Do your perceptions and senses change as you mature?

Answer 1

i reckon that when you are about 20 thats about it - you don't change much except that you gradually become less attractive, more argumentative, more knowledgeable, become deaf and have trouble seeing anything clearly, and so by the time your retired you are an ugly old bastard who knows everything and won't listen to anybody......... ahh can't wait to retire

Answer 2

As you get older, you will hear the 'gray haired mature' crowd cry that they cannot hear anymore, their smelling ability is not like it used to be, and they just can't see that far anymore. The senses do change over time, and most of the time, it's not for the better.

As far as perceptions go, the do change as you get older. Take the classic perception of a guy to a young girl. "He has cooties." But in the end, the girl ends up getting married to some cootie filled guy because she has changed her whole perception of who a male is. All sorts of things change as we get older, some are better than others.

Answer 3

The question is a bit vague, Al, but here's my answer to what I think you're asking:

1. Yes, our senses change, but mainly in the first few years of life. According to some studies, when we're born our senses (vision, hearing, tactile feelings, taste and smell) tend to overlap so that we frequently experience synesthesia (sounds as colours, feelings as tastes, and so on). After a time, however, the various parts of our brain become less "plastic" and **most of us** see sights as sights, sounds as sounds, etc. Though for some people synesthesia carries over into adulthood.

Our senses also change as we grow older in that the effectiveness of our sensory equipment (eyes, ears, nose, etc.) can degrade over a period of years, even under normal living conditions (depending on where you live, our diet, and so on).

2. Whether our "perceptions" change as we grow older depends on what you mean by "perceptions".
We certainly take a progressively different view of what's going on around us as we grow older, if only because we start out in life with very little experience, but as we accumulate experiences (i.e. as memories) so the way we view the world around us changes. For example, the sayings: "Been there, seen that, got the T-shirt" and "familiarity breeds contempt" reflect the way that we can get bored with things we once thought were incredibly interesting just because we've experienced them over and over again.

One very important factor is the fact that the human brain doesn't finish its development until a person is in their 20s (though our skulls stop growing around the age of 10!)

For example, the "executive centres" of the brain (in the prefrontal lobes, just behind your eyes) are amongst the last areas to become fully developed. That means that teenagers tend to be much more influenced by their emotions than they will be in their mid-late 20s (by which time the emotions are to a far greater extent influenced by the executive centres).
It has been argued, by some brain researchers, that teenagers don't take more risks than adults just for the hell of it but rather because they don't have the same awareness of how risky certain actions could be..

If this wasn't the kind of information you were looking for, perhaps you could ask the question again - in more detail.

Answer 4

Senses tend to degrade a bit, but perceptions become tempered by experience.

Answer 5

Yes, some events (psychologic shocks and such) may even change completely your lowest level of perception, you can see through another eyes even if you were used to see the same way for years and years.

Answer 6

It's different in different people. A psychiatrist told me I was right, when I told him I believe you are at 80 yrs what you were when you were 18yr without the physical energy. If you seek beauty and knowledge when you are young then your perception of beauty will increase and your thirst for knowledge will increase. If you are a boring twerp when young you will atrophy with time.