The sensory process is a combination of your body's physical or neurological response to stimuli and your mind's reaction to it, according to the University of Kansas Medical Center. Similar to the way your computer works, programs are loaded onto your "hard drive," then you can access information and react to it through a process similar to random-access memory. The hard drive and random-access memory of your brain maintain a dialogue to generate an appropriate response to sensory input.
Definitions
Sensory acuity is your physical ability to hear, taste, see, touch and smell. Acuity is the process of your senses gathering impressions. Sensory processing occurs when your mind decides what to do with this information. If you place your hand over an open flame, you will feel heat. This is sensory acuity. Pulling your hand back before you are burned is sensory processing. Your brain has acknowledged the input and, either consciously or subconsciously, has decided what to do about it.
Neurological Response
When the hard drive in your brain receives new programming -- fresh information from your senses -- it sends it to the thalmus area, according to Dwayne Godwin, Ph.D., associate professor of neurobiology and anatomy at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and senior author of the study, "Cortical feedback to the thalamus is selectively enhanced by nitric oxide," 2006. Your thalmus then forwards the information to your cortex for further review. Your brain begins to produce nitric oxide when your thalmus receives data. This facilitates an exchange of information between your thalmus and your cortex, according to the Wake Forest study. For instance, your thalmus receives visual information in bunches of small pixels. It forwards the pixels to your cortex, the smart part of your brain, which organizes the pixels and adds to them based on previously learned information. It then sends the completed picture back to your thalmus.
Mental Response
According to the University of Kansas, your brain will now decide how to respond to the completed picture, and your conscious mind has some control over this. Depending on your temperament, you will react in some way to the sensory stimuli. For instance, if you do not like being touched by strangers and someone grasps your hand, you might pull away or even rebuke him.
Integration
Your neurological and mental responses are constantly working in tandem with each other and the University of Kansas indicates that four basic behavior patterns emerge when they integrate properly. You might be a sensation seeker if you are neurologically capable of a great deal of input and you take forceful action based on that. You might be prone to sensation avoidance if you have a low tolerance for sensory input and a strong voluntary response against experiencing it. Low registration is the result of a high capacity for input, but you voluntarily regulate your response to it. Sensory sensitivity means you have a limited neurological threshold, similar to a low tolerance for pain, but you don't act on it.
Problems
When your neurological and voluntary responses don't mesh, sensory integrative disorders result, according to the Exceptional Family Resource Center. A child with a low neurological threshold who cannot tolerate a great deal of stimulation might appear distracted or fearful when faced with a sensory barrage. A child who has a high neurological tolerance for stimuli might actively pursue sensory experience through hard, reckless play and might show no fear of pain.
