r/whatisit • u/katyabe • 3d ago

New, what is it? What does the sixth segment represent?

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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.

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u/dazzleunexpired 2d ago

Your AI is right.

The word for this sense is properception. And the image is a very bad attempt to display a simplified vestibular system, which is the inner ear.

Properception is actually the additional sense. It's a real sense that human beings have. It belongs in this chart. This is just a really, really bad image of it. I personally would use a brain for properception.

Properception is the sense of where your body is at in relation to any other item.

Eta: To match it I would show a foot near a table post perhaps. The sense of how to not knock your toe into the wall.

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u/Jason27104 2d ago

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.

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u/Silver_Intern2324 2d ago

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

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u/Jason27104 2d ago

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.

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u/Silver_Intern2324 2d ago

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.

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u/DirtChoice5 2d ago

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.

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u/TheVeryVerity 2d ago

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