The limits to perception by many different sense organs are reviewed in a variety of animals and in humans. The sensitivity of hearing and of sight are discussed, using the eye of the fly as one example. For the human eye, the sensitivity of the cones and rods are reviewed, the effects of noise and frequency changes and particularly the upper limits of sensory organs are described. Sensitivity to temperature and to chemicals as well as electromagnetic sensitivity form the penultimate sections of this review. Finally the biological significance of sensitivity is discussed and it is concluded that although the variety of sensory devices is astonishingly great, the smallest perceptible stimuli still present a great challenge to research.
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This review is based on the author's lecture ‘Leistungsgrenzen von Sinnesorganen’ delivered at the 113th Meeting of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Naturforscher und Ärzte in Nürnberg on 22 September1984.
