5.5 The Other Senses

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Describe the basic functions of the chemical senses
• Explain the basic functions of the somatosensory, nociceptive, and thermoceptive sensory systems
• Describe the basic functions of the vestibular, proprioceptive, and kinesthetic sensory systems

Vision and hearing have received an incredible amount of attention from researchers over the years. While there is still much to be learned about how these sensory systems work, we have a much better understanding of them than of our other sensory modalities. In this section, we will explore our chemical senses (taste and smell) and our body senses (touch, temperature, pain, balance, and body position).