Sensory Detail
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“There is nothing in the mind unless it first senses.” (Kirby and Goodpaster 2007) When we are first born, our five senses are just starting to develop from the first taste of milk, to hearing people speak, or even feeling the touch of our mothers hand. At the time a baby is born, they are not aware food will be important for them to survive or able to distinguish between hot or cold. They will also hear words and sounds, and will not understand, nor know what the sounds may be. But, not until they are taught, they will not know or understand how important these senses will be in life and how these senses will affect them and their learning experiences. Now, as we grow into adults, our senses will have become interwoven with the way we think and use our minds. When we read a book or even read a recipe to cook, we are using our eyes as tools. When we listen to music, hear the birds chirp, our children laughing, we are using another tool, which is our ears to listen, which is another sense. Our ears also hear sounds that we do not want to hear as well. We have to think when we are using our hands to fix a car, play a guitar. We are even thinking and using some of our senses when we have decided to jump out of an airplane for no good reason at all. But, no matter what we may be doing we use our senses for some reason or another. Now, it is true that “there is nothing in our mind unless it is first senses”. (Aquinas, 2007, pg. 53) Why is this? In order for our senses to work properly, our brain gathers the information for our senses to work. When we read, we are using our eyes to take in the information and it is being put into our minds for reference. We all count on all of our senses to be accurate, and there are certain factors that do influence the accuracy of this information that is received by a persons senses and how it affects their perception of the world. On the other hand, there are weaknesses to the amount of knowledge our senses can give. The best way to imagine this is to look at our brain almost like a computer. It will only be effective if our brain is able to process the information correctly and there are no conflicts.
Accuracy is defined as the degree of agreement between the sensory information and the environment and the feedback required to determine the accuracy of the senses. What has been done and used as a sensory exercise is that several people are asked to do a blind fold test. They are then given objects and have to determine what they are by only touching and smelling. Each one is from a different background. For example, a bricklayer is handed a brick. Because of his trade, he is able to distinguish what the object is by feel. But, you have an office manager who is given the same object; he or she may not be able to distinguish what the object is. Why is this? It is because they do not work with bricks, this is not their trade. They have to think and guess what the object may be. If they have never worked with bricks, they will not be able to distinguish the object. Now our senses do have what you call check and balances in place. For example, what you may be feeling when you touch the object, may be negated or influenced, if you smell the object. The sense of sight is very important. We depend on sight to confirm what we see is real or not real, or, to distinguish between colors; such as white vs. black. Take a person who has been blind all his or her life. They first have learned to use their other senses and they are keener than others who can see. A blind person knows his or her