10
votes
Accepted
What is the smallest touch sensation that a human can feel?
Short answer
The detection threshold of static indentation stimuli on the palm of the hand is approximately 10 to 40 micrometers, dependent on the exact location under investigation.
Background
The ...
- 51.8k
8
votes
Accepted
Would the human body react faster to touch or sight
A "touch" or "haptic" sensation will be much faster due to several reasons:
Haptic feedback can be processed without the presence of any higher-order cognitive processing, therefore meaning that the ...
- 2,603
8
votes
Accepted
Relationship between nerves and axons
I will go through your list of questions below:
I wanted to know how similar is our nervous system to [the circulatory system]?
They are very different, but as in every comparison of very complex ...
- 51.8k
7
votes
Accepted
Do humans have skin cells that trigger oxytocin release in the brain?
Short answer
Oxytocin release has been associated with the cutaneous low-threshold (CT) afferent fibers in hairy skin.
Background
Oxytocin is released from the paraventricular nucleus in the brain ...
- 51.8k
3
votes
Accepted
What does C. Elegans sense when touched?
In short, you are correct. You touch the skin, and that compresses mechanoreceptors, which then generate a cascading neuronal response.
As far as the actual neurons, it really depends on the type of ...
- 464
3
votes
spinal cord lesion and result in somatic sensation
This is a classic Brown-Sequard syndrome well- studied in the field of neurology. To answer your question, you would need to know what tracts are being severed and what sensations each tract is ...
- 1,624
3
votes
Accepted
Why do we only initially feel the bending of a hair?
Short answer
Touch receptors become unresponsive after continuous stimulation, a process called neural adaptation.
Background
There are various touch receptors in the skin (Fig. 1). One of them is ...
- 51.8k
3
votes
Accepted
What stimulates a nociceptor?
All of these are affected by specific characteristics of the nociceptors.
Nociceptors are only sensitive to high pressure. The low pressure stimulus would only stimulate mechanoresceptors which ...
- 4,659
2
votes
How is pain induced by blunt and sharp objects?
It is a simple matter of biology and physics actually:
Firstly, pain is caused by the simulation of cutaneous nociceptors in the body, beneath the skin and are activated when the sensation crosses a ...
- 2,278
2
votes
Accepted
Is numbness the absence of one or all touch sensations?
The definition of numbness has been answered by yourself, and I will focus on the second part of the question.
In terms of the underlying physiological mechanism behind numbness I think it's good to ...
- 51.8k
1
vote
How do afferent mechanoreceptors work on the finger pads?
Short answer
Tactile grating stimuli with a higher line density (number of lines per surface area) and applied with an equal force result in a lower amount of pressure per unit of skin area under the ...
- 51.8k
1
vote
Is numbness the absence of one or all touch sensations?
An Initial clarification of what "loss of sensation" means:
The history in the patient with “numbness” is extremely important. First of all, as with most neurologic complaints, you must ...
- 2,040
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