Neuroanthropology of the Senses - Coursework Example

Neuroanthropology of Senses A Research Paper (Name) (College/ University) Author Note This paper was prepared for Anthropology ( ), Section ( ), taught by Professor ( ) Neuroanthropology of the senses According to neuroanthropologists the developmental biology is dependent on a human being's cultural and genetic limits. This is termed as biogenetic structuralism. In other words, is the study of development of brain with culture as an indicator. Culture, neuroanthropologists add further, reacts in an interactive manner as human brain and its behaviour evolve. That broadens the scope of neuroanthrolpology as a term as it embrances multiple dimensions of perception, neural activity, cognition, skill acquisition, motor control and many more related issues. As a result of this neuroanthropology focuses on cultural development of the brain, hominid brain, alternative states of consciousness, brain's biochemistry and human universals. Culture, according to it, influences perception and how the experiences are structured by the brain. This is slightly different from how brain has been stated to be functioning according to cognitive anthropology or psychology. Neuroanthropology is heterogeneous in nature and even argues that if different brains are influenced by the same culture, it is not mandatory that all of them will function in the same manner. That is to say that culture would not bind them in a single loop, but would certainly influence in shaping them, developing them, and infusing specific behaviour (Geary, 2005). As per the neuroanthropological account senses can be considered as channels ready to assimilate deep enculturation. In this process they themselves get encultured. A uniform neurological conditioning is sufficiently provided by early maturation of perception mechanism and regularities of sense experience. The result is that a universal existence of a sense-dependent trait even though this trait is neither genetically fixed and nor is innate to it. This can be explained with reference to blind people. Their ocular stimulation is absent but that does not prevent their visual cortex being reallocated elsewhere, mostly to other senses and their functions (Sadato et al., 1996). Techniques used in perceptual psychology are borrowed for research methods in neuroanthropology. Then they are put to field use after proper adaptation. Example could be field-ready eye-tracking technology and illusions. This helps to study enculturation and learning mechanisms 'graphically' by ethnographers working in the field of neuroanthropology. How does our understanding and valuing of the senses affect the way we perceive things? In order to understand this, it is important to understand the perception first. No two people in a similar situation of distress view the stressors in the same manner. Even their response or response timing is how dependent on how they 'view' things. Perception as part of the human behaviour is one of the most important aspects. Perception also stems from the culture to which one belongs. Generally it is held that senses help human beings perceive things by developing epistemic connection with the surroundings when packets of information travel from surroundings to these senses. There is also a converse perspective and that is the environment, which in this case is the cultural moorings, influence individuals, both developmentally and microgenetically. Researchers second both the views, even though many have remarked that both views have certain inherent loopholes. It is because both views are founded on a philosophical dictum in which the problem is as much taken as a philosophical in nature as is the consequences which it leads to (Annas & Barnes, 1985; Burnyeat, 1983). Perception is all about rational thought and lack of it is irrationality. It is generally believed that rational thought is generated by critical principles. Many critical principles transcend from one generation to another and thus keep evolving minds of future generations. There is a lot of scaffolding taking place these thoughts go into the making of developmental and learning milestones. Some of this scaffolding constitutes developmental fields of rationality. Critical principles, which create perception, are intrinsically historical. This is because they are self applicable, and can have both infirmations and affirmations. That means that society and culture are two important arena that shape a developed domain in which an individual grows. Furthermore, development of perception is social in nature, because both thought and perception relate to society and its culture. Scholars have argued that for flowering of creativity, thought and perception the cultural implication of the theory is widely consistent across different sets of people hailing from varied backgrounds and different periods (Reischauer and Fairbank, 1960; Schwartz, 1985; Schorske, 1980; Smith, 1987). What are the senses? It is a matter of consistent debate as to what constitute a sense. Senses provide data inputs for perception. There is a lot of overlap between classification, operation and theory on senses and the same are under investigation by a number of fields like cognitive psychology, neuroscience and even philosophy of perception. But, broadly, senses are referred to by the sensory organs or systems. One sense is dedicated to each sensory system. In human beings, traditionally five senses have been recognised. These are ophthaloceptiion or sense of sigh, audioception or sense of hearing, gustoception of sense of taste, olfacoception or sense of smell and tactioception or sense of touch. Human beings also have an ability to recognise certain specific stimuli that fall beyond these traditional ones. For example, thermoception is the name given to ability to recognise or feel temperature, proprioception to kinesthetic sense, nociception to recognition of pain, and equilibrioception to balance. But they are seldom referred to being separate senses. In order to debate senses, specific receptors in animals or specifically in human beings have been recognised as being able to sense what is happening around them. Different species have varying degrees of this perception. For example, human beings do not have as strong sense of smell as dogs have. Such