Proprioception (from Latin proprius, meaning "one's own" and perception) is the sense of the position of parts of the body, relative to other neighbouring parts of the body. Unlike the six exteroception human senses of sight, taste, smell, touch, hearing, and balance, that advise us of the outside world, proprioception is a sense that provides feedback solely on the status of the body internally. It is the sense that indicates whether your body is moving with required effort, as well as where the various parts of the body are located in relation to each other. Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Senses are the physiological methods of perception. ... Senses are the physiological methods of perception. ... Senses are the physiological methods of perception. ... Visual perception is one of the senses, consisting of the ability to detect light and interpret (see) it as the perception known as sight or naked eye vision. ... Taste is one of the most common and fundamental of the senses of animals. ... Olfaction, the sense of odor (smell), is the detection of chemicals dissolved in air (or in water, by animals that live under water). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Hearing, or audition, is one of the traditional five senses, and refers to the ability to detect sound. ... Equilibrioception or sense of balance is one of the physiological senses. ...

Kinesthesia is another term that is often used interchangeably with proprioception. Some users differentiate the kinesthetic sense from proprioception by excluding the sense of equilibrium or balance from kinesthesia. An inner ear infection, for example, might impact the sense of balance. This would impact the proprioceptive sense, but not the kinesthetic sense. The infected person would be able to walk, but only by using the person's sense of sight to maintain balance; the person would be unable to walk with his/her eyes closed. A human ear An ear is the organ used by a human or an animal to detect sound waves. ...

Kinesthesia is a key component in muscle memory and hand-eye coordination, and training can improve this sense. The ability to effortlessly swing a golf club, or catch a baseball requires a finely tuned sense of the position of the joints, so that the eyes can concentrate on the ball and let the kinesthetic sense handle moving the body as needed to meet the ball. Golf (gowf in Scots) is a sport where individual players or teams hit a ball into a hole using various clubs, and is one of the few ball games that does not use a fixed standard playing area. ... A view of the playing field at Busch Stadium II in St. ...

Basis

The proprioceptive sense is believed to be composed of information from sensory neurons located in the inner ear (motion and orientation) and in the stretch receptors of joints and muscles (stance). There are specific nerve receptors for this form of perception, just like there are specific receptors for pressure, light/dark, temperature, sound, and other sensory experiences. Information as a concept bears a diversity of meanings, from everyday usage to technical settings. ... Senses are the physiological methods of perception. ... Drawing by Santiago Ramón y Cajal of cells in the pigeon cerebellum. ... See also Labyrinth, an article treating the mythical maze that imprisoned the Minotaur. ... A muscle spindle is a specialized muscle structure innervated by both sensory and motor neuron axons. ...

Applications

Proprioception is tested by American police officers using the field sobriety test where the subject is required to touch his nose with his eyes closed. People with normal proprioception may make an error of no more than 2 cm. People suffering from impaired proprioception (a symptom of moderate to severe alcohol poisoning) fail this test due to difficulty locating their limbs in space relative to their noses. The effects of alcohol on the human body take several forms. ...

Proprioception is what allows someone to learn to walk in complete darkness without losing balance. During the learning of any new skill, sport, or art, it is usually necessary to become familiar with some proprioceptive concerns specific to that activity. Without the appropriate integration of proprioceptive input, an artist would not be able to brush paint onto a canvas without looking at the hand as it moved the brush over the canvas; it would be impossible to drive an automobile because a motorist would not be able to steer or use the foot pedals while looking at the road ahead; we could not touch type or perform ballet; and you would not even be able to walk without literally "watching where you put your feet". Dried green paint Paint is the general term for a family of products used to protect and add color to an object or surface by covering it with a pigmented coating. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Touch typing is typing using the sense of touch rather than sight to find the keys. ...

