You think there’s only five, but there’s 23 other senses you probably never even knew
you had.
More and more scientists are breaking the senses down into small categories and finding
out that they’re a lot more complicated than we thought.
Well, not all of them.
There’s one sense that doesn’t break down into anything else that we know of - hearing.
The way the body processes auditory stimulus through the ears and associated organs is
well-known, and it seems like all noises are processed the same way.
Some people react differently to different sounds - some have more trouble processing
specific sounds over white noise, for instance - but there’s no indication that our sense
of hearing is more than one sense thrown into a blender.
But that’s not the case for the other four core senses.
Take our vision.
It’s the one sense that most of us are using at every moment of every day - at least when
we’re not asleep.
We’re taking in visual stimuli all the time - like when you’re watching an Infographics
Show video, for instance.
But what are our eyes taking in?
It’s actually a much more complicated process than you can...well, see.
The first component of seeing is light.
After all, it’s pretty hard to use your sense of vision in the dark - as many an unfortunate
parent has found out when they were stumbling through the house at night and met a stray
lego piece foot first.
This is the core of the sense of sight, and when the receptors that take in light are
not able to absorb it, that’s one of the primary causes of blindness.
But it’s not the only component that makes vision work.
Color.
It’s the finishing palette on the base canvas that is our sense of vision.
And many scientists are starting to consider it a separate part of the sense of vision.
There’s evidence for this - in the disorder accurately called color blindness.
There are people who, despite maintaining an accurate sense of vision, lose their ability
to process color due to an injury - indicating that a different part of the brain governs
seeing and color.
For those people, life largely looks like wandering through an old movie in black and
white.
But colorblindness isn’t always as clear as that - and it may point to a more radical
version of differing senses.
While total color blindness is more common due to injury, many people are born with a
different kind - that makes it impossible to differentiate between certain colors.
This can often go undetected, until it makes kids struggle in school and find it hard to
read things printed in certain colors.
At least, that’s the most convenient time to figure it out - before someone is sitting
at a traffic light and trying to figure out when it’s changing.
And these issues mostly seem to center around three colors.
Blue, the color of the sky - and the color of certain inks and other workplace staples
that would pose a challenge to those who can’t see it properly.
Green, the color of plants - and the common signal for “Go” on stop signs, which could
cause some uncomfortable delays.
Red, the color of fire - and the common signal for “stop” and a warning color in many
dangerous products.
For someone who can’t process any of these colors in their vision, life could get a bit
more dangerous - which is why many more radical theories of senses claim each color is its
own sense.
But it’s not the only sense that can be broken down like this.
Few senses give us more pleasure than taste.
We’ve all got our favorite foods, and our taste buds give us the most intense version
of them possible - at least, while they can.
Sense of taste tends to diminish with age, and certain illnesses or disorders can also
knock them out of whack - as anyone who found all foods sort of taste the same when they
have a cold has learned.
But is taste one sense - or is it a collection of them concentrated on the same organ?
While originally scientists claimed that taste buds for different tastes were clustered on
different parts of the tongue, that now seems to be inaccurate.
We can taste all our favorite foods all over our tongue - but that doesn’t mean we taste
all things the same way.
Sweet tastes are essentially a pleasure signal, with both nutritious fruits and non-nutritious
candy and cakes giving us the same reaction.
In nature, sweet fruits are more likely to be edible because they evolved to be eaten
and spread.
And most sweet foods are high in carbs, which are ideal for an energy boost.
But not all tastes provide the same reaction.
Salty foods can be pleasure-filled as well - as anyone who is elbow deep in a bag of
potato chips knows.
But they can also be a warning signal.
Someone on a desert island who tries to drink the ocean water will get an unpleasant salty
taste - which warns them that this water isn’t thirst-quenching and might actually make their
dehydration worse.
The same goes for sour foods.
Sure, it can be great in small doses - be it a tart green apple or a bag full of sour
candy - but many sweet fruits are also unpleasantly sour before they ripen properly.
Sourness can be a warning signal that the food isn’t at its prime - or, in some cases
like dairy - that it’s well past its prime and could actually make you sick.
But one taste sense is a much louder warning.
There’s a place for bitter foods, of course - although how much of kalamata olives or
aperitifs you can take will vary.
But in danger, bitterness often means the immediate risk of poisoning.
If a plant does not want to be eaten, you might get an immediate warning of a bitter
taste when you bite into it before the poison settles into your body - so you’d better
spit fast.
But are these the only senses of taste?
Originating in Japan, the concept of Umami is the newest taste sense - yep, they’re
rolling out new senses.
Well, it was actually always there, but now we have a name to refer to that distinct savory
taste that comes with meats, smoked fish, cheese, and mushrooms.
It’s not quite salty, and it has its own taste receptors, which is why it’s now considered
its own taste - and by some radical assessments, its own sense.
Of course, the tongue isn’t the only organ tied into taste.
The sense of taste and smell are tightly linked, with the smell of cooking often being the
first enjoyment we get out of our food.
