Why can’t we live without the touch sensory system?
Our sense of touch is referred to as the tactile system. Tactile does not only apply to our hands! The primary way we construe this input is via our skin, which has many receptor sites for various sensory stimuli all over our bodies. The tactile system aids in comprehending significant sensations such as pressure, appearance, hot/cold, and suffering. The importance of touch in the overall organization cannot be overstated. It is the first system to form in the womb. Consider a newborn baby. What is one of the first ways we hook up with our children? The answer is through direct skin-to-skin contact. Touch input does provide comfort and stability from a young age. The touch sense reacts to anything that comes into contact with the skin. The skin is a brilliant organ. It reacts to more than touch and transmits sensory messages about touch, pain, heat, and vibration. The skin also processes three different types of touch, which I will explain further below.
The tactile system allows us to understand our surroundings and feel safe while exploring them. When a child’s tactile system works properly, he feels at ease and secures his skin. He has no trouble getting prepared and wearing a wide range of clothing. He can touch a variety of surfaces with ease. He is not concerned about how certain sensations might feel. Furthermore, he can complete tasks by using both hands at the same time.
Remember that we all have personal tastes – some of us would want scorching showers, while others despise wearing socks. However, we have learned to accommodate our priorities. Children who struggle with tactile computation have difficulty comprehending their surroundings and may require our assistance. Generally, we can overreact, under-react, or seek sensory input. For a definition of those terms, see this post. Some children may be slow to respond to textural input. They may be oblivious to a smudged face or have difficulty with fine motor functions. Some children may seek this feedback.
These are the participants who are constantly putting their hands on things! When you carry out the shaving cream for them to play with, they rub it all over their hands. They appear to be fiddling with something all the time, enjoy holding hands or giving hugs, and experimenting with different textures and sensory experiences. Then some overreact to tactile input. Tactile defensiveness is a term used to describe the most prevalent tactile system struggles. Certain textures may be intricate for them to touch. They may struggle with hair washing/cutting, bathing, and garment texture issues, and they could be finicky eaters (Pearson et al., 2007).
Our sense of touch benefits us; We can recognize where anything has touched us or which segment of our body is causing us pain. We can feel how objects and people differ in size, structure, and texture. We can be precise with our motor functions, especially when using fingers and chatting. If something we touch is risky, we can move our bodies away from it (e.g. stepping on a thorn or touching a hot plate). We can determine whether it is hot or cold (Pihlajamäki, 1990). It is essential to remember that touch is not the same as proprioception; our proprioceptor’s procedure sensory input from our joints and muscles rather than our skin. The tactile and proprioceptive senses collaborate to help us coordinate our movement patterns.
Check the following reference articles to learn more about why we can’t live without the touch sensory system.
Pearson, M. J., Pipe, A. G., Melhuish, C., Mitchinson, B., & Prescott, T. J. (2007). Whiskerbot: A robotic active touch system modeled on the rat whisker sensory system. Adaptive Behaviour, 15(3), 223-240.
Pihlajamäki, K. (1990). The organizational sensory system. Organizational Symbolism, 2(7). 237-253.
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