what parts of the body are most sensitive to touch
Skin-Deep Science: Find Your Sensitive Side
A touchy-feely science assay from Scientific American
Fundamental concepts
The five senses
The nervous system
Neuroscience
Introduction
Are you ticklish? If then, you've probably noticed that some parts of your torso are more ticklish than others. That'due south considering your skin's touch receptors aren't evenly distributed—some areas take more and others take a lot less. In this activeness, you'll learn more well-nigh your sense of touch by testing your trunk's own reactions.
Background
This activeness is based on a concrete exam used in medical checkups. Doctors employ this test—chosen two-indicate discrimination—to study sensitivity on dissimilar parts of a patient'south body. This sensitivity is pretty important—without information technology you might not notice when your finger gets too close to a flame or when you've scraped your knee. Thanks to your pare receptors, you tin feel a soft fleecy blanket, a cold splash of water or a precipitous pinch—ouch!
Pare receptors are actually tiny cells called sensory neurons. When your pare makes contact with something—say a fluffy bunny—sensory neurons receive that "fluffy" signal and send out their own signals that travel through your body to your brain, which puts them all together to recognize that you are feeling a fluffy bunny.
Materials
Newspaper clips
Ruler
Pencil and paper
A partner
Glass with water ice cubes (optional)
Preparation
• Bend a paper prune into a U-shape with the tips near one centimeter apart
• Keep the glass with water ice cubes in the freezer until the stop of the activity
Procedure
• Tell your partner to close his or her eyes—no peeking until the finish of the test!
• Explicate that in this activeness, you lot will touch different parts of your partner'due south hand and arm using a paper clip, and your partner volition need to say whether he or she is feeling one point or 2.
• Gently bear on both tips of the paper prune to the back of your partner's mitt. Both newspaper clip tips should touch the skin at the same fourth dimension. Do you recall your partner can feel both ends of the paper prune?
• Ask your partner if he or she feels ane point or 2. If your partner feels but one point, bend the paper clip U a little bit wider and repeat.
• Record the smallest distance betwixt paper clip tips where your partner feels two points. The smaller the altitude, the more sensitive the area.
• Repeat each of the previous steps, this fourth dimension touching your partner's palm; then attempt them on a fingertip, elbow and arm, and then forth. Is your partner's sensitivity greater on the arm or elbow? Right or left hand? Palm or fingertip? You lot can endeavour this experiment on other parts of the body, likewise—similar the articulatio genus, back, toe or cheek. Why do you recollect some parts of the body are more sensitive than others?
• Switch roles with your partner and find your skin's all-time-sensing spots. Are your results the same? Is your palm more sensitive than your partner's? What near elbows?
• Extra: You tin can also try putting an ice cube on a spot like the dorsum of your partner'south hand for x seconds. Then use the newspaper clip to bank check whether that area is more or less sensitive. Practice y'all notice a difference? If so, why exercise you think in that location's been a change?
Observations and results
Were your fingertips more sensitive than your arm? Why do you think one area is more than sensitive than some other?
The part of your brain that receives information from your sensory neurons doesn't treat all parts of the body equally. The reason you are more sensitive on your fingertips than your elbow is that there are many more than sensory neurons on your fingertips. When an area has more sensory neurons in that location is a larger encephalon area devoted to receiving their signals, meaning more sensitivity. Most people observe that their hands are much more sensitive than their backs or legs. Given how much you use your fingers for, that extra sensitivity makes good sense. You might even say it'south handy!
More to explore:
People Hear with Their Skin, as well as Their Ears from Scientific American
Worlds of Feeling from Scientific American MIND
Touch and Pain from BrainFacts.org
Our Sense of Bear on from the Academy of Washington in Seattle
How sensitive are you? from Your astonishing brain.org
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bring-science-home-sensitive-skin/
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