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Somatosensation

Somatosensation

The somatosensory system relays sensory information from the skin, mucous membranes, limbs, and joints. Somatosensation is more familiarly known as the sense of touch. A typical somatosensory pathway includes three types of long neurons: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary neurons have cell bodies located near the spinal cord in groups of neurons called dorsal root ganglia. The sensory neurons of ganglia innervate designated areas of skin called dermatomes.

Tactile and Chemical Senses

Tactile and Chemical Senses

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.

Design Example: Resistive Touchscreen

Design Example: Resistive Touchscreen

A device engineer plays a crucial role in designing user interfaces for mobile devices. One such interface is the resistive touchscreen, which fundamentally consists of two metallic layers: a flexible upper layer and a rigid lower layer, separated by a narrow gap. The high resistance between these two layers is a key characteristic of this design.
When a user touches the screen, the two layers make contact at a specific point known as the touchpoint. This contact reduces the resistance between...

Design Example

Design Example

The innovation of touch-tone telephony revolutionized the telecommunications industry by replacing the traditional rotary dial with a dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) signaling system. This system uses a matrix-style keypad with buttons arranged in four rows and three columns, creating 12 distinct signals each assigned to a pair of frequencies. Each button press results in a simultaneous generation of two sinusoidal tones – one from a low-frequency group (697 to 941 Hz) and one from a...

Relationship Formation

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What do you think is the single most influential factor in determining with whom you become friends and whom you form romantic relationships? You might be surprised to learn that the answer is simple: the people with whom you have the most contact. This most important factor is proximity. You are more likely to be friends with people you have regular contact with. For example, there are decades of research that shows that you are more likely to become friends with people who live in your dorm,...

Sensory Modalities

Sensory Modalities

Sensation typically is the process by which the sensory receptors and sense organs detect stimuli from the internal and external environment and transmit this information to the central nervous system for processing.
General senses refer to the broad category of sensory information detected by receptors in the body and can be further grouped into somatic and visceral senses. Somatic sensations include touch, pressure, temperature, and pain and are essential for navigating our environment and...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 24, 2025

Using Facial Electromyography to Assess Facial Muscle Reactions to Experienced and Observed Affective Touch in Humans

Using Facial Electromyography to Assess Facial Muscle Reactions to Experienced and Observed Affective Touch in Humans

Published on: March 15, 2019

Choice enhances touch pleasantness.

Lenka Gorman^1,2, Wenhan Sun^3,4,5, Jyothisa Mathew⁶

¹Cognition, Values, Behaviour Lab, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany. Lenka.Gorman@lmu.de.

Attention, Perception & Psychophysics

|June 10, 2024

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Giving individuals choice over aspects of tactile stimuli enhances their perception of touch pleasantness. This effect is more pronounced for choices relevant to the individual, increasing arousal and perceived reward.

Keywords:

Affective touch Choice Control Eye movement Reward

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Last Updated: Jun 24, 2025

Using Facial Electromyography to Assess Facial Muscle Reactions to Experienced and Observed Affective Touch in Humans

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Published on: March 15, 2019

Tactile Semiautomatic Passive-Finger Angle Stimulator TSPAS

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Published on: July 30, 2020

Experimental Research Examining How People Can Cope with Uncertainty Through Soft Haptic Sensations

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Published on: September 16, 2015

Area of Science:

Psychology
Neuroscience
Haptics

Background:

Choice significantly influences preferences for material rewards.
The impact of choice on affective touch experiences is less understood.
Affective touch plays a crucial role in social bonding and well-being.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if choice enhances pleasure from affective touch.
To determine if choice increases the intrinsic rewarding value of touch.
To explore the role of choice relevance in modulating touch perception.

Main Methods:

Participants rated the pleasantness of tactile stimuli under choice and no-choice conditions.
Choice relevance was manipulated (low: glove color; high: touch location).
Pupillometry measured arousal before and during tactile stimulation.

Main Results:

Choice over tactile stimuli significantly enhanced pleasantness perception.
Higher relevance of choice amplified the positive effect on touch perception.
Choice increased arousal levels in anticipation of touch.

Conclusions:

Choice can enhance the rewarding value of affective touch.
The relevance of the chosen aspect modulates the effect of choice on touch perception.
Empowering choice, regardless of relevance, generally improves the perception of physical contact.