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What Are Tactile Sensory Receptors?

The human sense of touch is multi-faceted and diversified. Different types of receptors send specialized signals to the human nervous center depending on the particular kind of stimuli. For example, pain responses come from nociceptors. Tactile receptors provide human beings with important and useful physical impressions of the world around them.

  1. Purpose

    • According to Helping Hands Therapy, LLC, "The tactile system or touch system refers to stimulation reaching the central nervous system from receptors in the skin." These tactile receptors alert us to our immediate environment and can get us to react to unexpected or unusual stimuli before it can become a danger. They also help us understand and navigate our world.

    Light Touch Receptors

    • There are about six tactile receptors on the skin, the distinctions between which aren't completely defined, according to Innvista. However, Helping Hands Therapy, LLC breaks them down into three distinct types, the first of which are the "light touch" receptors. These receptors respond to things such as cloth brushing against the body or breathing at the back of the neck. They serve as a warning to people that something else is nearby, something that the ears and eyes have not alerted to the body.

    Discriminative Touch Receptors

    • In the dark, the tactile receptors in human skin that help people to find a box of matches that they cannot see but recognize by feel are called "discriminative touch" receptors. According to Helping Hands Therapy, LLC, these receptors "recognize the feel of things." They are also part of the sympathetic nervous system, the network of nerves that, when tightly wrapped in a blanket or enfolded in a firm hug, help lower distress and anxiousness.

    Thermoreceptors

    • A third kind of tactile receptor responds to changes in temperature -- the heating or cooling of the outside environment. Human bodies must continually adapt to changes in temperature to maintain a homeostatic internal environment. The skin's thermoreceptors are an important part of maintaining that internal balance. They also alert the body to sudden dangerous shifts in temperature - such as touching a boiling pan or sticking a thumb under ice-cold running water.

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