But it can also be a warning signal when food has gone off - just open that carton of milk
that’s been sitting out a little too long and find out.
But the sense of smell doesn’t just warn us of bad food.
It’s important for smelling out harmful substances like gas leaks or fast-approaching
smoke from a fire, and those without a proper sense of smell due to illness or injury should
invest in some good detectors to make sure they don’t fall prey to chemicals they can’t
smell.
But is the sense of smell truly one sense?
We’ve got a lot of smell receptors in our noses, and they may all process different
things.
Research is relatively slim in this area so far, although widespread issues with smell
after bouts of the current pandemic have increased research and many scientists are starting
to consider that just like taste, our sense of smell may be many senses that all function
in similar ways but with distinct functions.
Just like taste, our sense of smell may contain multitudes.
And then there’s the sense of touch - the literal hands-on way we interact with the
world.
Right out of the gate, there’s the way we feel when we touch something, or something
touches us.
This is the most subtle form of touch, and it helps us pick up subtle sensations.
Think about the difference between putting your hand on a soft cat’s fur, or putting
your hand on a piece of sandpaper.
This light touch gives a quick sense of comfort or discomfort, making it easy to tell what’s
safe and what isn’t.
But a stronger touch may be its own sensation.
Remember when you were a kid playing with a ball, and your parent grabbed you by the
arm as you were about to wander into traffic?
That sense of pressure on your arm was enough to stop you dead in your tracks, and this
feeling goes deeper into the muscle.
But when pressure gets too intense, it can kick off another sensation - pain.
Most scientists immediately agree that pain is its own sensation aside from touch, with
it working as a sudden warning signal to back away from something.
But it may also be broken down into more than one sense on its own.
Cutaneous pain, the most common and least serious type of pain, is caused when something
comes into contact with the skin and damages it or causes it pain.
It usually indicates a superficial injury on the upper level of the skin.
Somatic pain is also common, but reflects something a little deeper.
It’s pain deeper in the skin, along with pain in the muscle or tissues.
It’s possible to experience both types of pain at the same time - for instance, taking
a nasty fall and skinning a knee might cause cutaneous pain from the skin abrasion, and
somatic pain from the nasty below the surface.
But one type of pain indicates something more serious.
Visceral pain is the type of pain you feel when something is wrong in the chest, abdomen,
or pelvis, and usually indicates an issue with internal organs or tissues.
Because it’s more vague on the location, it can be hard to tell exactly what’s wrong
- but it could be a sign of a serious problem.
One of the most common sources is appendicitis, an inflammation of the appendix that could
lead to a burst and a potentially fatal infection if not treated quickly.
All these types of pain are distinct - and according to some sources, each counts as
their own sense.
But two other types of pain may be their own thing.
Yes, heat and cold can be painful - as anyone who tried to shovel snow without gloves or
sat out too long in the sun knows.
But we can tell heat and cold even without pain.
Temperature is its own type of sensation, and we can sense differences in temperature
pretty quickly as our body responds.
Our temperature rises or falls, our skin begins to sweat in high heat, and our muscles tighten
up in extreme cold.
Extreme heat or cold can lead to pain, but become obvious even before pain settles in,
so both of these could qualify as their own senses.
Those are the five core senses and their associated senses - but there’s a whole category many
people don’t know about.
Mechanoreception.
This is the sense of mechanical pressure of reception, and is the main way we feel our
body.
Sensory neurons convert pressure into signals that are received by the central nervous system.
Without pain or external stimuli, we can still tell what our body is doing and how it’s
reacting.
And there’s one version that affects how we go through life everyday.
Balance.
It’s what keeps you upright through the day and prevents you from bumping into things,
and it’s a complex combination of factors that involves the inner ear and our sense
of body awareness.
It’s critically important for any athlete or performer - but just as important to avoid
costly accidents every day.
And it’s a complex series of factors that come together into a whole.
Our rotational acceleration and linear acceleration senses help govern how fast we’re moving
and keep us safe.
Proprioception, or joint position, helps to keep our body balanced by preventing overextension.
Kinaesthesis, or the awareness of our muscles and how they move and stretch, helps to keep
us from straining or tearing our muscles when we move and lift things.
But our muscles and joints aren’t the only part of our body we’re aware of.
Our interoceptors are how we sense our body’s function in more subtle ways.
These senses start with our blood pressure, which is how we can tell when we’re having
health problems or stress issues.
Blood starts racing?
It might be time to change something.
We can also tell when we have pressure in our lungs, when our bladder is stretching,
or when our stomachs are full.
Some scientists even state that with increased awareness, we can tell more subtle things
like the blood pressure in our head or arteries.
Thirst and hunger are both linked to these signals from our body, and may be linked to
the osmotic pressure in our plasma for thirst, and to the blood glucose levels for hunger.
The body is a complex machine.
We might interact with the world through our five basic senses, the twenty-eight other
senses most people don’t even know about can create a better awareness of this world
- and of our own body and how it works.
Want to learn more about the human body?
Check out “Weird Facts About Female Body”, or watch “Weird Facts About Male Body”
for the flip side.