The proprioceptive sense can be sharpened through study of many disciplines. The Alexander Technique uses the study of movement to directly enhance kinesthetic judgment of effort and location. Juggling trains reaction time and spatial location and efficient movement. Standing on a wobble board is often used to retrain or increase proprioception abilities, particularly as physical therapy for ankle or knee injuries. Standing on one leg (stork standing) and various other body position challenges are also used, in such disciplines as Yoga. A large part of what is called the Fourth Way, developed by G. I. Gurdjieff, involves a substantial amount of proprioceptive exercises which are said to assist in spiritual development. Several studies have shown that the efficacy of these types of training are challenged by closing the eyes, because the eyes give invaluable feedback to establishing the moment to moment information of balance. The Alexander Technique teaches how to recognize and overcome habituated limitations within a persons manner of movement and thinking. ... Juggling can refer to all forms of artful or skillful object manipulation. ... Yoga is a family of ancient Hindu spiritual practices that originated in India, where it remains a vibrant living tradition and is seen as a means to enlightenment. ... Georges Ivanovich Gurdjieff (Георгий Иванович Гюрджиев, Georgiy Ivanovich Gyurdzhiev,Gurdjiev; January 13, 1872? - October 29, 1949), was a Greek-Armenian mystic and teacher of dancing. The teaching which he brought to the West from his own experiences and early travels expresses the truth found in other ancient religions and teachings relating to self...

Oliver Sacks once reported the case of a young woman who lost her proprioception due to a viral infection of her spinal cord. At first she was not able to move properly at all. Later she relearned by using her sight (watching her feet) and vestibulum (or inner ear) only. She eventually acquired a stiff and slow movement, which is believed to be the best possible in the absence of this sense. She could not judge effort involved in picking up objects. Oliver Sacks Oliver Wolf Sacks (born July 9, 1933, London) is a neurologist who has written popular books about his patients. ... Cross-section through cervical spinal cord. ... Vestibule can have the following meanings: A large entrance, reception area, antechamber, or room A small room or passage that connects the outer door of a building to the interior of the building An area in a train where people get on and off. ... The inner ear comprises both: the organ of hearing (the cochlea) and the labyrinth or vestibular apparatus, the organ of balance located in the inner ear that consists of three semicircular canals and the vestibule. ...

David Bohm introduced the concept of "proprioception of thought." His ideas suggest that other people's points of view are needed, to be able to compensate for the inevitable self-deceptive assumptions of thinking. He wrote about proprioception in Thought As a System and his theories of "Dialogue." David Bohm. ...

Impairment

Apparently, temporary loss or impairment of proprioception may happen periodically during growth, mostly during adolescence. Growth that might also influence this would be large increases or drops in bodyweight/size due to fluctuations of fat (liposuction, rapid fat loss, rapid fat gain) and muscle content (bodybuilding, anabolic steroids, catabolisis/starvation). It can also occur to those who gain new levels of flexibility, stretching, and contortion. The limb being in a new range of motion never experienced (or at least, not for a long time since youth perhaps) is effectively like acquiring a new skill, even if one is looking at it. Looking at a limb where it isn't 'supposed' to be can throw off one's sense of placement, though not to as large a degree. Liposuction, also known as lipoplasty (fat modeling) or suction lipectomy (suction-assisted fat removal) is a cosmetic surgery operation which removes fat from many different sites on the human body. ... Swedish bodybuilder Anders Graneheim. ... Anabolic steroids are a class of natural and synthetic steroid hormones that promote cell growth and division, resulting in growth of muscle tissue and sometimes bone size and strength. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into starvation. ... A female child during the Nigerian-Biafran war of the late 1960s, shown suffering the effects of severe hunger and malnutrition. ... Contortionist performing Contortion (sometimes contortionism) is an unusual form of acrobatic display which involves the dramatic bending and flexing of the human body. ... Stretching is the activity of gradually applying tensile force to lengthen, strengthen, and lubricate muscles, often performed in anticipation of physical exertion and to increase the range of motion within a joint. ... Contortionist performing Contortion (sometimes contortionism) is an unusual form of acrobatic display which involves the dramatic bending and flexing of the human body. ...

Possible experiences include: suddenly feeling that feet or legs are missing from your mental self-image; the need to look down at arms, hands, legs, etc. to convince yourself that they are still there; falling down while walking, especially when attention is focused upon something other than the act of walking (e.g., looking at a person who started talking or reading a billboard).

