Did you know there might be more than just the five senses we've been taught about? Scientists are now suggesting we could have up to 33 senses! It's mind-boggling, right? But here's the fascinating breakdown.
We often take our senses for granted, especially when we're glued to screens all day. But they're always hard at work. When we're alert, we can feel the difference between rough and smooth surfaces, notice the stiffness in our shoulders, and appreciate the softness of freshly baked bread. In the morning, we tingle with the toothpaste, hear and feel the shower's water, smell the shampoo, and later, the heavenly aroma of freshly brewed coffee.
Aristotle believed in just five senses, but modern research is challenging that. It turns out, our experiences are multisensory. We don't just see, hear, smell, and touch; these senses work together in a unified way. What we feel influences what we see, and what we see affects what we hear. For instance, the scent of shampoo can alter how we perceive the texture of our hair, making it feel silkier.
The way we perceive odors in low-fat yogurts can make them feel richer without adding more emulsifiers. The perception of odors in the mouth, rising to the nasal passage, is influenced by the viscosity of the liquids we consume. My colleague, Professor Charles Spence, and I have discovered that there might be anywhere between 22 and 33 senses, including proprioception, which helps us know where our limbs are without looking, and interoception, which senses changes in our bodies like a slight increase in heart rate.
There's also a sense of agency when moving our limbs, which can be lost in stroke patients who might even believe someone else is moving their arm. Some traditional senses are combinations of several senses. For example, touch involves pain, temperature, itch, and tactile sensations. When we taste something, we experience a combination of touch, smell, and taste, which together create the flavors we perceive in food and drinks.
Gustation, the sense of taste, covers sensations produced by receptors on the tongue that detect salt, sweet, sour, bitter, and umami (savory). But what about the unique flavors of mint, mango, melon, strawberry, and raspberry? We don't have raspberry receptors on the tongue, and raspberry flavor isn't a combination of sweet, sour, and bitter. It's the combined workings of the tongue and nose that allow us to perceive these flavors.
Sight is influenced by our vestibular system. When you're on an aircraft on the ground, looking down the cabin feels different than when you're climbing. It's the combined effect of sight and your ear canals telling you that you're tilting backward. The senses offer a rich area of research, with philosophers, neuroscientists, and psychologists collaborating at the Centre for the Study of the Senses at the University of London's School of Advanced Study.
In 2013, the center launched the 'Rethinking the Senses' project, which revealed how modifying the sound of footsteps can make us feel lighter or heavier. We learned how audioguides in the Tate Britain art museum can enhance visitors' memory of visual details by addressing them as if the model in a portrait were speaking. We also discovered how aircraft noise can interfere with our perception of taste and why tomato juice is a better choice on a plane.
While white noise reduces our perception of salt, sweet, and sour, it doesn't affect umami, which is rich in tomatoes and tomato juice. This means aircraft noise can enhance the savory flavor. Our latest interactive exhibition, 'Senses Unwrapped,' at Coal Drops Yard in London's King's Cross, invites people to explore how their senses work and why they don't always work as we think they do.
So, the next time you step outside or savor a meal, take a moment to appreciate how your senses are working together to create all those wonderful sensations. It's a fascinating world out there!
