This has something to do with my last topic, "how can you describe color to a blind person".... For a blind person, it would be hard for them to imagine color. What if humans with all five senses have more than that but since we have the "Minimum Requirements" to survive we just dont look into it...Is it possible for us to have more senses? How?
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Can one develop a new sense?
- Thread starter qfrontier
- Start date
How would one answer this question? It's like asking someone to fathom a new colour. It's impossible. It is one of those things which relies on particular resources. We don't have the resources to fathom a new sense, the only way we would would be to either have that sense, or know someone who has that sense and have them describe it to you.
We have the minimum nessisary sences to survive you say? Tell that to all those people that have died. If we had an extra and fully or even partialy formed sence that we dont use just because we can get by without it then what about people who have been grusomly injured in accedents? Why didnt that scare them into stop slacking off and paying atention to said extra sence.
And what about people left with less senses than normal? Is every deaf or blind person without your speculative sixth sence also blind or deaf to that one as well, that would explain why they dont try to compensate for not having the "minimum nessisary" (as you say) senses.
And what about people left with less senses than normal? Is every deaf or blind person without your speculative sixth sence also blind or deaf to that one as well, that would explain why they dont try to compensate for not having the "minimum nessisary" (as you say) senses.
river-wind
Valued Senior Member
I'd say that the sence of inclination (being upside down) is an additional sense. but how would you discribe it to someone w/o an inner ear? While they can feel the effects of gravity change as they are inverted, the inner ear provides a huge amount of information for balance which this person would be scompletely unaware of.
Sense of hunger, sense of acceleration, sense of tempurature? There aren't the normal 5 outwardly controllable senses (touch broadly covers some of them, but they really are not a part of what constitues touch. You don't tactilly touch heat to feel it.), but they certainly provide you with information about the surrounding environment.
There are magnetic bits of metal in our brains, and it has been shown that certain individuals have a better sense of direction than others (possibly linked to the magnetic poles like many migrating animals?). If you worked hard on picking up on "feelings" that you get about things, and scientifically testing those feelings, you should be able to break them down into their constituent parts, and figure out where they come from. It appears to me that many of my gut reactions come from outside stimuli which I get from somewhere other than my common 5 senses.
Sense of hunger, sense of acceleration, sense of tempurature? There aren't the normal 5 outwardly controllable senses (touch broadly covers some of them, but they really are not a part of what constitues touch. You don't tactilly touch heat to feel it.), but they certainly provide you with information about the surrounding environment.
There are magnetic bits of metal in our brains, and it has been shown that certain individuals have a better sense of direction than others (possibly linked to the magnetic poles like many migrating animals?). If you worked hard on picking up on "feelings" that you get about things, and scientifically testing those feelings, you should be able to break them down into their constituent parts, and figure out where they come from. It appears to me that many of my gut reactions come from outside stimuli which I get from somewhere other than my common 5 senses.
Ive always wondered if it would be possible to give a new sense to a test animal. We already know that the brain (i am assuming animals as well as human because we're talking basic function here) can rearrange itself if it loses a sense, but that it has a horrible time gaining one (think of the stories of blind people being given sight after 40+ years without it...).
What if we could give this new sense to an animal at birth and let the brain develop while having it. Would it arrange in such a way as to make use of it? It would be crude right now of course, but could we disable some nerve endings somewhere in the animal and attach say a magentic field detector. Would the animal learn to use it eventually?
I've read tha tthe majority of what happens with our senses is in our brains and not the nerves and impulses themselves. Our vision is actually worse than we think it is, because our brain can compesate so much. Ever see an optical illusion that seems to switch back and forth between to pictures in your head even when you know its still the same image? Thats basically proof of how much of perception is in the brain as opposed to the nerve impulses.
Hmmm...I wonder.... sometimes i feel bad for wanting to experiment on poor animals....but the wondering gets to me...
-AntonK
What if we could give this new sense to an animal at birth and let the brain develop while having it. Would it arrange in such a way as to make use of it? It would be crude right now of course, but could we disable some nerve endings somewhere in the animal and attach say a magentic field detector. Would the animal learn to use it eventually?
I've read tha tthe majority of what happens with our senses is in our brains and not the nerves and impulses themselves. Our vision is actually worse than we think it is, because our brain can compesate so much. Ever see an optical illusion that seems to switch back and forth between to pictures in your head even when you know its still the same image? Thats basically proof of how much of perception is in the brain as opposed to the nerve impulses.
Hmmm...I wonder.... sometimes i feel bad for wanting to experiment on poor animals....but the wondering gets to me...
-AntonK