Tactile Senses
Tactile Senses - Related Videos
01:27
Tactile and Chemical Senses
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2024
Tactile senses encompass touch, temperature, and pain, each mediated by specific receptors. Touch receptors detect mechanical energy or pressure against the skin. Sensory fibers from these receptors enter the spinal cord and relay information to the brain stem. Here, most fibers cross over to the opposite side of the brain. The touch information then moves to the thalamus, which projects a map of the body's surface onto the somatosensory areas of the parietal lobes in the cerebral cortex. This...
08:05
Testing Tactile Masking between the Forearms
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Cited by 2 •
2016
Here we explore contralateral tactile masking between the forearms in which tactile detection thresholds are modulated by vibration applied to a remote site. The details of which remote sites have an effect can tell us about how the body is represented in the brain.
04:17
Approximate Number Sense Test
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2023
Source: Laboratory of Jonathan Flombaum—Johns Hopkins University A common carnival game is to ask people to guess the number of jellybeans packed into a jar. The chances that anyone will get the exact number right are low. But what about the chances that someone will guess 17 or 147,000? Probably even less than the chances of guessing the correct answer; 17 and 147,000 just seem irrational. Why? After all, if the beans cannot be taken out and counted one-at-a-time, how can someone tell that an...
07:32
Measurement of Vibration Detection Threshold and Tactile Spatial Acuity in Human Subjects
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Cited by 9 •
2016
Here, we present protocols to determine vibration detection thresholds and tactile acuity using psychophysical methods in man.
08:57
Acute and Chronic Tactile Sensory Testing after Spinal Cord Injury in Rats
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Cited by 55 •
2012
We describe two tactile sensory testing methods for acute or chronic periods of spinal cord injury in rats. These validated procedures can detect the development and maintenance of allodynia-like sensations.
FAQs
These physical forces provide distinct forms of information to skin mechanoreceptors. Pressure can signal sustained contact, stretch can indicate changes across the skin, and vibration can provide information about repeated or changing contact. The receptors convert these forces into neural signals, allowing later processing in the nervous system to support judgments about objects, body position, and interactions.
Once mechanoreceptors convert contact-related forces into neural signals, those signals travel through peripheral nerves and spinal pathways toward somatosensory regions of the brain. This pathway links events at the skin with central perceptual processing. Studying the route helps psychologists connect physical stimulation with the judgments and experiences that ultimately guide perception and movement.
Tactile perception does not depend only on incoming signals. In somatosensory regions, touch-related information is integrated with attention, memory, and other sensory information. Consequently, the same physical contact may contribute to different judgments depending on what a person notices, remembers, or receives through another sense. This integration is important for understanding variation in tactile experience.
Touch contributes to more than identifying physical contact or objects. The overview links tactile processing with communication and emotional experience, indicating that social touch can acquire meaning through broader perceptual and psychological integration. Attention, memory, and other sensory information help shape how contact is interpreted, making tactile experience relevant to interpersonal behavior as well as sensory perception.
A psychology study can examine how people respond when tactile input is changed or made more varied, then relate those responses to perception, development, or individual differences. The relevant comparison is the effect of altered or enriched touch on experience and behavior, rather than touch alone. Such work can clarify how tactile environments contribute to psychological outcomes.
Research on tactile senses informs rehabilitation, human-computer interaction, and assistive technologies. Findings about how contact is detected and interpreted can guide efforts to support movement, represent information through touch, or improve interactions between people and devices. The same research also provides psychological context for understanding sensory development and individual differences in tactile perception.