ond at all. This stimulus becomes to frequent and unimportant which will certainly cause a negative instance. One instance in which I experienced my sensation fade was over the summer. I forgot to take the trash out one week. So I placed the bags in the garage. As the weeks progressed I became very busy with work and the trash day seemed to slip my mind every week. The house began to smell and I would always tell myself that I have to bring out the trash this week…but it would never happen. Eventually I got adapted to the smell to the point that I didn’t notice it at all. It was only if I had invited people over that I would be reminded of it because it was new to them. So initially the stimuli, which was the smell of the trash, was an odorous, bothersome scent of trash. As I repeatedly smelled it, the sensation faded leaving me to not notice it at all. Another instance in which sensory adaptation has affected my life is when I’m in the classroom. If a teacher is giving a lecture in a monotonous voice, about a subject that really isn’t too interesting, my attention will fade. The stimulus is the professor speaking. I’m usually alert and paying attention to what ever he/she is saying, but as the lecture becomes timelier and their speech becomes more monotonous, I delve into my own world where I don’t even notice another person is speaking. The teacher’s lecture and notes become too repetitious, and my sensation of being alert completely faded. What do a boring lecture; a parent's voice and a smelly odor have in common? They are all stimuli causing some sort of reaction. If they are repeated enough they can cause a subject to adapt to them, reaching a beneficial or negative response. Sometimes the stimuli can be varied, such as the volume and tone of a voice calling a name, and others are the same all the time. The important factor to whether a reaction will be positive or nega...
