[extropy-chat] Questionnaire on senses

[Robert Bradbury]

I am confused.  I agree with statements that the visual sense tends to be
the highest bandwidth (most bits/s).  But there are only 3 receptors --
everything else is subjective interpretation (as color blind or color
variant people are able to discuss).  On the other hand sound and smell
would seem to offer much more refined senses.  In sound I believe that the
location of the perception is allowing different frequency differentiation
while in smell one is dealing with different types of receptors, their
quantity, location, etc.  I would tend to relate sound to overall "touch"
sensation.  Its "where" the stimulation is perceived that counts.

But in terms of overall variety, in humans, it has to be sight < taste <
hearing < smell < touch.  Touch wins out on the basis of larger surface area
and mutiple sensors (heat, pain, pressure, etc.).

Now, whether ones brain is able to percieve the subtlties of these
differences may depend on ones exposure when one was young and whether there
was an incentive to develop those perceptual abilities. (Unused neural
components tend to atrophy.)

Robert
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