Specialized Neural Pathways
__________ nerves transmit tactile information to the brain to perceive different qualities of touch.
Peripheral
Tactile Hypersensitivity
Overactive touch sensitivity, even light touch may feel painful or overwhelming
Wilder Penfield
Somatosensory Mapping
Meissner’s Corpuscles
Receptors found in Dermal Papillae that are sensitive to light touch.
Other name for tactile sense
somatosensation / somatosensory sense
Tactile information from the head and neck makes its way into the brain via the ___________ and onto the Thalamus
Trigeminal nerve
What developmental disorder is often associated with many tactile disorders such as hyperesthesia.
Autism Spectrum Disorder
What did Wilder Penfield's somatosensory mapping experiment conclude?
Led to the creation of the “sensory homunculus”, showing which body parts occupy the most cortical space (hands and lips are huge due to receptor density).
Located in dermis & respond to the stretching of the skin.
Ruffini endings
Is touch a near or far sense?
near sense
The specific cortex in the brain that receives tactile information.
Somatosensory Cortex
Hypoesthesia
Reduced touch sensitivity and trouble detecting texture, temperature, or pain (nociception).
Fake hand ownership
Rubber Hand Illusion
Found in deep layers of skill & respond to deep pressure or vibration.
Pacinian Corpuscles
What is tactile sense?
Detection of mechanical energy or pressure on the skin
Neural pathway responsible for fine touch, vibration, and proprioception .
Dorsal column-medial lemniscus pathway
Peripheral Neuropathy
Nerve damage (often from diabetes, injury, or toxins), which causes numbness, tingling, or loss of touch sensation, especially in extremities.
Harlow 1950
Monkey Experiment
Merkel Cells
Present in basal layer of epidermis that respond to steady pressure and texture.
Touch is both..
protective (alerting to pain or temperature) and informative (recognizing objects and textures)
Neural pathway responsible for receiving pain (nociception) and temperature.
Spinothalamic Pathway
Primary tactile impairments
Effect specific aspects of Tactile information reception
What did Harlow's monkey experiment conclude?
Demonstrated that tactile comfort and contact are crucial for emotional development and attachment.
Sebaceous Gland
Secretes oil from the skin, made from fat.
What is the difference between tactile perception and haptic perception?
Haptic perception is an active process of exploring objects and the environment, whereas tactile perception is more passive and based on direct skin contact.