How Touch Works

Touch

The sensory experience when nerves receive information from the skin and other organs, organized by the brain as pressure, vibration, temperature, or pain.

Somatosensation

Refers to external sensation using sensory information from our skin, which is very precise and capable of filtering out trivial information.

Viscerosensation

Refers to internal sensation, involving sensory information from internal organs like the stomach, lungs, and bladder.

Mechanoreceptors

Receptors that deal with both somatosensation and viscerosensation, detecting mechanical changes.

Thermoreceptors

Receptors specialized in temperature detection.

Nociceptors

Receptors that recognize pain and signal the brain to react.

Protopathic sensitivity

Deals with coarse sensations such as pain and extreme temperature.

Epicritic sensitivity

Involves detailed, finer sensations, using receptors like Meissner corpuscles.

Thermoalgesic sensitivity

Involves detailed pain and heat reception.

Congenital insensitivity

A rare disease characterized by the inability to feel pain.

Hyperalgesia

A condition of heightened sensitivity to pain.

Hypalgesia

A condition of lowered sensitivity to pain.

Pacinian corpuscles

Mechanoreceptors that respond to deep pressure and vibration.

Meissner corpuscles

Mechanoreceptors that respond to light touch.

Merkel complexes

Mechanoreceptors involved in fine tactile sensation and discrimination.

Ruffini corpuscles

Mechanoreceptors detecting stretch and temperature.

Primary somatosensory cortex

A brain region in the parietal lobe that deals with sensory information from different parts of the body.

Sensory homunculus

A representation within the primary somatosensory cortex illustrating how different areas of the body are represented in the brain.

Secondary somatosensory cortex

Located in the parietal operculum, it is involved in object recognition.