Kinesthetic Pleasure Model - Part 1

Let us begin the exploration of the kinesthetic sense by first looking at proprioception. Proprioception is a sensory perception that detects your body position in space. To put it plainly, it is the sense that allows you make love to your partner (or to yourself) in the dark. It is the sense that allows you to navigate around your house with ninja-like precision without bumping into furniture. It is the sense that allows you to play tennis. It is the sense that allows you to do many pleasurable things that you are not being grateful for.

Due to the omnipresent nature of proprioception and more broadly kinesthetic sense, we don’t recognize how important it is to our everyday life until we lose it. Sensory ataxia, a.k.a. loss of proprioception has been observed in unfortunate circumstances such as multiple sclerosis, spinal cord and peripheral nerve diseases. As a result of this, these patients can barely walk or stand up while their eyes are closed, as they need constant visual input to sense their position in space. The moment they close their eyes, they fall to the ground. It’s a scary world to live in without proprioception.

Nen aura from Hunter x Hunter show. A perfect false color representation of peripersonal space.

Before we take a look at the kinesthetic pleasure model, we first need to understand how the brain maps the body schema and its surrounding area. The brain contains touch and motor maps that record every sensory experience coming from every inch of the body. During even the smallest of movements, these maps are activated along with the proprioceptors that are located in muscles, tendons and joints. Not only that, the brain also maps the area a few centimeters on top of the skin using other senses such as vision and sound. Think of this peripersonal space as an imaginary bubble enveloping your body. To the brain, this bubble is an extension of the body and it is the first line of defense. Anything or anyone that enters this area uninvited will activate the peripersonal neurons and the flinch response will result to protect the body from any danger. For example, a cautious woman walking down a dark street has a large peripersonal space of several meters. That’s because her senses have become sharpened in the face of perceived danger which in turn expanded her bubble of protection. You might be thinking, “Hang on a minute, I thought we were talking about the kinesthetic sense. How are sound and vision involved in this system?” This is where things start to get strange. You see, our feeling of the body is a multisensory experience. No senses are isolated from one another. The brain uses data from all senses to create a model of your body. The sensory data from the balance organ (which is located in the inner ear) is the glue that ties all other information together to have a coherent feeling of the body. I will explain more about the balance organ, a.k.a the vestibular system in part 2.

Kinesthetic Pleasure Model

The kinesthetic pleasure model is designed to look like a shield because the primary purpose of the body is to protect the organism. Always keep this in mind. In addition to the protective mechanism, the body is the source of a wide variety of pleasurable experiences. The outer rims point to the three irreducible pleasures of the kinesthetic sense: movement, extension and possession. Movement of the body in novel ways activate pleasure such as when dancing or engaging in martial arts. Extension refers to our ability to use tools. The body incorporate tools and even garments as an extension of the body. This is why it is intrinsically fun in batting a ball or playing around with a plastic sword. Possession is a unique human ability to take control of other bodies and avatars. Controlling a video game avatar would be a good example. One of the most important aspects of designing a game avatar is to make sure its movements are fluid and intuitive so the players can possess it with joy. Driving a car is another example of possession. The driver has taken control of the avatar of the car in her mind and becomes the car so to speak. Although she would be sitting down, her kinesthetic sense is fully active.

The inner triangle of the model represents a deeper layer of kinesthetic pleasure which is powered by the vestibular system. In order to perform movement, extension and possession with impeccable precision, a functioning vestibular system is a prerequisite. It senses the balance, acceleration and orientation of the body. All three of these sensations can in turn produce additional pleasurable experiences. In the case of balance, skating and surfing are fun activities that challenge the balance of the body. Acceleration of the body means a force is being applied to it so it moves in a certain direction and the vestibular organ in the inner ear can sense this. No wonder why riding on a rollercoaster is a lot of fun because it accelerates the body very suddenly. Finally, the orientation of the body especially the head position is always aligned with the gravity of the planet. If this normal orientation is disrupted when engaging in certain circus performances for example, pleasure is produced within the brain of the performer and also the observer who is using mirror neurons to feel what it is like for the body to be in weird positions.

Movement:

What do Michael Jackson and Bruce Lee have in common? They are both masters of space and time. Ok, ok I am not talking about time travel or teleportation. Recall that the brain not only maps the body schema but also the space around the body. These two geniuses are master manipulators of not only their body but also the space around their body. They have an intuitive understanding of rhythm, timing and the frequency of their movements. The processing of rhythm and fine motor controls are handled by the cerebellum, almost a separate neural system at the back of the brain. The cerebellum is fascinating. For one, it is the densest structure in the brain. It contains more neurons than all other brain areas combined. Evolution has invested a lot in cerebellum because moving a complex human body is a computationally challenging job. This is why it took robotic engineers decades before they could replicate a similar feat of precise human-like movements. Even then there’s still room for improvement.

