Knowing the Senses

Contents

uman senses are the foundation for how we interact with the world.¹ Understanding these senses reveals the intricacies of perception while also shedding light on the cognitive processes that underpin our experiences. A comprehensive understanding of human senses is not merely an intellectual exercise, therefore, but a crucial element in enhancing human experience and well-being. When our senses make sense, we make sense.

Thus, human senses are the foundation for how we interact with ourselves, too. Our state of mind is arguably framed within our perception, and perception is greatly influenced by the interaction of the senses. It affects our cognitive frameworks and how we process stimuli. According to research, being aware of what we see, hear, touch, taste, and smell can enrich our lives and enhance our ability to learn, because engaging our senses (or sensory awareness) helps with emotional regulation and memory retention. It paves the way for self-improvement and, within our cognitive and perceptive faculties, to understand the relationship between the mind and body.

To better understand the sensory processes that underlie the precepts of human cognition and perception, and with modern research providing a much more sophisticated understanding on how our sensory systems help shape the landscape of human experience, we need to delve a little further into sensory biology. But before we take a look into how each sense contributes to our overall sensory experience, the first question to ask is, just how many senses do we have to guide us to our inner sanctum? We know the traditional significance to our sensory experiences of sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell, as established by Aristotle, who identified the five senses, but current scientific findings now claim there exists a much broader spectrum of senses than those fundamental processes. So, how many are there?

Well, if we consider senses to be synonymous with their respective receptors, such as the retinas in the eyes and the cochlea in the ears, the conventional response to this question is five. These are referred to as the exteroceptive senses because they transmit information regarding the external environment. However, the human body also possesses receptors that respond to internal events, such as the rhythm of our heart, the expansion of our lungs, the sounds of our stomach, and numerous other movements that often go unnoticed. These are typically categorised as a separate sense known as interoception.

Other categories are equilibrioception (a sense of balance) which is the result of a number of sensory systems working together; the eyes (visual system), the inner ears (vestibular system), and the body's sense of where it is in space, categorised as proprioception (body awareness), a type of sensory receptor located within muscles, tendons, and joints. Moreover, the body contains receptors that convey additional types of information, such as nociception, the perception of pain, often classified as a submodality of somatic sensation (skin receptors for touch) and temperature or thermoception, which is not commonly regarded as a sense. Each of these modalities serves essential functions, contributing uniquely to our overall sensory experience.

But it doesn't end there. A really comprehensive answer to this question reveals an even more intricate and fascinating rabbit hole. For instance, certain receptors serve multiple sensory functions. The retinas act as gateways for the light waves essential for vision, yet some retinal cells also relay information to the brain regarding whether it is day or night. This unnamed "day/night sense" underpins circadian rhythms that influence both metabolism and the sleep/wake cycle. Moreover, our vision, seemingly fundamental, has been shown to be closely related to other senses that appear separate. It has been shown that what we see, and how we see it, is chained to the brain’s tracking of our heartbeat - a part of interoception. Simply put, our brain absorbs less visual information from the external environment when our heart contracts and pumps blood to our arteries.

Even more amazing is that the science seems to show the brain will also construct senses that we do not have receptors for. Flavour, which the brain constructs from gustatory (taste) and olfactory (smell) data, and wetness, which is created from touch and temperature are two such examples. In fact, our brain constructs everything we see, hear, smell, taste and feel using more than just the sense data from our body’s receptors. Light waves, for example, do not just enter our eyes and travel to our brain as electrical signals, allowing us to see. Our brain predicts what we will see before we see it, based on past experience, the body's current state, and our present circumstances. It combines its predictions with the incoming sense data from our retinas to create our visual perception of the world around us. Similarly, when we place our fingers on our wrist to feel our pulse, we are are actually feeling a construction based on our brain's predictions and the actual sense data.

This is the keystone to the sensory relationship between the mind and the body; the science tells us that we do not experience sensations with our sense organs. We experience them with our brain. It is for this main reason that the pathway to constructing an inner sanctum for ourselves is through sensory experience, because it engages both the mind and the body. This interconnectedness also reveals the complex dynamics underlying sensory perception. Each sense does not work in isolation; rather, they interact and integrate to create a richer experience of the world. It is this integration we use to form a comprehensive perception of reality.

The Dominance of Sense

It follows that in our pursuit of knowing the senses, after the first question of how many senses do we have, we must ask the second: is there a dominant sense? One hypothesis, proposed by the linguist Åke Viberg in the early 1980s, concluded that vision was the most important sense across languages. According to Viberg, vision came first with hearing in second place, followed by the subordinate senses of touch, taste and smell. It is believed that about 80% of what we learn from the world around us, due to cognition and perception, are mediated through vision.

This is what Aristotle might have considered as evidence for the hierarchy of senses he proposed, where his rankings were based on which senses were most important for us to experience and survive in the world. The top sense was sight, followed by hearing, smell, taste and then touch. Sight and hearing allow us to sense things from a distance and so were deemed critical for survival, whereas taste and touch require contact. Smell fell somewhere in the middle.

But even using Aristotle’s criteria of how much we rely on each sense for survival, his original ranking might not stand. In the modern world, being blind usually does not put your life in danger to the degree it might have centuries ago. On the other hand, there is basically no one without a sense of touch, and the reason is that you cannot survive without a sense of touch. Touch also plays a key role in social bonding and emotional expression, emphasising its importance in human interactions.

One of the reasons that Aristotle’s hierarchy has withstood debate as long as it has is because the English language seems to confirm it. We have a far more extensive vocabulary to describe things we see, like colours and shapes, than we do to describe things we smell or taste. However, modern research shows that the importance we place on each of our senses is not as universal as we might have thought. In 2018, findings from one study showed that of the twenty languages explored, English was the only one that matched the hierarchy of the senses. The other nineteen languages - which included three different types of sign language - each suggested different hierarchies. Thus, along with biology and evolution, our separate cultures, habits and environments can influence how much we rely on each of our senses to get data about our surroundings.

