Chemosensory System: Neuroscientist Don Katz Believes Humans Have 1 Sense, Not 5
Everyone knows there are five senses: sight, smell, sound, taste, and touch. Neuroscientist Don Katz, however, believes humans only have one. His paper, published in Current Biology, is meant to backup his claim that, instead of the traditional five senses, all of our senses are actually just one big “chemosensory system.” The current study builds on previous research from Katz, an associate professor of psychology at Brandeis University. In a 2009 study published in Nature Neuroscience, Katz and his team described how the brain’s taste center influences its smell center. To demonstrate this, the team used optogenetics — a technique that allows for control of neural cells with light — to turn off a rat’s primary gustatory (taste) cortex. After feeding another rat a banana, they had the altered rat…
Link to Full Article: Chemosensory System: Neuroscientist Don Katz Believes Humans Have 1 Sense, Not 5
Sharing
