Touch The sense of touch is felt through the body’s largest organ, the skin. The dermis, which is the inner layer of the skin, contains clusters of nerve endings which detects the body’s sense of touch. The highest concentration of nerve clusters are located in the fingertips, allowing this area to be the most sensitive to touch. There are also different kinds of nerve clusters, each with a function all their own.
The most simple structures are called free nerve endings, which detect pain, temperature, and itch. The nerves that are more complex structures detect pressure and vibrations. Inside of the dermis, the nerve clusters look like onions or jelly material, and when they are squeezed due to the pressure of touch, the layers of the cluster rub together creating electrical nerve impulses. These are then transmitted to nerve receptors in the body’s central nervous system, which then get sent to the brain, where they are analyzed and interpreted.
The sense of touch detects many other sensory experiences such as temperature, pressure, and pain, so it is medically referred to as the somatosensory system, which categorizes all of the feelings associated with touch into one group.
Above is a diagram of the inside of the skin. The nerve endings can be found in the upper dermis layer, right under the epidermis.
Sources:
http://www.netdoctor.co.uk
http://en.wikipedia.org
http://freda.auyeung.net
http://www.encyclopedia.com
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