Sensory adaptation is diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation. This means that overtime if presented with a constant stimulus, an individual will begin to ignore that stimulus. The purpose of sensory adaptation is so that an individual can direct their attention on other stimuli in the environment around them. Sensory adaptation is very resourceful, otherwise our brains wouldn’t be able to comprehend all that is happening due to sensory overload. Our five senses are constantly feeling, seeing, hearing, tasting, and smelling, so it would become very easy for our attention to be taken away from all of these senses. It is not voluntary, meaning that we cannot control whether or not we adapt to that stimulus. Such as, someone cannot choose whether or not they continue to taste a flavor.
An example of long-term sensory adaptation would be wearing a new bracelet. At first you put it onto your wrist and it feels strange. It is unnatural to your body and your nerves can feel it on your skin. While this may bother you at first, your mind begins to think about other things in your life and soon you forget you’re wearing it. This is the same for taking it off. You decide to remove the bracelet and suddenly you feel like something is missing, but overtime this feeling wears off and your attention is focused on something else entirely. This is body’s way of adapting and focusing your attention onto something else in your environment. An example of short-term sensory adaptation would be walking across a gravel road compared to a grass field. When you do this, your body recognizes that you are making that step into a different terrain but it does not keep your attention to this factor. Your brain quickly changes its attention to other stimuli it is either automatically drawn towards or selected to.