The organs of touch in humans perform one of the important functions, since they are one of the main sense organs. Thanks to them, a person can be aware of his position in space and can determine the quality of objects by touch.
What is the sense of touch
The sense of touch is the main type of sensation, since a third of the information the brain receives is through touch. This feeling helps to navigate in the dark, to feel the shape of objects, size, humidity, surface characteristics, etc. The main organ of touch in humans is the skin.
Receptors
A sense of touch is formed from signals that enter the brain from receptors that are found in humans on the surface of the skin and mucous membranes. In humans, receptors are most sensitive at the fingertips in adults and around the mouth and lips in children. Therefore, children rush to taste everything unknown, and with age they lose this ability, then hands become the main source of the sense of touch. In addition, receptive receptors are found on the genitals, nipples and soles of the feet, which explains their increased sensitivity.
Receptors can perceive mechanical stimulation as well as temperature, chemical and electrical signals. In addition to tactile receptors, there are also pain receptors.
In animals, this feeling is much more developed than in humans. Nevertheless, in the absence of another important organ of perception, such as vision, the sense of touch becomes many times sharper. So, blind people receive most of the information precisely with the help of the sense of touch, by touching the surrounding objects and by their own sensation in space. If a person is immediately deprived of sight and hearing, the sense of touch develops even better. Such people can learn faster and perform quite complex work that requires only work with their hands, which can be much more difficult for a healthy person to cope with.
Muscular touch
For the muscular system to function normally, the brain needs to receive a signal for every muscle contraction and position in the body space. Muscular touch is important to humans, as evidenced by the confident behavior of blind people in familiar environments.
The complete and partial loss of the sense of touch is inextricably linked with the activity of the central nervous system. Hypersensitivity of the skin may indicate a number of diseases of the internal organs. However, treatment can also be performed using this sense, methods such as acupuncture or massage are aimed specifically at working with the organs of touch.
