The Senses (0)

Posted by Mad_Monk on Tue 12 Aug 08, 8:04 PM to Mad_Monk's blog.

Aristotle was the man who first listed the classical five senses – sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. Modern scientists have increased this by dividing those senses into distinct 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 established list is now at least 21 senses (New Scientist Magazine, in various articles on perception, 29th January 2005). There may be 50 or more.

A rich palette with which to craft the outcomes desired.

(Numbered items are senses recognised by medical science and bulleted items are stimuli proposed to be senses recognised by medical science.)

Sight (Eyes)

1. Light/Dark

2. Colour

Red, Green, Blue (subdivision of light)
Red, Yellow, Blue (subdivision of pigment)
Movement
Distance

Hearing (Ears)

3. Hearing (aural recognition)

Perception of sound
Separation of sounds
Distance from sound emanating objects
Orientation relative to sound emanating objects

Touch (Skin)

4. Touch (pressure)

5. Thermoception (Hot and Cold - physical)

Hot and Cold – chemically induced.
Texture
Shape

Stimuli and their Sensory Receptors in the Skin

4 Pressure (steady indentation) is felt by Merkel's disks.

5 Temperature is felt by the thermoceptors

Gentle fluttering (low rate vibration) is felt by Meissner's corpuscles.
Stretching (rapid distension) is felt by Ruffini's corpuscles.
Vibration (rapid vibration) is felt by Pacinian corpuscles.
Brushing (hair deflection) is felt by the hair receptors.

Smell (Nose)

6. Smell.

Sub divisions or classes of recognised odours eg, a perfumer's 12 - 15 “fragrances” and three “notes” or a wine taster's “nose” or “bouquet”.
Up to 10,000 distinct odours can be recognised by the olfactory receptor cells.

Taste (Tongue)

7. Sweet taste

8. Sour taste

9. Salty taste

10. Bitter taste

11. Umami taste (the taste of cooked meat also found in soy & mushroom sauces)

Hot taste (eg chilli and mustard)
Cold taste (eg mint and menthol)
Fats (the CD36 taste receptor)
Tingling numbness (eg Sichuan pepper)
Astringency (eg tannins)
Body (thickness felt while tasting)

Body Monitoring Systems

12. Balance (orientation in the gravitational field)

13. Kinaesthesis (movement of parts of the body that do not affect balance).

14. Proprioception (joint position)

15. Nociception (pain): cutaneous, somatic or visceral

16. Blood pressure

17. Blood oxygen content

18. Cerebrospinal fluid pH

19. Plasma osmotic potential (thirst)

20. Artery-vein glucose difference (hunger)

21. Lung inflation.

Also suggested:

Internal body temperature
Stomach fullness
Bowel stretching (need to empty).
Bladder stretching (need to empty).
Perception – the recalling of all memorised data and experience associated with a stimulus.

The Sensations of Sexual Pleasure.

In the primary erogenous zones, high concentrations of mechanoreceptors sensitivity to deep pressure touch and high frequency vibration.
In the secondary erogenous zones, a combination of the tickle reaction, visual discernment and conditioned anticipation.
Some body odours (possibly pheromonal and/or conditioned) may trigger sexual appetite.
Conditioned perception, where any stimulus becomes associated with sexual arousal through experience and repetition.

Edited Sat 20 Dec 08, 11:32 AM by Mad_Monk