So as we all know we have our 5 senses. Sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell. The idea of a sixth sense is usually in the realm of the supernatural (esp, third eye...) however I offer the idea that we do have a sixth sense. Our sense of balance. Seeing that our senses provide us information about our environment, I believe that balance should be listed as the official sixth sense. Balance tells us our position in a three dimensional space. It can be cut off like any other sense resulting in vertigo. My question is am I on the right track with this idea? Could it be possible? Is there anyone qualified on these boards to answer this question?
I'm certainly not qualified to answer your question. My gut reaction, however, is that it's extremely plausible.
I would change your definition of balance a bit, though. It tells us our movement thorugh 3-dimensional space, not our position.
I don't know where you want to go with this. I'm not even sure there's a listing of the 'official' 5 senses, other than in school science textbooks. It might be a good place to start.
edit:
seems to be at least 11. The first 5 are just the ones Aristotle came up with. That's what you get for putting all your faith in dead greek people.
:)
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I stand firm in the Aristotelian camp--Five Senses.
I believe the others listed in the Wiki citation are at best subordinate to the Five. Pain, proprioception and thermoception could not be actuated without the unifying sense of Touch, and thus are not true senses by themselves.
I would argue that Balance is an extension of both Touch and Sight, as well as actuated by internal anatomic processes of the inner ear. Despite the context of the Wiki source, the vestibular nerve is not strictly necessary to allow a human to ambulate or perform operations dependent upon spatial recognition, as these operations may be realized through sight or touch alone.
Aristotle says all of this very succinctly in Anima.
Where does intuition fit in?
I usually think of the sixth sense as intuition or gut instinct.
My instincts tell me there is a cookie in my future.
I don't know if it's a seperate sense or not, but as for being able to tell where you are in a three-dimensional environment by sight and touch alone....Nuh-uh. I have mennier's disease. If I am standing in the middle of a crowded room, perfectly able to see where I am and able to feel the solid floor under my feet, and the noise level starts to rise to get to that rumbly level that triggers an episode, I lose all sense of spatial relationships. I have trouble standing or walking and feel totally disoriented as what my body sees, hears, and feels contradict the feeling of motion I am getting from my inner ear. Obviously, this is the experience of someone whose sense of balance doesn't work the way it's supposed to, but I can totally accept the idea of balance being a seperate sense from the other five. And woe to those for whom it does not work. :)
It tells us our movement thorugh 3-dimensional space, not our position.
Correction: It tells us our acceleration and orientation in a 3-dimensional space. Once you are moving at a constant velocity without resistance, you cannot tell if you are moving anymore.
This is due to the fluid in our inner ears. We do, however, constantly know our orientation (upside down, flat on back, etc) assuming gravity is constant in a single direction.
It tells us our movement thorugh 3-dimensional space, not our position.Correction: It tells us our acceleration and orientation in a 3-dimensional space. Once you are moving at a constant velocity without resistance, you cannot tell if you are moving anymore.
This is due to the fluid in our inner ears. We do, however, constantly know our orientation (upside down, flat on back, etc) assuming gravity is constant in a single direction.
I stand corrected Sir
I have mennier's disease.
That's a really rough break. I had a bout with idiopathic sudden hearing loss (ISHL) this spring, and the first thing they did was rule out Mennier's. Only after they were sure my balance was OK (thank God) did they even start to think about ruling out a tumor.
I also consider the sixth is the intuition, the instinct, the spider-sense, whatever you want to call it...
I sometimes ask my players to make a SenseMotive roll if something weird is happening.
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I stand firm in the Aristotelian camp--Five Senses.
I believe the others listed in the Wiki citation are at best subordinate to the Five. Pain, proprioception and thermoception could not be actuated without the unifying sense of Touch, and thus are not true senses by themselves.
I would argue that Balance is an extension of both Touch and Sight, as well as actuated by internal anatomic processes of the inner ear. Despite the context of the Wiki source, the vestibular nerve is not strictly necessary to allow a human to ambulate or perform operations dependent upon spatial recognition, as these operations may be realized through sight or touch alone.
Aristotle says all of this very succinctly in Anima.
But Aristotle wasnt forced at gunpoint to balance one legged on a Bamboo pole in a room with no floor while dodging shruiken...he! he! he! (Evil plan :) ).
Balance is the culmination of data analysis - data similar to the data you extract with touch, hearing, sight...
Balalnce is the culmination of data analysis - data similar to the data you extract with touch, hearing, sight...
Data aquired through a mechanism distinct from the other senses -- in this case, fluid in the inner ear. Sorry, there's no way balance isn't a sense unless you arbitrarily limit the number to five, for no apparent reason. And if you do that, why not 4? Roll smell and taste together. Why not 3? Touch doesn't "seem" like a "real sense" to me!
I think it's cool that some birds actually precipitate bits of magnetite in their skulls along with the calcium, etc., and so have a "geomagnetic sense" as well.
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Balalnce is the culmination of data analysis - data similar to the data you extract with touch, hearing, sight...Data aquired through a mechanism distinct from the other senses -- in this case, fluid in the inner ear.
That tells you that the ear isnt just about hearing sound...its about force of motion and positional change data. Actually the human brain can do magnetic fields too.
That tells you that the ear isnt just about hearing sound...its about force of motion and positional change data.
You've got two distinct sense organs, housed in the same structure. "Sound" is vibration picked up by the ear, transmitted to the audial nerve, and converted to a signal the brain interprets as sound. "Balance" is read by the position of the fluid, converted into a signal the brain perceives as a sensation. Your sense of balance could just as easily be in your nose, and the ear remain the same.
Note to self; for next superhero game, play a water controller who can manipulate the fluids inside of someone's inner ear to make them fall over...
[foe heaving on the pavement, rolling around uncontrollably]
"And now we see what happens if I make it spin *backwards!*"
Projectile vomiting. That's what happens. Speaking from personal (unpleasant) experience. This is why I don't go on airplanes unless I really, really have to.
Sense of time would be my vote - perception and reckoning of time could be considered the prerequisite for intelligence.
I'm not sure I like what that says about me :) I have what my family terms a "special" relationship with time, which is to say no awareness of it whatsoever. I'll buy it as a seperate sense, but the prerequisite for intelligence??? Yikes.