I know you’re thinking “Wait – smell, touch, hearing, sight and touch. That’s five. What does she mean, nine?”
These first five senses each have an easily recognizable corresponding organ – nose, skin, ear, eye and tongue – that is responsible for detecting and communicating inputs to our brain. We are readily aware of these inputs every waking moment.
We tend to take the other four senses for granted, to the point where many of us aren’t even aware of them. Despite this lack of awareness, these four senses are working constantly as well, helping us make it through each day. If you’ve read this far, you must be excited, like me, to learn what these mysterious other four senses are. Ready?
- Temperature or “Thermoception” is separate from our sense of touch. We don’t need to be touching anything to feel hot or cold. As humans, we can only survive within a relatively narrow band of temperatures, so this is a crucial sense.
- Pain or “Nociception” is different from both touch and temperature. Further, there are two systems of pain sensors in our body. One detects pain from external sources, and one identifies internal pain.
- Vestibular or “Equilibrioception” provides balance and the ability to feel acceleration even when we are sitting still, like in a car.
- Kinesthetic or “Proprioception” helps us know where our body and limbs are in space and in relation to each other.
- (I rediscovered these four senses while reading The Element by Ken Robinson.)
Next time you’re driving home from work with hunger pangs, hot from the sun pouring through the windshield and you reach over to pick up the water bottle in your console without looking, remember the mysterious four senses that are active beyond your awareness enabling you to fully experience the world!