SENSORY SENSITIVITY AS A DIMENSION OF TEMPERAMENT AND PERCEPTION OF VISUAL AND AUDITORY STIMULATION

The study explored the relationship of sensory sensitivity (SS) with the perceived loudness of music and the preferred intensity of visual images. Perceived loudness was studied with the techniques of magnitude production, magnitude estimation, and cross-modal matching. Preferred intensity of visual images was measured in the tasks of emotional, cognitive, and preferential assessment of the visual material. No relationship between SS and the preferred or estimated loudness of music was found. Moreover, SS did not seem related to the absolute auditory threshold. However, preferences for the intensity of the visual stimuli varied as a function of SS. High SS scorers preferred images with less satiated color, unclear contour, and which evoked no illusion of movement. The negative relationship of SS with the preferred intensity of images suggests that low and high SS scorers vary in their need for stimulation. Lack of association of SS with the perceived loudness of music may be due to the fact that the auditory modality is insufficiently represented in the FCB-TI, a questionnaire measure of SS we used. The scale should be revised considering sensitivity to the acoustic stimuli.