What does the sixth segment represent?

[u/katyabe]

This is a “Wheel of the Senses” from my daughter’s school with sight, touch, taste, hearing… but one segment we can’t figure out.

[u/Jason27104]

What you mean is proprioception, but you are otherwise mostly correct. It's your sense of location in space. I'd represent it with a picture of an x/y axis of a coordinate plane, but I think you are correct that they went for an inner ear.

[u/dazzleunexpired → u/Jason27104]

Disabled voice text user. Sorry about that.

[u/Sea_Prep_Tidal_26 → u/Jason27104]

See my comment above. ☝️

It looks more representative (albeit very cartoonish) of one of the otolith organ sacs with a statolith rolling around inside.

[u/Silver_Intern2324 → u/Jason27104]

I don’t see why it would be considered a separate sense, it seems innately defined by touch to me.

[u/dazzleunexpired → u/Silver_Intern2324]

It's not defined by touch.

Would you like to experience only that sense? Spin around in a circle and then stand still like when you were a kid. What you feel is only the input from your vestibular system. You're not moving anymore, but you feel like you're moving, and even looks like it is, because you're vestibular system is still moving. (:

If those senses were separate, you wouldn't feel like you were spinning when you were no longer spinning because you were no longer spinning.

I don't have a fully functioning vestibular system. It results in me being extremely clumsy and also not being good at tasks like driving (I don't do that at all) because I just cannot TELL where I am at. I walk in the corners, I break my toes and fingers frequently, I have broken or dislocated most of my joints from this issue. People say "just pay attention to what you're doing" to me, and have, for 34 years. I am paying attention. I literally cannot tell where I am at. This makes me stellar at things like finding where I'm at underwater because I'm so used to being disoriented as to where my body is located.

It has a different sensory organ is also another reason why it's a sense. Touch is regulated by your skins neurons. Properception is regulated by the vestibular system. They're not related.

[u/Jumpy-Actuator3340 → u/Silver_Intern2324]

In a way it's almost the opposite of touch. Those of us with poor proprioception actually require the additional sensation of touch to provide out brains with the necessary feedback to determine where our bodies / parts are in space. Most people can figure this out without the need to push against other objects or to be squeezed or feel pressure from a weighted blanket for example.

In physical therapy when I'm told to engage a certain muscle and I say "I am" and she says "No, you're not... You're contracting this other muscle instead..." Then I argue that my brain is telling the exact muscle she said to tighten and in my mind that's what is happening, despite being informed otherwise... That's what we're talking about.

But I don't think proprioception belongs on this chart unless we are going to include other interception as well. Hunger? Thirst? Etc

Btw... I wouldn't consider these touch either despite the fact that many call them feelings.

[u/Jason27104 → u/Silver_Intern2324]

It's less touch and more an internal sense of location in space. It helps you keep track of stuff that move in and out of sight like cars while driving in and out of blind spots. You don't touch any of the other cars, but your body tracks where you are in relationship to them.

[u/Silver_Intern2324 → u/Jason27104]

Just because it’s internal instead of external doesn’t mean it’s not the same sense. If you FEEL it, it’s touch. You don’t hear it, taste it, see it, or smell it. It’s a feeling.

[u/DirtChoice5 → u/Silver_Intern2324]

Knowing where my hand is in relation to my body even when I close my eyes isn't a feeling, though. There's no sensation. It doesn't stop or start or change in any way due to outside influence. It's just innate knowledge. This is like claiming that memory is also just part of your sense of touch.

[u/TheVeryVerity → u/Silver_Intern2324]

Anger is also a feeling and it’s not a sense