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Comment by evincarofautumn | Hacker News Reader

Do people generally consider sight to be our most important sense? I certainly don’t—but I have synesthesia, so maybe I have to rely on more senses to get a clear picture of things. For example, I might fill up a glass by sound, identify one of my shirts by feel, or recognise a person by smell. I bet neurotypical people do this too, but if asked, they would attribute it mainly to sight.

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View sight as most important? yes - it's the window (ahem) to the world, including highest bandwidth information delivery.

Fill up a glass by sound? yes, but except in rare cases, it's supplemental

Identify shirt by feel? Only if I didn't turn on the light - Yes, I can recognize the shirt I'm wearing by feel, or can tell what shirt I've grabbed out of the laundry basket while watching TV, but I definitely choose the shirt to wear by sight.

Recognize a person by smell? Almost always see them first.

That’s interesting, thanks. I guess I don’t bother to turn on a light if I don’t intend to spend much time in a room, like if I’m just getting a glass of water, or grabbing something whose location I know. (And I’m actually pretty bad at looking for something with my eyes if I forget where it is.)

> Recognize a person by smell? Almost always see them first.

Haha, of course. I was thinking more along the lines of “Somebody left a sweatshirt at my apartment after the party—whose is it?”

Yes. It's been reported that 30% of the human brain is dedicated to visual processing, more than all of the other senses put together. I think also most input to the brain from the visual system.

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