Humans Really Have Seven Senses (Don't Forget Proprioception ...

Home » What Are The 7 Senses » Humans Really Have Seven Senses (Don't Forget Proprioception ...

Maybe your like

Humans Really Have Seven Senses (Don’t Forget Proprioception and Vestibular Sensation) Big Think Home Open search Open main menu
  • Search Popular SearchesCritical thinkingPhilosophyEmotional IntelligenceFree Will Latest Videos Latest Articles
  • Topics

    Philosophy

    • Ethics
    • Religion
    • Flourishing
    • Knowledge
    • Philosophy of Science
    • Philosophy of Art
    • Language
    • Political Theory
    • Identity
    • Meaning & Purpose

    Science & Tech

    • Physics
    • Biology
    • Aerospace
    • Health
    • Geology
    • Computing
    • Engineering
    • Energy
    • Biotechnology

    Mind & Behavior

    • Psychology
    • Neuroscience
    • Decision-Making
    • Mental Health
    • Consciousness
    • Emotional Intelligence
    • Personality
    • Relationships
    • Parenting

    Business

    • Entrepreneurship
    • Leadership
    • Finance
    • Marketing
    • Innovation
    • Strategy
    • Management
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Startups
    • Economics

    History & Society

    • History
    • Literature
    • Art
    • Music
    • Film
    • Progress
    • Culture
    • Sociology
    • Policy
    • Geopolitics
  • Videos Latest Videos An older person with short gray hair sits on a chair in front of a white backdrop outdoors, with observatory domes and buildings in the background. Why the search for alien life is about patience, not belief with Jill Tarter A man with curly hair, a beard, and glasses, wearing a green button-up shirt, gestures with his hand against a plain white background. Thinking too logically can actually hold you back with Dan Shipper View of a planet’s surface in the foreground with a red moon or planet and stars visible in the background against the dark space. Is there a Planet B? An astrophysicist answers.  with Sara Seager A lone silhouette of a person stands in a hazy, grainy environment, surrounded by darkness and indistinct shadows. What nihilism acknowledges that other philosophies don’t with Alex O’Connor A woman in a blue outfit and red heels sits on a chair in a studio with a white backdrop, flanked by stylized images of a person's face looking at a phone. The terrifying ways that social media is altering teenage brains with Clare Morell Bald man wearing glasses and a dark suit jacket sits against a plain white background, looking slightly to the side with a neutral expression. The computing revolution that secretly began in 1776 with David Alan Grier See All
  • Columns MINI PHILOSOPHY with Jonny Thomson" text on black background with icons of pathways, scales, and a bird. Mini Philosophy A philosophy column for personal reflection. X-ray galactic center Starts With A Bang An astrophysics column on big questions and our universe. A black background with the symbols "B | T" in a box on the left and the word "BOOKS" on the right, with the first "O" replaced by an open book icon. Books A literature column to feed your curiosity. Abstract image featuring a human silhouette filled with various medical and neural diagrams, with brain scan images in the background. A small figure is walking towards the center, symbolizing the long game. The Long Game A business column on long-term thinking. Strange Maps A geography column on history and society. The Well A collection of essays and videos on life’s biggest questions. 13.8 A column at the intersection of science and culture.
  • Classes Featured Classes A collage featuring climbers helping each other, a pink compass rose, and a smiling man in a suit, all with a muted color palette. Members 7 videos How to Lead With Integrity Steve Stoute Founder and CEO, UnitedMasters and Translation A grayscale photo of a woman with hoop earrings, set against an orange background and overlaid on a black and white abstract digital pattern. Members 6 videos Transform Your Organization with AI Daphne Koller Founder and CEO of insitro. A bald man wearing a dark blazer and black shirt smiles slightly against a plain light gray background. Members 10 videos Unlocking Your Team’s Hidden Potential Adam Grant Organizational psychologist and author A four-panel image: a serving tray, a key symbol, a smiley face, and a smiling man in the bottom right corner. The colors are muted purple and beige. Members 6 videos The Secrets of Unreasonable Hospitality Will Guidara Restaurateur and Author, Unreasonable Hospitality A red-tinted image of a woman’s face is overlaid inside the shape of a purse, set against a black and yellow grid background. Members 12 videos How to Afford Anything Paula Pant Host, Afford Anything Podcast, Afford Anything A man wearing glasses and a suit, shown in a blue and pink halftone graphic style, looking directly at the camera. Members 7 videos True Ingredients of Successful Leadership Atul Gawande Professor and author Browse
  • More
    • About Big Think
    • Work with Us
    • Newsletters
    • Monthly Issues
    • Events
    • Careers
    • Our Mission
    • Get Big Think+ for Business
    • Freethink Media
    • View our Twitter (X) feed View our Youtube channel View our Instagram feed View our Substack feed
Sign In Membership
  • My account
    • My Classes
    • My Account
    • My List
    • BT+ for my Business
    • Early Releases
    • Sign Out
  • Membership
  • Topics Back

