Do stay in contact (Image: Toru Yamanaka/AFP/Getty Images)

Pinches, punches, tickles and reading Braille: touch plays many roles in our lives. But our ability to detect different types of touch varies greatly across different parts of our body, from the ticklish soles of our feet to the relaxing sensation of a shoulder or head massage. Want to know exactly what effect you’re going to have when you touch someone? Read on for our user’s guide to touch.

Fingers

Each of your fingertips has more than 3000 touch receptors, making them extremely sensitive and capable of detecting subtle variations in texture. Two types of touch receptor are found in particularly high numbers – Merkel’s discs, which detect prolonged pressure, and Meissner’s corpuscles, which respond to initial contact and motion. As well as helping you appreciate the texture of different objects, Merkel’s discs also convey information about an object’s weight and how hard you are gripping it. Meissner’s corpuscles, meanwhile, will detect if that object is slipping from your grasp, enabling you to tighten your grip.

Shoulders

Need to unwind? A relaxing shoulder-rub often does the trick. Studies suggest that moderate pressure massage can lower our heart rate and reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol, as well as boosting alertness. It seems to do this by stimulating the vagus nerve, which conveys sensory information about how the rest of the body is functioning to the brain and central nervous system. To get these benefits, you have to rub hard enough to move the skin, suggesting pressure receptors are involved.

Feet

For most people, having their feet tickled results in uncontrollable …