This may sound obvious but I have observed that musicians, dancers, martial artists and athletes are universally perceived as ‘sexy’ in every era across every human culture. Not to mention that rites of passage rituals from a variety of hunter gatherer tribes in every continent including islands in the Pacific Ocean contain elements of dancing, music making and play fighting. Why is that? Humans have been subconsciously selecting for better cerebellum in their mates since dancing and fighting are proxy indicators of a well-developed cerebellum and kinesthetic sense. If you possess these traits, the chance of escaping from a predator or the chance of getting a good hunt is higher than someone who has a less developed kinesthetic sense. Even in modern times, this selection pressure is still present and so humans haven’t stopped evolving. Due to all these factors combined, it is intrinsically pleasurable to move your body with grace and purpose.

While we are at it, I want to touch a little on the spiritual element of bodily movement. Ancient Indians have figured out the meditative aspect of precise movements through the philosophy of Yoga. Yoga is not just a physical exercise. It is a conversation between your body and your spiritual understanding of the self. The philosophical ideas of inner calm, self-control and the meaning of life are communicated not with words but via the medium of movements. The vestibular system is heavily involved in yoga through balance and orientation of the body. Another spiritual example is one of the five pillars of Islam, Salat. Salat is a carefully choreographed worship to communicate with Allah. It teaches the values of humbleness and restraint not through words but through submissive postures of the body. The person is forced to quell his pride and encouraged to contemplate on his powerlessness in front of God. The beauty of Salat is that its systematic movements can scale easily to include millions of people. In Mecca during the time of pilgrimage, the incredible scale of the worship will look like a single giant organism whose parts moving in unison. What a sight to behold! When praying with others shoulder to shoulder, each person will automatically feel connected to their fellow brethren. That’s because their peripersonal space is fused with one another. With this, the value of brotherhood is learned without having to read a book on it or listen to a speech. What I am trying to express is that the kinesthetic pleasure can be used as a shortcut to teach important moral values such as inner calm, self-control, meaning of life, humbleness, restraint and brotherhood.

The peripersonal space extending to the tools

Extension:

One of the hallmarks of human intelligence is our ability to use tools. Sure other primates can learn to use tools. Heck, even birds and octopuses can. Nevertheless, only the hominids are known to manufacture new tools by using existing tools. How did that happen? Our ancestors have been knapping stone tools for tens of thousands of years and during that time our body has evolved to accommodate this skill. Stone knapping is an art that requires patience and precision. When we are holding a tool in the hand, the peripersonal space stretches temporarily to include the tool around it. In other words, the tool has become a part of the body. The brain engineers this illusion by combining multiple senses such as touch, proprioception and vision. Our fingertips have four mechanoreceptors (a type of touch receptors) that contribute in their own way to tool use. I would like to bring one of them to your attention called Pacinian corpuscle. This onion-like nerve ending is very sensitive to vibration and is blind to spatial localization. By that I mean, it will activate intermittently to vibrations occurring anywhere on the finger. It doesn’t care about context of the location. As a result of this, our hands can sense the tactile sensations at the tip of the tool or feel the texture of the road while we are driving. Even the clothes we wear are incorporated into the body schema. This is all Pacinian corpuscle doing. When you are batting a ball, the bat becomes an extension of the body. It’s like magic.

My second favorite hobby is cooking. Oh, how I love cooking. Cooking is one of the few activities in life that provides a sense of total control. Every action, every mistake, every careful preparation is reflected in the final taste of the food. Then I receive the rewards of my hard work by eating the food I have just cooked. It is a unique high to eat my own delicious food. Now that I think about it, what I am truly enjoying during the act of cooking is the feeling of extension from my kinesthetic sense. Every kitchen utensil I use becomes a part of me. I am rapidly switching between the tools and yet everything feels effortless. I am in the zone. For example, I could feel the texture of different vegetables from how the edge of the knife cuts through them and the sound they cause on the cutting board. The onion is smooth and compressed. The cabbage is rough and light. The carrot is thick and uncooperative. Cutting down a whole chicken into pieces is something I look forward to during the preparation phase. This process requires careful decision making. With my chef’s knife, I could feel the ligaments in between the bones where it is easiest to cut. When I cook chicken curry, I have to stir it every two minutes with a big wooden spoon to make sure nothing is burned on the bottom of the pot. If it did, I would be able to feel the rough texture of the burn with the spoon although I cannot see it beneath the broth. Cooking is all about multitasking and time management. Unlike switch tasking, cooking multitasking is more focused. More therapeutic.

