sensorimotor
Perception meets physical action
Sensorimotor describes the integration of sensory input and motor output—how perception and movement work together.
The term appears most often in developmental psychology: Piaget's sensorimotor stage covers infancy, when babies learn by touching, grasping, and mouthing objects.
In neuroscience, the sensorimotor cortex controls voluntary movement based on sensory feedback.
Notable points of progress
- crawlingMoving on hands, knees
- graspingGreedy for wealth
- walkingLocomotion on foot
- reflexesAutomatic physical responses
infancy · reaching · sitting · standing · rolling · babbling · toddler · maturation
Perceiving through physical contact
- proprioceptionBody's spatial self-awareness
- stimulusWhat prompts a reaction
- responseAnswer to stimulus
- feedbackReturned response data
tactile · kinesthesia · haptic · pressure · vibration · temperature · pain · texture
Signal-transmitting brain cells
- synapseNerve signal crossing point
- cortexOrgan's external tissue
- cerebellumMovement coordination organ
- axonNeuron's signal-sending projection
dendrite · neurotransmitter · spinal · myelin · neuroplasticity · somatosensory · afferent · efferent
milestones
Notable points of progress
reflexes · infancy · reaching · sitting · standing · rolling · babbling · toddler · maturation · rooting
touch
Perceiving through physical contact
- proprioceptionBody's spatial self-awareness
- stimulusWhat prompts a reaction
- responseAnswer to stimulus
feedback · tactile · kinesthesia · haptic · pressure · vibration · temperature · pain · texture · receptor
neurons
Signal-transmitting brain cells
- synapseNerve signal crossing point
- cortexOrgan's external tissue
- cerebellumMovement coordination organ
axon · dendrite · neurotransmitter · spinal · myelin · neuroplasticity · somatosensory · afferent · efferent · impulse
coordination
Organized cooperative movement
reaching · gripping · dexterity · agility · timing · precision · execution · hand-eye · sequencing · voluntary
- body sensestouch, pain, proprioception, kinesthesia, pain receptors
- cognitive developmentpreoperational, object permanence, accommodation, equilibration, egocentrism
- biomechanicsbiomechanics, kinematics, kinetics, body mechanics, center of mass
- embodimentembodiment, proprioception, kinesthesia, corporeal, corporeality
- Piaget theoryobject permanence, schema, schemas, schemata, equilibration
- learninglearning, learn, classes, instruction, studying
sensorimotorcognitive
Relating to thinking
intellectual · abstract · conceptual · metacognitive · symbolic
sense, motion, sensitive, motor, sensation, sensor, sensory, sensors