The senses linking mind and matter

Summary

The present paper describes how the senses bridge between mind and matter. Ongoing research in sensory science and data modelling is related to the ongoing debate for a non-reductive theory of consciousness based on psychophysical principles (e.g. Chalmers, 2002). Examples will be given from food research where cognition and emotion based on sense perception are vital for human well-being. Sensory science is cross-disciplinary and deals with human perception of an object by the senses of sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing etc. Perception as information processing may here be understood as an interaction between external physical stimuli and internal mental stimuli resulting in a human response. To deal with the complex and dynamic link between external physical energies and internal psychological experiences, multivariate psychophysical approaches have been developed within sensory science and infometrics. These may contribute to bridging the important explanatory gap between the subjectively experienced and the inter-subjectively observed. This may open for deeper discourses about the “hard problem”.