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17:20 Feb 11, 2012
Portuguese to English translations [PRO] Social Sciences - Psychology
Portuguese term or phrase:sensitiva
I need a translation in English for this term. I had thought of "sensitive" but the problem is that "sensível" occurs in the same sentence. Is there a term for sensitivo/a that can distinguish it from sensível (sensitive)?
The phrase reads:
"Além destes dois sistemas, existe ainda um outro, presidindo tanto o sistema homeostático como o imunológico: trata-se das estruturas *sensíveis, sensitivas e sensoriais* responsáveis pela captação das alterações do meio interno..."
The excerpt talks about how changes (e.g. by evolution) to the body are captured in order to make body systems work.
@Muriel, Step by step we shall arrive, reduce those adjectives to one and find the right three nouns to use with sensory. How much easier translation would be if the correspondences were always 1:1. In the final analysis, the text is essentially about sensory integration - I think. Please see the note I added below.
Thanks for the further clarification, though it leaves me just as baffled as before. I'm posting a reference below that may help you, but I can't see that the three adjectives in your text correspond to anything but 'sensory'.
As I understand it, Muriel, two systems are cited and the third is referred to indirectly. Those cited are the homeostatic (control) system and the immune system. The third is the sensory system, which collects data that enable the others to function.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sensible
4.
capable of being perceived by the senses; material: the sensible universe.
5.
capable of feeling or perceiving, as organs or parts of the body.
6.
perceptible to the mind.
Explanation: The author is referring to a 3-stage process. The organism 1) receives external information via the senses (sensível), 2) responds to the information depending on his degree of sensitivity (sensitivo) and 3) processes the information via the neurological system (sensório).
In Aurélio, the Portuguese definitions read as follows:
1) sensível: recebe as sensações externas
2) sensitive: sensível à ação de luz ou de outro agente qualquer
3) sensório: transmite as sensações
Sensory acuity is the actual physical ability of the sensory organs to receive input, while sensory processing is the ability to interpret the information the brain has received... neurological thresholds [degrees of sensitivity] indicate the way the nervous system responds to sensory input.
Chances are you'll have to reword the sentence. The brief article cited should help.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 9 hrs (2012-02-12 02:23:25 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
In English: the sensory, sensitive and sensory processing structures responsible for...
Given the problem we are all having with those 3 adjectives (so clear in Portuguese, but best substituted by adjective-noun combinations in English, the best alternative may be: /sensory receptor, (sensory) perceptivity and (sensory) processing/integration structures
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 23 hrs (2012-02-12 16:43:00 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
sensory receptor/input, (sensory) perceptivity and (sensory) processing/integration structures - sorry for have skipping the word /input/ while inputting the possibilities. At this point, my personal preference would be /sensory input, perceptivity and integration structures/.
The translation workplace 
