Humans Have Way More Than 5 Senses!

mcfarhat (70)in #suesascience • 7 years ago

Good day, Steemians!

So I actually stumbled upon this science challenge (#2) posted by @suesa https://steemit.com/science/@suesa/suesa-s-science-challenge-2 and thought i'll take a shot at that, and share some cool scientific misconception, kinda like the "myth busters" TV series! So here it goes..

We are often raised to the notion that humans possess 5 senses, which you can easily enlist and relate to.
Namely taste, hearing, smell, sight and touch.

People who consider themselves as having extransensory perception (ESP) are often labeled as having a 6th sense (kinda like that Bruce Willis movie, the 6th sense - with the young kid connecting with spirits/ghosts, or was he? - not gonna ruin the movie for you if you haven't watched it, but you should!).

Okay back on track..
So I was amazed to learn that this is actually farther from truth! The truth of the matter is that neurologists list as many as 21 human senses.. Mind Blown!!

In reality, if we look into the definition of "sense" as found in Merriam-Webster, and I quote

#2. a. :the faculty of perceiving by means of sense organs
#2. b. :a specialized function or mechanism (such as sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch) by which an animal receives and >responds to external or internal stimuli
#4. a. :a particular sensation or kind or quality of sensation - a good sense of balance

So as you might as well notice, and while they enlist the traditional 5 senses, yet the keywords used are "sense organs", and "external or internal stimuli", which basically means that any sensors that are available within the human body that respond to any stimuli, whether internal of external are considered senses.

So what are those additional senses besides the standard 5 that we have? Some of those actually would make complete "sense", others are not that straight forward:

Balance: In fact this is one of those essential senses we have and might not be aware of its importance to our life and well being. People most affect with car sickness and/or sea sickness would most value the importance of this sense. The sensor in effect for this would be the vestibular labyrinthine system found in both of the inner ears, which is why people with inner ear infections suffer issues with balance and standing still.
Proprioception: Which is basically about people being capable of properly perceiving the positioning of body parts without actually viewing them. This is related to being able to identify, with closed eyes, where your mouth, nose, or foot is without being detected by any other sense.
Pain: Yes pain is actually its own separate sense. And there are a multitude of sensors/receptors for pain, including skin, joints, bones, and body organs. And while you might be tempted to intertwine this with the sense of touch, yet it is now recognized as a completely separate sensory experience.
Temperature: Heat receptors such as the skin play a key role in sensing heat and cold temperatures, allowing us to perceive properly the surrounding temperature. Without this, we would easily freeze to death, or burn to ashes.
Hunger: As it is related to internal stimuli, hunger is basically a sensory system alerting for the need to consume food to fulfill the bodily need.
Thirst: Similarly to hunger, our body's Chemoreceptors within the circulatory receptors are the sensors that properly measure salt levels and hence ignite the need for water.
Time Perception: Basically that is how you perceive the passing of time. Many times you would argue with friends about how much time has passed within a particular even. It is often believed by neurologists that this sensation is "is handled by a highly distributed system involving the cerebral cortex, cerebellum and basal ganglia"
Stretch Receptors/Sensors: essentially found in pulmonary and gastrointestinal tracts, one of which's effects are headaches, due to stretching of blood vessels in high blood pressure situations.
Suffocation: Which is basically determined by Peripheral chemoreceptors/sensors within the brain who's role is to measure if CO2 levels are too high, and hence signal suffocation.