    Philosophy

    • Ethics
    • Religion
    • Flourishing
    • Knowledge
    • Philosophy of Science
    • Philosophy of Art
    • Language
    • Political Theory
    • Identity
    • Meaning & Purpose

    Science & Tech

    • Physics
    • Biology
    • Aerospace
    • Health
    • Geology
    • Computing
    • Engineering
    • Energy
    • Biotechnology

    Mind & Behavior

    • Psychology
    • Neuroscience
    • Decision-Making
    • Mental Health
    • Consciousness
    • Emotional Intelligence
    • Personality
    • Relationships
    • Parenting

    Business

    • Entrepreneurship
    • Leadership
    • Finance
    • Marketing
    • Innovation
    • Strategy
    • Management
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Startups
    • Economics

    History & Society

    • History
    • Literature
    • Art
    • Music
    • Film
    • Progress
    • Culture
    • Sociology
    • Policy
    • Geopolitics
  • Videos Back Latest Videos An older person with short gray hair sits on a chair in front of a white backdrop outdoors, with observatory domes and buildings in the background. Why the search for alien life is about patience, not belief A man with curly hair, a beard, and glasses, wearing a green button-up shirt, gestures with his hand against a plain white background. Thinking too logically can actually hold you back "Rationalism is the idea that, in order to truly know something, you have to be able to describe it explicitly." View of a planet’s surface in the foreground with a red moon or planet and stars visible in the background against the dark space. Is there a Planet B? An astrophysicist answers.  30 years ago, we didn’t know other stars had planets orbiting them. Now, we may be on the verge of... A lone silhouette of a person stands in a hazy, grainy environment, surrounded by darkness and indistinct shadows. What nihilism acknowledges that other philosophies don’t "The thing that the nihilist recognizes is that the values he or she holds are not grounded in anything other... A woman in a blue outfit and red heels sits on a chair in a studio with a white backdrop, flanked by stylized images of a person's face looking at a phone. The terrifying ways that social media is altering teenage brains Why social media is the perfect recipe for kids to become addicted to their smartphones. Bald man wearing glasses and a dark suit jacket sits against a plain white background, looking slightly to the side with a neutral expression. The computing revolution that secretly began in 1776 "In the process of mapping the heavens, it doesn't take long to realize the data problem they generated." A man in a black suit sits on a chair in front of a white backdrop in a modern brick-walled room with large windows and minimal furnishings. How the Industrial Revolution invented modern computing "The process of systematizing, correcting errors, finding approximations, and making them work as civil systems that was what really drove... An older man with glasses and a light blue shirt sits and smiles while raising his hand with fingers spread, in front of a plain white background. Why modern fitness culture misunderstands human bodies "It's this modern idea of doing voluntary discretionary, physical activity for the sake of health and fitness."
  • Columns Back Columns MINI PHILOSOPHY with Jonny Thomson" text on black background with icons of pathways, scales, and a bird. Mini Philosophy A philosophy column for personal reflection. X-ray galactic center Starts With A Bang An astrophysics column on big questions and our universe. A black background with the symbols "B | T" in a box on the left and the word "BOOKS" on the right, with the first "O" replaced by an open book icon. Books A literature column to feed your curiosity. Abstract image featuring a human silhouette filled with various medical and neural diagrams, with brain scan images in the background. A small figure is walking towards the center, symbolizing the long game. The Long Game A business column on long-term thinking. Strange Maps A geography column on history and society. The Well A collection of essays and videos on life’s biggest questions. 13.8 A column at the intersection of science and culture.
  • Classes Back Featured Classes A collage featuring climbers helping each other, a pink compass rose, and a smiling man in a suit, all with a muted color palette. Members 7 videos How to Lead With Integrity Steve Stoute Founder and CEO, UnitedMasters and Translation A grayscale photo of a woman with hoop earrings, set against an orange background and overlaid on a black and white abstract digital pattern. Members 6 videos Transform Your Organization with AI Daphne Koller Founder and CEO of insitro. A bald man wearing a dark blazer and black shirt smiles slightly against a plain light gray background. Members 10 videos Unlocking Your Team’s Hidden Potential Adam Grant Organizational psychologist and author A four-panel image: a serving tray, a key symbol, a smiley face, and a smiling man in the bottom right corner. The colors are muted purple and beige. Members 6 videos The Secrets of Unreasonable Hospitality Will Guidara Restaurateur and Author, Unreasonable Hospitality A red-tinted image of a woman’s face is overlaid inside the shape of a purse, set against a black and yellow grid background. Members 12 videos How to Afford Anything Paula Pant Host, Afford Anything Podcast, Afford Anything A man wearing glasses and a suit, shown in a blue and pink halftone graphic style, looking directly at the camera. Members 7 videos True Ingredients of Successful Leadership Atul Gawande Professor and author
  • My Account Back
    • My Classes
    • My Account
    • My List
    • BT+ for my Business
    • Early Releases
    • Sign Out
  • Sign In
  • Membership
  • More Back
    • About Big Think
    • Work with Us
    • Newsletters
    • Monthly Issues
    • Events
    • Careers
    • Our Mission
    • Get Big Think+ for Business
    • Freethink Media
    • View our Twitter (X) feed View our Youtube channel View our Instagram feed View our Substack feed
View our Twitter (X) feed View our Youtube channel View our Instagram feed View our Substack feed Search Popular SearchesCritical thinkingPhilosophyEmotional IntelligenceFree Will Latest Videos Latest Articles Humans Really Have Seven Senses (Don’t Forget Proprioception and Vestibular Sensation)

