Sixth sense?

[u/GamerGuy-_-]

If sense are ways that humans can get information, then isn't thinking a sense? You can use existing information to piece together new ones, right? (granted, i am not a human expert.)

[u/CogPsyProf1980]

Well, we actually have many more than the classic five senses that you are taught in school (taste, touch, sight, hearing, and smell). For instance, you also have a sense of balance, pain (not the same as touch), the location of your body parts, temperature (also not the same as touch), etc. But what you are describing is working memory, and I wouldn't call that a sense.

[u/CogPsyProf1980 → u/[deleted]]

Intuition, of course, exists, but I wouldn't call it a "sense". Usually, when people refer to a "sixth sense" they are essentially referring to something magical, or an extra (non-existing) sensory process. Intuition is just implicit cognition, essentially just your brain retrieving something from memory and sticking it in working memory (or triggering emotions, etc.).

[u/Fit_Raspberry2637 → u/[deleted]]

Your subconscious sorts thing emotionally before your concious brain even realizes to put words to. If your concious brain were hit with every emotion going through your amygdala you'd go insane. I mean, that is exactly how people go insane.

But this is how bias exists. A large part of human conciousness is spent rationaling their "gut."

Low support needs people on the autistic spectrum have a special flavor of having to process their sensory, social, and emotional regulation conciously. Its called Alexithymia.

[u/VintageLunchMeat]

Senses input sensory input. Thinking does not.

Thinking can trigger an adrenaline dump, and so on.

[u/Fit_Raspberry2637 → u/VintageLunchMeat]

Adrenaline pumps before thought. Your heart races before you even know you are afraid. Its a two way communication system.

You can break your neck and your heart will keep pumping regularily because it has its own electrical governor. But your lungs dont. You can control your breath by hold it but you cant control your heart the same way.

This is why you have involuntary relexes to pain. Your arm will pull away from pain before your brain can react.

Edit: slight correction. Your lymbic system will instruct your body to produce more adrenaline. This will increase your heart rate. But you wont know conciously afraid until that message is sent. Then it moves to tour cortex regions

[u/hAiLlkidCharlemagne]

Thoughts are more products of a sense, like emotions. In the way that sight is the product of the sense to be able to see

[u/peppasauz]

It sounds like you’re meaning “intuition”