Playing with the sense of touch
Jul. 19th, 2006 08:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
This morning I found a cat whisker on the couch and started lightly brushing the tip of it over the fingers of my left hand. I was surprised to find that I couldn't feel it even though I could see that it was touching me. Similarly, I couldn't feel it too well on my palm or the inside of my wrist -- this reminded me of that biology experiment I did in 9th grade where someone would touch various areas of the hand lightly with a pin to see how many touch-sensitive nerve endings people have were per square centimeter, so I kept playing. Oddly enough, I could feel the whisker very well on the back of my hand, where I had hair. Nipples and areolae? Not so much. Arm? Yes. Stomach? Yes. Basically anywhere I have peach fuzz, the sensors at the base of the hairs could pick up the slightest disturbance.
Apparently hairs are useful.
Apparently hairs are useful.