Our experience of loving touch is also deeply influenced by neurobiology. As I explain in my book, Touch: The Science of Hand, Heart and Mind, the skin is endowed with many types of specialized nerve endings that send electrical signals to the spinal cord and brain. Some nerve fibers detect the fine form of objects (these allow you to read Braille with your fingertips—or your lips), some detect cold (as well as menthol, the main active ingredient of mint leaves). Others, central to the development of human culture, sense the minute vibrations conveyed to the hand through tools (the violinist’s bow, the sculptor’s chisel). In recent years, experiments by Hakan Olausson and his colleagues at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden have revealed a type of nerve ending in the skin that is tuned for interpersonal touch.Pretty sure this is connected to the oxytocin system. It seems to reward sensory sequences.
Maybe he covers that in the book.
