• 3 bowls or trays big enough to fit your hands
• Water tap (cold and hot water)

1. Fill the bowls ½ full with ice (or cold) water, another with warm, not hot, water and the last one with room-temperature water.
2. Arrange the bowls in a straight line.
3. Put one hand in the cold bowl and another in the warm bowl and leave them there for a minute or so. Quickly plunge both hands into the room temperature bowl. What temperature does your left hand register? What about your right hand? Why do you think they feel that way?

• Try other examples of sensory adaptation! Rub your index finger gently over a piece of course sandpaper a few times. After a minute or two, rub the same finger over the paper again - does it feel as course as it was the first time, or does it feel smoother?
• Or, here's another example: take a sip of sugar water and swish it around your mouth for a minute (but don't swallow it!) Spit it out, then drink some fresh water. Did the fresh water taste how you expected it?

This is an example of neural adaptation (or sensory adaptation), which is the change over time in the responsiveness of the sensory system to a constant stimulus. This is an example of neural adaptation (or sensory adaptation), which is the change over time in the responsiveness of the sensory system to a constant stimulus.

When thermoreceptors receptors get used to a certain amount of heat or cold they get a little ‘lazy’. Usually, nerve cells will sense something and send a signal to your brain through your nervous system to say that there’s something hot or cold touching you, but that’s not always the case. If you accidentally touch something really hot with your finger, the heat receptors in that finger will sense it right away. Although very fast, it still does take time for that message to get all the way to your brain, be interpreted in the correct way and finally send a message back to your finger that you are touching something hot. By moving your hand quickly from either cold or hot water to the room temperature water bowl, you notice the message is delayed and different temperatures are perceived by each hand even though the water in the bowl is the same temperature.

This example illustrates what happens in the cold winter weather: after being outside in the cold for awhile, the thermoreceptors get used to the cold and start to treat it like it is the "normal" temperature, so that if you put your hands under warm water, it feels almost like hot water. It also happens in the very hot, sunny summer weather: warm water may seem really cold on your skin- especially if you have a sunburn! In these cases, the sense of temperature depends on the direction of heat flow between the air and your skin: when heat flows from water to your skin, it feels warm. When the heat flows from your hand to the water, it feels cool.

We have many different types of receptors in our body and there are many other examples of sensory adaptation like those in the "Investigate" section, which include touch and taste. This also includes sound and sight - like being in a dark room for a long time, and suddenly being exposed to light. How many other types of examples can you think of?