Why are there only five senses?
1 Answer
There aren't
Explanation:
Our nervous system senses a lot of things. The five senses most people are aware of, are those that we actively perceive: sight, touch, hearing, tasting and feeling.
In reality our bodies are constantly perceiving hundreds of sensory inputs through various receptors. One you'll be familiar with is nociception, or pain reception. One you might not be actively interpreting is proprioception. This is the body's sense of it's own orientation and joint positions.
Senses can be received via specialised or multi-function receptors, but the signals fall under few categories: photo reception, mechanoreception and chemoreception. Nervous systems uses these signals in various forms and intensities to interpret our environments and enable us to survive.
