The sensations of everyday life: Empirical, theoretical, and pragmatic considerations

The experience of being human is embedded in sensory events Of everyday lif e. This lecture reviews sensory processing literature, including neuroscien ce and social science perspectives. Introduced is Dunn's Model of Sensory P rocessing, and the evidence supporting this model is summarized Specificall y, using Sensory Profile questionnaires (i.e., items describing responses t o sensory events in daily life, persons mark the frequency of each behavior ), persons birth to 90 years of age demonstrate four sensory processing pat terns: sensory seeking, sensory avoiding, sensory sensitivity, and low regi stration. These patterns are based on a person's neurological thresholds an d self-regulation strategies. Psychophysiology studies verify these sensory processing patterns; persons with strong preferences in each pattern also have unique patterns of habituation and responsivity in skin conductance. S tudies also indicate that persons with disabilities respond differently tha n peers on these questionnaires, suggesting underlying poor sensory process ing in certain disorders, including autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, developmental delays, and schizophrenia. The author proposes relationships between sensory processing and temperamen t and personality traits. The four categories of temperament share some con sistency with the four sensory processing patterns described in Dunn model. As with temperament, each person has some level of responsiveness within e ach sensory processing preference (i.e., a certain amount of seeking, avoid ing, etc., not one or the other). The author suggests that ones sensory pro cessing preferences simultaneously reflect his or her nervous system needs and form the basis for the manifestation of temperament and personality. Th e final section of this lecture outlines parameters for developing best pra ctice that supports interventions based on this knowledge.