Sensory Adaptation vs. Habituation | Differences & Examples

Individuals are sensitive when they first receive stimuli, such as the sound of children screaming in the school playground. When the continuous sound of children screaming is deemed as non-threatening, sensory receptors are desensitized. As a result, individuals will adjust to the playful screams of the children. This is sensory adaptation, and it occurs involuntarily and unconsciously.

Adaptation may happen at different rates for different individuals; rate of adaptation also depends on the type or intensity of the stimulus.

Sensory adaptation is the mechanism that frees our attention and resources to attend to other stimuli. Neural receptor cells receive and process the stimuli; adaptation may occur as rapidly as milliseconds; if slow, it occurs over minutes, hours, or even days. If exposure is repeated, individuals can adapt faster to subsequent exposure.

Here are examples of sensory adaptation which occurs when stimuli are continuous:

• SIGHT: When people first walk into a dark room they cannot see anything and walk into walls and furniture. Gradually they make out shapes and outlines and avoid tripping.
• TASTE: When individuals first bite into delicious cookies, they taste an array of delectable flavors. After a few bites, the taste buds adapt and the flavor is not as strong, nor as delicious.

Sensory adaptation tunes out distractions so that individuals can focus on relevant, important, or even threatening stimuli. It prevents people from being overwhelmed by information from their environment.

When a change in the environment is clearly not a threat to self or others, an individual becomes desensitized to it. Even if the intensity of the sensory input remains unchanged, adjustment occurs, and the response is reduced.

Children playing in a playground