Comparative Study of Indriyas in Relation to Functional Aspect of Sense Organs

Abstract

Sense organs of the human body can be undertaken as essential aspects of human life. Our world is alive with stimuli—all the objects and events that surround us. Sensation and perception are the processes that allow us to detect and understand these various stimuli. It may seem strange to think about it this way, but we do not actually experience these stimuli directly; rather, our senses allow us to get information about aspects of our environment, and we then take that information and form a perception of the world. Sensation is the process of receiving stimulus energies from the external environment and transforming those energies into neural energy. Physical energy such as light, sound, and heat is detected by specialized receptor cells in the sense organs—eyes, ears, skin, nose, and tongue. When the receptor cells register a stimulus, the energy is converted to an electrochemical impulse or action potential that relays information about the stimulus through the nervous system to the brain. An action potential is the brief wave of electrical charge that sweeps down the axon of a neuron for possible transmission to another neuron. When it reaches the brain, the information travels to the appropriate area of the cerebral cortex. The brain gives meaning to sensation through perception. Perception is the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information so that it makes sense. Every species is adapted to sense and perceive stimuli that matter to that species ability to survive in its environment.