bselliott

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

SENSE

There is no firm agreement among neurologists as to exactly how many senses there are, because of differing definitions of a sense. In general, one can say that a
"sense" is a faculty by which outside stimuli are perceived. School children are routinely taught that there are five senses. It is generally agreed that there are at least
nine different senses in humans, and a minimum of two more observed in other organisms.
A broadly acceptable definition of a sense would be "a system that consists of a sensory cell type that respond to a specific kind of physical energy, and that
correspond to a defined region within the brain where the signals are received and interpreted." Where disputes arise is with regard to the exact classification of the
various cell types and their mapping to regions of the brain.