how does the sense of touch work?

Answer 1

While your other four senses (sight, hearing, smell, and taste) are located in specific parts of the body, your sense of touch is found all over. This is because your sense of touch originates in the bottom layer of your skin called the dermis. The dermis is filled with many tiny nerve endings which give you information about the things with which your body comes in contact. They do this by carrying the information to the spinal cord, which sends messages to the brain where the feeling is registered.

The nerve endings in your skin can tell you if something is hot or cold. They can also feel if something is hurting you. Your body has about twenty different types of nerve endings that all send messages to your brain. However, the most common receptors are heat, cold, pain, and pressure or touch receptors. Pain receptors are probably the most important for your safety because they can protect you by warning your brain that your body is hurt!

Some areas of the body are more sensitive than others because they have more nerve endings. Have you ever bitten your tongue and wondered why it hurt so much? I put my tooth right through the edge of my tongue when I was a child and it hurt and bled for a very long time. Ouch! Long story. It is because the sides of your tongue have a lot of nerve endings that are very sensitive to pain. However, your tongue is not as good at sensing hot or cold. That is why it is easy to burn your mouth when you eat something really hot. Your fingertips are also very sensitive. For example, people who are blind use their fingertips to read Braille by feeling the patterns of raised dots on their paper.

How's that for an answer?
Megan

Answer 2

Cells that form the skin "feel". The cell produces the energy it takes to send the message from the cell to a neurone (nerve) which sends the message to your vertebral neurone that goes up to your brain. Depending on the kind of sensation you had, the brain will treat the information differently, and send back a reaction through a different neurone that goes down to the right vertebral and then another neurone sends the information back to the specific cells.

If your cells felt a "dangerous" situation, the vertebral neurone can react by itself. A burning sensation for example will be sent to the vertebral and right back to the burning spot. If you burn a finger, you will move your arm before your brain even gets the information.

By the way, neurones are a different kind of cell, but still cells.

Answer 3

Nerve endings in your fingertips. Some of them sense pressure and some of them sense pain. Some of it has a psychological component; for example, touching your girlfriend's (blank), there is a highly psychological component.

Answer 4

We all have nerves all over our body under our skin. They sense the feeling of being touched and it sends signals to your brain saying, "hey you've been touched at such and such spot".

Answer 5

Something hits a nerve ending on your kin and it sends an electrical signal to your brain telling it that something it touching it, in that spo.t

Answer 6

it goes through your nervous system .. look up that schoolhouse rock song