Sense

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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Revision as of 19:35, 19 May 2014

Caricature of human nose
Illustration: Napoleon III nose caricatures from Schneegans's History of Grotesque Satire

"To arrive at the unknown through the disordering of all the senses, that's the point'. --Arthur Rimbaud, 1871

"(W)ith five feeble senses we pretend to comprehend the boundlessly complex cosmos, yet other beings with a wider, stronger, or different range of senses might not only see very differently the things we see, but might see and study whole worlds of matter, energy, and life which lie close at hand yet can never be detected with the senses we have ... strange, inaccessible worlds exist at our very elbows." --"From Beyond", H. P. Lovecraft

This page Sense is part of the perception series.
Illustration: Drawing for the interior view of the Théatre de Besançon (1784) by Claude Nicolas Ledoux

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Senses are physiological capacities of organisms that provide data about the world; sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste. The senses and their operation, classification, and theory are overlapping topics studied by a variety of fields, most notably neuroscience, cognitive psychology (or cognitive science), and philosophy of perception. The nervous system has a specific sensory system or organ, dedicated to each sense.

Human beings have a multitude of senses. Sight (ophthalmoception), hearing (audioception), taste (gustaoception), smell (olfacoception or olfacception), and touch (tactioception) are the five traditionally recognized. While the ability to detect other stimuli beyond those governed by the traditional senses exists, including temperature (thermoception), kinesthetic sense (proprioception), pain (nociception), balance (equilibrioception), acceleration (kinesthesioception), and various internal stimuli (e.g. the different chemoreceptors for detecting salt and carbon dioxide concentrations in the blood), only a small number of these can safely be classified as separate senses in and of themselves. What constitutes a sense is a matter of some debate, leading to difficulties in defining what exactly a sense is.

1 Culture
- 1.1 See also
2 Namesakes
3 Further reading
4 See also

Culture

In the time of William Shakespeare, there were commonly reckoned to be five wits or five senses. At that time, the words "sense" and "wit" were synonyms, so the senses were known as the five outward wits. This traditional concept of five senses is common today, and Extrasensory perception is often called the sixth sense.

Depictions of the five traditional senses as allegory -- called allegory of the senses -- became a popular subject for seventeenth-century artists, especially among Dutch and Flemish Baroque painters. A typical example is Gérard de Lairesse's Allegory of the Five Senses (1668), in which each of the figures in the main group allude to one particular sense. There is also Allegory of the Senses, a painting by Jan Brueghel the Elder.

Namesakes

The Logic of Sense (1969) by Gilles Deleuze
In the Realm of the Senses (1976), a Japanese film

