Sensory deprivation

The five senses are the important, but some people take them for granted. If I had to choose one to live without I'd choose taste. In 2005, Duncan Boak lost his sense of smell after a brain injury. Since smell and taste are closely linked his taste was impacted as well. "It's so hard to explain but losing your sense of smell leaves you feeling like a spectator in your own life, as if you're watching from behind a pane of glass, it makes you feel not fully immersed in the world around you and it…

Sensation is a large part of self-identification. It is what allows for experience and perception. Without the ability to sense, one would feel disembodied, and estranged from their own person. There are five commonly referred to sensory modalities, which include; vision, audition, haptics, gustation and olfaction. However there is another sense, a “secret sense” which is so automatic it often goes unnoticed. Thus many don’t realize the importance of such a sense in understanding one’s reality…

made between objects during childhood. There is a wide variation of hypotheses. Research is still being pursued to identify what happens in a brain that causes such cross-wiring and what does not happen to cause people to have so-called “normal” sensory perceptions. References Guterman, L. (2001). Synesthetes Show Their Colors. Chronicle Of Higher Education, 48(16),…

Many have probably asked this question at least once in their lifetime: Who am I? At least this is what I ponder at times, especially after watching science fiction movies like The Matrix or Her. Am I a human being, a high functioning artificial intelligence, or something else? Although it is fun to entertain the idea of what I am, I am almost certain that I am human. In this essay, I will argue that I know that I am a human being. I will begin by introducing the properties of human beings. Next…

In this article, Roger Rees addresses the senses in Poem 64 and Catullus’ use of the senses in an occasionally nonsensical fashion. Sight and the eye motif are woven throughout the poem in the arrival of the wedding guests, the song of the Parcae, the ekphrasis describing Ariadne and Theseus, and in the conclusion of the poem. Vision is often juxtaposed with hearing in the ekphrasis and in the song of the Parcae. Smell is also involved, and linked to both sight and sound. Rees argues the…

Language is an immense portion of this sensory information as it shapes not only the way people perceive their environment but also the environment itself. Cultures can be divided based on the language used in each culture, and by extension cultures can shape the way that people perceive things…

Dreams can be seen as a trip into a fantasy, to relax, or even allow your unconscious to go through with fantasies that your conscious mind may not accept. Yet, sometimes dreams can be terrifying; they can leave you without any idea if what you are seeing is fantasy or reality. I remember, since childhood, of being told, ‘if you punch yourself and don’t feel pain then you’re sleeping’. But what if you pinch yourself and feel it; “...pain can be found in dreams and, thus, the saying that pitching…

mindfulness and relaxation are all equally just as important especially when dealing with an injured athlete. From this article, I thought the strongest points mentioned were the following: Imagery uses all of the senses to create or recreate, is a sensory experience that occurs in the mind, now extends to the rehab process, is to think constructively and not destructively (sounds like positive energy to me), is a mind-body…

The changes which happen within a child’s first few years of development are truly astonishing. Caregivers as well as professionals have noted this in children’s development when they do the most basic things, like touch, taste, smelling and even hearing. During this age the child starts to socialize and becomes cooperative with many other children when they are interacting together, while at the same time defining who they are themselves. They begin to acquire many important skills that assist…

Humans are endowed with an astounding sensory system. The human body, in addition to the amazing functions that it performs to keep itself alive, has an incomprehensible system for gathering and processing its environment. The five senses, taste, smell, touch, sight, and hearing, all contribute greatly to the way we perceive the world around us. Our ability to sense our surrounding is a major part of what sets us apart from inanimate objects such as rocks. Lacking all of your senses puts you in…