Driving a car

A form of possession

Possession:

The ultimate ability that is a derivative of the kinesthetic sense is what I call, Possession. Possession is defined as the ability to take control of another body external to one’s own, not unlike when a ghost takes over a human in many folklores. A variety of skills fall under this category such as riding animals, driving vehicles, puppetry, dancing like a Chinese dragon and even controlling digital avatars. The kinesthetic sense is heavily involved in learning to control or assuming the shape of other bodies. I would like to argue that Possession is a godlike ability from the perspective of other animals. Take a cheetah, for example. The aerodynamic body of a cheetah is a beautiful product of animal evolution. It is common knowledge that cheetahs are the fastest land animal. Its burst speed during hunting can reach up to 112 km/h while the average speed is around 64 km/h. In contrast with humans whose natural body is evolved to move slowly and on foot. The highest human burst speed that has ever been recorded is when the final 100 meters sprint of World Championships in Berlin 2009 by Usain Bolt. The record is 44.7 km/h. As impressive as Usain Bolt is, he can never outrun a cheetah. However he can outrun them while driving his many sports cars. One of the fastest cars he own is a Ferrari 458 which can reach up to 340 km/h. When humans possess a heap of metal called a car, we can easily outrun the fastest animal. Speed is just one example. Possession is incredibly flexible in its utility depending on the purpose of the machine we are controlling. The US military drone operators for instance carry out lethal operations in areas thousands of miles away from where they are sitting. That’s very different from driving a car and yet the fundamental element of possession is the same. Our kinesthetic sense can don any machine or avatar given sufficient training.

Cave Painting in Doushe Cave, Lorstan Iran

I don’t know how we evolved Possession. My guess is that it came from riding horses. Humans have learned to ride horses and other animals for over six thousand years. Perhaps even earlier. Chimpanzees who is our closest cousin has never been seen to ride another animal in the wild, let alone with the same level of dexterity as humans do. You may be thinking, “That’s not true. I have seen chimps ride horses in the planet of the Apes movies.” Well. Unfortunately it’s just fiction. Although, the Japanese macaques have been observed to ‘ride’ a Sika deer. Remember that there is a difference between actually riding an animal and perching on top of it giving an impression of riding. If we can clone a Neanderthal in the future, it would be interesting to see whether they can ride animals or control other bodies. If that’s not the case, then this ability is unique to Homo Sapiens. When I ride a horse, my peripersonal space is fused with it. This is not a given however. The peripersonal space is a constant negotiation. She can feel my movements as much as I can feel hers. Many things such as grip strength, balance, vision and confident maneuvering become very important when riding a horse. It’s pleasurable to become one with the horse. Indeed it’s pleasurable to possess anything.

Unlike Movement, Possession requires a limited number of logical movement systems for it to make sense. The human body is very flexible. Since it is our original body, we can move and rotate in infinite number of ways as long as the bones aren’t broken. When the human body is possessing another body however, the repertoire of movements we can do with that body become limited. For example, when we are driving a car, there are only a few kinds of movements we can do with the car such as accelerating, reversing, turning, braking and maybe drifting. It’s part of the design to limit the repertoire of options. Otherwise the brain would become confused. This is another reason why the idea of flying cars never took off. Not only are there practical limitations regarding infrastructure and air regulations, flying cars demand too much out of an average person. It is difficult enough to learn how to drive, learning to fly on top of it is just too much.

Super Mario Bros

Level 1-1

To explain this limitation more clearly, I will head towards the fascinating world of game development. Video games are a part of my identity. I have been engaging with this hobby since I was four years old. Like many kids in the 90s, my first experience with games is the original Super Mario Bros. My mom told me that I used to struggle and sometimes cried on the first level because I kept falling to my death. I leaned my body left and right in a childish way when playing the game. I barely remember this now. Eventually my fledgling brain quickly learned to control Mario and completed many levels. The reason why this happens is because Shigeru Miyamoto, the original creator was obsessed with perfecting the movement mechanics of Mario. Strip down all the graphics, blocks, enemies and mushrooms of the game, the core experience is the movement. Mario cannot move in infinite configurations like the human body. He can jump, step on enemies, destroy bricks with his head, shoot fireballs and run. That’s it! However each of these movement systems are perfected because the controls are tight, logical and intuitive. The player feels accomplished just by moving Mario around. As a result, the brain of a young child can easily possess the avatar of Mario and start playing. There is no tutorial text since young children can’t read. Everything one needs to know about the game is taught through the avatar movement systems. If a game is designed well, it can transcend language barriers. I touched upon the power of kinesthetic pleasure to transcend language when I was talking about Yoga and Salat.

Kinesthetic sense is the Tower of Babel, the original language that transcends all languages. Humans danced before they learned to speak.

If you have been reading since the beginning of the article, you have my deepest thanks. You know what? You deserve a slice of cake. I hope you learned something new and insightful. This is the end of part 1. As I said above, in part 2 we are going to explore how incredible the vestibular system is in combining all the senses into a seamless experience, the consciousness of the body. Stay tuned.