5 Senses Vs Mechanical Sense Essay

Part 1:

Christian Jarrett explains that having 5 senses is a myth. Just by defining the word “sense” we can tell that five is inaccurate. If a sense is a way for the brain to receive information about the world and the body, then we will agree that there are more than five. If senses were differentiated depending on the type of receptors, then that will multiply the number of senses even more. So five senses actually makes no sense.

Let’s say that there is a mechanical sense. If someone touched your hand, your somatosensory system will detect various stimuli by your skin’s sensory receptors. The sensory information is then conveyed to the central nervous system by afferent neurons. The neuron’s dendrites will pass that information to the cell body, and on to its axon. From there it is passed onto the spinal cord or the brainstem. The neuron's ascending axons will cross to the opposite side either in the spinal cord or in the brainstem. The axons then terminates in the thalamus, and on into the Brodmann Area of the parietal lobe of the brain to process.

Part2:

Anil Ananthaswamy describes the self as the role the brain plays in our notions of self and existence. That our sense of self is layered, pulling information from

various parts of the brain to create a sense of narrative self, bodily self and spiritual self.
In Alzheimer’s disease, the brain cells degenerate and die, causing a decline in memory and mental function. The cerebral cortex loses neurons and synapses, which leads to degeneration in the temporal and parietal lobes. Dense insoluble deposits aggregate around the neurons and accumulate in the cells themselves, which disintegrates the neuron's transport system.
In Cotard's syndrome, the underlying neurophysiology and psychopathology are poorly understood.

Neurologically, the amygdala (which associate emotions to recognized faces) might be affected. The neural disconnection creates in the patient a sense that the face he/she is observing is not the face of the person to whom it belongs. Therefore, that face lacks the familiarity and recognition usually associated with it, which results in “derealization” and disconnection from the environment. If the patient sees his/her own face, he/she might perceive no association between the face and his/her sense of “Self”. Medicine indicates that Cotard's syndrome is associated with lesions in the parietal lobe and brain atrophy, especially of the median frontal

lobe.