As you are cooking, your hand brushes up against a hot pan. You quickly pull your hand away. What type of stimulus is this?

Stimulus is something that causes a psychological response. It can be internal or external. The stimulus is the contact with the hot pan. It is an external stimulus. Sense organs, such as the sensory receptors in the skin are sensitive to external stimulus. The quickly pull of your hand is a reflex action.

The contact causes a nerve impulse that will travel to the spinal cord via the sensory neurons. To respond to the stimulus of the reflex arc, the muscle needs to contract to pull the hand quickly away from the hot pan.