+[[Image:Napoleon III nose caricatures from Schneegans History of Grotesque Satire.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Caricature of human nose<br>
+Illustration: [[Napoleon III]] nose caricatures from Schneegans's ''[[History of Grotesque Satire]]'' ]]
+{| class="toccolours" style="float: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 2em; font-size: 85%; background:#c6dbf7; color:black; width:30em; max-width: 40%;" cellspacing="5"
+| style="text-align: left;" |
+"[[To arrive at the unknown through the disordering of all the senses, that's the point]]'. --Arthur Rimbaud, 1871
+<hr>
+"(W)ith five feeble [[sense]]s we pretend to comprehend the boundlessly complex [[cosmos]], yet other beings with a wider, stronger, or different range of senses might not only see very differently the things we see, but might see and study whole worlds of matter, energy, and life which lie close at hand yet can never be detected with the senses we have ... strange, [[inaccessible]] worlds exist at our very elbows." --"[[From Beyond (short story)|From Beyond]]", H. P. Lovecraft
+|}
 [[Image:Nicolas Ledoux.jpg|thumb|200px|This page '''{{PAGENAME}}''' is part of the ''[[perception]]'' series.
 <br><small>
-Illustration: Drawing for the interior view of the [[Théatre de Besançon]] (1784) by [[Claude Nicolas Ledoux]]</small>]][[Image:Napoleon III nose caricatures from Schneegans History of Grotesque Satire.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Caricature of human nose<br>
+Illustration: Drawing for the interior view of the [[Théatre de Besançon]] (1784) by [[Claude Nicolas Ledoux]]</small>]][[Image:Ears from 'Italian Painters'.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Ear]]s from ''[[Italian Painters]]'']]
-Illustration: [[Napoleon III]] nose caricatures from Schneegans's ''[[History of Grotesque Satire]]'' ]]
+[[Image:The Trees Have Ears and the Field Has Eyes by Hieronymus Bosch.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[The Trees have Ears and the Field has Eyes|''The Trees have Ears and the Field has Eyes'' by Hieronymus Bosch]]]]
-[[Image:Ears from 'Italian Painters'.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Ear]]s from ''[[Italian Painters]]'']]
 {{Template}}
 '''Senses''' are [[physiological]] capacities of [[organism]]s that provide data about the [[world]]; [[sight]], [[smell]], [[hearing]], [[touch]], [[taste]]. The senses and their operation, classification, and theory are overlapping topics studied by a variety of fields, most notably [[neuroscience]], [[cognitive psychology]] (or [[cognitive science]]), and [[philosophy of perception]]. The [[nervous system]] has a specific [[sensory system]] or organ, dedicated to each sense.
 Human beings have a multitude of senses. Sight (ophthalmoception), [[hearing]] (audioception), taste (gustaoception), smell (olfacoception or olfacception), and touch (tactioception) are the five traditionally recognized. While the ability to detect other stimuli beyond those governed by the traditional senses exists, including temperature (thermoception), kinesthetic sense (proprioception), pain (nociception), balance (equilibrioception), acceleration (kinesthesioception), and various internal stimuli (e.g. the different chemoreceptors for detecting salt and carbon dioxide concentrations in the blood), only a small number of these can safely be classified as separate senses in and of themselves. What constitutes a sense is a matter of some debate, leading to difficulties in defining what exactly a sense is.
-Animals also have receptors to sense the world around them, with degrees of capability varying greatly between species. Humans have a comparatively weak sense of smell, while some animals may lack one or more of the traditional five senses. Some animals may also intake and interpret sensory [[Stimulus (psychology)|stimuli]] in very different ways. Some species of animals are able to sense the world in a way that humans cannot, with some species able to sense [[electrical field|electrical]] and [[magnetic field]]s, and detect [[water pressure]] and currents.
-==Definition==
-There is no firm agreement among neurologists as to the number of senses because of differing definitions of what constitutes a sense. One definition states that an exteroceptive sense is a faculty by which outside stimuli are perceived. The traditional five senses are sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste, a classification attributed to [[Aristotle]]. Humans are considered to have at least five additional senses that include: [[nociception]] (pain); [[equilibrioception]] (balance); [[proprioception]] and [[kinaesthesia]] (joint motion and acceleration); [[sense of time]]; [[thermoception]] (temperature differences); and possibly an additional weak [[magnetoception]] (direction), and six more if interoceptive senses (see ''other internal senses'' below) are also considered.
