The five senses – vision, smell, hearing, touch and taste – are the messengers for everything that happens around us. Out of the five, the most valuable to the brain is the visual system. The visual system occupies over 30% of the brains mass and is the only sense that has an entire lobe dedicated to its functional processing called the occipital lobe.
Enhancing Sensory Processing and Perception
The brain is an amazing machine, capable of overcoming sensory deficiencies like hearing and sight. To enhance each sense, the brain needs to experience new tastes, smells, textures, sights and sounds in a variety of environments. One can improve sensory memory by purposely limiting one sense (ie limiting sight with a blindfold) and guessing what is making a certain sound, or what object might have that texture.
Sounds
Try this puzzle from The Playful Brain by Richard Restak and Scott Kim to challenge your ability to imagine sounds created by everyday objects.
SOUND EFFECT SOUND SOURCE
___1. Block of ice sliding on the floor a. Balloon
___2. Bone Crushing b. Pen caps floating in glass
___3. Body stabbing c. Luggage cart
___4. Horse’s hooves d. Creaky floor
___5. Brain surgery e. Knife in a watermelon
___6. Dog collar f. Bowling ball on floor
___7. Clothes rubbing against oneself g. Newspaper being crunched up
___8. Bicycle h. Squeaky chair
___9. Rubber gloves i. Wet chamois cloth
___10. Car suspension j. Celery
___11. Boat k. Set of keys
___12. Fire l. Leather purse
___13. Ice cubes m. Pillowcase
___14. Car seat n. Coconut shells
___15. Walking on leaves o. Walking on grass mat
___16. Walking on snow p. Walking on cornstarch
___17. Walking on grass q. Walking on quarter-inch recording tape
Answers to be posted in Sensory Processing and Perception: Part 2