Reflexes
If you touch something very hot, your hands pulls away almost instantly, without waiting for your brain to tell it to. This is an example of a reflex - a rapid reaction that helps to protect you from injury. A massage flashes from your hand to your spinal cord - the bundle of nerve cells running down your body. The message is then passed straight to motor nerves, which make your arm muscles contract.

Reflex actions happen automatically, and often do not involve signals from the brain.

Deliberate actions - such as picking a paper, are triggered by signals from the brain.

Sensitive parts
All over your body, you have nerve ending that give you information about the things you touch. Instead of being spread out, they are concentrated in places where the sense of touch is most useful. The parts of the body that have the most nerve endings are drawn enlarged. The most sensitive parts are the mouth and fingertips, while the least sensitive are the backs of the arms and legs. You can prove this by closing your eyes, and asking a friend to touch your skin gently in sensitive areas with a pencil or paintbrush.

The gentle touch
Extra sensitive hands and fingertips help us to adjust our grip when we pick things up.

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