I can’t find the words to explain it to a 13 year old. I should know how to do that, right? I’m struggling to explain.
In: Biology
Imagine that you have a group of children. You suddenly clap your hands. Most of them are surprised and turn to look at you. But two of them act differently. One of them is so shocked by the sound that she falls over, covering her ears. Another is playing with a toy and didn’t seem to notice the sound at all. Why did these two children respond in a different way than the rest?
Their sensory *filters* are operating in a different way than those of the rest.
The girl who became shocked has an amplification filter. Small and unexpected noises are blown out of proportion. The kid who didn’t notice the sound has a suppression filter. If an unexpected sound isn’t loud enough, it gets filtered out.
The job of our sensory filters is to separate *relevant* stimuli from *irrelevant* stimuli. When we learn that sounds (or other stimuli) are irrelevant, this is called *habituation*. When we learn that sounds are relevant, this is called *sensitization*.
Habituation means our “suppression filters” have been activated. Sensitization means our “amplification filters” have been activated.
Problems arise when we *suppress relevant stimuli* or *amplify irrelevant stimuli*.
Normally, the relative influence of suppression versus amplification depends on context. When we’re walking alone at night in a dark forest, it is likely that we become “sensitized” and start amplifying sensory information. In this context, small sounds have big effects. When we’re deeply engrossed in an exciting book, it’s likely that we become “habituated” and start suppressing sensory information. In this context, big sounds have small effects. Our spouse may yell our name, and we don’t even hear it.
Most of us have our filters tuned in a pretty similar way. Some may be a bit more sensitized on average, and some may be a bit more habituated. But all in all we react in pretty similar ways. In Sensory Processing Disorders, the filters are tuned in a very different way, leading sufferers to respond in very different ways.
The volume dials of their senses aren’t in sync with the rest. Which means that they experience the same events in different ways than neurotypicals.
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