Sensory Perceptions

We have five senses (sight, sound, smell, taste and touch). At any given time, one or more or our senses are working together to create sensory information. There are instances that dependence on the accuracy of our sensor helps us in our survival and daily lives. For example, we use our senses to identify potential danger. If we see and smell smoke, chances are, your mind will be alert to a potential fire. When an object is hot and you touch it, your body reflex will automatically pull you away from the offending sensation. The same goes for when you have eaten something that tastes foul; you either spit it out or will make a mental note to not eat it again.

However, our senses can fool us and present inaccurate sensory information. For example if I light up a caramel/vanilla scented candle in my home, a visitor can walk in and think that I am probably baking cookies, which in not a fact. In my bedroom, I can draw my shades to completely block outside light and create a sense of a nighttime environment in my bedroom. I do this in order to make my body think that it is nighttime and fall asleep or if I would like to sleep in the next day. If my bedroom stays dark, my body will not sense that the sun has risen and I will continue to sleep. In this scenario, I have put in place an artificial measure to fool my senses and manipulate my sleep. Another example of inaccurate sensory information are mirages. A mirage is a naturally occurring optical phenomenon in which light rays are bent to produce a displaced image of distant objects of the sky. A mirage is a perfect example of what you see may not necessarily be what to believe.

Our senses are "built-in" detectors that constantly stimulate our brain to process thoughts.

* The source of data and our ability to sense it- According to Kirby and Goodpaster (2007), the list below describes the capacity in which a human sense is capable of, in which, may contribute to the accuracy of our sensory data:

 Hearing- our hearing reacts to a sound vibrating at a frequency as high as 20,000 cycles per second and to a multitude of timbres that allow us to recognize different human voices.

 Sight- our sight can detect a candle flame on a dark, clear night 20 miles away or discern a single color (mauve or teal) out or millions of hues.

 Smell-our sense of smell can detect a single molecule of bacon or coffee out of five billion molecules.

* Accurate facts or data received- reliability on the facts of the received data factors in on how accurate the sensory data is. If I see fire, can I automatically assume that it is hot? Maybe. But if I reach out my hand and feel that the fire is indeed hot, then the assumption is now a fact: the fire is hot.

* Reliability of the brain's interpretation- our cognitive ability to analyze sensory data

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