Nathan: Projects: Taxonomy of the Senses

Taxonomy of the Senses:

I have an ongoing project of taxonometrically analyzing different senses (after being inspired by Diane Ackerman's book, A Natural History of the Senses. I am in search of a better understanding of what elements characterizes meaningful experiences as they are communicated through our senses. A lot of this touches on fields such as, graphic design, writing, literacy, film theory, etc. but it is my hope that this will lead to better ways of creating interactive experiences in new media.

This taxonomy is the result of input from many people, including my classes and people at vivid and Stanford. I welcome feedback about it.

Taxonomy of the Senses

Smell Touch Taste Hearing Vision Electromagnetic?

Evolution Olfactory system grew as lumps from our limbic system (before we developed cerebral hemispheres) Oldest Sense? Evolved from cellular membranes.

Abstract thinking may have evolved from the amount of visual stimulation (from the patterns).

Memorable Very Not very?

Explosive? Yes Yes

Distinguishable 10,000 different smells Not much

Precisision/Richness Yes Not as rich

Describable Not easily Not easily?

Always sensing Yes, with every breath Somewhere on the body, yes. Effective immediately after birth

Distance Intimate to Moderate Distance Intimate Intimate Moderate to Long Distance Moderate to Very Long Distance

Direct/method Yes, most Yes, affects other senses

Organ Olfactory system: regenerative, yellower or browner indicates keener sense Second layer of skin for touch. Skin is the body's largest organ. Meissner's corpuscles-light stimulation (response) on hairless parts of body (fingertips have 9000 per sq. in.). Pacinian corpuscles-respond to pressure changes and vibrations

3 Small bones 70% of our brain's sense receptors are clustered in the eyes. Rods (contrast) are thin straight-125 Million. Cones (color) -7 Million (three kinds: green, blue, red). Blind spot (no rods or cones). Fovea (only cones in the center of the pack of the eye).

Smell Touch Taste Hearing Vision Electromagnetic?

Brain Connect Direct signal/contact to limbic system (intensely emotional section)

This makes it difficult to see at night. Each cones has a direct connect to the brain. 1/10 second transmission time for nerve signal.

Term Long term (helpful to memory retention)

Categories 7: minty, floral, ethereal (pears), musky, resinous (camphor), foul, acrid 4: Hot, Cold, Pain, Pressure. 4: Sweet, Sour, Salt, Bitter

Natural/Synth. Completely synthetically reproducible Synthetically reproducible

Amount needed .000000000000032/oz. = threshold for musk/testosterone, 8 molecules required to trigger an impulse in a nerve ending, but 40 nerve endings required to fire a "detect" to the brain. A bit smells different from a lot.

25,000 more molecules needed than for smell 19-20,000 Hz (cycles/second) at best (almost ten octaves). This decreases with age. Middle C is 256 Hz.

Body reaction Musky smells can create hormone changes in women Affects levels of hunger, hormones, growth process.

Absence Sun can bleach smell out of things. Weightlessness makes astronauts lose smell.

Glutamate, salt, and sun can block tastes.

Other Phenomena

Kinesthetic sense, sense of balance, vibrations, spatial awareness? The ability to speak? Ultrasonic and Infrasonic hearing. Infrared and Ultraviolet sight. Sense of gravity? Spatial Awareness? Extra Communication?

Smell Touch Taste Hearing Vision Electromagnetic?

Notes Violets (ionone) short circuit sense of smell, very expensive to make a perfume from. Massage stimulates growth. Saffron is the most expensive spice. Vanilla is the second most expensive. Ears also affect balance and equilibrium. Chants and other sounds can be heard in your bones as well as be transmitted trough your bones (vibrations). Inner white noise can cancel out extraneous noises (meditation). Acoustic levitation possible.

Overall notes
(all senses) All senses but vision seem to dull with constant firing.

Tones can be combined into chords without notes losing their individuality. Music may be a secondary language system related to the primary alpha logic of the central nervous system (we listen with our bodies).-George Rochberg, New Literary History, 1971

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Taxonomy of the Senses
	Smell	Touch	Taste	Hearing	Vision	Electromagnetic?
Evolution	Olfactory system grew as lumps from our limbic system (before we developed cerebral hemispheres)	Oldest Sense? Evolved from cellular membranes.			Abstract thinking may have evolved from the amount of visual stimulation (from the patterns).
Memorable	Very	Not very?
Explosive?	Yes	Yes
Distinguishable	10,000 different smells	Not much
Precisision/Richness	Yes	Not as rich
Describable	Not easily	Not easily?
Always sensing	Yes, with every breath	Somewhere on the body, yes. Effective immediately after birth
Distance	Intimate to Moderate Distance	Intimate	Intimate	Moderate to Long Distance	Moderate to Very Long Distance
Direct/method	Yes, most	Yes, affects other senses
Organ	Olfactory system: regenerative, yellower or browner indicates keener sense	Second layer of skin for touch. Skin is the body's largest organ. Meissner's corpuscles-light stimulation (response) on hairless parts of body (fingertips have 9000 per sq. in.). Pacinian corpuscles-respond to pressure changes and vibrations		3 Small bones	70% of our brain's sense receptors are clustered in the eyes. Rods (contrast) are thin straight-125 Million. Cones (color) -7 Million (three kinds: green, blue, red). Blind spot (no rods or cones). Fovea (only cones in the center of the pack of the eye).
	Smell	Touch	Taste	Hearing	Vision	Electromagnetic?
Brain Connect	Direct signal/contact to limbic system (intensely emotional section)				This makes it difficult to see at night. Each cones has a direct connect to the brain. 1/10 second transmission time for nerve signal.
Term	Long term (helpful to memory retention)
Categories	7: minty, floral, ethereal (pears), musky, resinous (camphor), foul, acrid	4: Hot, Cold, Pain, Pressure.	4: Sweet, Sour, Salt, Bitter
Natural/Synth.	Completely synthetically reproducible	Synthetically reproducible
Amount needed	.000000000000032/oz. = threshold for musk/testosterone, 8 molecules required to trigger an impulse in a nerve ending, but 40 nerve endings required to fire a "detect" to the brain. A bit smells different from a lot.		25,000 more molecules needed than for smell	19-20,000 Hz (cycles/second) at best (almost ten octaves). This decreases with age. Middle C is 256 Hz.
Body reaction	Musky smells can create hormone changes in women	Affects levels of hunger, hormones, growth process.
Absence	Sun can bleach smell out of things. Weightlessness makes astronauts lose smell.		Glutamate, salt, and sun can block tastes.
Other Phenomena		Kinesthetic sense, sense of balance, vibrations, spatial awareness?	The ability to speak?	Ultrasonic and Infrasonic hearing.	Infrared and Ultraviolet sight.	Sense of gravity? Spatial Awareness? Extra Communication?
	Smell	Touch	Taste	Hearing	Vision	Electromagnetic?
Notes	Violets (ionone) short circuit sense of smell, very expensive to make a perfume from.	Massage stimulates growth.	Saffron is the most expensive spice. Vanilla is the second most expensive.	Ears also affect balance and equilibrium. Chants and other sounds can be heard in your bones as well as be transmitted trough your bones (vibrations). Inner white noise can cancel out extraneous noises (meditation). Acoustic levitation possible.
Overall notes (all senses)	All senses but vision seem to dull with constant firing.			Tones can be combined into chords without notes losing their individuality. Music may be a secondary language system related to the primary alpha logic of the central nervous system (we listen with our bodies).-George Rochberg, New Literary History, 1971