STIMULUS

Stimulus

In physiology, a stimulus is a detectable change in the internal or external environment. The ability of an organism or organ to respond to external stimuli is called sensitivity. When a stimulus is applied to a sensory receptor, it normally elicits or influences a reflex via stimulus transduction. These sensory receptors can receive information from outside the body, as in touch receptors found in the skin or light receptors in the eye, as well as from inside the body, as in chemoreceptors and mechanorceptors. An internal stimulus is often the first component of a homeostatic control system. External stimuli are capable of ...

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stimulus

Noun

  1. Anything that may have an impact or influence on a system.
    an economic stimulus
  2. Something external that elicits or influences a physiological or psychological activity or response.
  3. Anything effectively impinging upon any of the sensory apparatuses of a living organism, including physical phenomena both internal and external to the body.
  4. Anything that induces a person to take action.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: stimulus
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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