History Theory
- Piaget’s Theory
- Programmed Theories of Aging
- Psychoanalytic Theory
- Relational Developmental Systems
- Social Cognitive Theory
- Social Equity Theory
- Socioemotional Selectivity Theory
- Solidarity Theory
- Specificity Principle
- Universals
- Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
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