This role of context in sensory experience is an important one: The setting in which sensory input is received can drastically alter the quality and interpretation of that input. For example, the same sound may be perceived differently in a quiet room compared to a bustling street. It concludes that in addition to our cultural background, which might emphasise certain senses over others, our emotional state can colour our sensory experiences. Stress may heighten our sensitivity to certain stimuli, leading to an increased awareness of sounds or smells. Our previous experiences, too, shape how we interpret stimuli. A familiar scent may evoke pleasant or unpleasant memories, affecting how we respond to it in the present. Therefore, as with cognition, perception is not merely a result of sensory input; it reflects the context in which that input is situated.

In short, to understand that we all see the world in different ways, because we use our different senses as intricately interconnected pathways to take in our surroundings, is the first step to awareness. In regards to the relationship between the mind and body, learning how to use all our senses to our best advantage, to improve the way we perceive the world and the people around us through them, will help transform and bring balance to our lives.

The Spirituality of Sense

There is an old adage that we perceive the world not as it is, but as we are; and looked through the lens of spiritual wisdom, it's believed important that we figure out which of our senses is the dominant sense, because that is the road well travelled to the self. Sometimes we'll need to use that as a short cut in reaching out to our true selves in times of crisis, to retreat to our inner sanctum, while other times it will be a reminder to exercise our other senses more, because our senses (like our mind and body) work best together in a balanced way.

Any dominant sense arguably also reveals a lot about our personality. This view of charting your personality or inner self via your dominant sense has no scientific basis, but many sages in the past have used their sensory engagements as a guide to their character traits. Namely, if some people favour the visual, while others rely more on sound or touch, what might that indicate about who we are?

For many, the visual moves us like nothing else can. We like eye contact, and believe firmly in only those things we can see. Such a perception of the world means that we concentrate hard on ourselves, others and our environment. But, in our haste and blind faith in what we see, we can forget that life is full of optical illusions, and sometimes things are not as they seem. We need to also accept that as human beings we are visually superficial; for every Greta Thunberg, there will always be ten upcoming Kim Kardashian wannabes out there. In chasing the aesthetic, some of us focus too much on physical perfection, as if all that is needed for happiness is a padlock on the snacks cupboard and an annual gym membership. But often we are merely replacing one issue with another; it does not solve our internal dissatisfaction with our world or ourselves. It masks it.

Meanwhile, for some of us, if our ears don't miss a thing and we listen well, then it's possible that sound marks our dominant sense. But does that mean we're so busy listening to others, we run the danger of being less attentive towards our own intents and feelings? How, then, do we turn that sense inward, to listen to ourselves? Then there are those of us that need to feel or touch the things and the people who form part of our lives. If we need to feel before we can think, then it is our touch that helps us connect to our world. That can also mean that we are too sensitive to our surroundings; when the atmosphere is relaxed so are we, but a bad atmosphere can affect us, immensely. We find it difficult to hide our feelings and reactions easily, especially in our closest relationships.

We are all individuals, so we will find our dominant sense in our own way. Some will already, possibly instinctively, know their dominant sense. But if you find yourself in the opposite camp, then discovering your dominant sense will be a journey of self-discovery. Begin with a self examination of the things that you love doing, and then ask yourself why you do them; whether its art, whether its music, or just being socially active. What sense do you associate with your hobby the most? The second part to this journey can be undesirable, but just as necessary. You have to look back at your past insecurities (that are still present), and examine your negative triggers and ask yourself, which sense are they most tied to?

Everyone has a pattern of pain they will keep repeating, i.e,, in relationships, with an addiction, or an issue of self harming, and usually their dominant sense, and its enslavement of their thoughts, is a key component to its vicious cycle. Carl Jung, the founder of analytical psychology, called these patterns of pain "low-level spiritual quests". His theory was that our lives need meaning and purpose, and without them, we acquire bad habits in order to create drama and excitement. The good news is that we can more readily dump negative patterns by developing a high-level quest, a driving positive force that drives us forward. Simply put, it's easier to dump negative patterns if we develop an exciting hobby. If we consider taking up cycling, skydiving, or scuba diving, for example, as we discover our dominant sense at the same time, we can help focus it towards our self-improvement, as well.

Thus, as we work towards the discovery of our dominant sense, and how it engages with our other senses, we will come to the realisation that we need to make sure we become proficient in focusing our sensory awareness to create a balanced reality we can feel content in. The aim is to become sensory balanced, so that our perceptions have collaborating cues from the other senses. Our eyes might trick us, or our hearing may fail us, but very rarely will all our faculties fail.

Sometimes viewing a situation through one of our lesser used senses may open us up to new sensations that we would not have experienced otherwise. One theory here is that if the senses are properly used, they will offer the right impressions, because it's not the environment that matters, but the purity of our impulses which count. The ancient sages regarded this form of disciplining the senses as "sense-control", and as such, as we have discussed at length in this chapter, calls for an understanding of how the senses function. Once we extend that discipline to our worldview, we will come to realise our focus should be on controlling our internal environment, so we can adapt better to the external one.

We might discover that we are usually frightened of things we cannot change, and that communal fear, mentioned in the previous chapter, which is killing us? Well, it doesn't thrive well in an environment where we have mastered our common senses. We discuss mastery over our senses in the next chapter.

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1. Dr Lisa Feldman Barrett, How many senses does the average human have?, BBC Science Focus Magazine, 2024

Published 27 February, 2026

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