sensitization

Examples of sensitization in the following topics:

• Sensory Adaptation

  • Meissner's corpuscles are sensory triggers of physical sensations on the skin, especially areas of the skin that are sensitive to light and touch.
  • When the stimulus is removed, the corpuscles regain their sensitivity.
  • In contrast, sensitization is an increase in behavioral responses following repeated applications of a particular stimulus.
  • Unlike sensory adaptation, in which a large amount of stimulus is needed to incur any further responsive effects, in sensitization less and less stimulation is required to produce a large response.
  • Sensory adaptation and sensitization are thought to form an integral component of human learning and personality.

• Habituation, Sensitization, and Potentiation

  • Potentiation, habituation, and sensitization are three ways in which stimuli in the environment produce changes in the nervous system.
  • Three ways in which this occurs include long-term potentiation, habituation, and sensitization.
  • Sensitization is the strengthening of a neurological response to a stimulus due to the response to a secondary stimulus.
  • Habituation and sensitization work in different ways neurologically.
  • In sensitization, however, there are more pre-synaptic neurotransmitters, and the neuron itself is more excitable.

• Physical Development in Adulthood

  • Sensitivity to sound decreases; this happens twice as quickly for men as for women.
  • Skin continues to dry out and is prone to more wrinkling, particularly on the sensitive face area.

• The Newborn

  • If certain areas of the brain are damaged during this sensitive period, other areas of the brain can take over and handle new functions not previously assigned to them.
  • Touch—Touch is well developed at the time of birth, and infants are highly sensitive to pain.
  • Hearing—Sensitivity to sound improves greatly over the first few months of life; however, newborns recognize familiar sounds that they heard while in the womb, especially their mother's voice.

• Reactive Attachment Disorder

  • These approaches concentrate on increasing the responsiveness and sensitivity of the caregiver—or if that is not possible, placing the child with a different caregiver.
  • Children need sensitive and responsive caregivers to develop secure attachments.

• Arousal Theory of Motivation

  • Arousal theory proposes that motivation is strongly linked to biological factors that control reward sensitivity and goal-driven behavior.
  • Reward sensitivity is located in the mesolimbic dopamine system.

• Cluster C: Avoidant, Dependent, and Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorders

  • Avoidant personality disorder is characterized by a pervasive pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, extreme sensitivity to negative evaluation, and avoidance of social interaction.
  • The difference between a 'dependent personality' and a 'dependent personality disorder' is somewhat subjective, which makes diagnosis sensitive to cultural influences such as gender role expectations.
  • Avoidant personality disorder is characterized by a pervasive pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, extreme sensitivity to negative evaluation, and avoidance of social interaction.

• Dissociation

  • Dissociation is much more common among those who are traumatized (this is called "high specificity" to history of trauma), but at the same time there are many people who have suffered from trauma but who do not show dissociative symptoms (this is called "low sensitivity" to history of trauma).

• Evolutionary Psychology

  • Human psychology consists of many specialized mechanisms, each sensitive to different information or inputs.

• Environmental Impacts on Prenatal Development

  • Each organ of the fetus develops during a specific period in the pregnancy, called the critical or sensitive period.
  • Given regions of the brain also show sensitive periods during which they are most susceptible to the teratogenic effects of alcohol (Tran & Kelly, 2003).