The way we understand the world is mediated by our five senses: touch, taste, sound, smell, and sight. Right? Well it turns out that humans have more than fives senses.

by Orion Jones November 20, 2014

The way we understand the world is mediated by our five senses: touch, taste, sound, smell, and sight. Right? Well it turns out that humans have more than fives senses, if by sense you mean way of knowing about the physical world. Here are two additional senses that don’t easily fit into the customary five:

Proprioception. If you close your eyes and touch your finger to your nose, for example, you have a good sense for where your body parts are even though you can’t see them. And we don’t seem to feel where our nose is in the same way we feel something by touching it with our hand. Proprioception “is possible thanks to receptors in our muscles known as spindles, which tell the brain about the current length and stretch of the muscles.”

Vestibular Sensation. If someone spins you around or tilts your body forward, you can sense yourself moving through space even though you have no sensation of the external world moving around you. This is the same system that tells us we are accelerating and is also connected to our eyes. If you move your head around, you’ll notice your ability to read isn’t much impaired.

As Columbia University biologist Dr. Stuart Firestein explains, our olfactory sense is both the most sophisticated and most primitive way we have of detecting the world around us. Olfactory cells have an unmatched ability to detect chemical compounds called odors, of which there are tens of thousands for us to identify:

Read more at BBC Future

Photo credit: Shutterstock

Orion Jones

Managing Editor

Full Profile

Related Content

Neuropsych

New evidence for a human magnetic sense that lets your brain detect the Earth’s magnetic field

Do you have a magnetic compass in your head?

by Shinsuke Shimojo Surprising Science

Think you have only 5 senses? You’ve actually got about 14 to 20.

Humans have way more than five senses, and if you include the animal kingdom there even more still.

by Philip Perry Surprising Science

After death, you’re aware that you’ve died, say scientists

Your subjective experience might not end the moment your heart stops, research on near-death experiences suggests.

by Philip Perry Surprising Science

Pizza math: For the best price, you should always order the biggest pie

Pizzanomics isn't an official field of research, but it can save you big money.

by David Ryan Polgar should i get a large pizza Learn from the world's biggest thinkers.
  • Videos
    • Latest
    • The Big Think Interview
  • Columns
    • Mini Philosophy
    • Starts with a Bang
    • Big Think Books
    • The Long Game
    • Strange Maps
    • 13.8
    • The Well
  • Sections
    • Philosophy
    • Mind & Behavior
    • Science & Tech
    • Business
    • History & Society
  • Classes
    • Class Library
  • Subscribe
    • Membership
    • Free Newsletters
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • Work with Us
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Sale
    • Accessibility
    • Careers
View our Twitter (X) feed View our Youtube channel View our Instagram feed View our Substack feed © Copyright 2007-2026 & BIG THINK, BIG THINK PLUS, SMARTER FASTER trademarks owned by Freethink Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

Tag » What Are The 7 Senses