Have you ever wondered what exactly sensory compensation refers to?
What other compensatory effects exist besides it?
How do these phenomena apply in everyday life?
Hello, I'm Psychic Explorer Breeze, and today I'm here to talk to you about the interesting phenomenon of sensation!
Sensory compensation is actually a pretty common psychological effect in our lives. In addition to the variations of sensory adaptation and sensory contrast that you may be familiar with, there are also fun phenomena like sensory aftereffects, synaesthesia, and sensory compensation.
(i) Perceived after-effects
When you experience a stimulus, even if the stimulus disappears, the sensation doesn't run away immediately, but slowly diminishes, and this residual sensation is sensory aftereffects. The most typical examples are pain aftereffects and visual aftereffects, which are also often called visual afterimages.
There are two types of visual afterimages: positive and negative afterimages. For example, if you stare at a red square on the screen for a while and then close your eyes, a similar red square may appear in front of your eyes, which is a positive afterimage. Then, if you turn your head to look at a white wall, you may feel a green square on the wall, which is the negative afterimage, which is the opposite color of the original.
(ii) Synesthesia
The synesthesia is super amazing, it's the ability of one feeling to evoke another. It's like the synesthesia in literature. For example, if a person who knows music hears a good tune, images will come to his mind, which is called audio-visual synesthesia. The most prominent of these is the color association, where different colors bring different emotions - red makes people feel enthusiastic, green brings tranquility and vitality, blue seems deep and broad, black may make people feel serious, and white is pure and serene.
The use of association is widespread in art and design, for example, a factory can increase productivity by 10% to 20% if it matches the colors well!
(iii) Sensory compensation
Sensory compensation refers to the fact that when one sense is missing or inadequate, other senses become more sensitive to compensate. For example, a blind person's sense of hearing, touch and smell are often especially developed, which is compensating for the loss of vision. Of course, this ability is not innate and has to be practiced over time.
The phenomenon of sensory compensation suggests that our perceptual potential is enormous and that we can exercise amazing abilities through training. For example, some workers can distinguish dozens of shades of black, and music teachers can hear minute differences in pitch. This brings inspiration to special education. Early training of children with disabilities in sensory compensation can help them live better and independently.
I hope these shares are helpful to you! (Psychological Knowledge Sharer)