On Fri, 9 Nov 2001, scerir wrote:
> > > Are dreams non-sensory experiences?
> > We may dream that they are....
>
> The five senses story (sight, hearing, touch,
> smell, taste) should be wrong. We must add
> some more. I.e. we feel temperature, that's
> a different sense. Any more?
> -s.
There is no clear consensus on how to define "sense" among
physiologists, but yes, the traditional "five" is definitely
an inadequate description.
Pressure, temperature, and pain (and possibly itching) are
distinct senses; vision includes different sensors for color
and luminosity; hearing is pretty simple; taste and smell are
the most complex ones, which we have only begun to map--things
like the "umami" taste receptor was only confirmed in 2000;
there is also proprioception (one's sense of limb position),
and the balance organs of the vestibular system. Research
in this area is still in its infancy.
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lee/> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC
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