What is this 'sixth' sense?

Question

Put your hands behind your back, close them both into fists, then open them out and touch thumb with thumb, and each finger with its matching finger.
Think of other things you want to do with the hands behind your back, which part of one hand do you want to touch with which finger, do it.
Easy isn't it?
How do we do it?

Answer 1

The technical term for this is kinesthesia. It's actually an extension of the sense of touch, and depends on minute changes in pressure and temperature that we can sense all over our bodies, but rarely pay a great deal of attention to. Blind people are forced to develop this "sense" and sometimes become so adept in its use that they can appear not to be blind in some circumstances.

Answer 2

The example you gave is about our spatial abilities to imagine where our fingers are and to make them touch. Our brain can estimate things and make movements even though your eyes cannot see what is happening. It has nothing to do with a sixth sense.

A sixth sense, however, is completely different. It is also known as intuition. It is how we predict things according to our instincts and past experiences, and of course it differs from one person to the other.


Linkus

Answer 3

This is properly called a sixth sense (in addition to balance, a seventh). The scientific name for these senses is proprioception, our ability to estimate the position of our body without sight. There are some fascinating accounts of people who lose this sense due to nerve damage, and it makes life very difficult. For example, to walk we need continual feedback from our muscles about our body's position in space; for patients without this ability, their must focus their vision on their body as it moves -- when the lights are turned off, they instantly collapse!

Proprioception works by compiling information from the inner ear (for balance) and stretch receptors in our muscles, allowing our brain to estimate the position of our body. For more information, see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprioception

Answer 4

Sixth sense is our intuition, a deep sense of ''knowing''...the ability to pick up energy, positive and negative.
You are using your thought process and your sense of touch in your experiment.

Answer 5

I would just like to rain on your pirade - the sixth sense is balance, sorry,


Ashley

Answer 6

I thought the sixth sense was bladder awareness.

Answer 7

yes, I have special scent glands for cottage pie. Does that count?

Answer 8

esp.

psychic ability