What term refers to the immediate experience resulting from sensory input?

Sensation is the term that refers to the immediate experience resulting from sensory input. It involves the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment. This means that sensation is fundamentally about the raw data we obtain through our sensory organs, such as sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.

When sensory input occurs, it triggers specific neural pathways, allowing us to perceive different features of our environment, like colors or sounds, without any interpretation or meaning being assigned yet. Sensation is the foundational step in the perceptual process, leading to the interpretation and understanding of those sensory experiences in a subsequent stage called perception.

In contrast, reflection, analysis, and cognition involve higher-level thinking processes that go beyond the direct sensory experience. Reflection pertains to considering or contemplating past experiences, while analysis involves breaking down complex information into smaller parts for better understanding. Cognition refers to the underlying mental processes related to knowledge acquisition and understanding, such as thinking, reasoning, and problem-solving. Thus, these terms represent stages or aspects of processing that occur after the initial experience of sensation.