| Abstract: | "Many of the more recent findings in sensory psychology and physiology derive from the application of electrophysiology to the study of sensory processes." Experiments involving the taste sense and utilizing the recording and amplifying of nerve impulse traffic in sensory fibers "en route" to the brain are reviewed, and their general implications for the theory of afferent coding are discussed. An important principle of sensory coding is that "the same afferent fiber may convey different information depending upon the amount of activity in another parallel fiber." The relative rather than the absolute amount of activity in any one set of afferent fibers may determine the quality of sensation. "It is not only the activity in parallel fibers that is important, it is the relative amount of such parallel activity. Studies of the other senses indicate that these principles are not unique to taste." 21 refs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
