specific-energy doctrine
the concept that the quality of a sensory experience is determined by the type of sensory receptor and its nerve channels; thus, the sense of pain originates with stimulation of pain receptors, hearing with receptors in the inner ear, and so on. Originally it was supposed that the different sensory channels had different forms of neural energy, but it was later realized that the specificity lies in the connections from sensory receptors to sensory areas in the cerebral cortex. Also called law of specific nerve energies. [elaborated in 1838 by Johannes Müller]