seeing sounds — Vince

Category error?

Category error? — TheMadFool

What do you mean?

Yes, but WHY? — TheMadFool

Why is vision the strongest sense? I have not that kind of knowledge but I guess that the human body structure is such that it relies basically on vision for purposes of survival, and thus this is the dominant sense. But I think that this holds for most animals, except a few ones in which other senses are stronger. Although there exist some water creatures that are blind ...

I found the following ref just now: Why Vision Is the Most Important Sense Organ
(https://www.smartvisionlabs.com/blog/why-vision-is-the-most-important-sense-organ/) but I heve not read it yet. (There are many though ...)

A webage I found claims that those who are congenitally blind dream in sounds and surely their imagination can't be in images - they lack sight. — TheMadFool

It makes sense. It's a common knowledge that persons who are deprived of a sense substitute it with one or more other senses. Blind persons develop audio and touch to a much higher degree than normal. Deaf persons develop a lips reading skill (to an extent that they can almost "hear" the person who is speaking), a skill in sensing vibrations, etc.

It's all a question of survival.

Anyway, I believe neurobiologists must have the answers!

What, may I ask, does this have to do with our inability to imagine smells, tastes, touch, sounds like we can sights? — TheMadFool

I hadn't given that much thought. But the inability to "imagine" non-visual sensations may be due to a lack of need, or practice. Since humans and apes are mostly visual creatures, we don't feel the need to "sense" those sensations apart from incoming stimuli. But the brain does seem to be capable of generating imaginary sensations when certain "wires" get crossed. However, I suspect that dogs may dream of smells at times, because such sensations are more important to them than to us anosmic (smell deficient) animals. :wink:

Phantosmia (phantom smell), also called an olfactory hallucination or a phantom odor, is smelling an odor that is not actually there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantosmia

us anosmic (smell deficient) animals. — Gnomon

Anosmic refers to anosmia which is a condition that has to do with losing the sense of smell partially or completely.

Microsmatic is probably a better term, it describes an under developed sense of smell.

Here's the five senses in order of importance for humans:
Sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch.

No wonder touch is the one you seem to have issues with.

Second, I don't mind speculating on the issue but if your claim - that you can perfectly simulate nonvisual sensations is true - there should be some well-documented case. A reference I could crosscheck would be really helpful. Thanks. — TheMadFool

You yourself said you can imagine the sound of eating ice cream. A lot of people report having songs get stuck in their head. What do you think goes on in that case? Its literally hearing a song loop in ones mind. Sometimes I spontaneously imagine complete albums in my mind, to stretch my creative limits. Well, I shouldn't make it seem like I do this regularly, or that I actually completed a full album, but I've gotten something close
.
Do you think people hearing songs in their heads is 'well documented'? I doubt it. Its already folk knowledge that this occurs. So who would fund research?

It is a big assumption that anything people can do in their imaginations would be well documented. This is a folk knowledge area, not a thing for rigorous scientific documentation necessarily. Not that it couldn't be done, but its hard to imagine scientists being sufficiently motivated to do this sort of research.

It's all a question of survival. — Alkis Piskas

Thanks.

That's one way of looking at it but there are other possibilities, possibilities that are non-Darwinian in character.


:ok: It's a pity not many people have researched the one faculty that's the key to enhancing our future-oriented mindset.

That's one way of looking at it but there are other possibilities, possibilities that are non-Darwinian in character. — TheMadFool

Like what?

Like what? — Alkis Piskas

Use your imagination.

You can touch the desert rock, but it would be a temporary, disposable sense.

Partial simulations craft by imagination are mostly extrasensory, noi, ibrio, procip, etc. This allows for a hybrid type of sense that's half real and half unreal between the veil of reality and your own.

You can touch the desert rock, but it would be a temporary, disposable sense.

Partial simulations craft by imagination are mostly extrasensory, noi, ibrio, procip, etc. This allows for a hybrid type of sense that's half real and half unreal between the veil of reality and your own. — Varde

It isn't extrasensory. Visiual simulations are what imagination is.

In the example above, I can see the golden sand, I can see the rock I told you about, I can also see myself touch it BUT I can't feel the rock.
What gives? — TheMadFool

Imagination (Merriam-Webster Dictionary): The act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality.
No nention of senses other than vision!

My question, however, is why are we incapable of deliberately switching on all the senses when we daydream to produce an experience indistinguishable from reality itself? For instance, why couldn't my mind simulate the touch of the rock when I could simulate it visually?

Visiual simulations are what imagination is. — TheMadFool

:chin: