Senses
This week’s New Scientist had various articles on perception. Quite interesting, you might think, but there was one factoid that boggled me slightly – the number of recognised human senses. Far more than the classical five senses are now known.
Aristotle was, apparently, the man who produced that classic list – sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell. Modern scientists, though, have increased this list both by dividing those senses into discrete components (for example, splitting sight into light perception and colour perception) and by discovering entire new senses (like balance and the ability to sense blood pressure). The current generally accepted list is at least 21 senses!
- Light
- Colour
- Hearing
- Smell
- Sweet taste
- Sour taste
- Salty taste
- Bitter taste
- Umami taste (the meaty taste found in soy sauce)
- Touch
- Balance
- Proprioception (joint position)
- Kinaesthesis (movement)
- Heat
- Cold
- Blood pressure
- Blood oxygen content
- Cerebrospinal fluid pH
- Plasma osmotic potential (thirst?)
- Artery-vein glucose difference (hunger?)
- Lung inflation.
What an amazing creature is humanity!
pax et bonum
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