Aristotle popularized the idea that we have 5 senses. At Baking Lab we believe our society promotes the use of sight and sound, resulting in them being overstimulated and the rest (touch, smell, taste) being understimulated. But the idea that we use 5 senses is debated by neuroscientists today, and it is interesting to see that as we expand the human experience to (at least) 9 senses, these are very relevant to what we do in our artisanal practices at the lab:
6. mechanoreception (balance etc.)
7. temperature
8. interoreceptors (e.g. blood pressure, bladder stretch, full stomach)
As bakers we are constantly in movement (balance), we need to be sensitive to temperatures (ovens, fermentation) and ingesting foods alters our internal body in fundamental ways (interoreceptors).
In this article the authors go beyond the idea of 9 senses, but what’s important is that in our lab we are able to explore these senses through various experiments. Some of them might have been understimulated for long enough that we need to learn about them just like we would learn a new language.
How many senses do humans have?
By Steve Draper, Department of Psychology, University of Glasgow.