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TOUCH
- This article concerns physical and human touch. For other meanings, see Touch (disambiguation).
Touching is having or getting a zero distance; in geometry it refers especially to a tangent line or curve (cf. collision). This term can be used to describe interaction between any physical objects. In medicine, the colloquial term "touch" is usually replaced with somatic senses, to better reflect the variety of mechanisms involved.
Holding or moving something is usually done by touching (exceptions include blowing or using a magnet or engine), but this is sometimes done indirectly (e.g., with pliers, tongs or tweezers).
Touching another person is a form of physical intimacy and nonverbal communication. It can be both sexual and platonic, as in the cuddlebuddy relationship. Touching oneself can be autoerotic.
Conversely, striking, pushing, pulling, pinching, kicking, strangling and hand-to-hand fighting are forms of touch in the context of physical abuse. In a sentence like "I never touched him/her" or "Don't you dare to touch him/her" the term touch may be meant as euphemism for either physical abuse or sexual touching.
Human babies have been observed to have enormous difficulty surviving if they do not possess a sense of touch, even if they retain sight and hearing. Babies who can perceive through touch, even without sight and hearing, fare much better. Touch can be considered a basic sense in that nearly all life forms have a response to being touched, while only a subset have sight and hearing.
One can also be emotionally touched. In this metaphorical sense it refers to some action or object that evokes a sad or joyful emotion. For example, to say "I was touched by your letter" would imply the reader felt joy or sadness when reading it.
[edit] See also
I needed so much/ To have nothing to touch/ I've always been greedy that way.. -Leonard Cohen, from The Night Comes On (1984)
[edit] References
Flanagan, J.R., Lederman, S.J. Neurobiology: Feeling bumps and holes, News and Views, Nature, 412(6845):389-91 (2001).
Hayward V, Astley OR, Cruz-Hernandez M, Grant D, Robles-De-La-Torre G. Haptic interfaces and devices. Sensor Review 24(1), pp. 16-29 (2004).
Robles-De-La-Torre G. & Hayward V. Force Can Overcome Object Geometry In the perception of Shape Through Active Touch. Nature 412 (6845):445-8 (2001).
Robles-De-La-Torre G. The Importance of the Sense of Touch in Virtual and Real Environments. IEEE Multimedia 13(3), Special issue on Haptic User Interfaces for Multimedia Systems, pp. 24-30 (2006).
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