Stimulation is the encouragement of development or the cause of activity in general. For example, "The press provides stimulation of political discourse." An interesting or fun activity can be described as "stimulating", regardless of its physical effects on senses. Stimulate means to act as a stimulus to; stimulus means something that rouses the recipient to activity; stimuli is the plural of stimulus .
14-950: [REDACTED] Look up stimulus in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. A stimulus is something that causes a physiological response. It may refer to: Stimulation Stimulus (physiology) , something external that influences an activity Stimulus (psychology) , a concept in behaviorism and perception Stimulus (economics) For government spending as stimulus, see Fiscal policy For an increase in money designed to speed growth, see Monetary policy The input to an input/output system, especially in computers See also [ edit ] Stimulus bill (disambiguation) , in economics Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 , United States 2008 Chinese economic stimulus plan 2008 European Union stimulus plan American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Stimulus Package , an add-on for
28-423: A conditioned response. Moreover, an eliciting stimulus was defined as a stimulus that precedes a certain behavior and thus causes a response. A discriminative stimulus in contrast increases the probability that a response will occur but does not necessarily elicit the response. A reinforcing stimulus usually denoted a stimulus delivered after the response has already occurred; in psychological experiments, it
42-503: A kind of touch or a taste or smell, or a painful or pleasurable sensation. This can be thought of as psychological stimulation , which is a stimulus affecting a person's thinking or feeling processes. Stimulation, in general, refers to how organisms perceive incoming stimuli. As such it is part of the stimulus-response mechanism. Simple organisms broadly react in three ways to stimulation: too little stimulation causes them to stagnate, too much to die from stress or inability to adapt, and
56-424: A medium amount causes them to adapt and grow as they overcome it. Similar categories or effects are noted with psychological stress with people. Thus, stimulation may be described as how external events provoke a response by an individual in the attempt to cope . It is possible to become habituated to a particular degree of stimulation, and then find it uncomfortable to have a significant change from that level of
70-435: A much lower threshold for overstimulation, and so suffer sensory overload at levels of stimulus that others find unexceptional. This can lead to an increased frequency of stimming , meltdowns , shutdowns, and dissociation compared to neurotypical people in similar situations. Chiropractor James Wilson has hypothesized that long-term overstimulation can result eventually in a phenomenon called adrenal fatigue , but there
84-445: Is an originally irrelevant stimulus that triggers a conditioned response (CR). Ivan Pavlov's dog experiment is a well-known experiment that illustrates these terms. The unconditioned stimulus is the dog's food that would naturally cause salivation, which is an unconditioned response. Pavlov then trained the dog by ringing the bell every time before food. The conditioned stimulus is the ringing bell after training, which causes salivation as
98-415: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Stimulation A particular use of the term is physiological stimulation , which refers to sensory excitation , the action of various agents or forms of energy ( stimuli ) on receptors that generate impulses that travel through nerves to the brain (afferents). There are sensory receptors on or near
112-429: Is no evidence that such a condition exists. Stimulus (psychology) In psychology , a stimulus is any object or event that elicits a sensory or behavioral response in an organism. In this context, a distinction is made between the distal stimulus (the external, perceived object) and the proximal stimulus (the stimulation of sensory organs). The study of the stimulus in psychology began with experiments in
126-426: The 18th century. In the second half of the 19th century, the term stimulus was coined in psychophysics by defining the field as the "scientific study of the relation between stimulus and sensation ". This may have led James J. Gibson to conclude that "whatever could be controlled by an experimenter and applied to an observer could be thought of as a stimulus" in early psychological studies with humans, while around
140-407: The external or internal senses may evoke involuntary activity or guide intentions in action. Such emotional or motivating stimulation typically is also experienced subjectively (enters awareness, is in consciousness). Perception can be regarded as conceptualised stimulation, used in reasoning and intending, for example. When bodily stimulation is perceived it is traditionally called a sensation, such as
154-483: The same time, the term stimulus described anything eliciting a reflex in animal research. The stimulus concept was essential to behaviorism and behavioral theories of B. F. Skinner and Ivan Pavlov in particular. Within such a framework several kinds of stimuli have been distinguished. In the theory of classical conditioning , unconditioned stimulus (US) is a stimulus that unconditionally triggers an unconditioned response (UR), while conditioned stimulus (CS)
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#1732844328866168-472: The stimulus. Thus one can become used to intense stimuli or a fast-paced life and suffer withdrawal when they are removed. Stress and unhappiness may result an unaccustomed level of stimulation. Ongoing, long-term stimulation can for some individuals prove harmful, and a more relaxed and less stimulated life may be beneficial despite possible initial discomfort or stress from the change. See also; sensory overload and burnout . Autistic people often have
182-432: The surface of the body, such as photoreceptors in the retina of the eye, hair cells in the cochlea of the ear, touch receptors in the skin and chemical receptors in the mouth and nasal cavity. There are also sensory receptors in the muscles , joints, digestive tract, and membranes around organs such as the brain, the abdominal cavity, the bladder and the prostate (providing one source of sexual stimulation ). Stimulation to
196-471: The video game Modern Warfare 2 Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Stimulus . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stimulus&oldid=1179808868 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
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