The proprioceptive sense can become confused because humans will adapt to a continuously-present stimulus; this is called habituation or desensitization. The effect is that it seems as though proprioceptive sensory impressions disappear, just as a scent seems to disappear when a person smells it for a prolonged period of time. One practical advantage of this is that unnoticed actions or sensation continue in the background while an individual's attention can move to another concern. The Jordan Technique addresses these issues. Habituation is an example of non-associative learning in which there is a progressive diminution of behavioral response probability with repetition of a stimulus. ... Desensitization is a method to reduce or eliminate an organisms negative reaction to a substance or stimulus. ...

People who have a limb amputated may still have a confused sense of that limb existence on their body, known as Phantom Limb Syndrome. Phantom sensations can occur as passive proprioceptive sensations of the limb's presence, or more active sensations such as perceived movement, pressure, pain, itching, or temperature. The etiology of the phantom limb phenomenon is still being disputed, but contemporary theories tend more towards neurological (e.g. neural signal bleed across a preexisting sensory map, as posited by V.S. Ramachandran) rather than psychological explanations. Phantom sensations and phantom pain may also occur after the removal of body parts other than the limbs, e.g. after amputation of the breast, extraction of a tooth (phantom tooth pain) or removal of an eye (phantom eye syndrome). Amputation is the removal of a body extremity by trauma or surgery. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Neurology is a branch of medicine dealing with disorders of the nervous system. ... Hartsoekers homunculus The concept of a homunculus (Latin for little man, sometimes spelled homonculus, plural homunculi) is often used to illustrate the functioning of a system. ... Psychology (Gk: psyche, soul or mind + logos, speech) is an academic and applied field involving the study of the mind, brain, and behavior, both human and nonhuman. ... The phantom eye syndrome refers to phantom phenomena, such as phantom pain in the eye and visual hallucinations, after the removal of an eye (enucleation, evisceration). ...

There is at least one documented case of a person losing their proprioceptive sense entirely, which is discussed in Oliver Sacks' book The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. Oliver Sacks Oliver Wolf Sacks (born July 9, 1933, London) is a neurologist who has written popular books about his patients. ... The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is a book by Oliver Sacks describing the case studies of some of Dr. Sackss patients. ...

Temporary impairment has also been known to occur due to an overdose of vitamin B6 (pyridoxine and pyridoxamine). Most of the impaired function discontinues shortly after the intake of vitamins returns to normal. Impairment can also be caused by cytotoxic factors such as chemotherapy. Pyridoxine Vitamin B-6 is a water-soluble vitamin. ... Cytotoxicity is the quality of being poisonous to cells. ... Chemotherapy is the use of chemical substances to treat disease. ...

It has been proposed that even common Tinnitus and the attendant hearing frequency-gaps masked by the perceived sounds may cause erroneous proprioceptive information to the balance and comprehension centers of the brain, precipitating mild confusion. Tinnitus, ringing ears or ear noise is a phenomenon of the nervous system connected to the ear, characterised by perception of a ringing, beating or roaring sound (often perceived as sinusoidal) with no external source. ...

Permanent impairment: Proprioception is also reduced in patients who suffer from joint hypermobility or Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (a genetic condition that results in weak connective tissue throughout the body). Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is a group of rare genetic disorders that diminish the bodys ability to make connective tissues. ...

See also

• Synaesthesia

This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...

External links

• A comprehensive Alexander Technique site
• What it feels like to change your kinesthetic sense using Alexander Technique
• BBC - The Dancer's Body - How the Body Dances - Proprioception
• Joint & Bone - Ehlers-Danlos/Joint Hypermobility Syndrome - Proprioception
• Humans have six senses, why does everyone think we only have five? at e2
• Slackline Yoga -- Balance training
• Proprioception this essay by Charles Wolfe takes its cue from such thinkers & artists as Charles Olson, Merleau-Ponty, J.J. Gibson, and Andy Clark to illustrate the view of the "priority of dynamic embodied activity over isolated 'mental' and 'physical' regions" to define this concept
• WNYC - Radio Lab: Where Am I? (May 05, 2006) radio program looks at the relationship between the brain and the body