What is Touch?
:''This article is about one of the five main [[sensory system|senses]]. For other uses, see [[Touch (disambiguation)]]'' '''Touch''' is one of the five main [[sensory system|senses]] that [[animal]]s have. It can be called the '''sense of body''' or the '''sense of touch'''. The system also has internal [[sensory receptor]]s, and includes sensing [[temperature]] and [[pain]]. There is a special area in the brain used to processing input of touch. It is in the [[parietal lobe]] of the [[cerebral cortex]]. An animal knows if something is against a part of its body. This is called the sense of touch. The process of touching something may be called feeling.<ref>Although 'feeling' has other meanings as well: ''I am feeling ill''.</ref> Tiny touch [[sense organ]]s under the [[skin]] help animals feel hardness, softness, and sharpness, for example. Animals also have sense organs which feel temperature and pain. Some parts of the body, such as [[finger]]tips have many more sense organs than others. When animals touch things, [[nerve fibre]]s attached to the sense organ sends messages to the [[brain]] through the [[central nervous system]]. The brain [[wikt:interpret |interprets]] the messages, and animals feel things.<ref>{{cite book |last=Morris |first= Neil |author2= Ting Morris |others=Branka Surla, Rosie Alexander |title=Children's First Encyclopedia |editor=Jim Miles, Lynne French |publisher= Miles Kelly Publishing Ltd |location= II Bardfield Centre, Great Bardfield, Essex CM7 4SL |date=1998 |isbn=1-84084-332-2 |language= English}}</ref> == Touch as communication == Humans, and [[mammal]]s in general, often touch each other. Touch is a kind of [[Nonverbal communication#Touch|non-verbal communication]]. [[Behaviour]]s based on touch are very important for keeping family and group members together ('bonding'). It is part of the 'glue' of their social life. [[Monkey]]s [[Personal grooming#In animals|grooming]] each other's [[fur]] is a good example. == Related pages == * [[Braille]] * [[Proprioception]] * [[Touc