Your Senses and the World Around You

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The senses of sight, sound, smell, and taste are paramount in helping us understand the world around us. We use our senses every moment of everyday. Our senses collaborate to let our brain know what is going on and keep us safe from danger. Our senses of taste and smell work together closely; because, they both connect to the same neurons in the brain. The sensation of taste is derived from the same chemoreceptors that the nose uses to help us smell. Chances are if you cannot smell something, you cannot taste it either which can lead to a decreased appetite. Smell and taste stimulate a desire to eat. Eating nourishes our bodies and enriches our social activities. When smell and taste become impaired, we eat poorly, socialize less, and usually feel worse. Smell and taste warn us of dangers, such as fire, poisonous fumes, and spoiled food. . Visual images also enhance our experiences with the world around us. Our eyes can be deceiving at times, seeing things that aren’t really there or not seeing things that really are present. The sense of sight occurs when your eye combines messages received and the optic nerve carries the impulses to the brain forming the image. However, there is a blind spot: a small portion of the visual field of each eye that corresponds to the position of the optic disk within the retina. Furthermore, photoreceptors do not exist in the optic disk so there is no image detection in this area, creating a blind spot. We can also see afterimages. An afterimage is when an image continues to be seen even when the original image is gone. This optical illusion or afterimage is believed to be caused by the continued activation of the visual system. Our eyes take in a lot of information at one time, allowing us to react to danger quickly. Our sense of hearing happens when the ear transforms sound energy into electrical signals which the brain can
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