-One commonly recognized categorisation for human senses is as follows: [[chemoreception]]; [[photoreception]]; [[mechanoreception]]; and [[thermoception]]. This categorisation has been criticized as too restrictive, however, as it does not include categories for accepted senses such as the [[sense of time]] and sense of [[pain]].
-Non-human animals may possess senses that are absent in humans, such as [[electroreception]] and detection of [[polarized light]].
-A broadly acceptable definition of a sense would be "A system that consists of a group of sensory cell types that responds to a specific physical phenomenon, and that corresponds to a particular group of regions within the brain where the [[Signalling theory|signal]]s are received and interpreted." Disputes about the number of senses typically arise around the classification of the various cell types and their [[Mind map|mapping]] to regions of the brain.
-In [[Buddhist philosophy]], [[Ayatana]] or "sense-base" includes the mind as a sense organ, in addition to the traditional five. This addition to the commonly acknowledged senses may arise from the psychological orientation involved in Buddhist thought and practice. The mind considered by itself is seen as the principal gateway to a different spectrum of phenomena that differ from the physical sense data. This way of viewing the human sense system indicates the importance of internal sources of sensation and perception that complements our experience of the external world.
-==Traditional senses==
-===Sight===
-'''[[Visual perception|Sight]]''' or '''vision''' is the capability of the eye(s) to focus and detect images of visible [[light]] on [[Photoreceptor cell|photoreceptors]] in the [[retina]] of each eye that generates electrical [[Action potential|nerve impulses]] for varying colors, hues, and brightness.  There are two types of photoreceptors: [[Rod cell|rods]] and [[Cone cell|cones]]. Rods are very sensitive to light, but do not distinguish colors.  Cones distinguish colors, but are less sensitive to dim light. There is some disagreement as to whether this constitutes one, two or three senses. Neuroanatomists generally regard it as two senses, given that different receptors are responsible for the perception of color and brightness. Some argue that [[stereopsis]], the perception of depth using both eyes, also constitutes a sense, but it is generally regarded as a cognitive (that is, post-sensory) function of the [[visual cortex]] of the brain where patterns and objects in [[Real image|images]] are recognized and interpreted based on previously learned information. This is called visual memory.
-The inability to see is called [[blindness]]. Blindness may result from damage to the eyeball, especially to the retina, damage to the optic nerve that connects each eye to the brain, and/or from stroke ([[infarct]]s in the brain).  Temporary or permanent blindness can be caused by poisons or medications.
-People who are blind from degradation or damage to the visual cortex, but still have functional eyes, are actually capable of some level of vision and reaction to visual stimuli but not a conscious perception; this is known as [[blindsight]]. People with blindsight are usually not aware that they are reacting to visual sources, and instead just unconsciously adapt their behaviour to the stimulus.
-===Hearing===
-'''[[Hearing (sense)|Hearing]]''' or '''audition''' is the sense of [[sound]] perception. Hearing is all about vibration. Mechanoreceptors turn motion into electrical nerve pulses, which are located in the inner ear. Since sound is vibrations propagating through a medium such as air, the detection of these vibrations, that is the sense of the hearing, is a mechanical sense because these vibrations are mechanically conducted from the eardrum through a series of tiny bones to hair-like fibers in the [[inner ear]], which detect mechanical motion of the fibers within a range of about 20 to 20,000&nbsp;[[hertz]], with substantial variation between individuals. Hearing at high frequencies declines with an increase in age. Inability to hear is called [[deafness]] or hearing impairment. Sound can also be detected as [[Seismic communication|vibrations conducted through the body]] by tactition. Lower frequencies than can be heard are detected this way.
-===Taste===
-[[Taste]] (or, the more formal term, '''gustation'''; adjectival form: "gustatory") is one of the traditional five senses. It refers to the capability to detect the taste of substances such as food, certain minerals, and poisons, etc. The sense of taste is often confused with the "sense" of flavor, which is a combination of taste and smell perception. Flavor depends on odor, texture, and temperature as well as on taste. Humans receive tastes through sensory organs called taste buds, or gustatory calyculi, concentrated on the upper surface of the tongue. There are five basic tastes: [[sweet]], [[Bitter (taste)#Bitterness|bitter]], [[sour]], [[Saltiness|salty]] and [[umami]]. Other tastes such as calcium and [[free fatty acids]] may be other basic tastes but have yet to receive widespread acceptance.
