kinaesthesia
Summary
Kinaesthesia (kinesthesia) is the sense of the position and movement of body parts, based on receptors in muscles, tendons and joints. Many texts treat it as proprioception; others use proprioception for position and kinesthesia for movement. It is distinct from the vestibular sense of balance.
Detail
Meaning: Kinaesthesia (American spelling kinesthesia) is the sense of the position and movement of your body parts, which lets you know where your limbs are without looking. Its receptors are mechanoreceptors in muscles, tendons and joints, such as muscle spindles (stretch) and Golgi tendon organs (tension). Signals travel to the spinal cord and brain, including the somatosensory cortex and cerebellum. Many textbooks treat it as a synonym for proprioception; others use proprioception for position and kinesthesia for movement.
On the MCAT: Expect a vignette asking which sense is involved, such as touching your nose with your eyes closed, or a person with nerve damage who loses awareness of limb position and must watch their feet to walk. You may also need to sort it among the somatosensory senses (touch, pain, temperature), the vestibular sense and the special senses such as vision and hearing.
Common confusion: Kinesthesia is not the vestibular sense. Vestibular organs in the inner ear (semicircular canals and otolith organs) detect head rotation, acceleration and orientation for balance, while kinesthetic receptors in muscles, tendons and joints report the position of body parts relative to one another. Neither is the same as touch, which relies on receptors in the skin.
Sources
- Psychology (Myers)
- Sensation and Perception (Wolfe et al.)
Written for the MCAT and checked before it was published. For study reference only. Spotted an error? Let us know.