sensation

n. perception, function of the senses; physical feeling; emotion, mental feeling; excitement

In psychology, sensation is the first stage in the biochemical and neurologic events that begins with the impinging of a stimulus upon the receptor cells of a sensory organ, which then leads to perception, the mental state that is reflected in statements like "I see a uniformly blue wall."A sensation that might lead to that statement could include the excitation of cone cells in the retina, spatially varying in the proportion of "blue" and "green" cone excitation due to portions of the wall receiving different proportions of yellowish artificial and bluish sky-light; it is common for these variations to be compensated for, within the brain, so that the non-uniform sensation yields a perception of uniform color.
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Sensation /sen·sa·tion/ an impression produced by impulses conveyed by an afferent nerve to the sensorium. girdle sensation zonesthesia. [more]Sensation - Community and Resources

Noun
1. an unelaborated elementary awareness of stimulation; "a sensation of touch"
(synonym) sense experience, sense impression, sense datum
(hypernym) perception
(hyponym) threshold, limen
(derivation) feel, sense
2. someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field
(synonym) ace, adept, champion, maven, mavin, virtuoso, genius, hotshot, star, superstar, whiz, whizz, wizard, wiz
(hypernym) expert
(hyponym) track star
3. a general feeling of excitement and heightened interest; "anticipation produced in me a sensation somewhere between hope and fear"
(hypernym) stir
4. a state of widespread public excitement and interest; "the news caused a sensation"
(hypernym) excitement, excitation, inflammation, fervor, fervour
5. the faculty through which the external world is apprehended; "in the dark he had to depend on touch and on his senses of smell and hearing"
(synonym) sense, sentience, sentiency, sensory faculty
(hypernym) faculty, mental faculty, module
(hyponym) modality, sense modality, sensory system
(derivation) feel, sense

n. sensation, excitement