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Proprioception [latin proprius = one's own] is the sense of the position of parts of the body, relative to other neighbouring parts of the body. Unlike the five exteroception human senses of sight, taste, smell, touch and hearing, that advise us of the outside world, proprioception is the "sixth" sense that provides feedback solely on the status of the body internally. It is the sense that indicates whether or not your body is moving with required effort as where the various parts of the body are located in relation to each other.
The proprioceptive sense is believed to be composed of information from sensory neurons located in the inner ear (motion and orientation) and in the 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.
Proprioception is tested by police officers using the field sobriety test where the subject is required to touch their nose with their eyes closed. People with normal proprioception may make an error of no more than 2 cm. People with severely impaired proprioception may have no clue as to where their hands (or noses) are without looking.
Proprioception is what allows someone to learn to walk in complete darkness without bumping into the furniture. 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 use touch typing or perform ballet; and one would not even be able to walk without literally "watching where you put your feet".
The proprioceptive sense can be sharpened through study of many disciplines. The Alexander TechniqueThe Alexander Technique is a study of freeing response that is taught by studying one's own mannerisms of posture. It takes its name from F. Matthias Alexander ( 1869 1955), a former Shakespearean recitalist, who first observed and formulated its principl and related methods use the study of mannerisms to directly enhance kinesthetic judgment of effort and location. JugglingJuggling is often considered to include only Toss Juggling, the art of repeatedly throwing several objects in the air and catching them, so that at least one object remains in the air at all times. Common toss juggling props include balls, beanbags, rings trains reaction time and spatial location.
Oliver SacksOliver Sacks (born July 9, 1933, London) is a neurologist who has written popular books about his patients. He considers it following the tradition of 19th-century "clinical anecdotes", literary-style informal case histories. His favorite example is Alexa once reported the case of a young woman who lost her proprioception due to a viral infection of her spinal cordThe spinal cord is a part of the vertebrate nervous system that is enclosed in and protected by the vertebral column (it passes through the spinal canal). It consists of nerve cells. The cord conveys the 31 spinal nerve pairs of the peripheral nervous sys. At first she was not able to move properly at all. Later she relearned by using her sight (watching her feet) and vestibulum only. She eventually acquired a stiff and slow movement, which is believed to be the best possible in the absence of this sense.Apparently, temporary loss or impairment of proprioception may happen periodically during growth, mostly during adolescence. 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 habituationHabituation is an example of associative learning in which there is a progressive diminution of behavioural response probability with repetition of a stimulus. It is another form of integration. An animal first responds to a sensory stimulus, but if it is or desensitizationDesensitization is a method to reduce or eliminate an organism's negative reaction to a substance or stimulus. In medicine For example, if a person with diabetes mellitus has a bad allergic reaction to taking a full dose of beef insulin, the doctor gives. 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. Alexander Technique addresses these issues.
People who have a limb amputated may still have a sense of that limb; this is termed a phantom limb. This phenomenon is not limited to one sensation, however. Phantom sensations can occur that are perceived as movement, pressure, pain, itching, or hot/cold as well.
There is one known case of a person losing her entire proprioceptive sense, which is one of the cases discussed in Oliver Sacks' book The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat.
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