Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Touch (Post 4 for Research)


According to this article, the brain pays wildly disproportionate attention to touch on different parts of the body.  This is also something we talked about in class and even came up with the body parts that we thought were the most sensitive to touch.  What I do remember learning in class is: just because something is more sensitive to pain, does not mean it is more sensitive to touch.  For example, pain to the genitalia area can be caused  by something minor but the pain can be horrible.  But, this does not mean the area is sensitive to touch.

Certain parts of the body have lots of fine touch receptors (face, lips tongue, fingers) and other areas that do not have as many receptors (chest, thighs, back).  The receptors come in four varieties: sensing vibration, one for tiny amounts of slippage, one for stretching the skin, and one that senses textures.  The last is called Merkel ending, and it is only in the parts of the body one can use to feel something really finely.


https://www.vox.com/2015/1/28/7925737/touch-facts

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