-===Smell===
-'''[[Olfaction|Smell]]''' or '''olfaction''' is the other "chemical" sense. Unlike taste, there are hundreds of olfactory receptors (388 according to one source), each binding to a particular molecular feature. Odor molecules possess a variety of features and, thus, excite specific receptors more or less strongly. This combination of excitatory signals from different receptors makes up what we perceive as the molecule's smell. In the brain, olfaction is processed by the [[olfactory system]]. [[Olfactory receptor neuron]]s in the [[Human nose|nose]] differ from most other neurons in that they die and regenerate on a regular basis. The inability to smell is called [[anosmia]]. Some neurons in the nose are specialized to detect [[pheromone]]s.
-===Touch===
-'''[[Touch]]''' or '''[[somatosensory]]''', also called '''[[tactition]]''' or '''[[Mechanoreceptor|mechanoreception]]''', is a perception resulting from activation of neural receptors, generally in the [[skin]] including [[hair follicle]]s, but also in the [[tongue]], [[throat]], and [[Mucous membrane|mucosa]]. A variety of [[pressure]] receptors respond to variations in pressure (firm, brushing, sustained, etc.). The touch sense of [[itch]]ing caused by insect bites or allergies involves special itch-specific neurons in the skin and spinal cord. The loss or impairment of the ability to feel anything touched is called tactile [[anesthesia]].  [[Paresthesia]] is a sensation of tingling, pricking, or [[numbness]] of the skin that may result from nerve damage and may be permanent or temporary.
 ==Culture==
 In the time of [[William Shakespeare]], there were commonly reckoned to be '''five wits''' or '''five senses'''. At that time, the words "sense" and "wit" were synonyms, so the senses were known as the five outward wits. This traditional concept of five senses is common today, and [[Extrasensory perception]] is often called the sixth sense.
-Depictions of the five traditional senses as [[allegory]] became a popular subject for seventeenth-century artists, especially among [[Dutch Golden Age painting|Dutch]] and [[Flemish Baroque painter]]s. A typical example is [[Gérard de Lairesse]]'s ''[[Allegory of the Five Senses]]'' (1668), in which each of the figures in the main group allude to a sense: Sight is the reclining boy with a [[convex mirror]], hearing is the [[cupid]]-like boy with a [[Triangle (instrument)|triangle]], smell is represented by the girl with flowers, taste is represented by the woman with the fruit, and touch is represented by the woman holding the bird.
+Depictions of the five traditional senses as [[allegory]] -- called [[allegory of the senses]] -- became a popular subject for seventeenth-century artists, especially among [[Dutch Golden Age painting|Dutch]] and [[Flemish Baroque painter]]s. A typical example is [[Gérard de Lairesse]]'s ''[[Allegory of the Five Senses]]'' (1668), in which each of the figures in the main group allude to one particular sense. There is also ''[[Allegory of the Senses]]'', a painting by Jan Brueghel the Elder.
 ===See also===
 ==Namesakes==
 * ''[[The Logic of Sense ]]'' (1969) by Gilles Deleuze
+* ''[[In the Realm of the Senses]]'' (1976), a Japanese film
+==Further reading==
+* ''[[The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat]]'' (1985) by [[Oliver Sacks]]
 ==See also==
 * [[Attention]]
 * [[Apperception]]
-* [[Allegory of the senses]]
 * [[Basic taste]]s
-* [[Chemesthesis]]
 * [[Communication]]
 * [[Empiricism]]
 * [[Extrasensory perception]]
 * [[Hypersensitivity]] (people with unusual sense abilities)
-** [[Human echolocation]]
-** [[Supertaster]]
-** [[Entoptic phenomenon|Vision-related]]:
-***[[Haidinger's brush]] (ordinary people sensing light polarisation)
-***[[Tetrachromat]] (increased colour perception)
 * [[Illusion]]s
-** [[Auditory illusion]]
-** [[Optical illusion]]
-** [[Touch illusion]]
 * [[intuition (knowledge)|Intuition]]
-* [[Multimodal integration]]
 * [[Nonsense]] and [[common sense]]
 * [[Perception]]
 * [[Phantom limb]]
-* [[Ṣaḍāyatana|Saḷāyatana]] and [[Ayatana]] (the six senses as a concept in [[Buddhism]])
 * [[Sensation and perception psychology]]
 * [[Sense of time]]
 * [[Sensitivity (human)]]
 * [[Sensorium]]
-* [[Sensory Processing Disorder]]
 * [[Sensory system]]
+* [[Sensor]]
 * [[Synesthesia]]
+* [[Word sense]] in linguistics, one of the meanings of a word
 {{GFDL}}

Sense

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

Revision as of 19:35, 19 May 2014

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