Sensory Adaptation

In sensory adaptation, the brain is less sensitive to always present stimuli. Brains fire cells facing new stimuli. But when constant, brain cells don’t fire readily and stimuli receive less attention. In contrast to habituation (learning that occurs by choice), sensory adaptation is a physiological process where the brain filters irrelevant stimuli and boosts sensory function in adverse/overstimulating conditions. It affects all special senses except vision. For vision, our most important sense, people avoid sensory adaptation through saccadic eye movements (rapid, jerky eye movements, shifting between opposing parts of the visual field). Individuals with autism have reduced sensory adaptation