perception goes beyond the domain of traditional five senses. Not only this, there are species that have the capability of using their magnetic fields and electrical powers to detect various stimuli emanating from the world around them. These even include recognition of currents and water pressure. Even as there is no firm consensus as to what a sense is, a broad definition that has been reached at defining it is this: "A system that consists of a group of sensory cell types that responds to a specific physical phenomenon, and that corresponds to a particular group of regions within the brain where the signals are received and interpreted." On the other hand, senses have been divided into two different categories. One is exteroceptive senses and another interoceptive senses. The former are able to perceive external stimuli with respect to body, and the latter stimuli originating from the internal organs. Another division is called proprioceptive, which recognises stimuli with respect to body itself like its state, motion and position. Aristotle discussed the external five senses, inclusive of thermoception and magnetoception. Balance, pain and sense of body's own position with respect to surroundings falls into proprioception category. Human beings are not equipped with detection of polarised light and electroception; certain non-humans are. In some faiths, like Buddhism, mind as a whole has been considered as a sense organ. That is in addition to the traditional five senses. How do senses work? Brain connects with all five senses. each sense sends a message to the brain to the pathway designated to do so. On receiving the message, brain decodes it and deliberates on the appropriate response required for it. each sense a different mechanism which is responsible for data creation, dissemination to the brain and subsequent reaction. Sight Retinal photoreceptors generate electrical nerve impulses of each image that eyes detect. These impulses vary in brightness, colour and hues. Human eye has rods and cones as two types of receptors. Rods do not distinguish colours but are highly sensitive to light. Cones, on the other hand are not so sensitive to light, but distinguish colours. There is a discrepancy in opinions as to whether it constitutes only two or three senses, even as neuroanatomists are unanimous in their opinion that it is only two. There is also discrepancy whether recognition of depth-perception constitutes a sense on its own. One group of researchers states that is a post-sensory act and depends on how visual cortex recognises and interprets an image being fed to it. Since visual cortex deciphers this information based on the previous experience of depth, it is normally termed as 'visual memory'. People who are blind develop an unconscious trait over time that helps them react to stimuli instead of the data, which is normally fed to visual cortex. For them how good or bad their sense of sight is depends on how much damage has occurred to their visual cortex. Some people have functional eyes but damaged visual cortex, which is why they still have some sense of vision left. Hearing Sense of sound perception is hearing. Hearing is vibration-dependent. Vibration is motion and this motion is turned into electrical impulses by mechanoreceptors, housed by the inner ear. Essentially hearing is a mechanical sense as eardrum conducts these vibrations mechanically to the inner ear which has hair-like fibers and tiny bones to accomplish the task. These are capable of detecting this mechanical motion in a range starting from 20 hertz to 20,000 hertz. This capability may vary from one individual to another. While young people might have the capability to hear high frequency sounds, this capability decreases as people grow old. Hearing impairment leads to deafness. The interesting part of sense of hearing is that it can use 'tactition' to detect internal body sounds that create vibrations through the body. This is how lower frequency sounds are heard. Deaf people have an uncanny sense of picking up these vibrations through their feet (Cutnel and Kenneth, 1998). Taste Upper surface of the tongue plays an important role in the sense of taste. It has gustatory calyculi or taste buds, which are capable of detecting tastes of substances as food, minerals and even poisons. It is important to differentiate between sense of flavour and sense of taste. Taste refers to the how a food or any other item 'tastes' universally and flavour is taste in combination with 'smell perception'. Accepted five taste so far include sour, bitter, salty, sweet and umami. Other tastes have been documented too and those include free fatty acids tastes and taste of calcium. Till date, however, there has not been wider spread acceptance for the same (Tordoff, 2008). Smell This is a chemical sense, and specifically termed as olfaction. It is interesting to note that as many as 388 olfactory receptors are active at any given moment of time or according to the smell in question that activates them. That extreme capability sets sense of smell apart from the sense of taste. Each of these olfactory receptors binds itself to a specific molecular feature, called as odour molecules, which have a number of features. Olfactory system processes a particular smell in the brain after olfactory nerves transmit data about it. A molecule determines a smell when different receptors send excitatory signals to the brain through olfactory nerves. One interesting feature of olfactory receptor neurons, which are in the nose, regenerate on a regular basis after their periodic death. When damage occurs either to these neurons, the system carrying smell signals or receptors part in the brain, it leads to anosmia. Anosmia is a condition in which sense of smell ceases to exist. Touch This is known by a number of names, like mechanoreception, somatosensory or tactition. In touch neural receptors get activated in skin containing hair follicles, throat, tongue and mucosa. Pressure receptors in these areas, particularly skin, respnd to pressure variations like sustained, firm or brushing. Interesting feature of sense of touch is the existence of itch-specific neurons in the spinal cord and skin, which get activated when something causes itching, like an allergy or an insect-bite. Tactile anaesthesia occurs when sensory impulses