thermoception

thermoception (uncountable)

1. (biology) The sense of heat and cold: the ability of humans, and many other organisms, to perceive temperature.
   • 2006, Fernando Cervero, Handbook of Clinical Neurology, Series 3, Volume 81: Pain, page 251:

     […] a region which has been shown to be involved in a variety of interoceptive modalities like thermoception, visceral sensations, thirst and hunger.

   • 2007 August 19, Daniel B. Smith, “Without a Net”, in New York Times‎:

     Aristotle failed to specify proprioception (the sense of how our body parts are positioned in space relative to one another), equilibrioception (the sense of linear acceleration and head position), thermoception (the sense of heat and cold) and nociception (the sense of pain).

   • 2008, Georges Canguilhem, Paola Marrati, Todd Meyers, Knowledge of life, page 175:

     The frog, with its selective eye for instantly usable information; the pit viper, with its thermoception, which at night can sense the blood temperature of its prey; the common house fly, which equilibrates its flight with two cilia—these have supplied a new species of engineers with models.

• thermoreception

• thermoceptive
• thermoceptor
• thermoreceptor