Women have ‘more sensitive touch with credit to small hands’

vIndianz.com (16 dec, 2009) — The sense of touch is more sensitive amongst women than men since their fingers are smaller, a study suggests.

finger Researchers at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, found greater sweat pore density in smaller fingers. The fingertip touch receptors, which group in the region of sweat pore bases, were therefore more strongly packed, they told the Journal of Neuroscience.

Higher sensitivity can perk up the capability to execute tasks such as embroidery or surgery, they said.

The researchers pressed progressively narrower parallel grooves against the stationary fingertips of 100 volunteers. Those with smaller fingers, and these tended to be the women, could distinguish tighter grooves.

The index finger is more sensitive than the little finger – but lead researcher Dr Daniel Goldreich said this could be since sensitivity improves with sustained use.

Dr Andy Bremner, of Goldsmiths, University of London, who has studied touch in children, said: “It could be that children find touch a predominantly informative sense because it is a more sensitive modality for them due to their smaller hands and bodies.

Dr Mark Paterson, a social scientist at the University of Exeter who has been studying the task of touch, said: “This study looks at one particular kind of touch receptor; however touch involves a number of receptor types working mutually.

“If we can understand more, it could lead to better modeling of virtual touch.”

It could, for example, show the way to better simulations allowing online shoppers to “touch and feel” the fabrics of clothes displayed on websites, he added.

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Women have ‘more sensitive touch with credit to small hands’

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