involving touch are lost. nerve damage, on the other hand, leads to paresthesia, which results in the sensation of numbness, pricking or tingling. This condition can be both temporary and permanent (Sun et al., 2009). Is there sixth sense? Spiritualists normally talk of the sixth sense, which is subtle perception ability. It is held that sixth sense helps unfold subtle dimension of the world which is not normally seen by people lacking it. This world includes ghosts and angels. People with sixth are also able to understand events and their effects from a different perspective. These subtle causes and effects are generally not accepted or understood by the intellect. Sixth sense has also been termed as extrasensory perception, premonition, clairvoyance and intuition. As a result of this these terms are used interchangeably with sixth sense. Physical senses perceive the ‘seen’ or the gross world primarily through five senses analysed above. But the unseen and intriguing world can be seen only through five subtle senses, the subtle intellect and the subtle mind - a combination of these is known as the sixth sense. Subtle dimension of this world unfolds when sixth sense gets activated. Spiritualists call this a 'spiritual experience'. Sixth sense has been elaborated and accepted by different faiths; each faith explaining it differently. A general premise on which sixth sense is based and explained is that this subtle world is all around the ‘seen’ world; that one is not able to 'feel' it because everyone is not embedded with sixth sense which, as on date, remains an enigma. When someone's spiritual level is elevated, he or she begins to feel this subtle world. It is like progressing from tangible (gross) to intangible (subtle). It is generally believed that as compared to men women have a far stronger sixth sense (SpiritualResearchFoundation.org, nd). This is possibly because they are more intuitive than men. Another facet to this might be that men tend to drift more towards rationality and intellectualism than women. So far three subtle dimensional pathways have been explained on how people having sixth sense use it. One of them is automatic writing; a process in which a subtle entity guides them through certain experiences which they note down on paper. Another pathways is through having 'vision' in which they 'can see' what is going to happen next and third pathway is through 'contemplative thoughts; that give them commands based on which they predict. An entire possibility has been demonstrated for sixth sense to be able to exist scientifically. This has scientifically been demonstrated by Morgan Freeman's Through The Wormhole television series. This series has been able to answer some pertinent questions like what happens after death, is there an edge to the universe, does time really exist, are there more than three dimensions, are there parallel universes and specifically with regard to sixth sense what does the research say when it reveals thoughts can fly across space and the whole human race is part of a global consciousness. Is the idea of the senses subject to change? Yes, in years to come the idea of senses might change. New research is underway that wants to know senses beyond what is already known of them. Most important is the one that focuses on the cultural life of senses, which is expected to shed more light on processes of emotion and cognition; intersection between senses and culture, and interferences of technologies on shaping of perceptions (SensoryStudies.org, nd). Maurice Merleau-Ponty and his look at the Phenomenology of Perception Philosophical school of phenomenology was founded by German mathematicians and philosopher Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl. He wrote about positivist orientation of philosophy and science of his day. Martin Heidegger, who was junior to Husserl did extensive research on the 'question of being' and phenomenological explorations. Merleau-Ponty, who was junior to both, was greatly influenced by their work. He worked on 'the meaning of human existence' and wrote extensively on perception, besides dabbling in politics and art. He states that in understanding the world, perception plays a great role. It is also instrumental in engaging one with this world. he said it the body and not consciousness as mostly pointed out which is the primary site of understanding the world. He argued that both body and the perception are difficult to disentangle from each other (Dillon, 1991). References Annas, J., Barnes, J. (1985). The Modes of Scepticism. Cambridge University Press. Aristotle. De Anima (On The Soul). Book II, Chapter 3, Page 414b. Available http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Aristotle/De-anima/de-anima2.htm. Accessed 15 October, 2013. Burnyeat, M. (1983). The Skeptical Tradition. Berkeley: University of California Press. Cutnell, JD. and Kenneth, WJ, (1998). Physics. 4th ed. New York: Wiley, 466. Dillon, MC., (1991). Merleau-Ponty Vivant, Suny Press, 63. Geary, DG. (2005) The Origin of Mind: Evolution of Brain, Cognition, and General Intelligence. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Reischauer, EO., Fairbank, JK., (1960). East Asia: The Great Tradition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Sadato N, Pascual-Leone A, Grafman J, Ibañez V, Deiber MP, Dold G, Hallett M. (1996). Activation of the primary visual cortex by Braille reading in blind subjects.Nature. 1996 Apr 11;380(6574):526-8. SpiritualResearchFoundation.org., (nd). Sixth Sense. Available http://www.spiritualresearchfoundation.org/articles/id/spiritualresearch/spiritualscience/sixthsense. Accessed 15 October, 2013. SensoryStudies.org., (nd). The Senses and Society. Available http://www.sensorystudies.org/the-senses-and-society/. Accessed 15 October, 2013. Sun YG, Zhao ZQ, Meng XL, Yin J, Liu XY, Chen ZF (September 2009). "Cellular basis of itch sensation". Science 325 (5947): 1531–4. Schwartz, BI., (1985). The World of Thought in Ancient China. Harvard University Press Schorske, CE., (1980). Fin-de-Siecle Vienna. New York: Knopf Smith, B. (1987). Austrian Origins of Logical Positivism. In B. Gower (Ed.) Logical Positivism in Perspective. Totowa, NJ: Barnes and Noble. Tordoff, MG (2008). "Gene discovery and the genetic basis of calcium consumption". Physiol. Behav. 94 (5): 649–59. Read More